Does God Have Grandchildren? ∙∙∙

Does God Have Grandchildren? ∙∙∙

For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. – Galatians 3:26

Daniel 5:18-22

Your Majesty, the Most High God, gave sovereignty, majesty, glory, and honor to your predecessor, Nebuchadnezzar.

But when his heart and mind were puffed up with arrogance, he was brought down from his royal throne and stripped of his glory.

He was driven from human society. He was given the mind of a wild animal, and he lived among the wild donkeys. He ate grass like a cow, and he was drenched with the dew of heaven until he learned that the Most High God rules over the kingdoms of the world and appoints anyone he desires to rule over them.

You are his successor, O Belshazzar, and you knew all this, yet you have not humbled yourself.

What Is a Grandparent?

Even without formal biology studies, most people know what a grandparent is: the parent of a person’s mother or father. In simple biological terms, grandparents belong to the generation before one’s parents. A child has a direct relationship with their parents, who are the immediate source of their life. In contrast, the connection to grandparents is both genuine and familial but one generation removed. Therefore, grandchildren are truly related to their grandparents, though the relationship is indirect rather than immediate.

Our relationship with God the Father is entirely different. It is not indirect or mediated through another human being, but personal and immediate. There are no spiritual grandchildren in the family of God; each person must come to the Lord Jesus Christ individually. Through personal faith in Him, each believer is brought into a direct relationship with the Father and welcomed as His child. In this way, becoming a child of God is not a matter of heritage or association, but of personal trust in Christ and the new relationship with the heavenly Father that follows.

John 1:12: “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.”

Receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior results in a spiritual rebirth, making us children of God. This birth is not physical but spiritual. It is the inner work of God that brings new life to the soul. Faith in Jesus Christ renews us spiritually and grants us a new identity as children of the King.

John 1:13: “[We] are reborn, not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.”

The New Birth

In John 3:3-8, Jesus explains the nature of spiritual birth with unmistakable clarity. He teaches that entrance into the Kingdom of God requires more than physical birth; it requires birth through the Spirit. Human beings can produce only natural human life, but the Holy Spirit alone produces spiritual life. This is the miracle of regeneration: God imparts new life to those who believe.

John 3:3: “Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.’”

John 3:5-8:

“Jesus replied, ‘I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.’

Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.

So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’

The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.’”

Spiritual birth marks the start of ongoing spiritual life. Like infants require nourishment, new believers need the nourishing truth of God’s Word. Growth doesn’t happen automatically; it requires nurturing through a constant desire for truth, which deepens faith and influences the heart.

REFLECT & PRAY

1 Peter 2:2: “Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk of the word so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation.”

Father, thank You for making us Your children and welcoming us into Your forever Family through Your Spirit. Please cultivate in us a strong desire for Your Word and empower us to grow in the life You have provided.

INSIGHT

The Father Has Children, Not Grandchildren

The Father does not have grandchildren; He only has children. Faith is not something inherited through family lineage, passed down as a natural trait or something acquired through association. Instead, it is a personal response to God that each person must choose for themselves. Consequently, every child of the King bears the responsibility to teach Scripture accurately, offer godly guidance, and serve as a visible example, enabling the next generation to come to know the Father and trust His Word firsthand.

Nebuchadnezzar’s Exposure To The God of Israel

This truth is vividly illustrated in Daniel 2-5. The Father revealed Himself to Nebuchadnezzar through Daniel and his three Jewish companions: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. In Daniel 2, Daniel was given supernatural wisdom to reveal both the content and the meaning of the king’s troubling dream. The dream had deeply shaken Nebuchadnezzar, and Daniel was summoned not only to interpret it but also to tell him the dream itself before explaining its significance.

Daniel was not functioning as a pagan mystic or court magician. He stood before the king as a servant of the living God. His power came from God. The Father disclosed the dream and its interpretation to Daniel, and Nebuchadnezzar was left astonished by the undeniable power of the God of Israel.

Daniel 2:47-49:

“The king said to Daniel, ‘Truly, your God is the greatest of gods, the Lord over kings, a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this secret.’ Then the king appointed Daniel to a high position and gave him many valuable gifts. He made Daniel ruler over the whole province of Babylon, as well as chief over all his wise men.

At Daniel’s request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to manage all the affairs of the province of Babylon while Daniel remained in the king’s court.”

The Fiery Furnace: A Public Display Of Divine Power

Daniel’s three friends refused to obey the king’s order to bow to the golden image, viewing it as idolatry and choosing to remain loyal to God. Because of their stance, they were cast into the fiery furnace. However, God intervened and saved them, demonstrating His power in a way Nebuchadnezzar could neither deny nor explain. The king saw not just courage but divine deliverance, reaffirming to Nebuchadnezzar the reality and supremacy of the God of Israel.

Daniel 3:28-30:

“Then Nebuchadnezzar said, ‘Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He sent his angel to rescue his servants who trusted in him. They defied the king’s command and were willing to die rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.

Therefore, I make this decree: If any people, whatever their race or nation or language, speak a word against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they will be torn limb from limb, and their houses will be turned into heaps of rubble. There is no other god who can rescue like this!’ Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to even higher positions in the province of Babylon.”

Near The Truth, Yet Not Yet Transformed

At this stage, Nebuchadnezzar clearly recognized the extraordinary power of the God of Israel, but recognition alone is not the same as saving faith. He had witnessed divine wisdom and divine deliverance, and he openly acknowledged the greatness of the God of Israel. Yet acknowledgment by itself had not brought him into a relationship with the King of Kings. In that sense, he stood near the truth, but he had not yet been humbled into full submission.

Pride, Humbling, And Personal Faith

Because Nebuchadnezzar was prideful, the Father humbled him to bring him to an end of himself. He endured suffering that isolated him from normal human life until he acknowledged that the Most High governs all kingdoms. Only after this humbling did he turn to heaven, regain his understanding, and openly honor the eternal God.

Daniel 4:34-37:

“After this time had passed, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven. My sanity returned, and I praised and worshiped the Most High and honored the one who lives forever. His rule is everlasting, and his kingdom is eternal. All the people of the earth are nothing compared to him. He does as he pleases among the angels of heaven and among the people of the earth. No one can stop him or say to him, ‘What do you mean by doing these things?’

When my sanity returned to me, so did my honor and glory and kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored as head of my kingdom, with even more honor than before. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and glorify and honor the King of heaven. All his acts are just and true, and he is able to humble the proud.”

The king’s language goes beyond simple awe at God’s power. He expresses confession, repentance, and surrender. Nebuchadnezzar, who was once the proud ruler of Babylon, ultimately recognized the true and living God as the sovereign King of heaven.

Belshazzar And The Failure of Inherited Faith

Nebuchadnezzar’s personal faith did not automatically become the faith of his descendants. That is the central lesson: the Father has children, not grandchildren. A relationship with God cannot be inherited through family lines or received secondhand; it must be personally embraced.

This truth becomes especially clear in the account of Belshazzar. Although he belonged to Nebuchadnezzar’s royal line, he did not walk in humble submission to the God Nebuchadnezzar had come to honor. Instead, he hosted a great feast and openly profaned the God of Israel by using vessels taken from the temple. During this reprehensible act of arrogance and disrespect, a hand appeared and wrote these words on the wall: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN.

Terrified by what he saw, Belshazzar summoned Daniel to interpret the message. Daniel confronted him with a sobering truth: he had failed to respond rightly to the lessons revealed in Nebuchadnezzar’s life.

Daniel 5:17-22:

“Daniel answered the king, ‘Keep your gifts or give them to someone else, but I will tell you what the writing means. Your Majesty, the Most High God gave sovereignty, majesty, glory, and honor to your predecessor, Nebuchadnezzar. But when his heart and mind were filled with arrogance, he was brought down from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. He was driven from human society. He was given the mind of a wild animal, and he lived among the wild donkeys. He ate grass like a cow, and he was drenched with the dew of heaven until he learned that the Most High God rules over the kingdoms of the world and appoints anyone he desires to rule over them.

You are his successor, O Belshazzar, and you knew all this, yet you have not humbled yourself.’”

Belshazzar’s guilt was greater because he had not sinned in ignorance. He knew what God had done, yet he still refused to humble himself. In his case, knowledge without submission became the basis of judgment.

The God Who Gives Breath And Rules Destiny

Daniel then confronted Belshazzar about his sin, emphasizing its seriousness. He mocked the Lord of heaven, on whom he relied for his very breath.

Daniel 5:23-24:

“For you have proudly defied the Lord of heaven and have had these cups from his Temple brought before you. You and your nobles and your wives and concubines have been drinking wine from them while praising gods made of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone, gods that neither see nor hear nor know anything. But you have not honored the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny! So God has sent this hand to write this message.”

The judgment was immediate and final.

Daniel 5:30: “That very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, was killed.”

A Clear Spiritual Conclusion

Belshazzar’s downfall reveals the danger of pride, defiance, and borrowed familiarity with spiritual truth. He lived close to the testimony of God’s power, but he did not bow before God personally. That is why this passage stands as a sobering reminder that no one enters the family of God by ancestry, proximity, or association.

The Father has only children, and every child comes by personal faith through spiritual rebirth. The new birth is the gracious work of God, and it establishes a direct relationship between the Father and each of His children.

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© Dr. H 2026