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THE PERFECT ADOPTION #13

LOOKING FOR AN HEIR

If a Wall Street billionaire - a good and generous one - were to adopt you, that would be a good day in court, wouldn't it? But not only is TODAY good, your whole future has just turned terrific! For the Christian adopted into God's family, what a bright row of tomorrows lies ahead.

There was a bittersweet moment that happened here at our Adventist Media Center on a cold December morning not very long ago. Two elderly women, Edna and Florence, had passed away. One was 89, the other 90. They were both "trustors" — meaning that they had been strong supporters of our Christian radio and TV work, and had invested some of their modest estate with us. As things worked out, and as the Lord blessed them with long, abundant lives, the principal funds were basically used up in care expenses for them . . . which is certainly all right. We were privileged to have their support.

But the poignant reality was this: at the end of the road, they were completely alone. No surviving spouse or siblings or children. They died without anyone at all to claim what little bits of property there might be left over — which in this case, there really wasn't. But some of the staff members here in our trust department said to each other: "It's just not right for the passing of these saints to go unmarked." And so on a Tuesday morning, quite a number of Christian employees here, who had never heard of these two ladies, had never met them or talked with them, quietly sang some songs, had a prayer, listened to brief life sketches, and just kind of looked up at heaven, as if to say: "Father, into Your hands, we commit these dear saints."

It's not a perfect illustration of what we want to study today, but there are sometimes situations where a person with vast resources simply has no one to bequeath them to. We mentioned a few days ago the fictional character Quintus Arrius, in the great Christian saga Ben-Hur, who had tremendous wealth and holdings. He was a leading Roman citizen but had no son to inherit all his money and land and family position. So he selected Judah Ben-Hur to be his heir and receive the keys to the kingdom.

We're truly being blessed by the timeless insights in a book called Knowing God, by J. I. Packer. And this chapter of his, "Sons of God," is a powerful essay on how really fortunate we are as believers to actually be adopted into God's family. Monday and yesterday we explored how adoption expresses God's incredible love for us; that's the first of five benefits as listed by Dr. Packer. And today Number Two reminds me of that wealthy patron who is scanning the horizon, saying anxiously: "Where is there someone I can give all these millions to?" "Our adoption," Packer writes, "shows us the glory of the Christian hope."

Now what does he mean, exactly, by that? What is it that lies ahead for the son or the daughter of God? Here's his explanation:

"New Testament Christianity," he writes, "is a religion of hope, a faith that looks forward. For the Christian, the best is always yet to be. But how can we form any notion of that which awaits us at the end of the road? Here too the doctrine of adoption comes to our help. To start with, it teaches us to think of our hope not as a possibility nor yet as a likelihood, but as a guaranteed certainty, because it is a promised inheritance.

This is all the way through the Bible, of course. God promises us this inheritance.

"He who has the Son has life," God guarantees.

That's I John 5:12. We've been proclaiming John 5:24 a lot in recent weeks and months, it seems. And notice how emphatic God's promise is here to all of the eager children waiting in the orphanage.

"I tell you the truth, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me" — this is Jesus talking — "HAS eternal life and will not be condemned; He has crossed over from death to life."

So, just like any kid says to a good dad, "But you promised!", we can lay this promise before our heavenly Dad. And Dr. Packer has beautifully made the point that God is more good, more faithful, more trustworthy, more sure in keeping His promises than the best human father to ever attend to a 2:00 a.m. feeding. He goes on:

"The reason for adopting, in the first-century world, was specifically to have an heir to whom one could bequeath one's goods. So, too, God's adoption of us makes us His heirs, and so guarantees to us, as our right (we might say), the inheritance that He has in store for us. ‘We are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ' (Rom. 8:16-17). ‘So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir' (Gal 4:7)." Then he concludes — and this is just great: "Our Father's wealth is immeasurable, and we are to inherit the entire estate."

I think, really, as we've spent 13 days now on this one topic, that this one lesson just keeps coming through: DON'T FORGET WHO YOU ARE! Don't forget that you are a son of God, a daughter of God! Don't forget that you and I are going to inherit THE WHOLE THING! Too often we are going to bed at night not hearing the echo of the loving Father's voice: "Good night, you princes of Maine, you kings of New England." We are not remembering that we are princes and kings; we're not basking in — and reflecting — the hope of our adoption certainty.

Well, what does all of this mean? First of all, everything that you've ever heard about heaven, or dreamed or envisioned about heaven . . . is an iron-clad promise! These things are coming your way! Because you are an heir, the mansions, the streets of gold, the flowers that will never fade, the New Jerusalem, the fellowship with the Father and the Son — are all yours. They're more real than tomorrow's sunrise. They're as sure as God's Word is sure.

So adoption means that we have the glory of the Christian hope, as Packer puts it. But then he goes on:

"The sum and substance of our promised inheritance is a share in the glory of Christ."

Colossians 3:4 is just one such promise.

"When Christ, who is your glory, appears, then you also will appear with HIM in glory."

Not only does our loving Dad love US as much as He loves His other Son, Jesus, but we're going to share in Christ's reward. What He gets, we get. The same band that plays for Him will play for us as we march into the City. Now, He earned it, and we didn't — actually, the glories of heaven were His from all eternity — but God is going to permit His entire family to share in the fullness of heaven's happiness, not just Jesus. He doesn't play favorites.

Dr. Packer reminds us that the two great burdens we have today, the two huge disadvantages — when compared to our elder Brother, Jesus — are sin and mortality. We are sinners; Jesus isn't. We're mortal, subject to death; on this side of Calvary, Jesus most assuredly is not. He's our glorified, risen, immortal Savior, having conquered death forever. But friend, when we come into the fullness of our adoption, we'll join Jesus on the platform of purity and immortality.

"We shall be made like our elder Brother at every point," Dr. Packer writes, "and sin and mortality, the double corruption of God's good work in the moral and spiritual spheres respectively, will be things of the past." And he points us to the great promise of Romans 8:17: "Co-heirs with Christ . . . that we may also share in His glory."

That extends, by the way, to our physical being. You know, Jesus came out of the tomb not just immortal, but with a powerful, strong, glorified body, no longer subject to death. The Bible talks about a spiritual body, not meaning one that is without flesh and bones and parts — after all, Jesus came into the upper room on Resurrection Sunday and immediately asked His friends for something to eat — but one marked by spiritual purity. And if you read over in I Corinthians 15, we're promised that we will share in this glory as well: we're going to have bodies like Christ's. Listen to this:

"So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body."

And I love the NIV text notes for this passage. Here's what they say:

"‘Spiritual body' does not mean a nonmaterial body but, from the analogies, a physical one similar to the present natural body organizationally, but radically different in that it will be imperishable, glorious and powerful, fit to live eternally with God."

Romans 8:23 adds:

"We wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies."

Today as you hear this, there are two ladies who didn't die with very much of the world's goods in their bank vault. Taxes and nursing home fees had taken their toll, and so had Alzheimer's. Fortunately, they were both adopted into a family where they'll always be 18, every meal is a banquet, and where Dad and Big Brother make sure they're never alone again.