In J. I. Packer’s classic, “Knowing God,” the longest chapter is no. 19, “Sons of God.” He devoted almost thirty pages to the doctrine of our adoption as children of God! There and elsewhere Packer has written these powerful words about this marvelous doctrine.
Adoption is the highest privilege that the gospel offers: higher even than justification. The traitor is forgiven, brought in for supper, and given the family name. “Father” is the Christian name for God. Were I asked to focus the New Testament message in three words, my proposal would be ADOPTION THROUGH PROPITIATION, and I do not expect ever to meet a richer or more pregnant summary of the gospel than that.
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the greatest preacher in the English language of the 20th century, devoted thirteen years of his preaching at London’s Westminster Chapel going through Romans. When it came to the doctrine of adoption in 8:14-17, he spent an entire year!
The word “adoption” only comes a few times in the Bible, but the subject is spread throughout. In both Romans and Galatians, Paul tells us that as children of God, we haven’t received a spirit of fear but rather one of adoption, that leads us to cry out “Abba, Father.” This was an indispensable part of the doctrine of salvation about which the Apostle John wrote. In the prologue to his gospel, he wrote of Jesus, “To all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, not of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” And in 1 John 3:1, we read, “See what kind of love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God.” And how can we forget that Jesus taught us to pray, “Our FATHER which art in heaven …”
Adoption is part of the “golden chain” of our salvation (as Spurgeon and others have called it, including John Murray in his classic “Redemption: Accomplished and Applied”) that Paul alluded to in Romans 8:29-30. The links in this glorious chain are: predestination, election, calling, regeneration, conversion (repentance and faith), justification, ADOPTION, union with Christ, sanctification, glorification. Adoption is briefly defined in question 74 of the Westminster Larger Catechism in these words:
Adoption is an act of the free grace of God, in and for His only Son Jesus Christ, whereby all those that are justified are received into the number of His children, have His name put upon them, the Spirit of His Son given to them, are under His fatherly care and dispensations, admitted to all the liberties and privileges of the sons of God, made heirs of all the promises, and fellow-heirs with Christ in glory.
A larger description is found in Chapter XII of the Westminster Confession of Faith.
Adoption as children of God is possible only for those who come to God through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus called unbelieving Pharisees children of their father, the Devil, in John, chapter 8, verses 42-45. And in John 1:12-13 we read that it’s only those who believed in Jesus’ name who have the right to be called children of God. When people speak of all people as children of God, this is true only in the sense that all human beings are creatures made by Him. But while being born physically makes us all children in that sense, only those born again spiritually have the right to this wonderful privilege of adoption.
But oh, what marvelous privileges do we who are adopted in Christ enjoy! As a child of God, I am assured of His fatherly love in each and every circumstance of life. As a child of God, I can count on His fatherly discipline to keep me from straying into destructive sinful patterns. As a child of God, I am always granted access to His throne room to come for encouragement, guidance, and consolation. As a child of God, I will always have His fatherly protection, knowing that He will cause all things to work for my good and His glory. As a child of God, I know He will be working out His great plans for me for a future that will honor Him and most effectively bless me. As a child of God, I look forward to a glorious inheritance, as an heir of God and joint heir with Christ, an inheritance we will receive in full when we’re home at last with the Lord.
Sadly, there are few hymns about adoption in our hymnals. Many have included the Swedish hymn “Children of the Heavenly Father” and Joseph Humphrey’s “Blessed Are the Sons of God,” but another wonderful hymn on the subject is the gospel song “I’m a Child of the King.” It was written by Harriet E. Buell (1834-1910) on her way to Sunday School one Lord’s Day morning. It was apparently noticed by Dwight Moody’s song leader, Ira Sankey, in 1877 and used in their evangelistic meetings. Music publisher John Sumner had been praying for a gospel song to replace the one that he had been hoping for from his friend and teacher (and hymn composer) Philip Bliss, who had recently died unexpectedly. When Sumner saw these words, he knew that his prayer had been answered.
Mr. Peter P. Bilhorn relates the following incident in connection with this hymn, which happened when he was engaged in evangelistic work among the cowboys in the West, in 1883. “We had started up the Missouri River for Bismarck, and on Sunday we stopped at a new town, named Blunt, to unload some freight. A crowd of men and boys came down to the wharf. I took my little organ, went on the wharf-boat, and sang a few songs—among others the glorious hymn, ‘I’m a child of a King.’ I thought nothing more of the occasion until long afterward, when I sang the same song in Mr. Moody’s church in Chicago. Then a man in the back part of the house arose and said in a trembling voice: ’Two years ago I heard that song at Blunt, Dakota; I was then an unsaved man, but that song set me to thinking, and I decided to accept Christ, and I am now studying for the ministry.’” How many more have come to Christ through this simple song, only eternity will tell.
In stanza 1, we sing about the riches of our heavenly Father. When Satan tempts us to be anxious as medical bills pile up, as unexpected car repairs arise, as retirement funds take a hit, this song reminds us that our heavenly Father “has riches untold.” Whatever we may lack, it’s not because He’s unable to meet our material needs. We need to remind ourselves that He will give us, out of the limitless resources of His storehouses, all that we truly need, all that He knows we need to accomplish His purposes in our lives.
My Father is rich in houses and lands,
He holdeth the wealth of the world in His hands!
Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold,
His coffers are full, He has riches untold.
Refrain:
I’m the child of a King, the child of a King,
With Jesus, my Saviour, I’m the child of a King.
In stanza 2, our attention turns to the Lord Jesus. Though His wealth was the same as that of His Father in eternity, in His incarnation He humbled Himself and became poor for our sakes, so poor that He had no place of His own to lay His head. He can fully sympathize with our weaknesses. But not only did He become poor that we might become rich, He is now reigning in glory with the promise that He is preparing a home for us there.
My Father’s own Son, the Saviour of men,
Once wandered o’er earth as the poorest of them;
But now he is reigning for ever on high,
And will give me a home in heav’n by and by.
In stanza 3, we consider the enormous contrast between what we were before being adopted, and what we are now as children of God. Three words capture our plight – stranger, sinner, and alien, conditions that only rendered us to be pitied. But we were also trapped in hopelessness, conditions from which we were powerless to rescue ourselves. But as adopted children, with our name written in the Lamb’s book of life, we now have three very different words to describe what awaits us – a mansion, a robe, and a crown.
I once was an outcast stranger on earth,
A sinner by choice, and an alien by birth!
But I’ve been adopted, my name’s written down,
An heir to a mansion, a robe, and a crown.
In stanza 4, we seek to get things in perspective. This life is so brief, why should I care if I only have a tent or a cottage here in this life, when God promises me a palace in glory, one infinitely more magnificent than anything I could ever imagine. The Christian life is one of faith in God’s promises today, even before they are completely fulfilled. It’s also one that requires patient endurance, waiting for that day when I will dwell in His presence, completely satisfied with His goodness. And all of this is certain because … I’m His child, and He loves me.
A tent or a cottage, why should I care?
They’re building a palace for me over there!
Though exiled from home, yet still I may sing:
All glory to God, I’m the child of a King.
Sadly, there are no pictures of Harriet Buell on-line, and few recordings of the song. Here’s one of the few.