March 7, 2002
My Dearest Amanda:
Over these long years I have struggled through the tough times and rejoiced through the good. There have been such wonderful highs as well as some painful lows … but through them all there has always been you.
When The Lord touched my heart those many years ago and sowed the seed of His plan I had no idea just what He had in store for us. As the weeks, months and years have progressed down this seemingly endless path, there has been a constant message woven into its very fabric. While I know it will be many years before you are able to understand what I am writing, I want you to know right now just how much the Lord loves you. I want to share with you the beautiful message He has delivered by His Spirit through you. I don’t want to wait to say thank you!
As your dad I first approached the whole idea of adoption with a tentative heart. I really didn’t know what it all meant and I wasn’t sure if it was God or not. That was until your mom and I prayed about you and agreed with God that your new home was to be with us. From that moment on my heart has been filled with love in anticipating your arrival. Just like your sisters and brother you are a new life, arranged and orchestrated by God. During this time I have felt some new feelings and learned some new truths, and that is what I want to share with you in this letter. To thank you for showing me that we are all adopted.
Adoption is a word that is used in the bible in only 5 places, and all by the Apostle Paul in his letters to churches outside Palestine (Rom 8:15; 8:23; 9:4; Gal 4:5 and Eph 1:5). In the Old Testament there were adoptions like Moses (Ex 2:10) and Esther (Est 2:7,15) but it is interesting that they all occurred outside of Palestine where adoption was practiced by the Gentiles. Since there is no word for adoption in Hebrew we have to rely on Paul’s use of it in the Greek; huiothesia.
The word itself comes from Huios (son) and Theo (appoint, ordain or conceive). It means the placing of a son and with respect to God it means “Sonship.” In order to fully understand what being adopted means we need to take a look at how Paul used the word in his writings. Let’s first look at his letter to the Romans; they understood just what adoption meant.
In Rome the process transferred a person from his natural father’s authority into that of his adoptive father. This also included the surrender of the person by his natural father to the adoptive father. He would assume the family name, be given equality with the natural heirs and by all rights become a member of the family. In addition, the father was entitled to all of the adopted son’s property as well as his debts; he became his adopted son’s absolute owner.
It’s interesting that in the eyes of the law, the adopted person became a new creature. He was born again into his new family. This is what Paul had in mind … let’s look at what he has to say:
Rom 8:12-17 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
In this passage we can see that Paul is relating adoption to the deliverance from debt. This incorporates the concepts of liberty and bondage. He says that because of the Spirit of Adoption we are no longer enslaved to our flesh but have been set at liberty in the Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that is given to us as the “First Fruit” of all that is to be ours as the sons of God. Look at the first couple of verses here in The Living Translation:
Rom 8:12-14 So, dear brothers, you have no obligations whatever to your old sinful nature to do what it begs you to do. 13. For if you keep on following it you are lost and will perish, but if through the power of the Holy Spirit you crush it and its evil deeds, you shall live. 14. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Another way of looking at it would be, you have no obligation to go back to your old life; you have been set free and adopted into the family of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. God, your new Father, has assumed all of your old obligations! Paul even makes this clearer in his letter to the church at Galatia:
Gal 4:3-7 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: 4. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5. To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 7. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Here we see the contrast between the law and faith. The one that convicts us of sin (law) and the one that delivers us from sin (faith). It is through faith that we are delivered out of sin; redeemed or bought out (verse 5). We have been bought away from our natural father (flesh) so to speak by our new Father (Spirit). Our heavenly Father has bought us from our natural father Satan, at a price that we could never afford to pay; His Son’s Life!
Look at verse 6 and note that because we are now adopted by God The Father we can, by His Spirit within us, run to Him crying Abba, Father. Those two words conveyed much to the citizens in Rome as they signified that not only the Jews (Abba) but also the Gentiles (Pater) could call Him Father, because of Jesus He was no longer the exclusive God of the Hebrews. It is important to also note that it is The Spirit within us that cries Abba, Father. In Romans 8:15 above, Paul says it a different way: whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Either way, whether it is the Spirit crying for us or we crying by His Spirit, the result is the same. We recognize that He has adopted us as one of His own; an heir of God with Jesus Christ (Gal 4:7). The cry is from deep within and is the full representation and acknowledgement that we have been adopted. Charles Spurgeon put it as well as anyone 124 years ago:
I must try and pronounce it so that you see the natural childishness of it, “Abba,” “Ab-ba.” Is it not just what your children say, ab, ab, ba, ba, as soon as they try to talk? It is the sort of word, which any child would say, whether Hebrew, or Greek, or French, or English. Therefore, Abba is a word worthy of introduction into all languages. It is truly a child’s word, and our Master felt, I have no doubt, in his agony, a love for child’s words … but say “Abba,” which is a warm, natural, loving word, fit for one who is a little child with God, and makes bold to lie in his bosom, and look up into his face and talk with holy boldness. “Abba” is not a word, somehow, but a babe’s lisping. Oh, how near we are to God when we can use such a speech! How dear he is to us and dear we are to Him when we may thus address him, saying, like the great Son himself, “Abba, Father.”
How awesome that in that one word we are signifying to God that we understand and acknowledge that He has justified us (Rom 5:1) and sanctified us (Rom8:14). By our acceptance of His Son’s sacrifice (by faith) He has declared us righteous (justified). As the adoptive Father He takes us into His arms and welcomes us into His family with liberty. But being justified is just the beginning for us as adopted children of God. Justification begins the process (sanctification) of changing us into the image of our new Father.
The process of sanctification not only cleanses us from our old fleshly nature, it also transforms us into the mature sons of God; huios. We are “set apart” for that process, which includes the basic tenet of serving Him in love with all He has given us. While the natural born son (child of God; teknon) is so by nature, the mature son becomes so by process. While that perfect image of our new Father is within us the moment we are saved, it is only by the process of sanctification that we become more like Him every day. That is why our WalkWithGod is so personal and so vital. Without a close walk with Him we are like a rowboat at sea with no rudder, drifting aimlessly through life, being carried wherever the world chooses. John tells us that sanctification continues every day of our life here on earth until the day that we see Him face to face.
1John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Now we are Teknon (little children), but one day when we see Jesus we will be just like Him — huios — the fully mature Sons and Daughters of God. So during our life here on earth it is our job to allow the Spirit within us to slowly transform us into His image. Our character, countenance, personality, attitude — all that we are — conforming to His perfect image. We are changing from the nature and appearance of our natural father, Satan, into the spiritual nature and appearance of our Heavenly Father. We are all like the caterpillar that enters the cocoon and one day emerges as a beautiful butterfly. We can’t see ourselves as the butterfly yet but God does. He is only waiting for us to emerge and begin to fly in the fullness of His time. In the process, as His adopted children, He has given us all of the family blessings contained in His Word. Let’s sample just a few.
A New Name
Rev 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
A New Nature
2Cor 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Access To Him
Eph 2:18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
His Love
1John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
His Help In Prayer
Matt 6:8-9 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. 9. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Spiritual Unity With Him And Our Fellow Saints
Eph 2:18-22 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. 19. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20. And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21. In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22. In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Sharing His Inheritance
Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
What a wonderful opportunity God has offered to us. He only asks that we take Him up on His invitation to join His family. He has already paid the redemption price and if we choose to accept it our natural father the devil will no longer have a claim upon us. We are born again into a new family that is led by The Spirit and not the flesh; with a Father and Brother who love us unconditionally and have given us inheritance rights to everything in the Kingdom. And to solidify His promise He has given us His Spirit to testify every moment of every day to our hearts that we truly are His Sons and Daughters … that we might run into His arms crying Abba, Abba!
Yes Amanda, what at first seemed so remote and impossible has now become so near and eminent. Oh, like Abraham, I have wondered at the promise of your coming, but unlike Abraham I have known the blessings of God in the love of three of His children. So why at my age has God seen fit to bless me once again with a new life? With all the natural objections and hurdles to overcome why am I walking down this path to becoming a father once again? As I have reflected on this question the answer has become clearer with each passing day; just because God loves me so much!
All those feelings God has toward me I am now feeling toward you. As John, Merrilee and Jennifer know my love, so will you. As they have come to know the love of their Father in Heaven, so will you. As they have an open invitation to run into my arms at anytime, night or day, so will you. As my heart aches when they suffer, so will it for you in your times of trouble. As I rejoice in their lives, so will I in yours. Only God could have shown me what I have in my children and what I will have once again in you, only God, and a little girl in a far off place that has found a spot so near in my heart. How I will rejoice to watch you join your brother and sisters on the exciting path from Teknon to Huios, for just like them, in God’s eyes you have already completed the journey.
Yes, thank you Amanda, for opening my eyes to the incredible love of our Heavenly Father. If it were not for you I may never have understood just how much it meant for Him to pay the dearest price in eternity to adopt me. Or how much Jesus suffered that I might be called a “Mature Son of God,” when I still feel and often act like a child of God. You have given me another chance to witness the wonderful hand of God in shaping a new life, molding you into His own image. What joy I feel in looking forward to being His right hand, to be right here and watch you grow in the Lord just like Merrilee, Jennifer, John and your mom. Each day, in every way … a little more like Jesus.
I love you,
Dad