Portal:Adoption

Orphan(s)

• Lamentations 5:3 - We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows.

"We became fatherless and orphans, and our mothers as widows."

• Hosea 14:3 - Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, 'Our God,' to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy.

"Assyria shall not save us; We will not ride on horses; we will not say any further of the work of our hands, "You are our Elohim (God)," for in you the orphan finds mercy."

• John 14:18 - I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

"I will not leave you as orphans, I am coming to you."

• James 1:27 - Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

"Clean and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to be visiting the orphans (the bereaved ones) and widows in their affliction and to be keeping oneself unspotted from the system (world)."

Fatherless

• Exodus 22:22 - You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child.
• Exodus 22:24 - and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.
• Deuteronomy 10:18 - He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.
• Deuteronomy 14:29 - And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.
• Deuteronomy 16:11 - And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there.
• Deuteronomy 16:14 - You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns.
• Deuteronomy 24:17 - You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow's garment in pledge,
• Deuteronomy 24:19 - When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
• Deuteronomy 24:20 - When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.
• Deuteronomy 24:21 - When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.
• Deuteronomy 26:12 - When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled,
• Deuteronomy 26:13 - then you shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them.
• Deuteronomy 27:19 - Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.
• Job 6:27 - You would even cast lots over the fatherless, and bargain over your friend.
• Job 22:9 - You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.
• Job 24:3 - They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow's ox for a pledge.
• Job 24:9 - (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and they take a pledge against the poor.)
• Job 29:12 - because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him.
• Job 31:17 - or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it
• Job 31:18 - (for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother's womb I guided the widow
• Job 31:21 - if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate,
• Psalm 10:14 - But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands; to you the helpless commits himself; you have been the helper of the fatherless.
• Psalm 10:18 - to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
• Psalm 68:5 - Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.
• Psalm 82:3 - Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
• Psalm 94:6 - They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless;
• Psalm 109:9 - May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow!
• Psalm 109:12 - Let there be none to extend kindness to him, nor any to pity his fatherless children!
• Psalm 146:9 - The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
• Proverbs 23:10 - Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless,
• Isaiah 1:17 - learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.
• Isaiah 1:23 - Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow's cause does not come to them.
• Isaiah 9:17 - Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men, and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows; for everyone is godless and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.
• Isaiah 10:2 - to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
• Jeremiah 5:28 - they have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of evil; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
• Jeremiah 7:6 - if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm,
• Jeremiah 22:3 - Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.
• Jeremiah 49:11 - Leave your fatherless children; I will keep them alive; and let your widows trust in me.
• Lamentations 5:3 - We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows.
• Ezekiel 22:7 - Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner suffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow are wronged in you.
• Zechariah 7:10 - do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.
• Malachi 3:5 - Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

Mistreated

• Hebrews 13:3 - Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.

Defenseless

• Proverbs 31:8-9 - Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously,

defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Poor and Needy

• Jeremiah 22:16 - He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know me? declares the Lord.

Oppress

Genesis 31:50 - If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.”

Exodus 3:9 - And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.

Exodus 22:21 - “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Exodus 23:9 - “You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Leviticus 19:13 - “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning.

Deuteronomy 24:14 - “You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns.

1 Chronicles 16:21 - he allowed no one to oppress them; he rebuked kings on their account,

Job 10:3 - Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the designs of the wicked?

Psalm 105:14 - he allowed no one to oppress them; he rebuked kings on their account,

Psalm 119:122 - Give your servant a pledge of good; let not the insolent oppress me.

Isaiah 3:5 - And the people will oppress one another, every one his fellow and every one his neighbor; the youth will be insolent to the elder, and the despised to the honorable.

Isaiah 58:3 - ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.

Jeremiah 7:6 - if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm,

Jeremiah 30:20 - Their children shall be as they were of old, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all who oppress them.

Ezekiel 18:7 - does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment,

Ezekiel 18:16 - does not oppress anyone, exacts no pledge, commits no robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment,

Ezekiel 45:8 - of the land. It is to be his property in Israel. And my princes shall no more oppress my people, but they shall let the house of Israel have the land according to their tribes.

Hosea 12:7 - A merchant, in whose hands are false balances, he loves to oppress.

Amos 4:1 - “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’

Amos 6:14 - “For behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel,” declares the Lord, the God of hosts; “and they shall oppress you from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of the Arabah.”

Micah 2:2 - They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.

Zechariah 7:10 - do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”

Malachi 3:5 - “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

James 2:6 - But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?

Oppressed

Exodus 1:12 - But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel.

Leviticus 6:2 - “If anyone sins and commits a breach of faith against the Lord by deceiving his neighbor in a matter of deposit or security, or through robbery, or if he has oppressed his neighbor

Deuteronomy 28:29 - and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways (Or shall not succeed in finding your ways). And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you.

Deuteronomy 28:33 - A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually,

Judges 2:18 - Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them.

Judges 4:3 - Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, for he had 900 chariots of iron and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years.

Judges 6:9 - And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land.

Judges 10:8 - and they crushed and oppressed the people of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the people of Israel who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.

Judges 10:12 - The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you, and you cried out to me, and I saved you out of their hand.

1 Samuel 12:3 - Here I am; testify against me before the Lord and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me (Septuagint; Hebrew lacks Testify against me) and I will restore it to you.”

1 Samuel 12:4 - They said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man's hand.”

1 Samuel 12:8 - When Jacob went into Egypt, and the Egyptians oppressed them (Septuagint; Hebrew lacks and the Egyptians oppressed them), then your fathers cried out to the Lord and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place.

2 Kings 13:4 - Then Jehoahaz sought the favor of the Lord, and the Lord listened to him, for he saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria oppressed them.

2 Kings 13:22 - Now Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.

Psalm 9:9 - The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

Psalm 10:18 - to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.

Psalm 103:6 - The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.

Psalm 106:42 - Their enemies oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their power.

Psalm 146:7 - who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free;

Ecclesiastes 4:1 - Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them.

Isaiah 14:2 - And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the Lord's land as male and female slaves.1 They will take captive those who were their captors, and rule over those who oppressed them.

Isaiah 23:12 - And he said: “You will no more exult, O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon; arise, cross over to Cyprus, even there you will have no rest.”

Isaiah 38:14 - Like a swallow or a crane I chirp; I moan like a dove. My eyes are weary with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my pledge of safety!

Isaiah 52:4 - For thus says the Lord God: “My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing (Or the Assyrian has oppressed them of late).

Isaiah 53:7 - He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

Isaiah 58:6 - “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed (Or bruised) go free, and to break every yoke?

Jeremiah 50:33 - “Thus says the Lord of hosts: The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah with them. All who took them captive have held them fast; they refuse to let them go.

Ezekiel 22:29 - The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice.

Daniel 4:27 - Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity.”

Hosea 5:11 - Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he was determined to go after filth (Or to follow human precepts).

Amos 3:9 - Proclaim to the strongholds in Ashdod and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt, and say, “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and see the great tumults within her, and the oppressed in her midst.”

Matthew 4:24 - So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them.

Matthew 8:16 - That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick.

Matthew 9:32 - As they were going away, behold, a demon-oppressed man who was mute was brought to him.

Matthew 12:22 - Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw.

Matthew 15:22 - And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.”

Mark 1:32 - That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons.

Luke 4:18 - “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

John 10:21 - Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

Acts 7:24 - And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian.

Acts 10:38 - how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

Oppression

Exodus 3:9 - And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.

Leviticus 6:4 - if he has sinned and has realized his guilt and will restore what he took by robbery or what he got by oppression or the deposit that was committed to him or the lost thing that he found

Deuteronomy 26:7 - Then we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.

2 Kings 13:4 - Then Jehoahaz sought the favor of the Lord, and the Lord listened to him, for he saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria oppressed them.

Psalm 10:7 - His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.

Psalm 42:9 - I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

Psalm 43:2 - For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

Psalm 44:24 - Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?

Psalm 55:3 - because of the noise of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked. For they drop trouble upon me, and in anger they bear a grudge against me.

Psalm 55:11 - ruin is in its midst; oppression and fraud do not depart from its marketplace.

Psalm 72:14 - From oppression and violence he redeems their life, and precious is their blood in his sight.

Psalm 73:8 - They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression.

Psalm 107:39 - When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, evil, and sorrow,

Psalm 119:134 - Redeem me from man's oppression, that I may keep your precepts.

Ecclesiastes 5:8 - If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.

Ecclesiastes 7:7 - Surely oppression drives the wise into madness, and a bribe corrupts the heart.

Isaiah 1:17 - learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.

Isaiah 10:1 - Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression,

Isaiah 30:12 - Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, “Because you despise this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and rely on them,

Isaiah 53:8 - By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?

Isaiah 54:14 - In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.

Isaiah 59:13 - transgressing, and denying the Lord, and turning back from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.

Jeremiah 6:6 - For thus says the Lord of hosts: “Cut down her trees; cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem. This is the city that must be punished; there is nothing but oppression within her.

Jeremiah 9:6 - Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit, they refuse to know me, declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 22:17 - But you have eyes and heart only for your dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood, and for practicing oppression and violence.”

Ezekiel 45:9 - “Thus says the Lord God: Enough, O princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression, and execute justice and righteousness. Cease your evictions of my people, declares the Lord God.

Discussion

Social injustice is much harder to identify or solve than crime or legal injustice, because it’s a matter of wrong relationships in a culture that keep people from rising out of material lack.

Pure religion is:

1. Selfless / Others oriented particularly of those who cannot help themselves (e.g. orphans, widows, strangers)
2. Moral Purity
3. Expression of genuine faith in Christ
4. Defiled if our conduct is motivated by selfish gain

To visit the orphan is figurative expression signifying to take notice, to look upon, or to intervene on behalf of.

In James 1:27, the word visit is a figurative expression signifying to take notice, to look upon, or to intervene on behalf of². To visit the fatherless means to help, support, show pity, or to bless. The Biblical use of the word visit means much more than our every day use of it. For example, in Luke 1:68, when God visited His people He redeemed them through the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord spoke of the future destruction of Jerusalem in Luke 19:44, He told Israel that they knew not the time of their visitation. In other words, the Lord Jesus Christ had visited them to be a blessing and to bring salvation. In Genesis 21:1-2, God visited Sarah and she conceived and bare a son. In Psalms 89:32, God visited Israel to punish them. In Exodus 20:5, the Lord said He would visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Him. In I Peter 2:12, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is called “the day of visitation.” According to Matthew 25:31-46, one of the distinguishing marks of a sheep (believer) is their ministry to the needy. In verse 36 the word visited is used to show that action was taken by the Christian on behalf of the needy. Other references to consider are Jeremiah 5:29, 9:25, Luke 7:16, Numbers 16:29 and Isaiah 10:3.

According to Exodus 22:21-24, the Old Testament laws of God made special provisions for the material needs of orphans and widows. A special clause in God’s Holy Word was given to protect them against oppression. This clause was given at the same time the Ten Commandments were given to Moses at Mount Sinai. According to Deuteronomy 15:11, God said that the poor shall never cease out of the land. The Lord Jesus Christ also confirmed this in Matthew 26:11 when He said, “Ye have the poor always with you.” According to Deuteronomy 10:17-18, the fatherless were to be fed from the tithe taken once every third year (a relief fund for the destitute). In Deuteronomy 24:19-22, the gleaning of the crops are to be left in the field after harvest for the needy. They were also to leave some of the fruit of the trees and vines (Leviticus 19:9-10, 23:22). As Israel was to come together to observe the feast of the Lord, they were not to leave out the orphans and widows in their community celebrations and worship. The Lord gave serious warnings against anyone who would oppress or take advantage of the fatherless, “Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.” (Deuteronomy 27:19). Other references to this warning are Isaiah 1:17, 23, 10:1-3, 58:6-7, Psalm 82:3-4, 94:6, Malachi 3:5, Job 6:27, 22:9, 24:3,9, 29:12, 31:16, 17,21, Jeremiah 5:28, 7:6, 22:3, Ezekiel 22:7, Hosiah 14:3, and Zechariah 7:10. The Lord has special concern and care for these innocent children. This is evidenced in the title, A Father of the Fatherless in Psalms 68:5, “A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.” The Lord not only defends and protects the fatherless, but in Him, they find mercy and justice. The following Scriptures also bear this out: Psalm 146:9, 10:14, 17, 18, Psalm 103:6, Proverb 28:27. Please consider this also in Proverbs 23:10-11, “Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless: For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.” The Lord Jesus used a child in Matthew 18:1-6 to illustrate how one is to be converted and enter into God’s kingdom. In verses 1- 6, He shows the consequences of offending one of these little ones, “At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”

In conclusion, the word fatherless occurs only once in the New Testament (James 1:27). The Greek word from which it is translated is orphanos. The word comfortless in John 14:18 also comes from the same Greek word meaning destitute, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” In John 14:16-17, the Lord promised to send another comforter to the disciples which was the Holy Spirit.

Resources

¹ The Eschatology of Adoption (Audio) http://reformedforum.org/ctc55/
² http://biblicaltruth.info/Articles/Defending%20the%20Fatherless.htm
³ http://www.copticorphans.org/blog/2011/10/why-focus-on-the-fatherless/