202. Inheritance
Ephesians 1:11In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.
We have obtained an inheritance. An inheritance in itself is a promise: something is coming when the testator dies. In this case the something comes when the heir dies. The inheritance is both something we already have and something that is still coming in the future.
This inheritance was predestined before we were born, even before the world was born. Our predestination was according to His purpose. The will of God comes from the heart of God; the heart of God is Love; the counsel of His will is the deliberate determination and decision that God has arrived at; it is derived from His basic will that all be saved. Love determines God’s will; Love determines the definitive decision to send His Son; Love determines the result of Jesus’ death and resurrection; Love determines our reception of the promised inheritance. God’s will is done.
We inherit God’s Name, God’s Life and God’s Kingdom. But another power, another death, and another kingdom cover it up so that we do not see it clearly. But because we don’t see it does not mean we do not have it. Faith obtains it just as God ordains it. We do not experience the fullness of that inheritance yet, but we do have the Holy Spirit as an earnest, or guarantee, or down payment of the full inheritance. The inheritance is obtained by faith in the Gospel. The inheritance is “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heavenfor us.” But for now, the Kingdom of God is within us.
The promise was first given to Abraham in Genesis 12 when God promised him and his descendants Land. The rest of the Biblical Story is the unfolding of that promise, culminating in the Resurrection. The Land is the inheritance kept in heaven and sealed in our hearts, the Kingdom within.