The Manifestation of the Sons of God
by David A. DePra
For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the
sons of God. (Rom 8:19)
Because the sons and daughters of God in Jesus Christ are going to be used as
manifestations and extensions of Jesus Christ throughout the eternal ages, Paul
is able to exclaim that the entire creation is waiting for this reality to come
to fullness.
In this age God’s purpose begins with, and is carried out through, “Christ in
you, the hope of glory,” (Col. 1:27) -- but in the next age the fulfillment will
be, “Christ in you, the realization of His glory.” This is what all of creation
is waiting for -- Jesus Christ as Lord to be fully manifested in and through His
people.
But in what sense does all of creation figuratively wait for the manifestation
of Christ through His people? Paul
tells us:
For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the
sons of God.
For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him
who hath subjected
[the same]
in hope,
Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of
corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until
now.
And not only
[they],
but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves
groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption,
[to wit],
the redemption of our body. (Rom.
8:19-23)
Paul is alluding to what we saw happened when Adam sinned.
The entire world; the entire creation was forfeited into the hands of the
enemy. It became subject to, “the
bondage of corruption.” It is only
when the sons and daughters of God are fully manifested that the creation will
be set free from this realm of death into the glorious liberty of the children
of God. Note that the liberation of
the entire creation is directly linked to the children of God.
Sure. That is because IN and
THROUGH Christ we INHERIT it and rule over it.
The Inheritance
We read earlier a description of the apostle Paul as to exactly what the
children of God in Christ will become – let’s use the description in Greek of I
John 3:2:
It
has never yet been made manifest what we shall be, but we know that when what we
are in Christ is manifested, that it will be out from His likeness, and that
this will enable us to see Him as He is.
Here we see that, “manifestation of the sons of God” is actually the
manifestation of Jesus Christ in and through those sons and daughters.
This is the eternal inheritance of those sons and daughters:
We are to fully experience all that Jesus Christ has done and all that
Jesus Christ IS. We are to be fully
one with Him to the point where we express, manifest, and live as extensions of
Him.
This is confirmed even by the OT:
The Lord
[is]
the portion of mine inheritance.
(Ps. 16:5)
Faithful Stewardship
Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the
mysteries of God.
Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
(I Cor. 4:1-2)
What is faithfulness to the Lord?
The picture of a steward tells us that faithfulness means that we never take
ownership over what belongs to the Lord.
Even if God gives to us a ministry, or anything else, we are only
stewards. We are the
caretakers of what is OF HIM – to live in everything to His glory.
We saw earlier how Abraham had to give Isaac back to the Lord before he could be
trusted with all of the promises that God would bring to pass through Isaac.
This surrender was an expression of spiritual maturity from Abraham.
It opened up the fulfillment of all of the promises of God to him.
This goes hand in hand with the fact that we must become mature in Christ so
that we can be adopted – so that we can be responsible to God in our
inheritance. We must never take
ownership over even what God has given us.
The inheritance is not ours to hold within ourselves.
No. We are coheirs with
Christ as our Lord. We are stewards
who need to be faithful unto His purpose and glory.
This begins NOW. In this age, we
have what Paul called, “the earnest of our inheritance” – “earnest” means down
payment. Simply put, in this age,
our down payment is CHRIST IN US, the hope of glory.
The fullness will be Christ in us, the full realization of His glory in
and through us. But the question is
this: Are we being faithful to God
with the down payment of our inheritance?
What is our relationship with Christ NOW?
Many use the things of God for personal interest, personal gain – whether it be
pride or money or position or power.
Many do this blindly. But
this is not faithfulness to God. We
need to open ourselves up to the Lord that He might set us free from such error.
If we will personally give ourselves to Jesus Christ – lose ourselves to
Him – then all of these other matters will be under His ownership.
This is a vital question, because Jesus told a parable in which He pictured His
return and called his servants to account for what He had given them.
What he said to one of them says it all:
Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things,
I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
(Matt. 25:23)
What has been the outcome of CHRIST IN US?
What is our relationship with Jesus Christ NOW?
If we have been faithful to Jesus Christ NOW, there is being built in us
a FAITHFULNESS that we will take with us into the eternal ages – and we will be
able to be faithful over much THEN.
The issue here is not the much or the little in this age.
The issue is the faithfulness.
For what we are unto God with the down payment is who we will be unto God
with the fullness. This is a
serious issue.
God wants sons and daughters who will be faithful over what He entrusted to us.
He wants us to mature – which means, “Yet not I, but Christ.”
He wants to be able to trust us as faithful stewards over His
inheritance.
God’s Inheritance
Blessed
[is]
the nation whose God
[is]
the Lord;
[and]
the people
[whom]
he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
(Ps. 33:12)
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you
the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the
hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the
saints. (Eph. 1:17-18)
The inheritance of the sons and daughters of God is Jesus Christ – Christ in us
-- experiencing all that He is. But
the inheritance of God Himself is Jesus Christ in those same sons and daughters.
The manifestation of Jesus Christ in and through believers – reigning and
ruling the creation IS God’s inheritance.
God wants to be manifested and glorified.
All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.
(Num. 14:21)