June 24
“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. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ,” Galatians 4:4-7.
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden by eating of the forbidden fruit, our gracious God gave His first promise of a Savior. The promise was made in the presence of the devil, who had lied and tempted Eve while he was in the assumed form of a serpent. God said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed: He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel,” Genesis 3:15.
The picture in that first promise of a Savior foretold that the Seed of the woman, the virgin-born Jesus, would crush the serpent’s head – that is, He would conquer the devil. It is the picture of killing a snake by stepping on the snake’s head with one’s heel and then giving a twist to crush the source of its poisonous bite. However, in the process, the heel of the Seed of the woman, the promised Jesus, would be bitten – He would suffer and die to conquer the poison of sin, death, and the devil.
When the fullness of the time had come, not according to man’s calendar, but according to God’s plan of salvation, God sent forth His Son, born of the Virgin Mary. He was born as the sinless Son of God, according to the angel’s promise to Mary: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God,” Luke 1:35. Mary was a sinner just like every other person. Jesus was the Holy One by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The sinless Son of God was born to fulfill the Law of God perfectly in our place by His holy life. He redeemed us from the curse of the Law. With all of His teaching and preaching, with His mighty works and wonders, and with His many miracles, He proved that He was indeed the almighty Son of God and the promised Savior. Finally, He prepared the way for our salvation with His innocent suffering and death on Calvary’s cross. He paid the price for our redemption. We were redeemed, as Peter writes, not with gold or silver, “But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot,” 1 Peter 1:19. When Jesus began His public ministry, John the Baptist pointed to Him and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” John 1:29.
Now, by faith in Him as God’s Son and our Savior, we are received as adopted sons and daughters into the family of God. The Holy Spirit has touched our hearts with the glorious Gospel, and called us to faith in Christ, our one and only Savior.
With faith in Christ for full and complete forgiveness for all our sins, we look into the face of God. As forgiven sinners, we do not behold an angry look. We behold the smiling, loving, forgiving look on the face of our heavenly Father, and we hear Him say, “Son, daughter, your sins are all forgiven! Come and enjoy the peace and pardon in heaven!”
In response to His gracious invitation, we say, “Abba! Father!” The Holy Spirit moves us to cry out, “Father! Father!” Amen.
“Oh, that I had a thousand voices,
To praise my God with thousand tongues!
My heart, which in the Lord rejoices,
Would then proclaim in grateful songs
To all, wherever I might be,
What great things God hath done for me.” Amen.