GOD CREATED ADAM. The first man made in the likeness of the Lord Himself. This son was an act of the Lord. A son by creation. One in whom the Lord had placed as much of His own character and nature as was possible. His independence was manifest in his ability to choose between that which was right and that which was wrong. Unfortunately for all succeeding generations Adam made the wrong choice. He who had been created a son of God, fell though sin and lost his close affiliation with the Lord. Consequently, Adam was driven out from the garden of Eden. Gen. 3:24
THE LORD CHOSE ABRAHAM. Calling him unto Himself. The birthright blessing of sonship was passed to Jacob who was renamed Israel. He had wrestled with God and man and had conquered. Therefore he was reckoned to be a Prince of God. Gen. 32:28 Israelites were children of adoption, called and elevated to the status of being sons of the Most High God. They were not born into the family of the Lord. Rom. 9:4 Yet the Lord in His marvelous ability to lift and elevate those who are His, into true and valid membership in His family took the family of Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees and made them to be His very own family. They were acknowledged as the first born of the Lord. the Lords son. Ex. 4:22 The Lord proclaimed Himself to be the Father of Israel. Jer. 31:9 The Lord called them with a voice of love and compassion to leave Egypt. The more He called them the more they turned from Him. Hosea 11:1-2 Christ, the savior, the redeemer came to those whom the Father had adopted and made to be members of His very own family. But they rejected Him and there by rejected Sonship in the family of the Lord. John 1:11 The privilege of being a son of the Lord was theirs but they forfeited that blessed right as did Esau of old. In their stead the Lord issued a call to the whosoever will. Those who receive Him are accounted to be Sons of God. John 1:12
TRUE ADOPTION. This is that position to which we have been predestinated to be adopted, through Jesus Christ. Jesus is always the avenue and the means whereby all are received into the great family of the Lord as sons. The act of redemption through the Lord Jesus has enriched every believer in Christ to a place of full and absolute rights. Gal. 4:5 From the moment of the New Birth to the infilling of the Spirit we are being introduced to the Spirit of Sonship. The Spirit which enables us to cry out to Him and call Him Father with heart felt sincerity and complete knowledge that He is indeed our true Father. Rom. 8:15 The ultimate act and manifestation of Sonship is in the gift of the resurrected body. A body made like unto the body of the Lord Jesus. Eternal, everlasting, sinless, enjoying perfect health, with never even a hint of sickness, disease or death. Rom. 8:23