Understanding the Manifestation
of the Sons of God
By John R. Gavazzoni

Out of The Latter Rain Revival an eschatological expectation emerged that, in its most extreme form, foresaw presumptuously a company of manifested sons coming on the scene whose ministry would...so to speak....leave all those previous to them, even in the apostolic age, in the dust, since those manifested sons would go forth having been made immortal in glorified bodies to deliver creation from its bondage to decay. Some even believed firmly that that company of sons would be able to impart immortality to those they ministered to.

There was, within the revival and the subsequent movement a genuine truth-restorative element; a turning back to the gospel as the truly good news of universal deliverance, of all things being made new, in contrast to its bastardized version of "a hell to be shunned, and a heaven to be gained." The revival and the following movement restored the importance of the relationship of the sons of God to creation. If we view the Book of Romans as a theological mountain climb, arriving at the eighth chapter point would have one probably at the peak understanding, or at least a major peak in our upward climb of revelation and understanding of the apostle's thought.

The move of God was real. It was of God; powerfully of God, but as it is with all moves of God things get sticky and messy along the way, and to change our metaphor, more than one fly ended up in the soup. Examining the Greek text carefully, we discover that Paul was not limiting the manifestation of the sons of God to a future eschatological event in chapter 8, but rather what God was even presently doing. While the KJV has Paul, in verse 19 of the 8th chapter saying:

God is in the process of getting creations attention focused on the unveiling of His sons. It's happening according to Paul. It takes discernment to recognize it.

Brother Jonathan's translation makes it so very clear: the creation was, then, while Paul was writing, "receiving and taking away from out of the unveiling of God's sons." Are you a son of God? You are if God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your heart; if Christ lives in you; if you've been born from above; if you've received the regeneration within His resurrection, you are one of God's sons. In the family of God, there is no elite company of manifested sons. Manifestation of our common sonship within the family of God is normal for all the sons of God, for all those born of God.

To be sure, there are different levels of maturity among the sons of God. There is, for instance, among us sons, a difference of understanding, appreciation, and dedication to, "press(ing) toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." But that high calling belongs to us all. We have all been crucified with Christ, and raised to sit with Him in the heavenlies, and never will you find anywhere in the New Testament anything to the effect that there is reserved a special place there for a company of manifested sons. I must add though, that there are times when God hides our sonship from the world, and there are those dreadful times when He hides our sonship from our own consciousness. But such experiences are meant, in the end, to support and bring to vivid clarity that a son of God normally manifests his sonship.

The fully bloomed flower is the full manifestation of its seed, but until the full blooming occurs, even in part bloom, the seed is manifesting. Manifestation; unveiling; disclosing; uncovering, all have to do, not with anything added to us, but of what is in us becoming outwardly evident. Manifestation moves from hidden to shown; hidden to becoming evident and seen clearly. Jesus was really talking about the same thing when He said, "ye shall know them by their fruits." The Seed of Christ in us blossoms into full manifested fruitage. It's about "grow(ing) in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ."

You see, one of the flies that got in the soup was the replacement of "the manifestation of the sons of God," with "manifested sons," and/or "manifest sonship," as if there's some other kind of sonship. Are there sons who manifest, but some who do not? Let's think about that: synonyms of "manifestation" include, "revealing," "unveiling," "uncovering," and "disclosure." Manifestation involves manifesting, i.e., there's a process-element within manifestation of manifesting. I manifest by manifesting, which results in a manifestation.

So it is with revealing: a revelation occurs by an action of revealing; a thing is unveiled by an unveiling. Something is uncovered by the action of uncovering. The sons of God are presently being manifested, i.e., we are being disclosed until full disclosure while all creation is receiving and taking from that disclosing. Surely, the day will come of a final, complete manifestation/unveiling, but the principle applies as with all things; what will finally be is now becoming.

Everything you do that belongs to Christ living His life in and through you is a manifestation of your sonship. Paul was saying the same thing when he wrote, "those who are led of God are the sons of God." To be a son of God is to be led of His Spirit. We must make a distinction between being born of God, and being materially formed by God. What we do as supernaturally natural as a son, born of God, in our creaturely mode our flesh rebels against His leading.

We have been spiritually reborn back to our original heavenly birth before the foundation of the world, but God has purposefully made our creaturehood subject to vanity/futility/frustration, along with the rest of creation. Onward and upward we go as sons led of the Spirit, but in our dust-formed mode, our flesh lusts against the Spirit of our sonship.

From one manifesting son to all my siblings: a big son-manifesting hug to you all along "the Way."