How Would You Like a Terrific Inheritance?
I’ve never gotten an inheritance when any of my family has passed away—no Rockefellers in my family tree. But I do have an inheritance coming, according to the apostle Paul.
“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together,” (Romans 8:16-17).
If I were an heir of some Rockefeller, I’d get something from the estate that the Rockefeller had. For sure I’d get money. Perhaps I’d become the president of a corporation, or become the member of some board of directors. Whatever wealth, authority, position or title my Rockefeller relative had, I would receive, because the Rockefeller wanted me to have it.
The same holds true for us as heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ. There is nothing that God the Father or God the Son have that we will not receive. Christ gave authority and dominion to us. As his siblings, we receive whatever he received from his Father. We have and will receive everything he received from God. Every title, every office, even their very nature -- all of it -- is ours.
Don’t take my word for it. Do a word search in Yahoo or Google. Type in “heirs of God” and “co-heirs with Christ” and see what comes up. This’ll get you some pretty heavy-duty stuff. The Scriptural support for this is staggering.
You'll find that some of your "common sense" objections to this idea are not Biblical, and actually contradict clear teachings in the Bible.
“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together,” (Romans 8:16-17).
If I were an heir of some Rockefeller, I’d get something from the estate that the Rockefeller had. For sure I’d get money. Perhaps I’d become the president of a corporation, or become the member of some board of directors. Whatever wealth, authority, position or title my Rockefeller relative had, I would receive, because the Rockefeller wanted me to have it.
The same holds true for us as heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ. There is nothing that God the Father or God the Son have that we will not receive. Christ gave authority and dominion to us. As his siblings, we receive whatever he received from his Father. We have and will receive everything he received from God. Every title, every office, even their very nature -- all of it -- is ours.
Don’t take my word for it. Do a word search in Yahoo or Google. Type in “heirs of God” and “co-heirs with Christ” and see what comes up. This’ll get you some pretty heavy-duty stuff. The Scriptural support for this is staggering.
You'll find that some of your "common sense" objections to this idea are not Biblical, and actually contradict clear teachings in the Bible.
posted by Ron Goetz | 1:25 PM
2 Comments:
It's nice to think that we can grow up, live, and die with nothing...but gain treasures with no end and indescribable value when we "go home." I feel it's true that we will be rewarded in the afterlife. In this world you work for what you have, and sometimes it's given to you. But in order to be a good christian you have to really work at it, your entire life. And work will be rewarded in one way or another, all work is. So if living with nothing means that I'll inheirit the world in the end, so be it. I'd rather work for the big guy than have my life be handed to me on a silver platter anyways.
Hey Michael. You bring up an interesting point. It would be terrific enough if we inherited everything that God has and is when we go to heaven. But when we progress far enough in God – even before we die! – then we have all that now. We are heirs of God, not like pie in the sky, but in the here and now. It’s just a matter of believing what the Bible teaches and growing into it.
For example, even though we live on this planet, we are, right now, seated on the throne in Christ. Ephesians 2:6 says, “He has raised us up together, and made us to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” (Ephesians 2:6).
That’s in the present tense, not in the future tense. We are seated on the throne not because of how hot or how holy we are, but because we are IN Jesus Christ, we are part of the Body of Christ. Where Jesus is, there is his Body. If he’s sitting on the throne, then (because we are part of his Body) we are on the throne too. It’s just a matter of believing what the Bible teaches and growing into it.
Actually, it's in the past tense. We are already seated on the throne with Christ, we just don't realize it. Think about it. We have been sitting on a royal throne for quite some time now, and most of us are totally ignorant of it. Sheesh! Wouldn't you want to know that you were royalty?
And we also have authority to forgive people their sins.
"If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you do not forgive the sins of anyone, they are not forgiven," (John 20:21). If you look this verse up, it doesn’t say anything about whether the person has sinned against just you, or if they have repented, or anything. All it says is that, because you have the Holy Spirit living in you, you have the authority to forgive sins. Right now. Today.
Believe the Bible and grow into it.
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