“And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11:39-40)
Here God the Holy
Spirit tells us much about the family of God. The family of God, the church of
God, and the kingdom of God are synonyms. All who are chosen by God the Father,
redeemed by God the Son, and born again by God the Holy Spirit are members of
his church, his family, and his kingdom.
Who is in this family? You will notice that Paul first speaks of “these all,” referring to all those he has described in this 11th chapter of Hebrews. But he is not limiting himself to those who are specifically named. He is talking about all those men and women who believed God in the Old Testament era. Then he speaks of “us,” referring to all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in this gospel age. Then he speaks of them and us being “made perfect” together.
In other words, he is telling us that the whole family in heaven and in earth, the family of God (Eph. 3:15), the church of God, the kingdom of God is one great family, a family more numerous than the sands upon the seashore and the stars of the sky.
The family of God is made
up of all God’s elect, all true believers, all the redeemed. The church of God
really is one body, one indivisible family, one holy kingdom. All who are in
Christ of every age, nationality, and language, throughout all the ages of
time, and throughout all the earth are one family. It includes all the blessed
company of the redeemed. The family of God is known and spoken of by many names
in the Book of God. This family is the body of Christ and his bride, the temple
of God and the household of faith, God’s royal priesthood and holy nation, the
church of the Firstborn and the Israel of God.
Membership in "the
family of God," does not depend upon anything earthly. It does not
come by natural birth, but by new birth. No preacher can bring you into this
family. The waters of baptism cannot immerse you into this family. Parents
cannot bring their children into the family of God. You may have been born to
the most faithful parents in the world. But you were not born an heir of
heaven. To belong to the family of God you must be born again. No one but God
the Holy Spirit can make you a living member of this family. It is his special
function and prerogative to bring chosen, redeemed sinners into this family by
the washing of regeneration and the gifts of life and faith in Christ.
The mere exercise of
your will cannot put you in the family of grace. A beggar may sooner become a
king’s son by his own choice than you and I could become the sons of God by our
will. Entrance into the family of God is God’s work alone (John 1:11-13; Rom.
9:15-16; Gal. 4:4-7; Eph. 1:3-6; 1 John 3:1-3)!
One Family
The Scriptures
describe all God’s people as one
family (Eph. 3:15). Why is
it important for us to realize that God’s church is one family? Why does
God the Holy Spirit refer to all who are in Christ as the family of God?
All true believers are
called a "family" because we all have one Heavenly Father. We
are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. We are all born of one
Spirit. We are all sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty. We have all
received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, "Abba Father"
(Gal. 3:26; John 3:8; 2 Cor. 6:18; Rom. 8:15). We no longer look upon the holy
Lord God with a cringing dread and fear. We no longer think of him as One
always ready to punish us. Rather, we lift our eyes heavenward and look up to
our God with tender confidence, as our reconciled and loving Father, —as One
who has forgiven all our sins, put away all our iniquities, and received us
graciously for Christ’s sake. We see Him now as One who is full of compassion
and pity. We came to him like the prodigal. And He ran, fell on our necks, and
kissed us. Those words, "Our Father which art in heaven," are
no longer merely the words of a prayer we learned as children in Sunday School.
They are the sweetest words imaginable to our hearts.
All true believers are
called the "family" of God because we all rejoice in, have
confidence in, trust in, and are named after one great and glorious name (Eph.
3:15). That name is the name of our great Head and Elder Brother, Jesus Christ
the Lord. Just as a common family name is the uniting link to all the members
of an earthly clan, so the name of Christ unites all believers together in one
vast family in heaven and earth. As living members of Christ, we all, with one
heart and mind, rejoice in one Savior. Every heart in this family is built upon
Christ as the only object of hope. Every tongue in this family will tell you
that "Christ is all."
God’s people are all
called the ‘family” of God, because as the sons and daughters of God and
brothers and sisters of Christ, all true believers are heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:14-19; John 17:1-5, 22). And we are called the “family”
of God because there is such strong a family resemblance among all who are born
of God (Phil. 3:3).
The Father’s Promise
What has God our
Father promised to do for his family? We are told in Hebrews 11: 39-40 that our
brethren in the Old Testament could not be made perfect (The family could not
be completed and finished.) without us, because God has provided some better
thing for us. The Lord God has promised to make his family perfect! What does
that mean? How are we to understand this?
The Lord God shall
complete his family. Every adopted son shall be brought into the fulness and
joy of sonship by God’s sovereign grace. Every elect, redeemed sinner shall be
brought into the blessed union of life and faith with Christ. Before God gets
done with this world, all Israel shall be saved (Eph. 1:22-23).
All the family shall
be made perfect in Christ—perfectly one—perfect before God—perfect in heart and
soul, mind and body! Yes, when God gets done, his whole family shall honor him
forever (Eph. 2:1-7).