Children then heirs
Relationship
Born-again
Jesus
came to reveal to us the Father heart of God. He said, “If you’ve seen me
you’ve seen the Father.” Jesus was speaking to Old Covenant believers who were
under the law. They for the most part related to God as if he was a stern
task-master who would punish any disobedience. That was their concept of God.
Before
the work of the cross, the Holy Spirit had not yet been sent. The Holy Spirit
would come on some at times, such as kings, prophets and judges, yet these
people were not born-again, but they were
in covenant relationship with God. To be included in this covenant you had to
be born a Hebrew. Now there was some provision for the foreigner, but to be
automatically included in this covenant, whether male or female, you had to be
born a Hebrew. If you were a male, you had to be circumcised at a certain age,
or you would be excluded from the covenant and all that the covenant provided.
For
most of them, they related to God through temple service and rituals, striving
to keep the law their hearts were often cold. Through the law is the fear of
punishment. It’s hard to relate to someone or something that you think is
watching and judging your every move. You’ll probably remain distant in heart.
God
relates to people through covenants. Covenants are somewhat like agreements. If
I feel as though I owe someone something and I can’t pay it back, I’ll probably
avoid that person or feel guilty every time I’m near them. That debt would be
on my mind, probably causing me to remain distant. If these Old Covenant Hebrews
broke the Old Testament law, there was a prescribed offering or sacrifice that
covered that sin until the next time they fell short, but their slate wasn’t
clean for very long.
Their
sin debt was always on their conscience. Under the Old Covenant, for the Hebrew
it meant their obedience and their offering the prescribed sacrifice if they
weren’t faithful to keep the law of Moses, or else judgment came. Once again,
enter Jesus and parables like the prodigal son. He revealed a loving Father who
longs for us, who accepts us just as we are.
The
Bible tells us if we are born-again we are children of God through faith and we
can give thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance
of his holy people. Our sin debt has been wiped clean by the work of the cross
and the Spirit we received brought about our adoption to son-ship.
