The Christian's Inheritance (Part 1)

Preface – “The Not’s”

The Psalms start with David telling us what righteousness is NOT. So too, regarding our inheritance as believers in Christ, let me commence by declaring what I do not believe.

• I do not believe in some distant promise of paradise, as the sole inheritance of believers. The moment God saves us, we inherit, and continue to inherit. Acts 2:41-42 “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

• However, I do not believe in secular rewards-based motivation. The rewards Christ promised in the gospel, were the rewards of those who follow Christ, not of those who follow rewards. Phil. 3:7-8 “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.”

• Neither do I believe in altruism, the deliberate ignoring of all thought of reward, as anything genuine or glorious. Matt. 19:29 “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.”

• I do not believe in quick inheritance as the substance of our Christian largesse. Heb. 6:11-12 “We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”

• I do not believe in “one generation wins all” - Christianity’s inheritance in and of Christ has been spread out over church history, by God’s providence. Rom. 4:16 “Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.”

• I do not believe that material inheritance should ever outweigh the nature and profoundness of the Kingdom coming as our true source of joy as heirs. Num. 18:20 “The LORD said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them; I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites.”

• I am skeptical of all formula-based approach to inheriting, as much as Jesus Himself warned us in Luke 17:23 “Men will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them.”
  

Inheritance in Israel

It is clear that Genesis 1-11 is God’s way of crashing through the millennia to get to one man – Abram. He goes from heaven to earth to Mesopotamia to Ur. He summarizes thousands of years of genealogy in a few paragraphs – all to arrive at His dealing with this son of Terah.

Abram, a man stranded halfway between nothing and nowhere, gets gate-crashed by God. As Stephen Dempster writes, “how could it be possible that one without such promise could hold so much promise?".

Yet God cuts a covenant with him, and promises him TWO THINGS – “a seed” and the land of Canaan. God extends this several times when He declares that “all nations will be blessed” through Abram.

Through faith and patience, Abraham and Sarah inherit Isaac, the son of the promise. Isaac begets Jacob and Esau (the permanent parallel worlds are perpetuated from the time of Cain and Abel/Seth). Jacob begets the 12 patriarchs and they are called to Egypt by God’s providential dealings. No sign of the promised land yet. Not for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob or his children!

After 430 years, Moses leads Israel out of Egypt and Joshua leads them into Canaan. By now the twofold promise to Abraham is materializing – Israel is many (Deut 1v10), and they inherit much of the whole promised land (Josh 11v23).

So, in part, God’s promise to Abraham was fulfilled on earth.

The continuation of the Old Testament into the historical and prophetic books really then speak of Israel gaining or losing their inheritance through cycles of obedience or disobedience to God.

We see the outworking in the two-pronged nature of their inheritance – inter-generational and inter-national blessing-dynamics rose and receded, depending on Israel’s response to God.  All of God’s dealings with His people are covenantal.

In the next few blogs, we will look at Two-Fold Inheritance for us, the Israel of God, in and through Christ.

Love
Nick