It is clear that the children of God are are not merely all peoples of the earth, all children of God” in the sense we have seen in Scripture. “Children of God” are a special people, a people with certain qualifications.
Baptism into Christ is the first— We are all familiar with what baptism is, but “into Christ” — what exactly is this?
If we believe in Christ and his teaching, then we can be baptized into him. Baptism is burial in water in the name of Christ, of a man or woman who truly believes in the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. When a man does that, then God receives him and covers him with the name of Jesus Christ. He becomes Jesus Christ’s servant. He is in Christ for he has “put on” Christ. He is a child of God.
The Apostle Paul described it this way: “Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
This is a great change. When a believing man goes into the watery grave of baptism, he buries with Jesus his old way of life, his sins are forgiven in Jesus Christ and he comes forth a new man, newly born into the family of God. He has “put on” Christ. And all such believers become “one” in Christ.
The second qualification to being a child of God comes because they are Christs–therefore they are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.
To be heir to something, one must necessarily be in family line, lineage or seed to the passer-on. In this case, so those in Christ become Abraham’s seed and heirs to the promise given him. This promise we find in Genesis 13, verse 15. In speaking to Abraham, God said, “Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed for ever.”
God told Abram to “Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.”
But the years passed by. Abraham still lived in a tent and kings and rulers possessed their several portions of the land of promise. Abraham became old and his wife Sarah died. Where was he to bury her? Should he go back to Ur and lay her to rest in his homeland? No. There was but one place. She was to sleep in the land of promise and Abraham had to buy a plot of ground for the burying place. Had God forgotten ? Was Abraham tired of waiting for the inheritance? No indeed. Abraham died believing. Believing but never having received the fulfillment of the promise.
It’s not a strange story, but rather strangely wonderful, because the last chapter has not yet been written. Abraham will receive that land. It was to be his not merely for a lifetime; he was to have a far greater inheritance.
God has appointed a time when all the earth will be filled with His glory. It is the time when every faithful believer who has ever lived or who does live, will receive the great promise they have been “heir” to by their being “Christs”—remember what the Apostle Paul said in Galatians 3:26: “. . . and if ye be Christ’s–if we have heard and believe the gospel taught of Christ, if we have been baptized into his saving, name, if we have kept the faith, if we have fought a good fight, God has promised us the same promise that he promised Abraham, because we will have become an “heir” to that promise, in Christ.
And God has not forgotten Abraham. There are various passages you can look up which reveal God’s intent still with him: Acts 7:4-5; Hebrews 11:88-9; Hebrews 11:39; Luke 13:28. Abraham is asleep in the dust of the ground and the passing of the centuries will be only a “tick of the clock” when God awakens him from his sleep at the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then Abraham will receive the inheritance, in an immortal body, and his inheritance will be forever.
In John 1:12 we read, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”
And in Galatians 4:7—we read, “Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
God also calls believers “sons”–notice too in Romans 8 at verse 14, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
—And the often heard 1st verse in chapter 3 of 1 John, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:”
From all that we have looked at, we can clearly see that the “children of God” is a title which is meant for more than just all the peoples of the earth at large — “children of God” is a special title given to those who want to please God, have put on the saving name of the Lord Jesus Christ in baptism, and who, because they have done this and continually try to please God, have become heir to that great promise given to Abraham so long ago, by faith.
This is the “hope” spoken of in Titus 3, verse 7, where Paul says that, “. . . being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
If we desire to become children of God, this is what is promised us too, if we believe as Abraham did _________ a
place in the Kingdom of God, assisting the Lord Jesus Christ to govern the kingdom, living forever to enjoy the peace and prosperity of a truly God-governed world.
“He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them which diligently seek Him.”
There are scores upon scores of places in the Bible where the children of God are promised the earth forever. This is said again and again in Psalm 37.
This is the lifeline of God reaching out to you and to me. He wants us all to believe Him and to do what He asks. This world offers nothing but temporary pleasure and gain—it is empty of anything giving permanent happiness and all it can give permanently, is finally death.
We have nothing to lose and everything, life evermore, to gain.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
This glorious hope is ours, if we but believe, and obey.
“For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One