“I will not Leave You as Orphans”, Jesus Christ – Has God the Father Adopted You as his Child Yet?

In the 14th chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament portion of the Bible, we have the historical record of some of Jesus's last words to his closest disciples, and they are some of the most intimate words Jesus spoke to them, just hours before he was to be arrested and ultimately executed. The word "orphan" which literally means without parents, appears only in this verse and one other verse in the entire New Testament, in the book of James. In the Greek Old Testament portion of the Bible, the word "orphan" is used 44 times, most often in the book of Deuteronomy which contains the Law of Moses, and how to deal with children who were without parents, as orphans. But the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ were not literal orphans, as far as we know. Peter and his brother Andrew had a father who ran a fishing business in the Sea of Galilee, and John with his brother James also had parents, including a mother. So why did Jesus refer to them as potential "orphans" after he left them? The answer is actually very clear in the teachings of Jesus, because to follow Jesus as one of his disciples meant leaving behind biological families. These were Jesus's closest disciples, and they gave up everything to follow Jesus, including their careers and biological families, for the sake of the Kingdom of God.