In America we are a very individualistic nation who think in terms of individual achievement, performance, and ability. This is where orphan thinking not only has taken root, it has thrived and grown into strongholds in the mind where we predominately think of ourselves independent of any relational connections. This focus on the individual breeds competition, rivalry, jealousy, strife, anger, pride, and criticalness. There are wonderful truths that come out of individual responsibility and freedom, yet all the way through Scripture the context is relational connections and ultimately family. We see that even from the very beginning we were created in God's image, in His image was that of God in the form of Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). Could it be that in our individualistic society that we have projected onto this God of family, our idea of the rugged lone ranger when we were created for relationship. God said that "It is not good for the man to be alone...", this truth is profound when we think through the implications. God created us from a place of love and family, He created us to be in a place of His love and family, and we were created to carry out the mission of spreading His blessing over the entire earth (rule and reign) in the context of family. When Satan, the first orphan, seeks to undermine God and His plan he does that by not only attacking Adam but by attacking and undermining the family structure through coming to Eve. If Satan could bring deception, curse, and eventually death to the family, then he could perpetrate his purpose to kill, steal, and destroy into the future. In other words the enemy used the same relational structure that God created to carry on life to future generations to bring the sin, the curse, and death. There are many, including myself, who when you mention family the first thing that comes up is "pain", loss, and emptiness. Yet the sacred relationship of family is who God created to represent Him and reflect Him on the earth. If God wanted a man to reflect Him and represent Him, then there would not be an Eve and there would not be children. Eve and children were all a part of the original design to fulfill the mandate of Genesis 1:28, "God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” There must be children to be fruitful, to multiply, and fill earth; this was not a mandate given to one person (Adam) but to a family of people. Mankind's Fall (Adam & Eve) tears a black hole right in the center of Creation, with the entrance of "The Lie" and sin it begins the process of death through the curse. Notice where the curse rips at, it rips at the very core of the family and the blessing that empowers their God-given mandate. In Genesis 3 the curse comes through the blessing (which comes from God) cut off through the Fall and sin, first on being fruitful (work), then on the marital relationship (multiplication), and child rearing (fill the earth). The curse is the pronouncement of the death of the family and ultimately mankind. See that, the redemption comes through family, specifically in Genesis 3:15 "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Satan has brought a huge defeat through "The Lie", dividing the family (separating Adam & Eve) and leading them to sin and choose separation from God who is the source of life. God will bring about a new family of people through the seed of a woman (Mary), birthing a people born of the Spirit who will be "in Christ". See without a seed (a child) for the future there is no hope for the human race. In our society children are often last on the list of importance and value, yet they are the hope of the future. God's plan through one man, Christ, would reverse all the damage of the former transgression and restore the blessing back to the family that would come through Christ (Romans 5). This is why Jesus is referred to as the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29, Colossians 1:15 & 1:18), through one man's life laid down a new family of people would be birthed that carry the very DNA of heaven and will be the sowers of the blessing spreading the Presence of God over the entire earth. A son in the Family of God, Bret P.S. I know this is an old video, yet it communicates something of family!
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