0786. The Children of God

The Children of God

"But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name:

Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (Joh_1:12-13).

1. We have before us the climax of the 1st chapter of John. Everything that has gone before was true in order that this might be true. Why did Christ become flesh? Simply stated, it was that we might become the children of God.

In Heb_2:13 we read of Christ and the children whom God has given Him. In Heb_2:14 and Heb_2:15 we read: "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."

Wonderful! Christ became flesh that we might become sons.

So it is that every statement concerning Christ in John 1, has to do with our becoming children of God.

If we read that Christ was God, we know that a mere man, although he were a perfect man, could not have borne our sins in his body on the tree.

If we read that Christ was interpreting the Father, we know therein the willingness of God to save. God is not the tyrant that the heathen oft have pictured Him. He is the God manifested in the life of Christ; a God ready to save all those who trust in Him.

2. We have before us the results of "receiving" and "believing" Christ–we become the "children of God." The world which knows Him not is separated from God. The wicked are children of darkness, and children of wrath, and children of a cursing; they are of their father, the devil; we are children of light and children of the day, and children of God.

What glories shine in the words: "Children of God"! Think of what is ours as children–

1. As children we say "Our Father" (see Gal_4:6).

2. As children we are members of the household of God (see Eph_3:15).

3. As children we have the gift of the Spirit (see Luk_11:13).

4. As children we have a place of refuge (see Pro_14:26).

5. As children we are heirs (see Rom_8:17).

6. As children we are journeying home to Glory (see Heb_11:13-16).

7. As children we will be like Him by and by (see 1Jn_3:1-3).

3. We have before us the way in which we become "children." "Who were born."

(1) The birth that makes us children of God is not a birth after the flesh. It is not of bloods. It is not of the will of man. The fact is, that the second birth is wholly distinct from the first birth. All the first birth did, was to make us sinners. "For in sin hath my mother conceived me." The fathers of our flesh have no power to beget the life in God.

(2) The birth that makes us children is of God. John 3 puts it this way: "Born from above," and again: "that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

We may not know the mysteries of the new birth, for "the wind bloweth where it listeth" and we know not whence it cometh and whither it goeth. "So is every one that is born of the Spirit." However, we may know the fact that we are sons.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR