Do You Have an Eternal Inheritance?

Published on 04/28/24 by Dr-Shirley-Cheng.

Do you realize what your greatest treasure is? If so, do you know how to appreciate it?

What is more unfortunate than not possessing a treasure is not realizing its value when you do own it. Many of us have treasures that we don't even realize we have; or when we know they are treasures, we fail to appreciate them. For instance, we often take our friends, family, our health, or even our own lives for granted.

The most precious treasure, however, is a relationship with Yahweh and all that it brings with it. Many of us have this treasure right at our fingertips, ready for us to attain and enjoy, but sadly, we do not realize its value so we do not reach out for it. And those of us who are privileged to obtain it often do not appreciate it.

When we accept Jesus as our Savior and repent of our sins, Yahweh accepts us into His fold by sanctifying us in His Holy Spirit. To sanctify means mainly two things: to set apart something for holy use, and to purify to conform to God's holiness. The Holy Spirit does both in a Christian's life: once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, God sends His Spirit to dwell in us (thereby officially setting us apart from all others in making us into Christians), and then the Spirit helps us live a life that's pleasing to God.

The goal of sanctification is twofold: forgiveness of our sins and obedience. When we are set apart by the Spirit, we receive forgiveness by the "sprinkling" of Jesus Christ's blood, which "washes" away our sins. As forgiven sinners, we are helped by the Spirit to live a life of obedience--obedience unto Jesus, who taught the teachings of Yahweh. So to obey him is to obey God. When we fail from time to time to be obedient, we will be forgiven of our sins when we sincerely repent. So the working of Jesus' blood is ongoing; it is effectual whenever we need of it.

Apostle Peter praised "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy became our father again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn't fade away, reserved in Heaven for you, who by the power of God are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (1 Peter 1:3-5, WEB)

When Yahweh God accepts us as His flock of Christians, it is purely by His bountiful mercy, for we do not merit His goodness since we're all sinners. His exceeding mercy and love for us is worthy of all our praise. Once we accept Him and His Son into our lives, He becomes our Heavenly Father. The words "became our father again" is best translated as "begot us again." This refers to our rebirth, or what is often called, our "born again" status. When we accept Christ as our Lord, we are reborn with a new identity (Christians), with a new record (our plate of sins is wiped clean), with a new Master (Jesus, rather than our own selves), a new purpose (to serve our new Master), and new hope (eternal fellowship with God and Christ and life).

At our spiritual rebirth, our adoption as Yahweh's children is unto a living hope--hope that is not dead or vain, but is sure and promising, as what we hope for (our future glorification and eternal life with Yahweh and Jesus) will certainly be realized, so long as we remain faithful to them. This sure hope of ours is only possible through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Since God resurrected Jesus as promised, then He will surely resurrect all Christians as promised, too. Our hope is therefore based on God's faithfulness. Since Yahweh is entirely faithful and dependable, then we can be assured that our hope is certain.

Like all children, we as God's children will receive an inheritance from our Parent. But unlike all earthly inheritance, the inheritance that awaits us is eternal, incorruptible, unpolluted, and cannot fade away, reserved by God for us and to be given (revealed) to us in the last days, mainly upon our resurrection at Jesus' return to Earth. What's our heavenly inheritance? Our glorification and eternal life in the Kingdom of God upon Earth, the land that the meek are to inherit (Matthew 5:5). Simply put, salvation is our inheritance.

Just as Yahweh is reserving our inheritance, He is foremost guarding us for salvation by His power. He does so by giving us the Holy Spirit to help us live righteously and fight all temptations. Thus, this is a teamwork: God helping us, and we remaining in our faith. It's His powers and our faith that work together to guard us and keep us from falling permanently. If we fail in our faith and denounce Jesus as our Lord, then our inheritance is lost to us forever. Inheritance is valueless to those who are dead.

"Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been put to grief in various trials, that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ-whom not having known you love; in whom, though now you don't see him, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory-receiving the result of your faith, the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter 1:6-9)

Due to our living hope for our future resurrection, we as Christians have the best reason to rejoice--Jesus our glorious Lord is coming, bringing with him the result (desired outcome) of our faith: the salvation of our souls (lives). Upon his revelation (glorious return to Earth on the clouds), all Christians will be resurrected unto eternal life, where our physical bodies will be replaced with immortal, spiritual bodies, sharing in Jesus' glory (1 Corinthians 15:44, 53-54).

Even though we now do not know Jesus in the sense we have never seen him or physically fellowshipped with him, we believe in and love him and immensely rejoice in him, waiting eagerly for his return. We love Jesus because he is purely righteous, the exact spiritual image of Yahweh (Colossians 1:15). If God is good, gracious, merciful, holy, just, and gentle, then Jesus is all this as well. All these virtues of his should make us rejoice in him.

As we wait for Jesus' return, many of us are put through various grievous trials, from the temptations we constantly face to persecution or even execution by unbelievers. God often does not physically deliver us from such trials, but allows us to remain in them in order to use them as refineries for our faith. Just as gold is purified through fire, our faith is strengthened through trials. If we can come out of our trials with a stronger faith that is proven to be genuine, then this results in honor and glory, both our own and that of Christ, as a pure faith is more precious than the purest gold. Purest gold can perish, whereas our faith is everlasting.

Summary of 1 Peter 1:1-9

Christians are the recipients of Yahweh's bountiful mercy where He graciously elects them in sanctification by the Holy Spirit, sprinkles them with the blood of His Son for the forgiveness of their sins, helps them be obedient unto Christ, adopts them as His children, guards them by His power, gives them a living hope, and reserves for them an inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, and does not fade away. For all these reasons and more, Yahweh deserves our deepest adoration and praise.

In realization of their living hope and the promises of God, at the revelation of Jesus, all Christians will receive the result of their faith: their salvation, which entails glorification and eternal life and fellowship with their God Yahweh and Lord Jesus.

In light of this, we as Christians have the best reasons to greatly rejoice, even amid our many grievous trials. Our trials are not to destroy us but build our faith up, refining them like gold being refined in fire. Once our faith is purified, it will result in glory, honor, and praise.

Do you now realize the value of your greatest treasure? If you haven't yet obtained it, now is the time to do so. Repent and accept Jesus into your life!