We were dead to the things of God, and then suddenly he made us spiritually alive. Upon hearing the gospel message, we became aware that we were sinners and needed a savior. And then the empty hand of faith, a gift in itself from God, reached out to Christ, trusting in what he has done to save us. In that very moment, God declared us righteous on the basis of Christ’s work alone, and “No condemnation,” was pronounced over us. But that is not the only thing that happened.

If we shared our testimonies with one another, we would find that they are as individual as we are. We were saved at different times in our lives and in very different circumstances, but there is one thing we all have in common. Unbeknownst to us, the Holy Spirit was at work. We were dead to the things of God, and then suddenly he made us spiritually alive. Upon hearing the gospel message, we became aware that we were sinners and needed a savior. And then the empty hand of faith, a gift in itself from God, reached out to Christ, trusting in what he has done to save us. In that very moment, God declared us righteous on the basis of Christ’s work alone, and “No condemnation,” was pronounced over us. But that is not the only thing that happened. At the moment of our justification, our position before God was changed in another way. Previously we were his enemies and orphans, and now we are adopted by God. He is now our Father, and we are his beloved children.

Adoption is one of the glorious links in the golden chain of redemption, and it is secure as the others because its foundation is God himself. We did not chose him, but he chose us. In fact, he chose us before the foundation of the world, before we were born or did a single thing to merit his favor. The Apostle Paul writes, “In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.” (Eph. 1:6) We were also predestined to “become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Rom. 8:29)

Our adoption is secure because it is based on our union with Christ. We were chosen in him. Our adoption is through Jesus Christ. (Eph. 1: 3-10) He is the author of our salvation who is bringing many sons to glory, and he is not ashamed to call us his brethren. (Heb. 2:10-11) And “as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12)

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