The Final Adoption

Rudy Du Plooy

Sermon • Submitted 7 months ago • Presented 7 months ago

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Today is the final Sunday in our Atonement Season.

We have learn so much!

The power of the blood.

The necessity of the cross.

The reconciliation of man.

And the miracle becoming a Child of God.

Last week we looked at the implication of the Spirit of Adoption.

We are going to look once more at this blessed adoption.

But first let us remind ourselves of our illustration seen in the Parable of the Prodigal Son:

In the story the son rebels against his father and leaves home for a distant country.

There he spends all his fathers inheritance on wild living.

Also a terrible famine occurred and this son found himself in a life or death situation.

Luke 15:17 BSB

17 Finally he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have plenty of food? But here I am, starving to death!

Finally he came to his senses and decides to repent and return home to his father.

When he gets home we see the fathers great love and mercy as this son is restored to the family.

Luke 15:22–24 BSB

22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again! He was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.

I want you to notice something:

This son was actually starving to death.

Do you know how long that takes and how sick it makes a person as their body cannibalizes itself for food?

I need you see that this sons rebellion did not just cost him his relationship with his father, but it also cost him the health of his body.

When this son came home and the father put a ring on his finger, clothes on his body and shoes on his feet - This was an instantaneous restoring.

But notice: The son was completely restored relationally to the father, but even at full reconciliation - the son would still have been suffering in body for his sins.

The father ordered that a fatted calf be prepared.

This fatted calf had a dual purpose:

Yes, as a celebration feast!

But also: It was a means to mend and heal the malnourished, dying body of his son.

We have a very similar situation.

Through the work of Jesus Christ we have indeed been fully reconciled with our Heavenly Father.

We are restored as His children and are adopted as sons.

However: Like the son’s body suffered because of his rebellion, so to do our bodies suffer.

Because of sin: sickness, disease, pain, defects, substance abuse - our bodies are subject to decay.

For the Adoption to be 100% complete, we need our Father, not only to restore our relationship but also our bodies.

This is exactly what the Apostle Paul is talking about in Romans 8 when he says:

Romans 8:18–23 BSB

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not comparable to the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the revelation of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time. 23 Not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Notice in v23 that the last aspect of our Adoption that we await for is the redemption, not of our soul which is already accomplished, but of our moral bodies.

When will we see the redemption of our bodies?

At the Resurrection.

The resurrection is, like the trinity, a scriptural truth that is difficult to explain but is also a wonderful promise.

Many in the early church did not understand the resurrection and they allowed Greek thought and Philosophy to shape their understanding.

To these false doctrines Paul was as harsh and blunt as could be!

The prevailing Greek philosophy was one of RECONSTRUCTION not RESURRECTION.

Believe it or not, this Greek line of thought is still very common even today.

Many church tradition forbid cremation for example believing that a person cannot be RECONSTRUCTED if there is nothing left.

Let us see how the Apostle deals with this:

1 Corinthians 15:35–36 BSB

35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36 You fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.

Paul’s reply to this kind of reasoning was very blunt: “You fool!”

Resurrection is not Reconstruction.

Nowhere does the Bible teach that, at the resurrection, God will “put together the pieces” and return to us our former bodies.

There is continuity(it is our body), but there is not identity (it is not the same body).

Paul knew that such miracles cannot be explained, so he used analogies to make the doctrine clear.

Seeds.

1 Corinthians 15:35–38 BSB

35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36 You fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or something else. 38 But God gives it a body as He has designed, and to each kind of seed He gives its own body.

When you sow seed, you do not expect that same seed to come up at the harvest.

The seed dies, but from that death there comes life.

You may sow a few grains of wheat, but you will have many grains when the plant matures.

Are they the same grains that were planted?

No, but there is still continuity.

You do not sow wheat and harvest barley.

Furthermore, what comes up at the harvest is usually more beautiful than what was planted.

If at the resurrection, all God did was to put us back together again, there would be no improvement.

Paul discussed the details of this marvelous change in 1 Corinthians 15:42–48.

1 Corinthians 15:42–48 BSB

42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead: What is sown is perishable; it is raised imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being;” the last Adam a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual, however, was not first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so also are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.

The body is sown (in burial) in corruption, because it is going to decay; but it is raised with such a nature that it cannot decay.

There is no decay or death in heaven.

It is buried in humility; but it is raised in glory.

In burial, the body is weak; but in resurrection, the body has power.

We shall be like Jesus Christ!

Today, we have a “natural body,” that is, a body suited to an earthly environment.

We received this body from our first parent, Adam: he was made of dust, and so are we.

But the resurrection body is suited to a spiritual environment.

In His resurrection body, Jesus was able to move quickly from place to place, and even walk through locked doors; yet He was also able to eat food, and His disciples were able to touch Him and feel Him.

The point Paul was making was simply this:

The resurrection body completes the work of redemption and gives to us the image of the Saviour.

We are made in the image of God as far as personality is concerned, but in the image of Adam as far as the body is concerned.

One day we shall bear the image of the Saviour when we share in His glory.

First the Natural; then the Spiritual

First Corinthians 15:46 states an important biblical principle:

1 Corinthians 15:46 BSB

46 The spiritual, however, was not first, but the natural, and then the spiritual.

First the “natural” (earthly), and then the “spiritual” (heavenly).

The first birth gives us that which is natural, but the second birth gives us that which is spiritual.

God rejects the first birth, the natural, and says, “You must be born again!”

He rejected Cain and chose Abel.

He rejected Abraham’s firstborn, Ishmael, and chose Isaac, the second-born.

He rejected Esau and chose Jacob.

If we depend on our first birth, we shall be condemned forever; but if we experience the new birth, we shall be blessed forever.

Conclusion:

This illustration may not answer every question that we have about the resurrection body, but they do give us the assurances that we need.

God will give to us a glorified body suited to the new life in heaven.

It will be as unlike our present body in quality as the glory of the sun is unlike a mushroom in the cellar.