Heb.2:11 - For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
All the religions of the world attempt to understand, define, and connect with the Creator, and they employ mental ascent, learning techniques, meditation, and adherence to certain rules to achieve this goal. Others attempt to make mankind a branch of the divine and an extension of the universal mind. Of course, the claims of Jesus and the revelation of the Person of Christ in the Scriptures are incompatible with any and all other religions. Jesus openly claimed redemptive exclusivity.
For those who have come to know Him through faith, and for those who have been born again by His Spirit, there await incredible treasures found in Him. One of those sacred treasures is found in Hebrews 2 and verse 11. We have not only been forgiven and redeemed for all eternity, but Jesus, the eternal God, calls us His brethren.
What is more important than a person’s family here on earth? A man will die to save his family, and in this case, God died to create His family. We then are more than just some creatures who God redeemed to place in some divine trophy case. We are part of His eternal family, and we are brothers and sisters to our elder Brother, the Lord Jesus. It defies all logic to think that God would receive us as His children. But it is true nonetheless.
And the Holy One is not ashamed to call us brethren. I am sometimes ashamed to call myself “brethren” much less to think that God calls me His brethren unashamedly. To be part of God’s family is the ultimate honor. And how have we received such an ado[tion? Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by faith in our Elder Brother alone.
Gal.4:4-5 - But when the fulness 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.
The law was death. We could never have pleased God through the law, but the law revealed just how sinful and hopeless we were and it led us to Christ. In Him was hope, in Him was grace, in Him was life eternal, and in Him was the adoption as one of God’s children. In a creative sense we were all God’s children, but we had no eternal relationship after the fall. When Adam sinned the entire human race became children of Satan. But after the finished work by the Lord Jesus upon the cross and the subsequent resurrection from the dead, the gospel message went out into all the world. And when a sinner believes on the Lord Jesus Christ something wonderful and sacred occurs.
Rom.8:14-16 - 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:
When we become a child of the Living God, we no longer fear God in the way in which an unbeliever should. Yes we reverence and respect Him as our Creator and August Lord, but we are also given the privilege of calling Him “Abba”. We can come boldly into His presence and make requests as a son to a father does. And our Elder Brother intercedes for us as well. It is an incredible relationship purchased by the Lord Jesus and made a reality by God’s grace through simple faith.
I Jn.3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:
And what has been the motivation and the driving force behind this great kindness? God’s matchless love. Who could have complained if God had redeemed us and transported us into a paradise, free from sin and filled with eternal pleasure, but without His presence? And who could have indicted God if we were redeemed and called to spend eternity with Him as saints with a completely different essence? Those would have been infinitely more than we deserved and beyond our wildest imagination.
But God did not just do those things. Yes we will have a paradise free from sin, and yes we will spend eternity in His very presence. But in a stunning display of colossal grace, God has granted us sonship and promised to make us like Christ throughout the ions of eternity. Go ahead and meditate upon that, and if you even grasp a small piece of that truth, it must profoundly change your heart and life. To be a son; to be like the Lord Jesus; and to be promised all eternity. There is nothing more to be had.
So go ahead world, chase your passing dreams and your crumbling fortunes. Go ahead and pursue happiness in the spittoon that is this fallen world. Go ahead and place accolades upon yourselves and your so called heroes, and continue to seek the pleasures of sin for a season. You will find a modicum of happiness in such things, but their pleasures will be short lived. They will all disappear when eternity comes calling and when you must give an account for your lives.
Rom.8:18 - For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
We may suffer in the present world, and if we live for Him we will be persecuted. We may not be adorned in the finest apparael or drive the most expensive cars or dwell in luxury. We may live in modesty and even well below our means. We may not be recognized as intellectual giants, and we may suffer at the scoffing of the ademic society. We may not be elevated and receive the success as defined by this present world. Yes, our reward is surely not found in this present life.
But let those who name the name of Christ rejoice! Our lives cannot be weighed upon the scales of this present life. Our lives are hidden with Christ in God, and they await an astonishing revelation when we are made like unto our Wondrous Lord and Savior! This is no fairy tale, no pie in the sky, this is the gift of God Himself given by grace through faith in His Son’s gospel truth. This is the culmination of the gospel age, and this is the eternal reward for the sufferings of God’s Lamb. We have been grafted into God’s eternal family and an eternal celebration awaits His entire clan.
Halleluiah! What a Savior!
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