- Inherit the Earth
Psalm 37:9, 22, 29, 34
For evildoers shall be cut off:
But those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.
For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth;
And they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.
The righteous shall inherit the land,
and dwell therein for ever.
Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land:
When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.
This promise is a little hard to believe until we understand the spiritual, eternal and New Testament meaning of “Land.” “Inherit the land (earth)” is an oft-repeated promise climaxed with Jesus’ promise in Matthew 5: 5: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
The same Hebrew word can mean either earth or land depending on context; and the same word is used for “the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey, the land of Canaan.” The “land” promise goes back to the original promise given to Abraham in Genesis 12, the promise that begins the salvation history of the Bible. Following the thread of the land promise through the Bible it comes out in the New Testament as the “Kingdom of God,” which is presently spiritual in the hearts of believers and ultimately eternal in heaven.
Inheriting the earth or the land in the first place meant occupying the land of Canaan in the Conquest of Joshua. It never means the whole physical world globe, but it does mean the invisible Promised Land or Kingdom where God rules over the hearts and lives of His People, spiritually now and physically forever after the Last Day in the new heaven and new earth. In that final sense we “inherit the earth.”
Who inherits? “Whosoever believeth in me.” But according to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount: “The Meek.” According to Psalm 37: “Those who wait upon the Lord;” “Those who are blessed of him;” “The righteous:” and “Those who keep his way.” To summarize these conditions for inheriting the earth: it is those who believe in Jesus Christ that meet the criteria for receiving the promised inheritance. “The meek” are those who are humble, open and teachable enough to receive Jesus and believe His Gospel.
“The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof,” and, just like the Promised Land, the Lord gives it to us to live in and enjoy. We are living in the spiritual Kingdom of God and enjoying the blessings thereof, but we still need to enter in and “possess the land” (kingdom) that the Lord has given to us. So we pray: “Thy kingdom come.”