Eternal Sonship

Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:24 NASB)

At the end of Jesus' earthly ministry, we are given a glimpse of his eternal relationship with his Father. He has completed everything his Father sent him to do and he has the assurance that he is now returning to his Father. He is returning to the place of intimacy, to his Father's side. As he prays, he shows us what that relationship is like. From before the beginning of time, before the clock started ticking in Genesis 1, he was the son of God. He was a son and he was loved. 

Yes, we know Jesus as the King of kings, the Messiah, the teacher, the healer, the prophet. But Jesus only knew himself as the son. He came as a son, he lived and died as a son and he rose from the dead as a son. He went back to his Father as a son. Before the creation of the world he was the eternal son of God. 

We can see this same prophetic identity is for us. As Christians, we were chosen before the foundation of the world in order that we might receive the full rights of sonship. The gift of salvation, which we receive, is to bring us into sonship. Not a relationship we should compare to our imperfect human relationships, but one we should compare to the eternal sonship of Jesus. 

From before the creation of the world we were chosen to be eternal sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. 

".... just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to receive the full rights of sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:4-5 NASB)