Our Inheritance in Christ Jesus

Hello again! I’m excited to be back, and to let y’all know to keep praying for us – there’s been an attack against us, and it’s been rough, but we’re victorious. Meanwhile, let’s get to the bulk of this post!

 

Introduction

So, I wasn’t planning on writing anything, but God kind of interrupted my plans. Which I’m totally fine with.

As I was taking a break from school and going down the hallway to where I keep my laptop plugged up, I was mentally picturing a paper list I keep of Scripture verses I want to look into and topics I want to blog on. As I was trying to picture the list, I saw on the list in my head – in my own handwriting – “blog on inheritance.”

Get this: I’ve never actually written that on my list.

You may not believe me, and that’s fine, but I assure you that 1) that was not my imagination, 2) God works in mysterious ways, and 3) I’m honestly not surprised.

So, after this tidbit of guidance, I began to research some verses relating to inheritance, and I want to blog on them.

Here’s the idea: I want to give you a foundational understanding on our inheritance in Christ by looking at various Scriptures that relate to it and expounding on those Scriptures.

Which is a bit different than my normal posting style, and it’s more work, but it’s fun – mostly because I’m learning, too.

Note: I’m quoting these Scriptures individually, verse by verse, so we can get a quick gist of the verse. But keep in mind that it is important to get the context of a verse, so I encourage you to get out a Bible (either digital or physical) and read the verse with its context.

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Let’s get something straight: we have an inheritance in Jesus. Let’s read Acts 20:32.

So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, we have an inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven. Through His death, we received an inheritance from God!

And, in Colossians 1:12, we read the following:

…giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

This is really, really awesome stuff.

The awesomeness is, we are co-heirs with Christ!

Now let’s flip (or scroll) to Romans 8 (this chapter is so stinking good, by the way):

…and if children, also heirs–heirs of God and coheirs with Christ–seeing that we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

With that goodness established, let us move forward into a parable from Luke

But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’

If you don’t immediately recognize the context, it would be a good idea for you to read the entire parable of the vinedressers. Even if you do, it’s still a good idea. I’ll wait.

So, as we know from John 10:10, there is a devil, and he’s out to hurt us badly. He’s also out to steal our inheritance as made clear in the above verse from Luke.

God views us as sons, and as such, we have a huge inheritance, and the devil wants to steal that inheritance right as we go to harvest more souls for the Kingdom or fruit in our own lives.

That goes right into Galatians 4:7:

Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

Back to the vinedressers’ parable.

So if we are sons, and we are going back to the vineyard to harvest and make the devil take his hands off our personal spiritual fruit and God’s children, then we have to be on guard the devil doesn’t steal our inheritance.

This is very deep, and we need to make sure we grasp it. So after you’ve grasped that, we’ll take a mental break (for a little while), and read a story. It’s the story of the vinedressers, this time in full and out of the book of Matthew.

(This is out of Matthew 21 in the NKJV.)

³³ “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.³⁴ Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. ³⁵ And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. ³⁶ Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.³⁷ Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸ But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ ³⁹ So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.

⁴⁰ “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”

⁴¹ They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

‘The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
This was the Lord’s doing,
And it is marvelous in our eyes’?^[j]

⁴³ “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. ⁴⁴ And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”

⁴⁵ Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. ⁴⁶ But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.

Okay, so the context that Jesus puts the story in is awesome. In His translation, the vinedressers are those the Lord puts over the harvest – in this case, the Pharisees were given that responsibility and abused it, even killing the Son Himself.

(I very well might post on this alone someday. I love how it shows what religion does to true relationship with Christ)

But, as usual, there’s more than one way to interpret things. Let’s take a look at another interpretation – perhaps that of the fact that we are the sons, and the vinedressers are Satan and his demons who are seeking to devour.

To back that point up, let’s read 1 Peter 5:8.

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

With those parallels made, I think the point of the story when viewed as an allegory is quite self-explanatory.

To reiterate what I said above, the devil is out to get our inheritance, which is rich – maybe not rich in our sense of the word, but we can be rich in the Lord no matter what our financial situation looks like. (But that’s another post again)

When we work for the Lord, the devil inevitably is out to get us. That isn’t something to be scared of. It just lets us know we’re doing something right. If we can be refined and perfected for His service through our suffering, trials, and hardships… why wouldn’t we?

Our trials make us better witnesses, give us testimonies, and bring us closer to Him. I’ve been through more than a few sufferings over the last few months, but His hand’s been there the whole time – and I never once doubted His presence beside me.

If you are going through something challenging, and you don’t feel His presence, don’t be discouraged. Please don’t read what I’m saying and think, “that’s not possible – it’s not for me.” It is for you! He wants to have intimate communion with you! Cry out to Him, and He will answer.

He wants you so bad. He created you, and He’s loved you since before you existed. Because He’s loved you for literally forever – He wants to talk to you. He really wants to talk to you, live life with you, and having you live for Him and what Jesus did on the cross for you – yes, you.

In 1 John we read the following:

We love him, because he first loved us.

And, as my friend Ezekiel and I were discussing the other day, this is incredibly hard to wrap one’s mind around, as simple as it looks. He loved us, and now we get the immense privilege of loving Him back and serving Him. Not to mention actually carrying on conversations with Him on a day-to-day basis.

Granted, I got a little off-topic there, but I think that was necessary, and hopefully it spoke to someone.

Thanks for listening 🙂

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