But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
– Galatians 4:4–7
Oh wow, there’s so much we could talk about according to these verses. This is a picture of God sending his Son, Jesus so that we might be adopted as children. We are now sons and daughters of God and heirs through God. What a picture of adoption.
And just in case you’ve listened to this podcast a lot… And you’ve heard me mention many times about how for the last three and a half years, we have been waiting to adopt our son, JD from overseas… How we were three days away from going to pick him up back in January 2020. Then we got a call saying that would be postponed for a couple weeks. A couple of weeks turned into months, turned into years, but now JD is home in our family. We just got back a few weeks ago from bringing him home into our family as one of our sons.
Galatians 4:4–7 Teaches Us We Are Now Heirs to the Kingdom
There’s a lot that’s changed in our lives and in his life over the last month or so. And it’s such a small picture and there’s a lot we could talk about that parallels adoption in the Bible. A lot of hard and a lot of beautiful. But the reality of Galatians 4 that I want to encourage you with today is reflected in this new son in my home. He’s now a part of a family and he’s now an heir. Like not to get into specifics of his inheritance, but he’s like one of our children. He’s the same as all of our other children when it comes to being an heir and being loved by a dad, a mom, and siblings.
I want to just encourage you to see that this is a glorious, heavenly, eternal reality for you. You are a child of God. You’re in the family of God. You are an heir through God. You have a kingdom coming for you because God sent his Son Jesus to die on a cross for you.
Galatians 4:4–7 Teaches Us We Have Been Redeemed
Can we just pray as God’s children in light of Galatians 4?… And say, together, God, our Father in heaven, we praise you for adopting us. We praise you for sending your son born of woman under the law to redeem those who are under the law. Jesus, we praise you for your obedience to the law, for your sinless life… And then for your death on the cross to pay the price for our redemption from sin.
We praise you for your resurrection from the grave all so that we might receive adoption as sons and daughters. God, our Father, we praise you for the privilege of being your children, and we pray that you’d help us to live today in light of this reality, to live as your children, to live trusting in your love for us, enjoying your love for us, trusting in your provision for all that we need. That you are better than any earthly parent could ever be.
As much as the best parent in this world can provide for and protect and help and raise his or her child, you are infinitely better. Your protection, your provision is infinitely better. We praise you as our Father in heaven. Lord, we praise you for putting your Spirit in our heart by whom we cry right now Abba Father to you. We praise you for taking us from being slaves to sin and death and making us sons and daughters of yours and heirs of your kingdom in your family.
Prayer for the Afghan People
And God, we pray for Afghan people today, for Afghani men and women all around the world, including many who’ve been scattered as a result of what’s happened in Afghanistan, as well as those who are in Afghanistan. God, we pray for Afghans to be reached with the good news of your grace in Christ. We pray for Afghans to be brought into your family through Jesus. We pray for redemption stories to be written all across Afghanistan and in the many places where Afghans have spread in recent years. Now, we pray this for your glory as heavenly Father to all the peoples of the world whom you desire to redeem and to adopt. In Jesus’ name, we pray, the name of the one who makes our adoption possible. In his name we pray as your children. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
