“Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’ So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.” (Galatians 4:6-7)

When sin entered the world, mankind became slaves to sin. Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” (John 8:34) God set the stage for the slaves of sin to be set free through the Exodus. “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.” (Deuteronomy 6:21) As the people had been slaves, God brought them out of slavery with the promise to lead them to the promised land. Now, Jesus had come to bring people out of their sin and give to them life which will never end. And the faith of those who lived by faith in the promise of God’s hope of the Messiah gives us encouragement as we come to faith in Jesus. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

When we come to Christ, we are now a part of God’s family as His children. “Yet 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, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1:2-13) Through Christ, we move from slaves to sin into His forgiveness and His family and the inheritance which He is preparing for us. While we are born again into His family, we are also adopted into His family. “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.” (Galatians 4:4-5) This a legal understanding with the Holy Spirit as our guarantee. “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)

This relationship through the Holy Spirit gives us the privilege to call God, “Abba, Father.” (Galatians 4:6) Abba is a Hebrew name used for a close relationship, much like we would say daddy, or dad. The is the name used by Jesus in His prayer in Gethsemane. “’Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’” (Mark 14:36) As God in the flesh, Jesus called out to His “Abba” as the Son of God ready to die for us. Also the Son of man in the trial of giving His life as a man in our place. He comes to His “Abba” in the closeness they have shared for before time.

Now, as God’s children we will be able to come to Him through all of our lives, and also in the inheritance to come. We join Jesus the Son and all the family in the promise of God’s inheritance. Peter describes this inheritance in the opening of his first letter. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3-5)

We walk with the Living Word and the Written Word of God all the days of our lives. We will continue to walk with the giver of both as we will live in the inheritance promised by our “Abba, Father.”

In the Love of Jesus,

Michael Block