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Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.
Isaiah 56:5
But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Acts 2:16-21)
Prophetic promises are a marvellous thing! When we become born again, and filled with God's Spirit, and live our lives surrendered to God and to His will, placing our trust in God and in His word, God's very destiny for us begins to come to pass. (Acts 2:38, Acts 8:16, Acts 10:46-48, Acts 19:5) A number of prophetic words from the Lord have brought times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord to ourselves and others. One prophecy in particular which concerned a child being added to our family. This fulfilled God's earlier promises to us, renewed our vision concerning the will of God for our family and totally changed our lives.
PHAROAH'S DAUGHTER ADOPTED MOSHE/MOSES
Moses was born to Israelite parents, Amram and Jochebed, at a time when all baby boys were being killed by an edict of Pharaoh. As the result Jochebed and her husband sought the Lord and came up with a plan to save the life of their infant son. Moses mother made a small ark, and placed her son it in and set it in the Nile. Pharaoh's daughter took Moses from the river when he was three months of age. She recognized his heritage and knew that his birth parents had placed him in the river to save his life. Pharaoh's daughter gave the baby to Jochebed to be nursed, probably until about age five. At that time, "she took him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son." (Exodus 2:10). And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water (Exodus 2:10).
Pharaoh's daughter's adoption of the Hebrew infant Moshe is an example of inter-faith/inter-racial/and inter-national adoption.
In another inter-national adoption, a servant becomes the "adopted" heir of Sheshan: Another case with similarities to this one is that of Sheshan, who having no sons, gave one of his daughters to his Egyptian servant, Jarha: Now Sheshan had no sons, but daughters. And Sheshan had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Jarha. And Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant to wife; and she bare him Attai. And Attai begat Nathan, and Nathan begat Zabad, And Zabad begat ... (I Chronicles 2: 34-37). The offspring of this couple continue in the Biblically listed genealogy for many more (undistinguished) generations. Given that genealogical tracking in the Bible is almost inevitably through the male line, this seems to indicate that the Eqyptian servant, was "adopted" by his father-in-law. Note that by this time, when a man had only female children, they could only inherit by marrying a member of their father's tribe.
HADASSEH'S (ESTHER'S) ADOPTION BY HER UNCLE MORDECAI
Her Hebrew name was Hadassah, that is, "myrtle," which, on her introduction into the royal harem, was changed to Esther, that is, the star Venus, indicating beauty and good fortune. In the book of Esther, the scripture depicts Hadassah/Esther as an orphan who was raised in the house of Mordecai (Esth. 2:7). She was adopted by her cousin after her parents' death. In the second case, Mordecai "took for his own daughter" his uncle's daughter, Esther (his cousin): And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter. (Esther 2:7). Mordecai's adoption of Hadassah, is an example of the adoption of an orphan by a family member.
Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew--Mordecai held some office about the court. But his "sitting at the king's gate" (Esther 2:21) does not necessarily imply that he was in the humble condition of a porter; for, according to an institute of Cyrus, all state officers were required to wait in the outer courts till they were summoned into the presence chamber. He might, therefore, have been a person of some official dignity. This man had an orphan cousin, born during the exile, under his care, who being distinguished by great personal beauty, was one of the young damsels taken into the royal harem on this occasion.
Mordecai is mentioned in Esth. 2:5 as being a Benjaminite, leading to the belief that Hadassah/Esther was also from the trible of Benjamin. She became a queen, and God used her to bring deliverance to the Jewish people.
JOSEPH ADOPTED YESHUA/JESUS
In Luke 1:35: “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you: therefore also that Holy one which is to be born will be called the Son of God.” The angel Gabriel appeared to Mary with the message that “you shall conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest...Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? (i.e. she was a virgin). And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God” (Lk. 1:31-35).
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6a) "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:11)
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)
When the kingdom of Judah was threatened by a confederation of enemies from the north, King Ahaz was alarmed. God sent the prophet Isaiah to comfort the king. The prophet declared that the forces of evil would not prevail. Ahaz was encouraged to “ask for a sign” documenting this word of consolation, but the stubborn king refused.
Isaiah then directed his attention to the “House of David.” He promised a much greater “sign,” namely that “the virgin” would conceive and bear a son, whose name, Immanuel, would signify “God is with us.” The time-frame that it would take for the Immanuel-child to reach the age of accountability was used as a chronological measurement. Before that time-span would expire, Judah’s current threat would dissipate (which reality came to pass).
More importantly, however, was the fact that a much greater deliverance was needed in Israel, and such would be provided by the actual arrival of Immanuel — who is Jesus Christ.
A “Sign...” This prophesied event is designated as a “sign.” The immediate context speaks of a miracle. The king had been challenged to ask for a “sign,” either “in the depth, or in the height above” . This indicates a phenomenal event. Ahaz refused the proffered “sign,” claiming that such would “tempt” Jehovah (again hinting of the supernatural).
Additionally, Matthew’s inspired interpretation of the passage clearly establishes the miraculous nature of the prediction (Mt. 1:22-23). There is no evidence at all that there was a miraculous birth to a virgin in the days of Isaiah. This was the forecast of a future event.
A virgin...The Hebrew word rendered “virgin” is almah. It is the only biblical word that truly signifies a virgin. There is no passage where almah is not a virgin. Nowhere in the Bible or elsewhere does almah mean anything but a virgin." Isaiah also said the Messiah would be called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).
In Micah 5:2, there is a prophecy that reveals that Bethlehem would be the birthplace of the Messiah. "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." Matthew 2:1-- "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king.
God assured that Yeshua/Jesus would have an earthly father in Joseph. Perhaps the most profound example of covenantal adoption in the Scriptures is Joseph's parenting of Yeshua/Jesus. Joseph clearly fulfilled the spirit of adoption by being willing to marry his betrothed who was with child that was not his. He assumed the role of Yeshua/Jesus' father for all intents and purposes. It should not surprise us that God provided Yeshua/Jesus with an earthly father, consistent with His plan for marriage and parenthood. Joseph was descended from King David and worked as a carpenter. Joseph's death is not recorded in the Bible. He is reported by Luke to still be alive when Yeshua/Jesus was around 12 years old (Luke 2:41-42), and the lack of any mention of him in the biblical accounts of Yeshua/Jesus' adult ministry is taken to imply that he had already died by that time.
Referring to David, we read: "When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever." The Davidic line reaches through the line of Seth to Noah, through the line of Shem to Abraham. Then through the lines of Isaac, Jacob, Judah, David, and to Jesus.
The lineage of Jesus is recorded in two places: Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3:28-38. It seems as if these two genealogies of Jesus contradict. Do they? Most biblical scholars assume that Luke is referring to the genealogy of Mary and that the genealogy recorded in Matthew is of Joseph. The Matthew genealogy follows Joseph's line (Jesus' legal father), through David's son Solomon. Luke follows Mary's line (Jesus' blood mother), through David's son Nathan.
Through both of these lines, Yeshua haMashiach/Jesus Christ is David's descendant and is eligible to be the promised Messiah. Tracing a genealogy through the mother's line is somewhat unusual, but the virgin birth recorded in the Hebrew scriptures, and predicted by the Hebrew prophets is unusual as well!
The lineage of Yedshua/Jesus, as prophesied in the Old Testament, is fulfilled through Joseph (see Matthew 1:1-17). Matthew 1:16-- "And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, Who is called Christ."
Joseph is fully and completely Jesus' father--participating in his naming, protecting him from danger by traveling to Egypt, teaching him a trade and presenting him at the temple. The adoption of Yeshua/Jesus by Joseph, was a very supernatural event.
GOD'S CONCERN FOR THE WIDOWS, ORPHANS & THE FATHERLESS
If you want to see your faith grow by leaps and bounds, step out in faith and believe God to bring that thing to pass that He has promised to you in your own life!
We were the parents of 6 children, three sons and three daughters. There were five, when we decided that we wanted to add another child to our family.
Our blond blue eyed older daughter was born as an answer to prayer, some three years after we were married. Tom was given a given a vision of himself at the piano, with a small blond daughter sitting next to him on the piano bench. He believed this vision to have been from God. While people have children without any supernatural revelation at all, there are times in which a communication of this sort can be very encouraging. God gave Joseph visions in how to protect Yeshua/Jesus.
At the time that our older daughter was born, we received a vision to ourselves with a younger sibling in addition to the younger daughter. We wanted another child, and believed that this was God's will for our lives because of this vision given to Tom, in which our daughter had a little sister. When we lost the baby due to miscarriage that we'd intended to raise with our older daughter, we did not understand why this had occurred, in light of what God had promised our family. But this very tragedy became the turning point or perhaps provided the opportunity for God to do what may not have otherwise happened in our lives.
We came from families very highly involved in both childhood education, parenting and adoptive or foster care giving. Tom came from a family of four children, two sons and two daughters, and his brother and sisters each had several children, one family with adopted Asian children. In my family background, there were relatives involved in foster parenting and the adoption of some 33 children by one couple, another relative owned a large home and became a foster mother in the state with her house kept filled with numerous children, and yet another couple in our immediate family adopted an infant Maori infant girl in New Zealand.
Our daughter was about 3 years old when we lost our expected baby through miscarriage. She wanted a sibling very much, and expressed her disappointment, which compounded our own grief. At times she would ask people to pray that God would give her a little sister. This went on for several years. At least nine years went by since her own birth. Sometimes it was frustrating or embarrassing. But the faith of a child is precious to behold. Then the word of the Lord came very to us clearly and distinctly during a time of prayer. God said:
"I will open the Red Sea for you, and your baby will be a brand plucked out of the burning."
Because of our Jewish heritage, as well as this prophecy with terminology which speaks of Jerusalem, we made a specific request for a Jewish infant or twins in our home study. And we were approved for an infant or twins, although twins of course are a rare occurance. God had spoken very specifically but it took faith to believe in spite of the miriad of disappointments and setbacks. The child was promised by the Most High who stated that He would place this child in our home was because this was definately part of God's own prophetic destiny and purpose for our family. The presence of the Lord was there in a marvellous way. Yeshua haMashiach/Jesus Christ Himself was supernaturally added to His family. The Lord showed us that the Prophet Samuel's being given to the priest at the Temple to raise. We had a spiritual and or cultural heritage which the Lord wanted our children to have. It's the knowledge that GOD IS ONE which the Lord has given to us by revelation from portions of scripture such as Acts 2:38, Acts 8:16, Acts 10:46-48, Acts 19:5.
It takes faith to receive the fulfillment of a promise God gives. The interval between believing and receiving can be an extremely trying time indeed. When the wait is long, with many obstacles, the spiritual warfare can be quite intense.
By the time we made all the necessary legal arrangements, submitted an application, refinanced our home to pay fees, gathered the required legal documents, had our in home visit to put together a dossier with criminal history and background checks, fingerprints, physician's medical reports, financial bank statements, including real estate owned, length of employment verifications, references including the special report that of the social worker of the agency itself. Deep in our hearts we knew that we'd discerned God's will, and His word had come to pass in a very special way. And that there would be a witness of the Spirit, like when the Prophet Samuel walked among the sons of Jesse, and anointed David. And we told this to our caseworker, who is a spiritual person, familiar with God's word, who understands such things.
We were walking in faith to a far greater extent than ever before! This was exciting to watch God work. And woven throughout the story of the adoption saga itself, are the individual stories of the people whose love and prayers helped see us through, witnessing God's miraculous will to coming to pass in our very lives and family. God has a very specific will and purpose for every man, woman and child. But what is important is that individuals value the calling of God upon their own lives.
How does one find themselves in the position to avail themselves of the precious promises in God's word, and His power? Here it is!
38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”Acts 2:38-39 (King James Version)
It's a wonderful blessing when God adds children to a family! We were so blessed by the wonderful interactive group for waiting parents sponsored by the agency, with caseworkers, and sometimes a special guest speaker. It was extremely encouraging. Those in the group, prayed for one another and encouraged the family members and rejoiced over each and every child that was placed. We'd seen God fulfill a prophetic promise with regard to the birth of our older daughter. We also were the parents of 4 grown children living on their own. But as a married couple, we love children, have a happy and secure marriage, and a stable home life to offer a child. We sought the Lord and knew we also knew God's will concerning this facet of our lives.
APPLICATION AND TREND TOWARD MORETOREUMS ON FOREIGN ADOPTION PROGRAMS
Single people successfully adopted children of all ages. The first program we selected, was a program we read of in the agency literature, but which did not produce a successful adoption for the families in the group, due to the in-country war they became involvced in.
We can recall now how excited we were in the beginning though, pouring over books on the culture, visiting our public library for ethnic cookbooks, and specifically adoption. One story I read was written by a handicapped adoptive mother whose family paid their fees but were tragically victimized by a scam, and there was no child as promised by the agency they'd applied to and paid expensive fees to. But they did not give up. God made a way for them to adopt not just one child, but two children.
We researched the country as a family, thoroughly enjoying this process as a home schooling family. At the library we wrote out favorite recipes, and looked forward to the trip. That year of waiting changed us forever, because God did an eternal work in our hearts. We know that God brought good out of this disappointment. Our family poured our hours of prayer in intercession on that nation during the monthes that followed, and we knew that our prayers would not return void. God certainly used our prayers during this war, that's for sure. We knew that these prayers would definately accomplish the work that God sent them to! Within monthes, there was a moretorium placed on foreign adoption there, and in spite of the fact that the group in this particular program waited ad prayed fervently for a year, the moretoreum was never rescinded, but continued to remain in place. We later learned more regarding the in-country political problems which were occurring during this pivotal period of time. The host nation was in a strategic location that served to bring about this serious series of events which would be critical in history.
A major reason why we chose to conduct an adoption there for our family although they later placed a moretoreum on adoption. Eventually the country made the decision to expedite the procedure by providing adoption services to grandparents within their own country. Though there were natural feelings of deep disappointment that our initial application to our first country ended in a failed process which was not completed, the brighter side was that we'd successfully done much of the preparation needed for an adoption.
APPLYING TO ADOPT
We applied to a local agency to update our home study which had a time limit in which to complete an adoption. Delays occur due to a miriad of reasons, changes in laws requiring the rewriting of documents, or for other numerous reasons. As a couple, we'd started out in an agency program with a large group of families who had applied to adopt. But when the host country had a moretorium placed on it, this left a lot of very disappointed people. Many did not give up easily, but hung in there for a year or so, submitting a petition to the host country and praying that the moretorium would lift, but to no avail! They all seemed to eventually shift to other options offered to them. We later learned that war had erupted in the region.
We applied to another program that we learned was open. There's a certain heritage of ours in which figured prominently, and this is Shema! it's the basic tenent of our faith that "the Lord our God is one Lord, and Him only shall we serve." (Deut 6:4) Also work relationships through employment. Gathering our dossier and submitting it according the the required procedure, we could only wait. We were told there were very few adoptable children in country, and most available children were older children. God promised in the prophetic word we received, that our child would be an infant," so we realized that this was not producing God's prophetic promise as described to us in detail. But for some reason, God was allowing this, and using the prayers which we were praying for the host country. During this time, we were seeking the Lord and wanting to do His perfect will. If our plans were standing in the way of anything, we wanted God to know that we would be willing to forfeit any ideas which definately were not of God.
During the adoption process, we made the decision to take a trip back east. The leaves were turning shades of neon gold, orange, chartreuse, and crimson as we drove up into the beautiful countryside of Quebec. The mist arising from the mountains gave the region an ethereal appearance which was awe inspiring. One place we wandered into quite by accident it seemed at the time, and which was quite unknown to us, was Mont St. Anne, (St. Anne de Beaupre) a quaint but charming ski resort with a local shrine for the saint of women who desire but frequently are unable to have children. Each year more than a million and a half pilgrims and visitors come to the Shrine of Sainte-Anne. Childness couples flock to this place.
The Apostle Paul spoke in a sermon at Mars Hill of shrines of this sort in which relics were sold to tourists. We credit Yeshua haMashiach/Lord Jesus Christ with marvellous gift of our children, and also the newest which was added to our family by way of a prophetic word.
During this time spent in the province of Ontario, where one or more of our own family members was born, we stayed at a small hotel. As we lay down to sleep, a dream -a vision in the night of Islam at the gates of America. This was not just Islamic people living in America, as indigenous people groups immigrate to the U.S.A. from many lands, but God spoke of a crisis involving much more than that as being eminent. It was 1999, with the 2001 Trade Tower bombing soon to follow.
GOD IS FAITHFUL
We returned to the states from our extended trip throughout my mother's homeland of Canada, along the coasts of Atlantic Canada, praying and recording the prophetic things God showed us or spoke to us about regions, and sharing salvation with various ones including the Inuits. Often stopping to publish these on the internet. We went through beautiful, quaint French speaking Quebec, and up into Labrador, driving as far as our car was able to go. The cement road ended at Red Bay, where we purchased food, and some wool sox knit by a local fisherman there. We left Labrador as the sea was freezing over, on one of the last ferries of the season. When our vehicle was assailed by hurricane gale winds it was a frightening thing for us, as we'd never experienced this. In front of us a large truck was flipped by the wind. When we got out to see if the driver was hurt, it was all we could do to stand on our feet due to the force of the screaming wind. My glasses were ripped from off my face by the wind. Our vehicle crept slowly toward a motel where we found shelter from the storm, amazed as the wind bent road signs as if they were nothing. And listened to a television news forecast or hurricane advisory warning people not to be out there in the gale force wind. When the storm blew over, we returned to the place where I'd lost my glasses and found them there in the tall grass.
When we got home, there were thousands of emails to go through, so we set about the tedious job of reviewing these. Two or three were confirmations of our vision concerning Islam at the Gates, which we'd shared with some churches in Ontario, when it was received.
The Lord spoke to us yet again, about three weeks after we got home from our North American trip, telling us to "reapply to adopt." Our money in the bank was now gone. Spent on the mission which the Lord had sent us on. We learned from the agency that a new program was opening for which we were eligible, and our ages were appropriate. The application to adopt was made and by summer we were told that the staff took vacations during the summer monthes, so our referral was not probable during this time. But after September, things should start to roll.
He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase,
To added affliction He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.
His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men,
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth and giveth and giveth again.
When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half-done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father's full giving is only begun.
One summer day, we received a telephone call from our adoption caseworker to say that our names were at the top of the waiting list and that we could expect a referral soon. It would probably come after the adoption staff returned from their summer vacations. There were not many referrals but there were some expected upon their return! When the referral came, Tom said they he would stop by the agency to pick up the referal. When he got home with it, we poured some coffee and sat down to review the material on our infant girl, which contained a medical report, a few photographs and a short video, which we played and replayed till we'd memorized it. From the time we saw the first video, we knew this baby was the child we'd waited for, the first time we laid eyes on her! The video showed our infant girl at 4 1/2 monthes of age, and she was very alert. They shook a rattle in her face, and she turned her head in the direction of the sound, so that it could be noted how intelligent and alert she was. The staff had propped her up in a chair, and were talking to her.
We talked about our feelings and decision for a while. Then telephoned the agency, and told them of our decision to adopt her. They stated that they would fax our acceptance. Some of the staff visited the child's home, and were able to take additional pictures of our baby daughter. They returned with another short video of her.
When the case went to adoption court we were elated!
THE DAY WE FIRST HELD OUR NEW BABY DAUGHTER
It was an exciting day when we finally were able to bring our baby home! We got out of the car, and drove to the building they instructed us, and we knocked on the door, which was opened by a cheerful faced woman with a baby on her hip. The infant was our own precious little daughter!
I took the baby out of her arms and whirled around the room with her. Then I sat down on the sofa where I could look into the tiny face of our child that God had brought us across the world to make a part of our very own family. Our baby daughter never cried, as some infants do in the presence of strangers. She just looked at us. She was so precious. I thought this must have been due to a bond God brought "in the Spirit" as we prayed so many many prayers!
Then Dad and our older daughter were taking our our baby out of my arms and talking to her. As they talked I spoke with the adoption facilitator. We visited with our daughter a couple of times before we brought her baby to live with us.
The newest member of the family is in these precious photos which record our memories of this miraculous event which occurred in our family. Here she is, when we brought her home. With later photos of our new baby with Mom, Dad and big sister.
We appreciate the many wonderful people who prayed for us, encouraged us and helped to make our precious child a part of our family. It seemed an eternity from the time God first spoke to us and said: I will open the Red Sea for you and your baby will be a brand plucked out of the burning! Believing also took much faith and patience!
Our daughter has had such spirit of praise for as far back as we can remember! She has a creative gift like her Dad and Mother and sister. She is a happy and and multi-talented little girl! Her Uncle Jack and Aunt Arlene, who are professional artists, gave her a gift of a paint box, which she so enjoys. She loves her big sister, whose faith in God for those nearly 10 years for a baby sister, produced miraculous results! We like teaching our children from the scriptures of the God who "sets the solitary in families." Our child loves family life, reading, school, music, musical instruments, and singing, assisting in chores such as shopping, meal preparation, and art or everything creative, including sewing. We teach her what God says in His word concerning "the Kingdom of God," and how the Lord answered prayers for us exceedingly and abundantly beyond all we could ask or think. The bible says: Hope deferred makes the heart sick! But when desire comes it is a tree of life!
