In our culture, an inheritance is something we look forward to. Though the reason we may receive an inheritance may be saddening, it’s a blessing when it is received. Our inheritance may come in the form of a home, business, money, or many other useful items that remind us of our loved ones. In turn, we may be able to pass on those items to our family members as a blessing.
Though mankind may have utilized an inheritance for centuries, we weren’t its creator. According to the Bible, God was the One who created and operated in it first. When He created Adam and Eve, He gave them a beautiful garden to tend and call their own (Genesis 1-2). He also gave Abraham an inheritance of prosperity and blessing (Genesis 15, Genesis 22). Then, when He brought the children of Isreal out of Egypt, He called them into an inheritance based on the covenant He made with them (Joshua 1-19). And unlike how we operate now, He gave it to them without the death of a loved one. He is a good God, “leaving an inheritance to his children’s children” (Proverbs 13:22, KJV).
Thankfully, God didn’t just give an inheritance to people in the Bible times. When we were born again, He passed on the blessing of inheritance to us, depositing it into our spiritual bank account (1 Peter 1:3-5). This time, the inheritance was made possible through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus (Galatians 3:18). Our inheritance included far more than the people of the Old Testament, for it held not just physical items but the New Birth that required the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:2). We now have the inheritance of eternal life because He took our place on the cross (Hebrews 9:15, Ephesians 1:11). Our inheritance sealed, or guaranteed, by the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 1:13).
Unlike some earthly family members, God doesn’t want our inheritance to remain a secret. It was His perfect will and plan. He wants us to know all about it!
Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan (Ephesians 1:11, NLT).
“…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints…” (Ephesians 1:17-18. NKJV).
The greatest part of our inheritance is eternal life, made possible because He forgave our sins when we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior. However, our inheritance isn’t just a home in heaven after we die. God also included “everything we need for living a godly life.” God the Father thought of everything we may need, including natural and physical things on the earth. The “Blessing of Abraham” provided this.
The Blessing of Abraham is the inheritance God gave him when He declared Abraham the “father of many nations” (Genesis 17:4). From then on until Jesus died and returned to heaven, that inheritance was only available to the Jews. But through Jesus’ sacrifice, even the Gentiles (non-Jews) could receive that same inheritance if they believed in Jesus (Galatians 3:6-9). That inheritance includes every blessing Abraham enjoyed—the same found in Deuteronomy 28. God promised that “all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” because Abraham obeyed God’s commands (Genesis 22:18). We as Christians are a part of all the nations of the earth!
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith (Galatians 3:13-14, NKJV).
Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? (Romans 8:32, NLT)
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence (2 Peter 1:3, NLT).
“If I have an inheritance that includes physical blessings, why don’t I feel or see it?” you may ask. “My bank account is empty and my body hurts.”
If we are not experiencing our inheritance’s physical blessings, we must understand where our inheritance first lies. Let me share an illustration.
Several weeks ago, I battled a cough and congestion. As I sat on the passenger side of the car, I took a cough drop. My daughter immediately leaned forward and said, “Mommy, you don’t have to take a cough drop. You’re healed.” She was right! I was healed because Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:2 say I was healed two thousand years ago when Jesus died on the cross. Then when I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior, God the Father applied the blessings of my inheritance to my life. So why didn’t my body feel healed? The answer is found in understanding the difference between the physical and spiritual realms.
Remember, every part of our inheritance originated in the spiritual realm and is reserved in heaven for us in a spiritual bank account (Ephesians 1:3, James 1:17, 1 Peter 1:3-4). We can’t receive anything good unless it comes from heaven where God lives and operates (John 3:27). It is first a spiritual truth purchased legally by the blood of Jesus. When Jesus gave us the blessings of our inheritance, God confirmed it in heaven in the spiritual realm. Jesus took care of all the legal parts of our inheritance, but often there are natural things that He must coordinate before we see or feel our inheritance in the natural. But the time it takes does not mean our inheritance is not ours. It is the truth, regardless of whether we see or feel it.
It’s like the inheritance my grandma left me after she died. My inheritance is legally mine according to her will. But for it to be available for deposit into my physical bank, it must go through the process of property sold, legal documents signed, and my personal information obtained before I can enjoy it fully. But regardless of how long it takes, it still belongs to me.
The key is to believe the inheritance is ours, even when we can’t see or feel it. That belief is called faith and is founded on what God says in His Word—our inheritance document. We must go to that Book and find out what is in our spiritual bank account, otherwise, we won’t be motivated to make a withdrawal. But when we are confident in our inheritance, we can boldly make a withdrawal with our faith, believing what it says and counting it as the truth (Colossians 1:2). From then on, we can watch expectantly as God causes it to manifest for our natural eyes to see.
Therefore, [inheriting] the promise is the outcome of faith and depends [entirely] on faith, in order that it might be given as an act of grace (unmerited favor), to make it stable and valid and guaranteed to all his descendants—not only to the devotees and adherents of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is [thus] the father of us all (Romans 4:16, AMPC).
When we are tempted to get discouraged because of how long it may take, we must remember God’s promises. God cannot lie (Titus 1:2). When He says the blessings of our inheritance are ours, we must believe it. We must hang on to that promise without any doubt, remembering that all of God’s promises are “yes and amen”!
For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us (2 Corinthians 1:20, NKJV).
Christa Madrid 