He is Your Inheritance

INHERITANCE

“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11).

I love the idea of inheritance. That word in Ephesians 1 is the word κληρόω klēróō; which means: to allot, i.e. (figuratively) to assign (a privilege):—obtain an inheritance. What I love about the concept of inheritance is that it’s based purely on the efforts of someone else. Someone else works hard all of their life. They trouble, they toil, they strive, they create, they fail, they succeed, and eventually they amass enough wealth to store up an inheritance for you. You don’t work for it, you don’t struggle, you don’t earn it, you don’t risk, you don’t have to do anything - all you have to do is be born. That’s it. Just be born to the right person and you will receive an inheritance.

The Father is like that. He has stored up for you every spiritual blessing and every earthly blessing you could ever want (James 1:17), not because of what you’ve done or even what you do, but simply because he loves you. He stored it up for you before you were ever born. Before the foundations of the world were ever laid he had stored up for you riches beyond what you could ever imagine. And more than riches, He stored for you something even greater. What he stored up for you was Himself. What he stored up for you was His Son. Jesus is your inheritance. God gives you Himself, and that is the greatest treasure you could ever have.

What’s more, is His Son Jesus’ ministry in Heaven is simply to pour out the Spirit of the Father, the Holy Spirit, the blessing of the Father, to you!

Jesus is your great inheritance, stored up for you before you were ever born. The suffering of Jesus, the whips, the chains, the hard road with the cross, His death, His resurrection. All of this is an inheritance for you. All you have to do is be born again as His child. It doesn’t matter who your family is, who your parents are, what your pedigree is, what your heritage is, all you have to do is be born again. Be born again as a child of the King, and His inheritance is yours, as it is written “So that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:7). Because of this we can "[give] thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light” (Colossians 1:12).

This is possible because he adopted us as sons, as Paul explains, “you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Romans 8:15). Not servants, but sons, and not just sons but heirs—heirs to this incredible inheritance. Concerning this Paul says, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17), it is also written, “if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:29), and “So that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God” (Galatians 4:5-7). Paul also tells us, “He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will” (Ephesians 1:5).

When someone adopts a child, the power of that adoption is such that the child is no longer an orphan, but fully vested with all the benefits and entitlements of a full blooded son. There is now no separation, no conditions that separare that adopted son from a natural son. When God adopted you, he adopted you fully, to the uttermost and entirely. Legally you are now a son. He adopted you from antiquity to eternity until infinity.

But we like the prodigal son, take our inheritance and run and go spend it on wild worldly living. We get caught up in the things he gives us without realizing that He is our inheritance. In Luke 15, the prodigal son hopes that he maybe he can beg his father to be allowed to be one of his servants. His plan is to tell his father “Treat me as one of your hired servants” (Luke 15:19). The reason for this is simple, he feels unworthy to be called a son.

A servant receives a reward, namely a paycheck. A servant is treated based on his works. A servant is not a son, but at least a servant has some kind of relationship with his employer. The beauty of this story is that the son finally realized that his real need was not the money or the things or the life he thought he wanted, his real need was the father himself. What he really wanted was relationship.

All he had to do was turn from his sin, and run to the father. That’s all we need to do. We Just repent, turn from our sin, and believe. Just repent and believe and Jesus is yours, the Spirit is yours, the Father is yours. The Bible says, “while he [the son] was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him” (Luke 15:20). He is there, a far way off, running towards you! He is your good and great inheritance!

And we don’t have to worry because not only has he predestined us for adoption, he has also sealed us and secured our adoption, as it is written, we “were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14). We also see this in the famous verse, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord” (Isaiah 54:17). The word “heritage” here is the Hebrew word

‎נַחֲלָה nachălâh which can also be translated “inheritance.”

This means that he has you, secured, tucked away, hidden, locked in, protected, free from corruption, firm, fixed — safe! We read in Scripture, “He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3-4). He has you! Jesus says to his Father concerning you, “Of those whom You gave Me I have lost none” (John‬ ‭18‬:‭9‬). He has not and will not lose you. As Paul says in Romans 8:29-30, “those whom [God] predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” You are safe in his hands.

He is your inheritance. Take it today! Don’t wait another hour, don’t wait another moment. The Father is running after you! He is your inheritance. Like the psalmist, you can say, “The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance” (Psalms 16:6).

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-m