On the Friday before Christmas last year, my husband and I stood in front of a judge surrounded by several family members and close friends. This wasn’t our wedding, but we were building a family. After years of navigating infertility, additional years waiting to adopt, and a long legal process after finally being matched, we were finalizing the adoption of our son.
How appropriate that it was Christmastime—we were overwhelmed with joy.
The Hymn of Joy
In the hours after the adoption ceremony, the lyrics to an old Christmas hymn drifted up from the recesses of my mind: “joyful, joyful, we adore Thee.” I had to look it up because I couldn’t remember the name of the song, and I discovered that it was The Hymn of Joy written by Presbyterian clergyman Henry van Dyke in 1907, colloquially known as the song, “Joyful, Joyful.”
As I was reminded of the full lyrics, I was moved by how fitting they were to our situation. Take the first stanza:
Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee,
God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flow’rs before Thee,
Op’ning to the Sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;
drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness,
fill us with the light of day!
While not a consequence of our own sin, our childlessness was the result of the Fall. Through those dark and sad years, I often thought, “This is not how it ought to be.” But in that 15-minute ceremony, God’s goodness to us melted those years that had been filled with clouds of sadness and drove the dark of doubt away. In its place, we were given gladness.
Our Own Adoptions
One of the most beautiful aspects of adoption is the picture it provides of what happens when we receive salvation and join God’s family. The Apostle Paul puts it this way in Galatians 4:4-7 (ESV):
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
As Christians, when we think of our salvation—our adoption into God’s family—we often think of Easter, but here Paul links the story with Christmas. The very reason for sending Jesus into this broken world was so that we could be adopted and have the Holy Spirit fill our hearts with adoration for our Father. In these verses, we see how the entire Trinity is at work in facilitating our adoptions.
What Does it Mean to be Adopted?
Through our journey, my husband and I have learned a lot about what it means to be adopted. Our education and training taught us that once we adopt, that child now has a claim to all of our estate. Everything we own will be passed down to him.
At our finalization ceremony, our attorney asked us, “Do you understand that if the court grants your petition [to adopt the child], you’ll be responsible for all of his needs as if he had been born to you?” We answered in the affirmative and marveled at how that one question could carry so much weight.
Adoption means that things are being set right and returned to the way they ought to be. An orphan has a family. An incalculably valuable child is shown unconditional love. And in my case, a barren woman now has a child as if he had been born to me. The darkness is being driven back. As Hugh Whelchel taught me and so many others, this is exactly what Shalom is: things returning to the way God intended them to be.
In the verse above, Paul explains that when we are adopted into God’s family, we become an heir. As heirs we can trust that God will provide for all of our needs (Phil. 4:19), he will give us good gifts (Matt. 7:11), he will redeem our bodies (Rom. 8:23), and we will share in Christ’s glory (Rom. 8:14-17).
Elsewhere, Paul tells us that our adoption was God’s intention from before the beginning of time:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. (Eph. 1:3-6, ESV)
When we are adopted as sons and daughters of God, we become heirs of so many glorious things. While we wait for our full inheritance (restoration), we can stand in awe of the Shalom that is breaking into our world and express our adoration for our good Father who has not left us as orphans (John 14:18-20).
Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
Nearly a year after our adoption ceremony, we are once again entering the Christmas season. This week, in fact, marks the beginning of Advent, the time when we reflect both on Christ’s first arrival at Christmas and the second arrival that is yet to come.
Now with this in mind, let’s reflect again on the words of The Hymn of Joy:
Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee,
God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flow’rs before Thee,
Op’ning to the Sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;
drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness,
fill us with the light of day!
This Christmas season, may we all unfold our hearts before the Lord, like beloved children raising their arms to their Father.
Over the next three weeks, we’ll publish the reflections of three friends of IFWE on the three additional stanzas in The Hymn of Joy. Next week, we will reflect on how creation calls us to worship. In the third week, we will reflect on God’s nature and why he deserves our worship. And finally, in the fourth week, we consider how we are called to live in light of our new reality as adopted sons and daughters of God. We hope this series blesses you as we celebrate Christ’s birth—the beginning of our adoption journey.
