Our Inheritance
In the world today it is sometimes difficult to remember what God has in store for us who are saved. The world wants us to be beaten down so that our eyes are downcast instead of looking up with the focus on where God would have it on. Instead of being Kingdom driven, we are earthly swayed. Instead of listening to the Word of God, our attention can be captured to listen elsewhere. However, there is a disclosure that God makes to us as believers which should cause us to keep our eyes solely focused on Him. We have an inheritance coming! Galatians 4:1-7 outlines this basic God given truth to the believer that we are children of God which comes with all the blessings that we cannot even comprehend.
I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
This passage begins by stating that when an heir is a child, he has claim to everything but is no different from those who are around him. He still relies on his guardians and managers to help him until the appropriate time for him to come into his inheritance. In short, the heir is in servitude to those who would guide him.
Paul uses this imagery to reveal to the Galatian Christian that the previous bonds no longer hold us. When we are not saved, we are enslaved to sin. We are held to the Law to show us that we need a savior. Were there those who believed in Jesus Christ and that one day He would show up? Yes, but those believers looked the same as any other slave. They are held with no authority of an inheritance. However, when God the Father declared it, Jesus came to save us all. This was the moment of change, the moment that Paul describes by saying, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” However, we have something the believer before Jesus Christ’s visitation on earth did not have, we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us which has been promised to never leave us.
It was for this reason that God the Father sent His Son to die on a cross and bear our sins. Christ came to earth born as a human man and under the law. Through His life, death, and resurrection; Christ redeemed all of mankind from their slavery to sin and all of this was done at the Father’s appointed time. Man could no more force God to hurry His plan of salvation than we could cause our own salvation. Through the free gift of salvation offered to everyone through Jesus Christ, we are adopted into God’s family.
The book of Hebrews often speaks of Jesus Christ’s inheritance for following the will of God the Father, “12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.” Hebrews 10:12-13 and because of His death all who place their faith in Jesus Christ are descendants of Abraham and have the rightful claim to an inheritance, “29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:29
While this passage does not directly state what our inheritance is, it points us to the scripture as a glimpse of what is waiting for us. And I believe that a part of our inheritance can be seen in Ephesians 2:5-6, “5 even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,”. Because God so cares for those who belong to Him, He created an inheritance for us even while we were separated from God by our own sins. When we only deserved death, He gave us life and a right to be seated next to the Son of God! That is how much God cares for us! Through His promise of life, we are no longer bound to our sin and as such our citizenship is not here on earth, “20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,” Philippians 3:20 and perhaps one of the best things about the inheritance that we have is that it cannot be taken away from us! “3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,” 1 Peter 1:3-4. This passage in Galatians should bring hope to the born-again believer no matter how long we have been in the faith. It is a reminder of what our inheritance is!
Seek the truth and encourage one another,
Alex