In this message we shall consider:
Ephesians 1:5 says, “Having predestinated us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” Ephesians 1:9 goes on to say, “Having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself.” God has a will in which is His good pleasure. This good pleasure is the desire of His heart. God’s good pleasure is the delight of His heart.
God’s good pleasure, God’s heart’s desire, is to have many sons. God has predestinated us, marked us out beforehand, that is, before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4), unto a certain destiny. The destiny of God’s marking us out beforehand is sonship. The goal of God’s predestination is to have many sons. This is God’s heart’s desire and is emphatically revealed in the book of Romans.
The central thought of the book of Romans is that God’s salvation makes sinners His sons with His life and nature to express Him so that they may become constituents of the Body of Christ for His expression.
Romans 8:14 says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” The Spirit’s leading in our daily life is a sign that we are the sons of God. As sons of God, we have God’s life and nature. The Spirit’s leading always corresponds with God’s life and nature to prove that we are sons of God.
Romans 8:15 says, “You have not received a spirit of slavery to fear again, but you have received a spirit of sonship in which we cry, Abba, Father.” As sons of God, we cry, “Abba, Father.” Through the dispensing of the Triune God, we have truly become God’s sons in life; hence, we can call Him, “Abba, Father.” As sons of God, we have within us the life of God, the nature of God, and the Spirit of the Son of God.
Romans 8:29 goes on to say, “Whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He should be the Firstborn among many brothers.” In the initial stage we are children of God (Rom. 8:16). In the advanced stage we are sons of God (Rom. 8:14). Romans 8:29 does not say that we shall be conformed to the image of the children of God; it says that we shall be conformed to the image of the Son of God. Through the process of conformation, the firstborn Son of God, Jesus Christ, will have many brothers. As the Son of God, Christ was the unique, only begotten Son. Now through His incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection, He has become the firstborn Son of God, and the many sons of God, who are His brothers, are being conformed to His image.
In Romans 1:4 the Firstborn of God is designated, but in 8:29 the many sons of God are conformed. The designation of the Firstborn of God is the work on the prototype; the conformation of the many sons of God is the work of mass production. Having gained the prototype, God is now seeking to have the mass production in order to produce many sons in the image of the Firstborn.
God’s goal according to His good pleasure, the desire of His heart, is to produce many sons. This goal of producing many sons of God requires redemption, the imparting of life, and the living by this life so that they may be regenerated, transformed, and conformed to the image of the Firstborn of God. God uses His firstborn Son as a prototype, a model, a pattern, to produce many sons. Thus, God’s only begotten Son has become the Firstborn among many brothers. This is the issue of the dispensing of the Triune God into us.
Hebrews 2:10 says that God is “leading many sons into glory.” The many sons here are the many brothers in Romans 8:29. The last step of God’s great salvation is to bring His many sons into glory. Romans 8 tells us that God’s work of grace upon us began with His foreknowing through His predestination, calling, and justification and will end with His glorification (vv. 29-30). Romans 8 also says that the whole creation eagerly expects the revelation, the glorification, of the sons of God, hoping that the creation itself will enter into the freedom of the glory of the children of God (vv. 19-21). This will take place at the Lord’s coming back, at which time we shall appear with Him in glory (Col. 3:4). This glorification of the sons of God, as the goal of God’s salvation, will last through the millennial kingdom and will be manifested in full in the New Jerusalem for eternity (Rev. 21:11, 23).
The Triune God is still working today to bring His many sons into glory. We are sons of God, but we are not yet in glory. One day we shall all be in glory. That will be the redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23). Our body has not yet been redeemed, but one day it will be transfigured into a glorious body (Phil. 3:21). This redemption of our body is our full sonship.
Revelation 21:7 says, “He who overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be God to him, and he shall be a son to Me.” This speaks of the sons of God in eternity in the New Jerusalem. Here “overcomes” means to overcome by believing, as in 1 John 5:4 and 5. This overcoming qualifies all believers to participate in the New Jerusalem with all its enjoyment as a common portion of God’s eternal salvation for His sons. Actually, the sons of God in the New Jerusalem will be the constituents of the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem will be a composition of all the regenerated sons of God to fulfill the desire of God’s heart.
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