Before Christ came, God’s chosen people =
were
heirs under the custody of the law.
Actually, all of us, whether Jew or Gentile were under/enslaved to
“the elements of the world.”&n=
bsp;
“Until the time appointed by the Father.” “The fullness of the time ca=
me when
God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under law.” God sent His Son, Jesus, that firs=
t, He
might redeem us from under the law, so that second we might receive the
sonship. The goal of Christ&#=
8217;s
redemption is not heaven, but sonship.&nbs=
p;
Through His redemption, He has opened the way for us to possess the
sonship. ”And because y=
ou are
sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abb=
a,
Father!”
The Spirit of His Son into our hearts is cryin=
g,
Abba, Father! That is what the
Spirit is always doing in our heart.
Romans 8:15 says that from our spirit we are the ones crying Abba,
Father! This is because the S=
pirit
and our human spirit have become mingled and are one in crying out to the
Father. In Mark 14:36 Jesus c=
alled
out Abba, Father in His prayer in the garden. This prayer to the Father indicate=
s that
for eternity there had never been a separation in their fellowship and that=
if
possible the Son would have this cup pass from Him. Nevertheless He was for the
Father’s will to be accomplished.&nb=
sp;
In the gospels we see Jesus did nothing from Himself, spoke nothing =
from
Himself but was in the Father and the Father was in Him.
Actually, Jesus was always coming to, in conta=
ct
with and one with the Father. As
with the First Born Son of God, so it is with us, as the many sons of God, our mingled spirit is
constantly coming to, in contact with and one with the Father. The reality of sonship comes only =
by the
Spirit.
Consider the two sons in Luke 15. The younger son, in verse 17 after
having squandered all, having come to himself, he said, “How many of my father's hired servants
abound in bread, but I am perishing here in famine!” This was due to the enlightening a=
nd
searching of the Spirit within him.
The Spirit in our spirit is always bringing us, the heirs, back to t=
he
father that we may enter into the reality of all the riches of our inherita=
nce.
The older son, however, =
remained
as a slave, much like the Galatians who were brought back to the custody of=
the
elements of the world. Verse =
29
says, “Behold, so many years I have been slaving for you
and have never neglected a command of yours, and you have never given me a =
goat
that I might be merry with my friends;…” The older son signifies
those who pursue the law of righteousness by their own work. This person had no felicitation bu=
t was
filled with judgement of what was right or wrong, even to the point of hatr=
ed.
May we be those sons who embrace the mingled
spirit and receive its searching, enlightening and leading that we might en=
ter
into the reality of the sonship with all the riches of our Father’s h=
ouse
as the rightful heirs of God.