Rabbi Schneider - What Does Being Children of God Mean?
More than anything else, beloved one, you and I need to know Father God as our own Daddy, and to understand that we are the children of his own loins. You know what John the apostle said in the Book of 1 John, chapter 3, verse 1? He said this: Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us, that we should be called the children of God. I encourage you to get this entire series because I've covered so much profound, simple truth that will set you free. I don't want anybody to miss this, because knowing God as Father is the aim to which the Gospel destinizes us to, and is the reason that the Father sent Jesus to us. Many of us, as I've been sharing, have made it all about Jesus, and in so doing, we've missed the mark, because even though Jesus is God and we worship Jesus as God, the end is not Jesus. But Jesus came to bring us into relationship with the Father.
Don't misunderstand me. We're in relationship with our Messiah Jesus forever. We're gonna stand before him in heaven and cast our crowns at his feet for coming for us, for saving us, for dying for our sins. And there's no way to the Father but through Jesus. But at the end of the day, it's the Father that sent Jesus to us to bring us into relationship with himself. This is why Paul said in Romans, 8:15, that we've received the spirit of adoption by which we now cry out, Abba Daddy, Abba Father God. God wants you and I, beloved one, to know him as Father. You see, this is the most desperate need that you have. Let's go back historically and kind of put this in perspective. Did you know that the first man, Adam, was actually called a son of God? Adam was called God's son.
So we see, for example, in the Book of Luke, chapter number 3, verse 38, this statement. Speaking of the genealogy it says that the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, get it now, the son of God. Adam was literally called God's son. God created Adam, get it now, in his own image so that God could relate to Adam as a father and a son. Just like we sometimes have children, when I say sometimes I'm just saying for those of us that have children, and our children are in our own likeness, and we can relate to our children as moms and dads, so too, God created Adam in his own image that he could relate to Adam as a son. And so Adam is called the son of God. But what happened? Lucifer, Satan, was in the garden lurking, right. And Satan had already been cast out of heaven.
Why was Satan cast out of heaven? Listen to me, because Satan didn't want a father. Satan didn't want God to be his father. Satan wanted to be independent. He wanted to be like God. And so we see, for example, in the Book of Isaiah, and in the Book of Ezekiel, we see here a description of who Satan is and what he was like. So for example, in Isaiah, chapter 14, verse 13-14, we read this; the Lord here prophetically referring to the devil he said this: But you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. And of course north means up. I will ascend above the heights of the cloud; I will make myself like the Most High. And so what was in Satan's heart? He said, I will ascend above the heights, and I will make myself like the Most High God.
In Ezekiel, chapter 28, we find an even more elaborate description of what was in Satan's heart and what caused him to be cast out of heaven down to the earth. Listen: Again the Word of the LORD came to me saying, Ezekiel, 28, Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him... This was a prophetic person that represented a greater prophetic reality, a greater, he was a symbol of a great prophetic reality. Thus says the Lord GOD, You had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the ruby, the topaz and the diamond; the beryl, the onyx and the jasper; the lapis, the lazuli, the turquoise, the emerald; the gold and the workmanship of your settings and sockets was in you. On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked in the midst of the stones of fire. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you. By the abundance of your trade you were internally filled with violence, and you sinned; Therefore I cast you out as profane from the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up, here we go now, pride. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you out before kings, that they may see you.
And so what happened, this one whom pride arose in, Satan, Lucifer, he wanted to become like God. He wanted to rise above God. He wanted no father in his life anymore. He wanted to be the end of all things. He was cast out. He was cast to the earth. And what did he seduce Adam with, who was called we just saw, the son of God. Adam in Luke, 3:38, was called the son of God. What did Satan seduce Adam with? He said if you eat from this tree, right, in the Book of Genesis, chapter 3, Lucifer said to Satan, if you eat from this tree, you will become like God. Isn't that exactly what Satan said in heaven, which caused him to be cast out? So we see now that same spirit that's in Satan that resulted in him being cast out of heaven, we now see him tempting Adam, who was called God's son, with that same spirit. And when Adam fell for it through the deception of his wife, Eve; right, it all started out with the devil who tempted Eve, and said to Eve, if you eat from it you're gonna become like God. Then Eve seduced Adam. And then when they ate from it, what happened? Separation took place.
Immediately they realized they were naked and they lost, beloved, get it now, a sense of sonship. This is very important, because mankind, humankind was created originally to walk in sonship with God. Again when I say sonship, I'm speaking of both daughters and sons, to know God as Father. The Book of Corinthians, chapter 6, tells us, God says come to me and I will receive you as sons and daughters. So we were created to be the daughters and the sons of God. But when Adam sinned, the sense of sonship was lost. So the Father sent Jesus to restore us to that original relationship where we can know God as God. I want to just take a step back again. I want to show you this in the Book of Genesis, chapter number 3. Once again, Adam is called in Luke, 3:38, the son of God. But then in Genesis, chapter 3, verse 1-10, let's just go back historically 'cause I want you to see this is solid, grounded, Bible foundational doctrine today. I don't want you just to feel this.
I want you to actually see it rooted in the Word. Let's see what happened with the fall of men, Genesis, 3: 1-10: Now the serpent, and by the way the Book of Revelation speaks of the devil and it says, the serpent of old. So here we go, the last book in the Bible, the Book of Revelation, which was revealed to John through Jesus's angel, calls the devil in the Book of Revelation the serpent of old. So when we read Genesis, chapter 3, we're reading about the one that Jesus revealed to us is the one responsible for all this in the Book of Revelation. So here we go, Genesis, 3: Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, Indeed, has God said, You shall not eat from any tree of the garden? The woman said to the serpent, From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die. The serpent said to the woman, You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.
Now this is exactly what the devil did that caused him to get cast out of heaven. So now here he is, he's taking that same personality that got him cast out of heaven, and he's bringing mankind into it. What happened when the devil took that route? He was cast out of heaven. So then when Eve and Adam ate of the fruit at the devil's seduction, they were then cast from the Father's presence as well. The devil once again said, when you eat from it your eyes will be opened. You'll be like God, knowing good and evil. When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD.
Think about this. They start out, get it now, as the son and the daughter of the Father. They started out, beloved Church, knowing God as their Father, being blessed in his presence, experiencing intimacy and fellowship with all their needs interially being met. And as soon as they fell for the devil's seduction and ate of the tree, immediately a veil of darkness came over them, separation came over them, and now they realized they were naked because they were no longer Father consciousness. They were now flesh conscious because they were separated from the Father. They were not conscious of him anymore because that relationship was broken. Now they were only conscious of themselves. And in that state of only being conscious of themselves, fear set in. And so they ran.
And so once again verse 8: They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, Where are you? He said, I heard the sound of You in the garden, get it now, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself. The cost of sin, get it now, is that we adopt, get it now, the price for sin is becoming an orphan. The price for sinning is becoming an orphan. Remember I've been teaching in the previous broadcasts that in the ancient biblical world if there was no father in the home, even if there was a mother, if there was no father, the daughter or son was considered an orphan. So when Adam and Eve sinned, they lost relationship with the Father. They were separated. Their spiritual connectivity was broken. And now they became conscious only of themselves. They were orphans. But Jesus came and he said to us in John, chapter 14, I will not leave you as orphans.
And so Jesus's purpose, remember, is to bring us to the Father. Isn't that what Jesus taught? Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father but through me. And so Jesus said, I'm going to ascend to the Father, I'm gonna present myself to him. He's gonna receive me as a sacrifice for your sins. And when he receives me as a sacrifice for your sins, he is then gonna release to you the Holy Spirit through me that's gonna bring you back into relationship with your Abba Daddy God, and your orphan sense of life will be gone, and you're gonna be restored to relationship, hallelujah, once again, bless the holy name, with Father God. The Lord said in the Book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 22: As in Adam all die so also in Christ all will be made alive. Jesus came, beloved one, to bring you out of that sense of being an orphan that all humankind has experienced since Adam, to bring you back into relationship, to restore you into relationship, hallelujah, with the Father.
Jesus's purpose, beloved, is to reveal the Father to you. Jesus said in John, 17:26, to the Father, his high priestly prayer, he said to the Father: I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known so that the love with which You have love Me may be in them and I in them. What name was Yeshua referring to? He was referring to the name Father. You see, the Jewish people already knew God as Yahweh, but they didn't know him as Father. In fact, when Jesus started calling God Father, the religious Jews of his day wanted to stone him to death because they couldn't receive that. They thought it was unholy. They thought it was blasphemous. But the reality is, this is exactly the type of relationship that Abba Yahweh wants us to have with us. That's why Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 5 says: He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself according to the kind intention of His will.
Jesus had been crucified. They put him in the tomb. We all know Jesus rose from the dead. The stone rolled away. And the women, they came to the tomb and they found that he wasn't there. But Jesus appeared, appeared to the woman, and he said, as she saw him, she ran up to grab him. And Jesus said, Don't cling to me, he said, for I have not yet ascended, get this now, to my Father. Hear this now, I have not yet ascended to my God and your God. And hear me now, and to my Father and your Father. Jesus said to Mary, don't cling to me for I have not yet ascended to my God and your God, and get it now, and my Father and your Father. Do you know that because of Jesus and in Jesus God is just as much your Father as he is Jesus's Father? Hear what I just said; that in Jesus, you're in Jesus. God chose you in him. And now that you're in Jesus, Father God is just as much your Father as he is Jesus's Father.
Now don't misunderstand me. I know this is hard to digest, and for some it probably even sounds blasphemous. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. Jesus will always be Lord. He's always the only Begotten Son. But we've been adopted in him, and we're now in Christ. This is what Ephesians, chapter 1 tells us. God chose us, get it now, in him. The Father chose us in Jesus. And now that we're in him, the Father is just as much our Father in a very real sense of the word, as he is Jesus's father. This is why Jesus prayed in John, 17, that the same love that was in him, where did the love come from? It came from the Father. That the same love that is in him, Jesus prayed, would be in us. The Father and Jesus want us to experience this same sense of belonging, the same sense of love from the Father that Jesus experiences.
Beloved, doesn't this touch your heart? Doesn't this rejuvenate your faith? Don't, don't you rejoice in knowing what your destiny is? That your destiny is to know the Father? When you know that you're born of God's Spirit, and in being born of his Spirit you become his daughter or his son, and that the Father loves you as his own child, the whole manner of love the Father has given to you, that you are called a child of God, that you're a son or a daughter, and that the same fierce love that the Father loves Jesus with is toward you? When you get a revelation of this and understand where you're going, that you're going into the fullness of this revelation, this experience, beloved, it will change your life. It will free you to run the race.
When you get a sense, beloved one, of how loved you are, and of your identity by knowing who you are; not the outer man, not how much money you have in the bank, now what car you have or what job you have, not how fat or skinny you are, not how beautiful you are in the flesh. All that is passing away. We all age. All our skin begins to get old. No, it's not the outer man. It's not the circumstantial things that are passing away. I'm talking about what's inside you. When you realize that the real you is a son or a daughter of God and that God loves you and he's your Daddy, when you get ahold of this, beloved one, I'm telling you, it will bring you into freedom.