THE FAMILY OF GOD AND OUR DIVINE HERITAGE

Abba, Father! Thank you for allowing me to  become your beloved child. May this knowledge

 inspire me and may your love fill me to overflowing so I can be part of bringing your gift of adoption to countless orphans who don’t yet know you.

By now we know we are, or can be adopted into the family of God. At the same time we are adopted, we also become sons of Abraham. (Gal. 3:29 NLT) says, “and now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and now all the promises God gave to him belong to you.”

This is very comforting to us all, but especially to those who have never known their earthly father, or whose father was not loving and kind. Adoption is our spiritual heritage, but what about earthly adoption? Indeed there are some stunning examples in the bible. You may be very familiar with the stories and characters, but rarely are they discussed in the context of adoption. When you look at these stories in the context of adoption, you will see that God chose to change the world and to fulfill prophecy by using people who were adopted.

Jesus, the son of Joseph, “The Son of God”

In numerous scriptures, Jesus is called the Son of David. Some say this implies that Jesus was adopted by Joseph. Isaiah prophesied (7:14) that Messiah would be born of a virgin, and Joseph knew he was not Jesus’ biological father. (Matt. 1:19) By adopting Jesus, Joseph would have given Him the legal right to be called the Son of David. Joseph raised Jesus as his own child, and other children in Joseph’s family are referred to in bible as brothers and sisters of Jesus.

Some believed that Mary was also a descendant of King David, but even if she was, in the Hebrew culture, family lineage was transmitted from father to son. And Jesus’ ancestry and lineage from King David is traced through Joseph. (Matt. 1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-31).

Isaiah, Jeremiah and David all knew that Messiah would be called the “Son of David” as seen in the following scriptures: Ps. 132:11-18, Isa. 11:1-5, Jer. 23:5-6. The people who lived in Jesus time also knew that Messiah would be known as “The Son of David”. This is found in Matt. 1:1, 12-23, 21:9, 22:42-45 and Luke 1:31-32. The genealogy of Jesus establishes a clear line of ancestry, which many believe could only be complete if Jesus recognized as a legally adopted of Joseph.

The bible indicates that Jesus was considered to be legal member of the family, and regardless of how we define it, Jesus’ relationship to Joseph and to King David gives us a picture of adopting that bestows full rights of family lineage and inheritance upon the adoptee. These are the same benefits we receive as adopted children of God.

Beth Moore says this so beautifully in one of her bible studies: Christ’s royal lineage comes through His adoptive father, Joseph. We should not be surprised at the profound significance with which God views adoption. God the Father allowed His Son to be adopted into a family on earth so that we could be adopted into His kingdom in heaven.

Moses was adopted and so was Queen Esther. Both brought a form of “salvation” to the nation of Israel, and serve as living parallels to God’s plan of redemption through adoption that He revealed to us in the life and death of His Son Jesus. All the male children of the Hebrews slaves in Egypt were condemned to death by decree of the Pharaoh, yet Moses’ life was redeemed, i.e. saved, when he was adopted by Pharaoh’s own daughter. This is another example of redemption by adoption, as earlier noted in Rom. 8:23.

Moses’ adoption prepared him for a remarkable life. Since he grew in Pharaoh’s household, he was very acquainted with, and not intimidated by the power of Pharaoh’s position. When God sent Moses to ask Pharaoh to let His people (Israel) go, Moses was well equipped for face-to-face confrontation with Pharaoh. At age 40, when he killed an Egyptian for beating an Israelite, Moses was forced to flee for his life, and live for 40 years in the wilderness. God used this time to prepare Moses for his future assignment of leading Israel out of Egypt, through the red sea into the very same wilderness where he would eventually spend another 40 years before reaching the Promise Land. It was the same wilderness where Moses first met God in the burning bush on Mt. Sinai. After leading Israel out of Egypt, Moses again met God on the same mountain, when he received the Ten Commandments.