To Redeem Them That Were Under The Law

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 

Galatians 4:4,5 

As we continue to contemplate the subject of adoption, we come today to consider, who will God adopt into His Family?  Our text has laid the groundwork for this discussion.  Looking back over our previous thoughts upon this text, we see that they are a people included in the Providential Plan of the Sovereign God.  They are a people for whose sake God the Father sent the very willing, obedient Son.  They are a people for whom Christ endured great humiliation, both in life and in death.  They are a people whom Christ came ‘to redeem,’ according to the phrase we are considering today.  They are a people ‘under the law.’  These are all indicators as to whom God intends to adopt.  Ephesians tells us that these are people whom God ‘predestinated…unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the pleasure of his will.’  To this point, David, speaking in the 110th Psalm declares, ‘Your people shall be willing in the day of your power.’  There, David is quoting God the Father, Who is addressing Christ.  Christ declared in John 6, ‘All that the Father gives me shall come to me.’  From these evidences, taken together, we conclude that Christ came ‘to redeem’ these people who were, ‘chosen…in him before the foundation of the world.’  We have no reason to equivocate about our inclusion in this company since what it elicits from us by way of response is, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.’  Many of us have heard the call of a loving Savior.  We invite you to hear His call as well. 

Our Great and Saving God, we rejoice in Your Redemption, 
accomplished and applied, 
unto all for whom You have intended it. 
We look to You, the only Redeemer of God’s Elect.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning