The Source of Adoption

On this blog, we have discussed the details surrounding Hugo's entrance into our lives, the financial facts, our children's reactions to the event, the band that will be performing at the concert, and lots of other things that have been part of this fabulous adventure called adoption. But the whole idea of adoption comes from somewhere and we haven't addressed that directly yet.

Now perhaps some of you know where I am going with this and are perhaps rolling your eyes. Please keep reading even if it's only to humor me. If nothing else, it will help you understand us a little better and how it is we find ourselves in this exciting time of our lives.

We are Christians. I have been for as long as I can remember, really. I got saved when I was young - at an AWANA meeting (are they still around?). We believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and is the fulfillment of much prophecy from the Old Testament. And we believe the whole Bible, Old Testament and New, is really about adoption.

In the Old Testament, God chose a people - Israel - for Himself. They were his own choosing and He did so for no other reason than He chose to. That's adoption. When the Israelites found themselves captive in Egypt, God spoke about them and called them His "first born son." The rest of the Old Testament considers the times of this chosen people and proclaims the coming of God's only begotten son, Jesus.

When Jesus arrives in the New Testament, adoption again is front and center. The Old Testament prophets said that Jesus would be of the line of David and He is - through His adoptive father Joseph. That adoption was so complete and real that it was enough to fulfill prophecy. That's pretty amazing. And after Jesus death on the cross and resurrection, salvation (adoption!) became available to all who would believe. Check out Ephesians 1:4-6:

⁴ just as ^(A)He chose us in Him before ^(B)the foundation of the world, that we would be^(C)holy and blameless before ^[a]Him. ^(D)In love ^5 [b]He ^(E)predestined us to ^(F)adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, ^(G)according to the ^[c]kind intention of His will, ^6 (H)to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in ^(I)the Beloved.


So are we adopting Hugo simply because we are Christians and we think it is the Christian thing to do? Nope. We find that somehow, inexplicably, we love this little boy that we have never met. We want him to be part of our family and when he is, he will not be a second-class member of our family. He is not an add-on or an afterthought. He is a member of this family completely and due all the rights and responsibilities that come with that. Just like the Israelites were completely God's firstborn. Just like Jesus was really part of Joseph's family. Just like we are now really sons of God the Father. 


Check out this great song about the nature of spiritual adoption by Third Day:

Thanks for reading.