Paul covers seven basic points about your inheritance from God.
1) Inheritance was always by faith.
I guess you could say that faith got your name written into the will. Rom 4:13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Rom 4:14 For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect.
Being born into Israel in time past in no way guaranteed eternal life nor were they guaranteed they’d inherit the kingdom and the uttermost parts of the Earth and all the other promises God made to them. Paul makes the point here that they all knew the promises of God were given to Abraham, not because he was chosen to be the father of Israel and all the other nations, or because Abraham was a good person, but strictly because of his faith and his faith alone. That’s what the story of Abraham taught Israel – faith to be righteous in the eyes of God and faith to receive the promises of God. If you got the promises by being part of the ancestry of Abraham or being under the law, then what’s the point of faith? You manifesting the rightness of God’s ways always begins with you having faith in Him and His Word.
So then, we might ask, What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God (Rom. 3:1-2). Their advantage in life was their access to the Word of God both written and through the prophets. They knew firsthand God’s will. They knew God wanted faith. They would all be taught about Abraham and the necessity of faith. They would all be told the stories of faith and they would know that God’s will for them was to have faith in Him and His Word.
No faith = No inheritance.
2) Once you’re in God’s family, you automatically become an heir.
Before you were saved, you were alienated from God. You were a foreigner and a stranger. Now that you are saved, you’re family. You’re a child of God, and if you’re a child of God, then of course, you are also an heir of God. Paul makes this point repeatedly, like in Rom 8:17 in which he writes, And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ...
If you’re part of His family, if you’re a child of God then you must also be an heir of God, because all of God’s children are heirs. And if you’re an heir of God, then you must also be a joint-heir with Christ. He’s not stating that there are different levels of inheritance. Like, there’s one level of inheritance as an heir of God and another level of inheritance as a joint-heir with Christ and that’s only if you suffer with Him. No, this is a statement of logical deduction. “If you’re this, then logically, you have to also be this and this.” Christ is the Son of God. He is a child of God, which makes Him an heir of God. Christ is an heir of God in the sense of Webster’s 3rd and 4th definitions for the word inheritance. He was given everything by the divine appropriation of the Father.
Christ is the Son of God. You are also a child of God. Therefore, you are not only an heir of God, but you are also a fellow-heir with Christ, because He’s an heir of God. You are as valuable to God as His Son and He has given you everything He has also given to His Son.
Some might say, “No, Joel, it’s conditional upon you suffering persecution that you become a joint-heir. Rom 8:17 says And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”
Are we not all one with Christ? Are we not all suffering with Christ by living in this sin-cursed world? Of course, we are. Nobody escapes suffering in this life.
Paul’s if so be is in the sense of “logically seeing it through.” It’s a logical deduction. Christ was glorified for His sufferings. You’re a child of God and a joint-heir with Christ. Therefore, you will also be glorified for your sufferings, too. Paul is just making a statement of principle here in this verse. He only means that if you’re suffering with Him, then you’ll be glorified with Him. Why? Because He suffered and He was glorified, and you are now one with Him. Plus, you are all heirs of God. God will glorify you for how you handled the suffering just as He glorified His Son.
Paul’s using if here as he had been throughout Romans 8, like in vs. 10, if Christ be in you. Is Christ in you? Yes. See it through then. If this is true, then see it through. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin. The same principle is at work in vs. 17. If so be that we suffer with him. Are we suffering with Him? Of course, we are. We’re one with Christ living in a sin-cursed world with unbelievers who are not fond of us. If this is true, then see it through.Then we will also be glorified together. If this is true, the other must be true also.
3) You were made fit (or adapted) for the purpose of taking part in God’s inheritance.
Col 1:12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. God transformed you spiritually. He made you whole. He made you righteous, all of which has made you adapted, or equipped, or fit for the purpose of, partaking in the inheritance with all the saints in glory.
You gotta be changed if you’re going to get the inheritance. You gotta have the sin issue dealt with and you gotta have a new body, too, because you gotta be sinless if God’s going to let you take part in the inheritance. Well, Christ already dealt with the sin issue. You’ll be getting a new body at the Rapture, and you’ll be freed from sin. And in this whole transformation, God has made you meet. He has made you fit for the purpose of partaking in the inheritance with all the saints in glory.
4) Our inheritance is guaranteed by the earnest of the Holy Spirit who indwells us and sealed us.
Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Eph 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
The big point is that the Holy Spirit, which baptized us, which now indwells us, and by Whom we are sealed in Christ, or secured in our perfect position before God as one of His children, and made us fit for the purpose of partaking in the inheritance, in all of this, the Holy Spirit has also become unto us the earnest of our inheritance, the non-refundable deposit, if you will, the guarantee of something to come. His presence inside of you guarantees you’ll be getting the inheritance.
I’d also suggest that the earnest goes both ways. He’s our earnest in that He is our guarantee of eternal life and inheriting everything, and He is also God’s earnest. He is God’s guarantee to Himself that you are His possession forever.
Plus, because the earnest is a non-refundable deposit, I think we’ll be filled with the Spirit for all eternity like the kingdom saints. The Holy Spirit is non-refundable. He is yours to keep with you for all eternity just like all the other saints.
5) The inheritance IS the kingdom.
1 Cor 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?
If the unrighteous are NOT going to inherit the kingdom of God, what is it the righteous ARE going to inherit? The kingdom of God. There is this sense in Scripture that you obtaining eternal life is also synonymous with the concept of you taking possession of the kingdom of God. Eternal life means you’re taking possession of the kingdom. Some view getting saved as getting a ticket to Heaven. According to Scripture, you getting saved means you are taking possession of that which God had always intended for you to have. For God everything was made for you.
When you got saved, you became a child of God. If you’re a child of God, then you’re an heir of God. What is it that you’re going to inherit? The entire estate. What is the estate? The entire kingdom of God. Paul told us we’re also joint-heirs with Christ. How is it that Christ is getting an inheritance? In the sense of Webster’s 3rd & 4th definitions for inheritance. God commanded it. Christ was given the inheritance by divine appropriation. What is it that Christ is going to inherit? The entire kingdom of God.
You are a joint-heir with Christ, a co-inheritor of the kingdom. You will own all of Earth. Everything in the second heaven if that is still going to exist. You will own Heaven and everything in Heaven. Being a joint-heir with Christ literally means everything will be yours. From God’s perspective, He made everything for you. This universe? It’s all for you. Heaven? It’s all for you. God wasn’t satisfied with suns and stars. He wanted sons and saints.
So you got saved and obtained eternal life. You will get your glorified body and you take up your seat in heavenly places, and then you will be taking possession of that which God had always designed to be yours for all eternity.
A point we periodically make on the podcast is that yes, prophecy vs. mystery, kingdom vs. grace, Israel vs. the Body of Christ, those are all important distinctions that must be made. At the same time, there are connections, too. Abraham is the father of all who believe, which includes all of us. Abraham got saved the same way we get saved today – by faith. The story of how Abraham got saved was written for our sakes, because we’re saved the same way.
There is another connection – we are all heirs of God. We are all inheriting the kingdom of God.
Gal 3:29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Did you know that you are Abraham’s seed? How can that be true? None of us are part of Abraham’s ancestry, that we know of. We are his seed in the sense that we are inheriting the entire kingdom of God by promise because of our faith just like Abraham. That’s the promise of faith. Abraham became a child of God because of his faith. Because he’s a child of God he automatically becomes an heir. What is he inheriting? The entire kingdom of God. We’re living in an unprophesied time of grace. We, too, have become children of God because of our faith, and since we’re children of God we automatically become heirs. What are we inheriting? The entire kingdom of God. We are partakers of that same promise to Abraham because of faith.
Eph 3:6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.
Now this statement comes on the heels of the temple illustration Paul gives at the end of Eph. 2. Everyone who ever gets saved is in Christ, which means that everyone who ever gets saved is in that temple. Christ is the cornerstone of everything. We’re just in different rooms. Israel is going to take on administrative roles in the kingdom on Earth. We are going to be judging the world and judging angels according to 1 Cor. 6. What does that mean? That means we’re going to be taking on administrative roles in the kingdom from our heavenly seats. It’s still the same kingdom. There’s only one kingdom of God. I think in God’s eyes, Israel’s role on the Earth vs. our role in the heavens are equally important. They’re just different roles.
6) The reward of the inheritance.
Col 3:24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
Now there is the inheritance, you taking possession of the entire kingdom of God, and then there is also the reward of the inheritance, in which God gives you something more, in addition to, the inheritance. And that is the reward you’ll be getting at the Judgment Seat of Christ. I suspect that after all your works are burned up and you have a nice collection of gold, silver, and precious stones that survived the fire, you will then get one reward. I say this because of 1 Cor 3:14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
He’s saying that if any good work survives the fire, you’ll get one reward. The good works that survive the fire will determine how great the one reward will be. I’ll bet that one reward will be the location of your heavenly seat, your role in His kingdom.
7) All of this was predestined by God.
Eph 1:11 In whom (in Christ) also we have obtained an inheritance (that inheritance is already yours), being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.
What exactly was predestinated? Everything about this age of grace, everything about what He made us in His Son, about us taking part in the inheritance of the entire kingdom of God, all of that was all determined by God before the creation of the world. He determined that His grace believers will be blessed in this manner.
Notice also that the Father made all these decisions Himself. These decisions were not made by a divine committee. God did not have a pow wow with the other members of the Godhead about any of this. When God determined He would have an age of grace, He also purposed within Himself that all these blessings would be given to all the believers.
So we can thank the Lord for the sacrifice He made at Calvary for all our sins, but we also thank the Father for the age of grace, for everything about the age of grace, for how He took the cross and chose to bless you in every way you can be blessed by the cross.
SUPPLY OF GRACE 