The many sons of God of whom the church is composed have all been predestinated unto sonship (Eph. 1:5). We have not become sons of God because of an accident; we were predestinated to be the sons of God before the foundation of the world. In eternity past God decided that we would be His sons. Firstly, God foreknew us (Rom. 8:29). After this, He selected us. Regardless of how you feel about yourself, God selected you before the foundation of the world. After foreknowing and selecting us, God predestinated us. The word predestinate includes the thought of being marked out. In eternity past, before creation, God put a mark upon us. He marked us out beforehand. For what did God predestinate us? For sonship. We have been predestinated unto sonship.
It is difficult to find this concept among many Christians today. The concept commonly found among Christians is that we have been predestinated unto salvation. There is hardly any consideration about sonship. We do not have the concept of sonship because we have been influenced by traditional Christian teachings. Once again, we must be recovered back to the pure Word. The pure Word tells us that we have been predestinated unto sonship. As long as you are a son of God, you have nothing to worry about.
We did not become sons of God by accident. Suppose you repented and believed in the Lord Jesus as the result of an automobile accident. According to your feeling, that was all an accident, but according to God, it was because you had already been marked out. Why did you have that accident? Simply because you were a little stubborn. God, in His sovereignty, permitted that accident in order to bring you into sonship. But sonship is not an accident. It was planned ahead of time. If anyone reading this message has been saved as the result of an automobile accident, it must have been because God used that to cause you to turn to Him. We, God’s chosen ones, are surrounded by angels who know how to arrange our surroundings that we might be brought into sonship. Many of us were forced to believe. Once we found ourselves in a certain situation, and there was no escape. Eventually we had to kneel down and call, “O Lord Jesus.” When we did this, all the angels rejoiced because we obtained sonship. The destiny of angels is to be ministering servants. Our destiny is sonship.
As the chosen ones of God, we have been born of God to be His many sons. At the time when we received the Lord Jesus by believing in Him we were born of God and received the right to be the children of God (John 1:12-13). From that time on, the Spirit of God always bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God (Rom. 8:16). Even at times when we are weak or are backsliding, we still have the deep conviction that we are the children of God because once we have been born of God we shall be His children forever. We have received the eternal sonship through our regeneration.
When we were born of God, we were born of the Spirit in our spirit (John 3:6). In our flesh we were born of our parents. But it is in our spirit that we have been born of the Spirit of God to be His children. God has sent the Spirit of His Son into us that we might be the many sons of God like His Firstborn (Gal. 4:6). To be the many sons of God is a matter in our spirit and with the Spirit of the Son of God.
Since we have been born of the Spirit in our spirit, we have the spirit of sonship (Rom. 8:15). It is difficult to determine whether this spirit refers to the divine Spirit or to the human spirit. It includes both, for the spirit that we have received is a mingled spirit, a spirit that is both divine and human. Romans 8:15 says that we, the sons of God, cry, “Abba, Father,” but a sister verse, Galatians 4:6, says that the Spirit cries, “Abba, Father.” This means that when we cry, Abba, Father, the Spirit also cries and that when the Spirit cries, it is we who cry. We and the Spirit are one.
As yet, we do not have the full sonship, which is the redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23). We are waiting for full sonship, the redemption or the transfiguration of our physical body. In other words, although we have been born of God in our spirit, we have not yet been born of Him in our body. The day is coming when our body will be transfigured. Then we shall have the full sonship. We are waiting for this.