But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.
Wow! What a rich passage loaded with many wonderfully challenging ideas. God made history ready for the Savior, then sent his Son as that Savior. God's Son then dealt with all the difficulties of the law, the religious politics, and the frailties of mortality. Our Father bought our freedom at the terrible cost of his Son's crucifixion on a cross in front of a jeering mob jealous of his Son's popularity and afraid of his power. God allowed this so he could raise Jesus from the dead, and you and I could become his honored children, entitled with the Son to the Father's full inheritance (Romans 8:17). Paul is not being prejudiced or sexist in saying that we are given the rights of sons because in his day, daughters often didn't have any rights of inheritance. So, he is saying everyone in Christ — men and women — have the full rights of an honored son in God's family. God's perfectly timed plan and perfect Son led to the Father's perfect sacrifice that paid our ransom from sin and death, bringing us salvation and the assurance of glory in the future.
My Prayer...
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for all the pain it caused you to send Jesus and to see him persecuted, ridiculed, and crucified. Thank you for redeeming me from my sinful condition, for buying me out of the death that would have been the consequence of my sins, and for giving me the gift of freedom in Christ and the assurance that I will receive the full inheritance of your honored Son. To you belongs all glory, honor, and praise for your marvelous grace. In Jesus' name. Amen.
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Other Devotionals from Heartlight for Wednesday, April 4, 2012
"For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it; but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from....."
"[As Stephen continued his defense, he moved from God's deliverance of his people through Joseph and began to tell the story of Moses:] "As the time..."
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