THE INHERITANCE

The soul on turning to God and receiving Christ not only receives the forgiveness of sins, but an inheritance. In sending glad tidings to Israel in Egypt, God not only declared that He would deliver them from the house of bondage, but that He would bring them into a good land, with every earthly blessing. There was an inheritance in view. This should have encouraged their hearts to move forward with the desire to get possession of the inheritance. It should have sustained their faith through all the trials and hardships of the wilderness.

In the New Testament there are two words translated “inheritance”. In Acts 26: 18 and Colossians 1: 12, it is a word which signifies lot, portion, or property. In the New Translation in Colossians it is rendered “portion”. It expresses that which is the common portion of saints, the blessing which we receive in Christ through grace on believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is our present portion, to be enjoyed in the power of the Holy Spirit. We discover it more and more as we go on in the Spirit. This would free us from the love of the world, and the desire to find our enjoyment in earthly things.

In Peter and in Ephesians it is rather a different word, which signifies what we generally understand by an inheritance, what is bequeathed to a person. In 1 Peter 1: 4 the point is that it is reserved in heaven. It is a matter of hope. These Jewish believers to whom Peter writes had lost the earthly inheritance, through the nation’s rejection of the Messiah. But the apostle shews them that they had something far better, an incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading inheritance reserved for them in heaven. Meantime they were being kept by the power of God, awaiting salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, by the revelation of Jesus Christ. In the hope of this they rejoiced in the midst of present trial and affliction, possessing the faith which was more precious than gold, because it connected them with a living Christ, and with the God of resurrection, affording them present soul salvation.

In Ephesians 1: 11, it is a future thing, connected with the world to come, the administration of the fulness of the times, when God will head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth. It is all that Christ will inherit in the day of glory. The assembly, that is, the saints of this present dispensation, will inherit all these things in Christ. That is, they will share in His inheritance. How wonderful the thought, He will not take up His inheritance until His bride can share it with Him. The inheritance is purchased, but not yet redeemed. The Spirit in us is the earnest of the inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. If it were a present thing, we should not need the earnest. Having the earnest of the Spirit makes it a great reality to us, so that we look on with earnest desire to the day when the Lord will come and take up His rights in connection with the inheritance, when we shall share His glory. The usurper will be cast out, and everything which mars the inheritance will be completely removed. Then God will inherit all things in the saints. The apostle prays that we may know the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.

From Goodly Words vol 7 (1929)