The Key to Life
When we look out into the universe, we realize that our planet is infinitesimally small compared to the vastness out there. Our planet is in a remote area, so very, very far from what is believed to be the center or origin of the universe. It is quite humbling. We appear to be so insignificant that many in the scientific community believe we are a cosmic accident, and thus on our own, subject to another cosmic accident that will extinguish us. But sonship reveals that we are not a cosmic accident, and though we are small, we are not insignificant!
By means of sonship with God, the vast universe that we are able to observe from afar is our inheritance. (Romans 8:17; Philippians 3:14; 1 Peter 1:3-4) When our time on earth is complete, the sons of God will venture into the heavens to see and experience up close and personal the things that scientists can only speculate about. It is the Father’s purpose that man first be flesh and blood and then later become spirit. The Apostle Paul explained this in this letter to the congregation in Corinth:
“So it is with the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised up in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised up in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised up in power. It is sown a physical body; it is raised up a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual one. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living person.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, what is spiritual is not first. What is physical is first, and afterward what is spiritual. The first man is from the earth and made of dust; the second man is from heaven. Like the one made of dust, so too are those made of dust; and like the heavenly one, so too are those who are heavenly. And just as we have borne the image of the one made of dust, we will bear also the image of the heavenly one.”
– 1 Corinthians 15:42-49
So in order to receive our heavenly inheritance, we must be changed from flesh and blood to spirit. The mortal body is not capable of living off the planet.
“I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.”
– 1 Corinthians 15:50
The sons of God will be given new bodies after death, bodies that are capable of surviving out in the heavenly universe:
“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.”
– 1 Corinthians 15:51-53
Those who do not accept or who reject sonship will complete their life adventure as do animals and that will be the end of that. (Psalms 146:4) It is as Jesus said: “the flesh counts for nothing.” (John 6:63) By its very nature, the flesh is inherently corruptible and perishable, just like everything else on this planet. No matter how much one may hope to live forever in the fleshly body, it is utterly impossible!
“Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.”
– Romans 8:5-8
However, sonship gives mankind hope. As mortals, born of woman, we are by nature sons of man, not sons of God. But the Father has promised to eventually adopt those sons of man who desire it, and make them spirit sons of God. It was his purpose even before our planet was formed:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.”
– Ephesians 1:3-5
Until our adoption to become “spirit sons of God” with incorruptible imperishable bodies, we have the privilege of being called “faith sons of God” by means of our faith in Christ Jesus:
“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.”
– Galatians 3:26
“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
– John 1:12
The Father gives his faith sons a ‘deposit’ of the spirit – His own personal spirit that dwells within each person who accepts their sonship (1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:19) – as the guarantee of our heavenly adoption and inheritance:
“Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”
– 2 Corinthians 5:5
“Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”
– 2 Corinthians 1:21-22
“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”
– Ephesians 1:13-14
The spirit of the Father, ‘the token in advance of our inheritance,’ relates us directly to the Father as his faith sons. In addition, we are faith sons because:
- Jesus, the original son of God became flesh, in man’s likeness (Philippians 2:7), so that those who join with him by ‘eating and drinking of him’ as he commanded (John 6:53-56; Matthew 26:26-28; Luke 22:19-20) are related to him as his brothers and can therefore be called the faith sons of God.
- The spirit of the son of God – the Spirit of Truth – was poured out upon mankind so that all who allow themselves to be guided by spirit will be guided into the heavenly inheritance where the original son of God resides. (John 16:13; John 14:2-3; Romans 8:14-17)
- We are baptized into Christ’s death symbolizing that we have died as to our fleshly life and are being raised up in spirit, poised to receive spirit life the way Jesus did. (Romans 6:3-4) We are born again, born anew, born of spirit. (John 3:3)
Those who reject our Father and who spurn His heavenly inheritance do not have the divine spirit deposit and do not belong to Him. (Romans 8:9) But all who accept the deposit of the spirit, who become related to Jesus by eating and drinking of him, who are baptized into Christ’s death by abandoning their hold on a fleshly life, will be actually born again of the spirit. Only those who are born again and given imperishable bodies can live forever. And only those faith sons will gain the heavenly inheritance which is far more glorious than even our wildest imaginations. (1 Corinthians 2:9)
