To make the conversation of the adoption of sons (not daughters) work, you must remember that sonship in the Bible not only covers the male but also includes the female. A son is the represented heir to the kingdom. When you think of a son as a male figure, don’t forget to remember that he is only one part of what is represented, not least the daughter. Without a queen in the kingdom, there would be no sons or daughters to speak of because there would be no family, and family is everything in a kingdom, especially in God’s. As we advance, when I speak of the adoption of sons, it includes the entire kingdom.
Abraham is the shadow of God the Father.
Paul gives us a good example of adoption when He taught that we can be Abraham’s children by faith. Abraham was the father that God chose to create the family of God on earth. Abraham’s seed eventually brought forth Jesus Christ into the world. Let’s consider that most people are not the children of Abraham through the natural flesh. In this case, to be counted as Abraham’s children, we must be adopted into his family. This adoption happens when the Spirit of the Son, Jesus Christ, by faith, makes you a child of Abraham.
Because of the limitation of the flesh, the Spirit of the Son adopts you into Abraham’s family. Since you can’t be reborn in the flesh, you must be legally adopted into His family by the Spirit. Because of the Spirit of Jesus entering your heart and because He is the Son of Abraham, we, too, by faith, are now the sons of Abraham. All tribes, languages, people, and nations, no matter skin color or culture, can now be counted as Abraham’s children because of the blood of Jesus Christ.
This idea was addressed by Jesus when He was talking to Pharisee Jews. They said they were the children of Abraham in the flesh. (Remember, these Pharisees hated Jesus and had Him killed because He said He was the Son of God.) When talking to them, Jesus acknowledged that they were Abraham’s children through the flesh, but He clarified that they were not Abraham’s children by the Spirit because they were not living by the same faith as Abraham.
The point here is that it didn’t matter that they were Abraham’s children after the flesh. (The flesh dies, but the Spirit lives forever.) The part that mattered most was being Abraham’s children by the Spirit, which breaks down all barriers of flesh. This matters because the entire ministry of Jesus centered around this one idea; receive Him into your heart by the Spirit, and you will be adopted into His spiritual family. And His Spirit not only makes you a child of Abraham, but a child of God, and Jesus, your brother.
God, the true Father.
If Abraham lived as the father on the earth in the shadow of the true, God is our true Father in heaven. The connection to Abraham and God is through the Spirit of His Son, Jesus Christ. He is born of God and Abraham, representing heaven and earth according to the prophecy.
When God adopts you, the Spirit of the Son, Jesus Christ, enters your heart and reveals that God is your Father and you are His son. In Him, you have a new identity and a new spiritual family that is not limited to the flesh. Those who believe and receive a new birthright will redeem their corruptible flesh and put on a new body made after God’s likeness. A birthright that allows you to be free in the Spirit.
God’s adoption of all believers puts you into His eternal family and makes you heirs with Jesus Christ.
“It is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise who are counted as offspring.” These are the adopted ones. If you live as children in the flesh but want to be free to live in the Spirit, you must be adopted as children by the Spirit.