This Bible study post is meant to be a healing balm and a comfort to those whose paths have felt unfulfilled, or perhaps people have excluded them even if it was unintentional. In Jesus we find fulfillment and all the love and validation we need. You may be overlooked by others because of your circumstance. Or you may be misunderstood. You may feel excluded, like an opportunity has been missed. I feel for you and with you. I can't understand why it happens.
But JESUS will never ignore you... just call on Him and let Him minister life to you by His Spirit. I do not understand why God allows for childlessness, as for some it is very painful. For others, they accept it as their lot in life. Others pick the adoption route.
God can do miracles, but He does not always choose to. It is a mystery at times. In the end, Jesus really is our ultimate inheritance. And all believers can believe Jesus, be saved, and be on a mission to make disciples (raise spiritual children), regardless of their natural state. And God LOVES those who cannot have children (or did not have them for various reasons) with the same AGAPE love He freely offers all who come to Him. Agape is His Godly affection and provision and love as displayed and demonstrated and offered through the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary.
God's Love, Heart, and Promise to the Childless and to those who cannot produce in the natural, a PLACE and a NAME "better than that of (natural) sons and daughters":
Isaiah 56:3-5 NKJV
3 Do not let the son of the foreigner
Who has joined himself to the Lord
Speak, saying,
“The Lord has utterly separated me from His people”;
Nor let the eunuch say,
“Here I am, a dry tree.”
4 For thus says the Lord:
“To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths,
And choose what pleases Me,
And hold fast My covenant,
5
Even to them I will give in My house
And within My walls a place and a name
Better than that of sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
That shall not be cut off.
Jesus affirms Isaiah by recognizing and validating those who will not be able to produce naturally in this life OR who choose to remain single as "spiritual eunuchs":
Matthew 19:12
For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.”
That Greek word for "Eunuch" is G2135 on BlueletterBible and means:
https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2135&t=KJV
-a bed keeper, bed guard, superintendent of the bedchamber, chamberlain
-in the palace of oriental monarchs who support numerous wives the superintendent of the women's -apartment or harem, an office held by eunuchs
an emasculated man, a eunuch
-eunuchs in oriental courts held by other offices of greater, held by the Ethiopian eunuch mentioned in Ac. 8:27-39.
-one naturally incapacitated
-for marriage
-begetting children
-one who voluntarily abstains from marriage
So this word can mean in a Christian sense, those believers who cannot produce children physically in a marriage, or it can mean a believer who chooses not to get married. God still loves and validates these dear people in CHRIST. Christ is all. He is our fulfillment! (Col. 2:10)
Christian community is rightly focused on Biblical marriage (between one man and one woman) and on producing the next generation of children. It is through this institution that countries are stabilized and communities are built. However, God does not let anyone fall through the cracks. Singles. The childless. Childless couples. Those who cannot beget children or get pregnant.
Some are simply unable to do what others can do. They have different gifts instead. And God has given them a heart to follow after the Spirit. We must be careful not to exclude or reject those who are unable to follow Adam's mandate naturally. God's agape Love is for them too. They are also just as welcome to enjoy the holy marital union should they desire it. God has given a variety of administrations, abilities and gifts, but it is all by the SAME HOLY SPIRIT.
1 Cor. 12:5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.
Together with sensitivity and love, all believers within churches can work together to fulfill both the natural and the spiritual. Some will be exclusively focused on producing spiritual disciples. And that is ok.
Jesus recognizes that not all believers will be able to have natural children in marriage. He also recognizes that some will choose to stay single for the Kingdom of God's sake. Jesus fulfills the promise of Isaiah 56:5. He Himself did not have a natural wife or natural children, but instead produced spiritual children through the Spirit of Adoption. (See Romans 8:15 below). And His Bride is the New Jerusalem in Heaven, a spiritual Bride (Revelation ch.21).
He identifies with BOTH the childless (as He was without natural children on the earth) and with the Father (as He produced spiritual children through the Spirit of Adoption).
Jesus promises to His followers:
Revelation 3:12
He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.
A new eternal name for the naturally childless if they are overcomers in Christ:
Revelation 2:17“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And
I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.” ’
Having natural and/or spiritual children is a dual fulfillment in Christ:
Christ fulfills Adam's Mandate to be fruitful and multiply as the "LAST ADAM" (1 Cor 15:45; Mat. 5:17). He does so in the Spirit not in the natural.
Romans 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
Jesus's Great Commission to create new disciples (spiritual children) now runs parallel to Adam's mandate and is equal in value. The Last Adam (Jesus) actually fulfills all that Adam failed to do. It begins in the natural but must be completed in the Spirit of God with discipleship and the "Spirit of adoption".
Genesis 1:28 New King James Version (NKJV)
28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Matthew 28:19-20 New King James Version (NKJV)
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Natural children as God's plan: Matthew 1:1-2
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:
2 Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers.
Spiritual children as God's Plan: 1 Corinthians 4:17 For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.
More on Spiritual Children:
John regarded those he oversaw as spiritual children: 1 John 4:4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
Blessings as you consider God's heart and love toward all His followers in Christ, both those who can and have produced naturally and those who cannot or have not produced naturally.
No matter what your circumstance is in the natural, ALL believers can be fruitful in the Spirit, through Christ the Vine. Instead of abiding in your miseries, abide in Christ your comfort. Let your branch bear spiritual fruit. (John 15)
