Welcome to Buoy, a Life in Deeper Water podcast.

Episode 69. God is Keeping My Inheritance for Me (and what Jesus will say when I get there)

Hello human.

God’s story has always come before me, before you, before any of us.

John 1:1

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

 

I have just begun my immersion into the life of Jesus. The Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Where did He walk, what did He do, what did He say, who did He heal?

What did He die for? So, we could be sons and daughters of His Heavenly Father. Co-heirs with Jesus.

John 1:12

12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

Inheritance runs through God’s story in such a beautiful way. When God called Abram to leave Mesopotamia for a land, he knew little or nothing about, Canaan. He promised him great blessings of wealth and rulership, as well as spiritual blessing.

Genesis 12:3

I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

Genesis 22:18

and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me.

Paul mentions this prophecy in Galatians 3:16:

Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ.

It is evident from the genealogies in both Matthew 1 (Joseph’s) and Luke 3 (Mary’s, though her name could not be legally listed).  Both genealogies together, demonstrate legally and naturally that Jesus is a descendant of Abraham.

Paul understood it so well. The importance of this connection.

Galatians 3:29

And if you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Paul says this after affirming whose family we are in, verse 26.

26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,

We join the divine lineage through Christ, making us spiritual descendants of Abraham and co-heirs of the promised blessings. Does this seem like an ancient Biblical fact you have heard over and over again? Does it seem like stating the obvious, with thousands of years between when this happened and your life today?

Just so long ago. How does this give me encouragement for today? How does this give me divine direction? Wisdom?

Our God is a timeless God. His power reigns without one glitch, not even one moment stalled, or stopped, or diluted.  If we give this more than a passing thought, we begin to understand why it is His story. We are part of God’s story, not ours.  We are in His family.

And, as co-heirs with Jesus, we have an inheritance. But how to best understand the divine power of Jesus on earth, the inheritance He gave to me, through His sacrifice. He died to give me the gift of an eternal life with our Heavenly Father.

We have rights in our Kingdom family.

Imagine this… that you are called to enter through towering cedar doors opening into a beautiful room with the grandest of light, with floor-to-forever windows on either side, framed by sheer, breeze-inspired linen drapes. And it is as if the breeze suspends the room in time and space. In front of you is a wall-to-wall bookcase with books that climb, that spiral up into the clouds. In front of you is a hand-crafted mahogany desk. It looks like something that would be in God’s temple that King Solomon built. It is a place where the most profound of ideas would be discovered, the most eternal of decisions would be made, with the purest lens of truth in all its divine light.

You look around and nod at a few familiar faces, you don’t know everyone, but you know you are all there for one reason.

To hear about what you have inherited.

It’s God’s Library.

A hush comes over the room, you hear a rushing sound, and see a cloud come over the desk and He begins to tell you, a beneficiary, what you will receive in His Kingdom.

Because you have died to sin and will live with Him forever. You believe that. You have professed that. You count on that.

Although the room is filled with people, you fall deeply into His voice, only hearing what He says to you:

My child,

“I bequeath my image and the fruit of my divine spirit, subject to no acts of false gods in your earthly and heavenly life heretofore, to you, _________.” (your name)

“I give all my spiritual personal property and divine insurance covering such property, to you, ________.”

“I give all my residences, known heretofore as “the world and all associated universes”, subject to no mortgages or encumbrances thereon, to you, _________.”

“I give the right to eternal life, subject to no early payout penalties, to you, ___________.”

“I bequeath a new, glorified body upon joining me in my heavenly home, subject to no existing earthly condition, to you, ___________.

“I appoint my only begotten Son, as Executor of this will, having paid the price for your redemption.”

And then the wind, the desk, the spiraling books reaching upward into a heaven of clouds come into focus again. And every head looking upward to catch a visual remnant of where He went. That human eyes must not see.

At this point, we turn and look to see what others heard. A little rustling, standing up. We walk out of His library talking to each other about what we are going to do with our inheritance. How this news will change our lives, give us opportunities we did not have before, how it will eliminate worry and anxiety and solve so many challenges we are facing. How excited we are to tell our family, our friends, strangers on the street.

 1 Peter 1:3-4

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,

 

So, what do we do in an earthly walk with an inheritance that is kept in heaven?

Consider these two earthly representations of our inheritance:

1. We demonstrate confidence, peace, promise and what comes from a day started with a restful night. We sleep well. Because our earthly walk will illuminate our divine assurance that we are well-cared for:

Philippians 4:19

19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

 

“according to the riches of his glory” … our God’s glory. That is the highest standard of living possible.

And,

2. We turn our attention to helping others. It is a big spiritual shift to go from living in our own story, and seeking God for what He brings to our earthly life, i.e., how consistently we get lost in wanting Him to fix trouble before it leaves a mark on our life, prop up our emotions, our challenges, when He already has a plan for all of it. That Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to fill each of us with the faith that comes from God’s divine persuasion of our hearts. So that we are persuaded to serve others with our spiritual gifts (again, from Him), out of humility and gratitude for our redemption and what is to come in our heavenly home.

But how to walk through what Jesus did on earth, how He served others, follow His earthly path, knowing that He is the executor of my Will, that I stand to gain eternal life, communing at the Heavenly table with Jesus, and His Heavenly Father.

How do I do that, and how do I pray for humility to serve Him in this life?

Focus on what Jesus will say to each of us when we receive our inheritance.

Matthew 25:34-36

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes, and you clothed me, I was sick, and you looked after me, I was in prison, and you came to visit me.’

 

Paul puts it this way to the Corinthians when boasting was causing power-seeking factions:

 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 NIV

So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.

 

All things belong to me.

Through divine provision.

I belong to Christ.

Through His redeeming love and sacrifice.

Christ belongs to God.

Because that’s our Heavenly Father’s story. He so loved.

From Abraham to Jesus to you, human.