In fact since the time of youth is naturally characterized by such a physical vigor and zest for life, (and because these desirable qualities are so fondly cherished), it is often comically quipped that ‘it is too bad that youth needs to be wasted on the young.’

Likewise since it is during our youth that we make so many significant and important life-style decisions and choices, it is not surprising that later on in our lives we often ascribe our successes or our failures to what we did with our youth, or to what our focus was during our youth. Hence we frequently hear people either expressing gratitude for the fortunes and discipline of their youth, or else lamenting about the folly and waste of a ‘misspent youth.’

Wherefore the time of youth with its abundance of energy and zeal is naturally extolled by the world, even glamorized. And though much of this is purely carnal and sensual both in focus and motive, it is not entirely without a measure of justification.

For setting the norms, standards, and values of this ungodly world aside, youth truly is a very special and highly significant stage of life. For since it is the opening portion of adulthood, then in particular this means that it is the time of life when a young adult needs to make certain kinds of decisions and choices which by their very nature go a long way in determining what the balance of his adulthood will be like.

But of all these decisions and choices that need to be made, the most important are the ones that result in him acquiring the proper kind of virtues that will enable him to succeed at adult living.

Now there is no context in which the time of youth is more meaningful, (and during which there is more at stake), than in the context of our sonship status in this present dispensation of God’s grace. And so when it comes to us making the kinds of decisions and choices that determine what our adult sonship lives will be like, there are none more important than those that we are given to make at the outset of our sonship youth when God our Father provides for us to acquire our proper and necessary sonship virtues.

For our sonship virtues are what effectually shape, determine, and ensure what the quality and worth of our sonship living will be. And as such they are vital and powerful virtues, which when we acquire them and operate upon them they function as the dew of our youth.

For they are virtues which first of all act like the ‘dew of the morning’ in our inner man, energizing and thrilling us so that we want to live our sonship lives by awakening us to the reality that nothing in this world compares with getting our sonship edification and living out our sonship. But then like dew that also freshens and invigorates a plant for the day ahead they work to supply our hearts with the kind of spiritual zest and vibrancy that we need in order to engage in the work of receiving our sonship education and to put it into practice.

However unlike the natural dew that is either soon used up, or evaporates away, the virtues of our sonship youth are designed to become the permanent dew of our youth. For they are designed to continue to effectually work within us with the same capacity, (and even a growing capacity), to freshen and to invigorate us as when they began. For our Father has purposed that they should remain condensed on our hearts, (and He has equipped them with the ability to do so), where they have the power to continually work throughout the full course of our sonship lives, constantly supplying us with their dew-like qualities right to the end, and so ensuring the quality and worth of our sonship living.

Now just as a father hopes to be able to commend his son for receiving his sonship education and for successfully living out the course of his sonship life from start to finish, so God our Father desires to do the same with us. And as part of His commendation in that day He desires to say to us, ‘You have the dew of your youth’ –– a commendation which up until now He has only pronounced to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Yet this is a commendation which we likewise can receive in accordance with our Father’s goal of ‘conforming us to the image of His Son.’

Now the full scope of our sonship youth runs from the time when our Father first teaches us that He has given us "the adoption of sons," through to the time when by the effectual working of the curriculum for our sonship edification He is able to begin to deal with us about matters whereby we are able to become mature ‘wise men’ both in knowledge and in manner of living. But once again it is at the outset of our sonship youth that we are given to acquire ‘the dew of our youth.’

Specifically therefore it is during the time of our sonship orientation and establishment in Romans 8:14–39 that our Father provides for us to acquire our proper and necessary sonship virtues with their dew-like qualities.

And so in accordance with the three main components that there are to our sonship establishment in Romans 8:16–39, (which specifically provide the means for the dew of our youth to be fully generated within us), the dew of our sonship youth is composed of the following three main virtues:

(1) the virtue of being devoted to getting our vocational education come what may, as well as being committed to becoming proficient in carrying out the operations of our Father’s business, because we are far more impressed with the opportunity to be educated and trained in His business of being His "new creature," as well as with the opportunity to invest our time and energy in His operations, than with any thing else.

Logically this is the first and foremost virtue that we need to acquire, seeing that the success of our sonship life depends so much upon how dedicated and committed we are to getting our sonship education and to living our sonship life.

(2) the virtue of having implicit faith in whatever our Father teaches us in the curriculum for our education because we not only know that He is trustworthy, but because we know that His curriculum for our education is perfectly suited to its task and is flawless, with the result that we do not foolishly distrust or doubt any of His teachings or instructions, nor faithlessly question His wisdom, motives, or fidelity.

This virtue is also naturally essential to our successful sonship living, especially in view of the numerous challenges, demands, and difficulties that we will encounter.

And (3) the virtue of having unwavering loyalty to doing things our Father’s way, and to fulfilling His business operations, because we know that His way is the best and only way, and we are convinced of His word’s mighty power to operate within us, with the result that we do not compromise, alter, or refuse any of our Father’s operations, nor become self-willed.

Likewise this virtue is also essential to successful sonship living. For it not only works to provide against us being cunningly enticed, fooled, or overthrown by opposition, but it also works to prevent us from being deterred or thwarted by any weakening of our resolve or by the draining of our courage.

In addition it works to prevent us from deceiving ourselves by means of rationalizations and self-debates that are based upon our own personal preferences rather than our Father’s express will.

[N.B. To review the basics of our sonship establishment in Romans 8:16–39 and its provision for generating the dew of our youth, see for example the previous ETB Quarterly articles, Are You an Optimist or a Pessimist? Third Quarter 2003; A Weak Link, Third Quarter 2006; A Strong Link, Fourth Quarter 2006.]

Now of these three virtues the second is the central one, and therefore the chief or controlling virtue. For without it our devotion to receiving our vocational education will not amount to very much, nor will our loyalty to doing things our Father’s way last very long.

Nevertheless all three virtues are absolutely vital by nature, with each making its own indispensable contribution to ensuring that we are successful at living out our sonship lives.

To underscore just how vital these three virtues are, let’s briefly look at two lessons about them from the past.

First let’s look at what we might call Israel’s misspent youth. For from it we will see God point out the folly of failing to acquire the dew of sonship youth, and how that without it a son is insufficiently fit and ill-equipped for living his sonship life.

Then by way of stark contrast we will look at our Lord’s well-spent youth. In doing so we will not only see that He perfectly acquired the dew of His youth, but we will especially see that during all of the rigors of His earthly ministry He manifested how the dew-like qualities of each of the three virtues powerfully and constantly operated within Him to ensure the success, (and the successful completion), of the ministry He was given to carry out.

For this reason God the Father not only commended Christ for having the dew of His youth, but in doing so He also pronounced how that it is the power of the dew of Christ’s youth which guarantees that He will also perfectly carry out and fulfill all of the remaining work to His sonship life.

The three virtues that comprise the dew of sonship youth actually should sound somewhat familiar to us. In other words we should have the feeling that we have come across them before in God’s word. And sure enough we have.

For since sonship is not unique to us in this present dispensation of God’s grace, but it is primarily part of God’s program with Israel, (and God has much to say about it in Israel’s program), then it is not surprising that God has spoken about the three virtues of sonship youth before.

And even though I have defined and described each of the virtues particularly as they pertain to our sonship today, they are nonetheless the very same virtues that God showed Israel that they did not naturally possess, when in Moses’ day ‘He called His son (Israel) out of Egypt.’

So it was then that when God had to reprove Israel for their carnal pride, presumption, and high-minded thinking about themselves, (and at the same time worked to educate them in their absolute need for His "Jehovah-ness" and grace), He also purposefully exposed that they had significant deficiencies in their heart. Deficiencies which should have told them that they were not truly fit to receive their full vocational education and training in God’s business, nor were they ready to begin to participate in it, like they thought they were.

Having therefore addressed them as His "son," (and through Moses having called them unto Himself in order to present them with the privileges, the responsibilities, and the fruits of being in a sonship relationship with Him), God particularly worked at pointedly exposing how that they were deficient in the three necessary and vital virtues of sonship youth.

Wherefore at the end of that time, (and especially after their numerous and repeated failures), God had Moses say to them...

Now when God specifically had Moses say "that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live," He actually reproved Israel for not possessing the first and foremost virtue of sonship youth.

For when a "son of God" is thrilled by his Father’s business, and by his opportunity to be trained in it, (and as such acquires the sonship virtue of humbly devoting himself to receiving and learning his sonship education, and to becoming proficient in the operations of his Father’s business), then he knows that he must live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God his Father. And what’s more he does it.

Likewise when Moses said to Israel...

...God reproved them for not possessing the second needful virtue of sonship youth.

For when a "son of God" knows that his Father is trustworthy, and so he has acquired the sonship virtue of having implicit faith in whatever his Father teaches him or instructs him to do, then he does not distrust Him or doubt Him, nor does he faithlessly question or tempt Him.

And again when Moses said...

...He reproved Israel for not possessing the third of the three vital virtues of sonship youth.

For when a "son of God" knows that his Father’s way is the best way and the only way, and as such has acquired the virtue of having unwavering loyalty to doing things his Father’s way and to fulfilling His business operations, then he does not betray Him or His business. Nor does he compromise any of His Father’s operations, nor act in a self-willed manner.

In essence therefore Israel had a misspent youth during the time of Moses’ ministry. For by persisting in the folly of their presumption and high-mindedness, and by not humbling themselves in the face of God’s reproofs, they not only failed to submit to their need for God’s "Jehovah-ness" and grace, but they also failed to perceive the necessity of acquiring the vital virtues of sonship youth.

Consequently Israel’s sonship was put on hold, so to speak, until that time in the outworking of their program when through "the ministration of the spirit" they, (like us in this present dispensation), are enabled to acquire the vital virtues of sonship youth.

Therefore Israel’s misspent youth serves as a clear ensample unto us of just how insufficiently fit and ill-equipped a son is for living his sonship life, if he does not have the dew of his youth.

As was previously noted, the Lord’s sonship youth stands in stark contrast to that of Israel’s misspent youth. For during the time of His youth the Lord perfectly acquired from the Father each of the three vital virtues.

What’s more during the balance of the time of His sonship youth each of the virtues also fully developed and operated within Him, just as they are designed to do.

And then they powerfully functioned within Christ during the rigorous course of the outworking of His earthly ministry, effectually sustaining Him by their power throughout all of the challenges, trials, and demands that He faced.

Yet this was just the beginning of their function within Him. For the Lord still possesses the dew of His sonship youth right now.

In fact since the time when He ascended to sit at His Father’s right hand, (and now also including the time of this present dispensation of God’s grace), Christ has been commended of His Father for having the dew of His youth, and also for what it means with respect to the rest of His sonship life.

Wherefore the virtues of the Lord’s sonship youth are still operating within Him with the same freshness and vibrancy as when He first acquired them. And they will continue to so operate within Him throughout each of the remaining stages of His sonship living that are yet to come, just as Psalm 110 proclaims.

Therefore our Lord’s well-spent youth serves as a clear ensample unto us of just how sufficiently fit and perfectly equipped a son is for living his sonship life, when he does have the dew of his youth.

Before we look at the Lord’s ensample, and focus our attention upon the effectual working of the power of the dew of His youth, it is important for us to realize that the virtues of Christ’s sonship youth are the very same as those that we should have.

In other words the dew of Christ’s sonship youth is not supernatural nor extraordinary as if it has little or nothing in common with the dew of our own sonship youth.

Nor was the effectual working of the power of the three virtues within Him something that exceeds, or is beyond the reach of, the kind of effectual working that we can expect from them within us.

But rather the dew of the Lord’s sonship youth is composed of the very same three virtues as we are given to acquire. And we can benefit from the same effectual working of their power as the Lord did.

For when in accordance with the Davidic Covenant "the Word was made flesh" and became Jesus the Christ, God the Father and the Lord Jesus entered into the very sonship relationship that God has designed to have with man.

For this reason in the Davidic Covenant God the Father said...

And in Isaiah 9:6...

Hence God the Father dealt with the Lord Jesus just ‘as a father’ would, and the Lord responded to His Father just as ‘a son’ should. And this included Him acquiring from the Father the very same three vital virtues of sonship youth that "the sons of God" in either of God’s programs need to acquire.

This, once again, is important for us to understand and appreciate, so that we are properly impacted by the parallels that exist between how the dew of the Lord’s youth powerfully worked within Him, and how the same dew should work within us.

In accordance with both the normal mechanics and the normal process of sonship, the Lord first acquired the vital virtues of sonship youth at the outset of His sonship life.

And once acquired they properly settled and functioned like dew upon His inner man, where they began effectually exerting their power within Him that would ensure the quality and worth of His sonship life right to the end.

Wherefore when at the beginning of His earthly ministry the Lord engaged in the operation of qualifying Himself to function as Israel’s Redeemer, (which involved Him proving Himself to be the perfect son/servant that Israel was not), He boldly asserted that each of the three vital virtues of His sonship youth were effectually working within Him by proclaiming them to the devil.

Hence when He was tempted of the devil to fail where Israel failed, the Lord responded to the first temptation by saying to Satan...

The Lord therefore boldly proclaimed to Satan that He had not only acquired the first vital virtue of sonship youth, but that He was fully and perfectly operating upon it.

Hence having been devoted to the receiving of His sonship education from His Father, He was committed to being proficient in carrying out His Father’s operations, and to fulfilling them, regardless of their effects upon Himself.

Then to the second temptation the Lord responded to Satan by saying...

Therefore the Lord boldly asserted to Satan that He was operating upon the second vital virtue of sonship youth.

For in having implicit faith in whatever His Father taught Him, or instructed Him to do, the Lord did not distrust what His Father had told Him , nor would He question His wisdom, motives, or fidelity.

And then to the third temptation the Lord responded to Satan by saying...

In so saying the Lord boldly asserted that He was operating upon the third of the three vital virtues of sonship youth.

For in having unwavering loyalty to doing things His Father’s way, and to fulfilling each of His Father’s operations in their prescribed manner, the Lord would not entertain the idea of either compromising, altering, or refusing His Father’s operation. Nor would He entertain the pursuit of His own will.

The Lord therefore perfectly possessed each of the three vital virtues of sonship youth. And by the effectual working of their power within Him He successfully withstood the rigors of being placed in the position of having each virtue’s hold upon His heart strained to the maximum, as both the conditions of His qualifying and Satan’s temptations worked at trying to dislodge the virtues from His heart, and so dry up the dew of His youth.

[N.B. For some basic information about God proving Israel to be an imperfect son/servant, and about Christ being tempted of the devil, see chapter 6 in the author’s book Satan and His Plan of Evil.]

Though the strain of qualifying Himself to function as Israel’s Redeemer was certainly severe, the demands and rigors of the Lord’s earthly ministry had just begun to call upon the power of the dew of His youth.

In fact as the Lord worked to accomplish each of the operations that His Father entrusted Him to fulfill, (and by the fulfillment of each He was inexorably propelled on to performing the excruciating operation of actually functioning as the Redeemer), the dew of His youth remained as fresh and vibrant as ever.

For as was pointed out at the beginning of this article, God the Father has designed that the three vital virtues of sonship youth should have permanent freshness and vibrancy.

And this is true not only in His program with Israel, but also in His program with us in this present dispensation. For our Father has made it so that the very information that generates the three virtues within us in the first place, is also fully equipped to constantly feed them so that their dew-like qualities do not evaporate, but remain condensed and settled on our hearts.

Wherefore throughout the balance of the Lord’s earthly ministry He continued to powerfully operate upon the dew of His sonship youth, manifesting and often even testifying that this was so.

For example by the permanent freshness and power of the first vital virtue effectually working within Him, the Lord not only received His sonship education from His Father, but He put it into practice by ambitiously engaging in each operation of His Father’s business from the first to the last. For by the persistent dew of the first virtue He constantly deemed His Father’s teachings and instructions, (as well as their application to the fulfilling of His operations), to be the very sustenance of His life.

Hence, for example, John 4 relates...

Likewise the permanent power of the second virtue of sonship youth also effectually worked within the Lord during the full scope of His earthly ministry.

For by having implicit faith in what His Father had taught Him about His operations, (whether in much detail or not), the Lord did not foolishly distrust nor doubt any of His Father’s teachings or instructions. Nor did He question the wisdom of any operation, nor the way in which His Father wanted it carried out.

Instead the Lord did something else entirely. For with the persistent dew-like quality of the second virtue effectually working within Him, the Lord was equipped to consistently perceive and acknowledge the wisdom and necessity of His Father’s operations, and also the reasons behind the way in which He wanted them to be accomplished.

For example, when the Lord had fulfilled His Father’s operation of forcing Israel to manifest that it had truly become the prophesied ‘generation of God’s wrath,’ He intelligently proclaimed...

For from His sonship education the Lord knew exactly what His Father was doing and why. As such He knew where this specific operation fit into the outworking of the program, what it meant at that very time, and also the impact that it was going to have from that point on in view of the way in which it was accomplished.

Hence as Matthew 11 also goes on to testify...

So then the second virtue of the dew of the Lord’s sonship youth continued to effectually work within Him throughout His earthly ministry, with as much freshness and vitality as when He first acquired it.

Not surprisingly, therefore, we also find that the freshness and power of the third vital virtue of sonship youth also continued to effectually work within the Lord.

Hence when the time came for Him to be "received up" and to partake of His horrifying sufferings as the Redeemer, He unwaveringly and without hesitation ‘set His face like a flint’ and...

Moreover when in the hours before going to the cross He was pointedly, as well as graphically, confronted with the horrific agonies that were in store for Him, in His sonship prayer He prayed...

Hence even under this most extreme straining of the hold that the third vital virtue of sonship youth had upon His heart, its original dew-like freshness had not diminished and its power held within Him and prevailed.

So then having perfectly acquired and developed the three vital virtues of sonship youth, their dew-like freshness and vibrancy constantly functioned within the Lord throughout all the rigors of His earthly ministry.

Moreover they continue to remain condensed upon His heart right now, where they are still as fresh and as vibrant as ever, and where their dew-like qualities will yet be the source of His unquenchable fervency and vigor when He carries out the operations of His day, and as He fulfills all the remaining obligations of His sonship life.

Hence, as previously noted, in Psalm 110 God the Father says to Him with commendation...

Now in accordance with our Father’s prime objective of conforming us to the image of His Son, (and as we engage in the privilege of ‘suffering with Christ that we may be also glorified together’), the course of our own sonship lives involves us partaking of numerous prescribed demands, challenges, and tribulations which are similar in nature to those of Christ’s.

Very simply put these range from similar type demands associated with receiving our own sonship edification and applying it to the details of our lives; to the various kinds of challenges and labors involved in carrying out our Father’s operations in this present dispensation; to the many intimidating troubles and distresses that we can experience from the increasingly fearsome tribulations and perils belonging to "the sufferings of Christ," and that come from the Adversary’s policy of evil against us.

Yet despite all of the demands and challenges that we can face; and despite the withering effect produced by every trepidation; the power of the dew of our own sonship youth is sufficient for us, just as it was with our Lord. It is of sufficient strength to ensure both the successful living of our sonship lives, and the undaunted completing of the course prescribed by our sonship edification.

Therefore just as the dew-like quality of the first virtue effectually worked within the Lord to give Him an insatiable appetite for receiving and operating upon His sonship education, and for working with His Father in His operations, so also is it able to do the same within us.

And so if we have acquired the first virtue of the dew of our sonship youth and it is operating within us, not only should we emerge from our sonship orientation and establishment filled with hunger for getting our sonship godly edifying, but throughout our sonship lives the dew-like freshness and vibrancy of that hunger ought to remain and have us saying in similar manner to Paul...

Likewise if we have the second virtue of the dew of our youth operating within us, then as with the Lord its dew-like freshness not only should have us fully trusting our Father’s teachings throughout our sonship lives, but also we should perceive and rely upon the wisdom in His dealings with us, even right to the bitter end, so to speak.

In other words we should not only have implicit faith and confidence in the power and wisdom of our Father’s teachings during the early stages of our sonship lives, (when the challenges are less demanding, and the opposition is less intense), but even more so during the latter stages.

Hence by the permanent effectual working of the dew-like freshness of the second virtue we ought to be able to express similar conviction and confidence as Paul did when he said to Timothy...

And if we have acquired the third of the three virtues and it is operating within us, then as with the Lord we should not only commence our sonship lives professing loyalty and fidelity to doing things our Father’s way and to fulfilling His operations, but the permanent dew-like freshness of that profession and resolve is able to effectually work within us to overcome any and all pressures that we might face to do otherwise.

Wherefore though we may find ourselves being ‘straitened in our bowels’ at certain aspects of our sonship living, or at partaking of certain privileged sufferings, the permanent dew-like freshness of the third virtue is of sufficient power to cause us to want to work with our Father to enlarge our hearts and so overcome our shame or reluctance.

In fact as it did with Christ, the third virtue is of sufficient power to retain its hold upon our hearts, and cause us to make our will subservient to our Father’s, even when by all natural accounts the pressures upon us to opt for our own will should cause its hold to fail.

For this cause Paul speaks to us about eventually knowing and operating upon...

As previously noted, since our Father is a genuine father unto us, it is His heart’s desire to be able to commend us for being wise and faithful sons, who received our sonship education and lived it out unto being ‘conformed to the image of His Son.’ For in a father-son relationship "a wise son maketh a glad father."

At the same time, therefore, it should be our heart’s desire to hear such words of commendation from Him. For ‘the glory of a wise son is his father.’

So then in the day when ‘the counsels of our hearts’ are made manifest, and we receive ‘praise of God,’ we should dearly want to hear Him say, ‘Like my Son, you have the dew of your youth.’