The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul tells us, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:5-11)
After Jesus was raised from the dead, God the Father highly exalted Him to the highest position of honor at His right hand and was given the Name which is above every name. The inference here is that there was a name known in heaven, unknown elsewhere and this name was kept to be awarded to someone who should merit it. It was Jesus who was given the Name above every name. God not only gave Jesus a Name which is above every name, but at the Name of Jesus every being in three worlds, heaven, earth, and hell, must bow and confess the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Due to the mighty name given to Jesus, every believer has the legal right to use the His name, "And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name…" (Mark 16:17) "Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name…" (John 16:23)
Paul tells us, "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:4-6) Our seating and reigning with Christ in heavenly places is a position of authority, honor, and triumph, not weakness, failure, and defeat. As a believer, your seating with Christ is part of your inheritance now. The believer is seated with Christ now. God has already raised you up together and made you sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Our position as believers is one of joint-seating with Christ in heavenly places. We may not always stand on this due to our circumstance, nevertheless it is our position. If believers want to rise above their circumstances, we must by faith take advantage of our position in Christ.
Another version of the Bible says it this way, "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the intense love which He bestowed on us, caused us, dead though we were through our offenses, to live with Christ--it is by grace that you have been saved raised us with Him from the dead, and enthroned us with Him in the heavenly realms as being in Christ Jesus, in order that, by His goodness to us in Christ Jesus, He might display in the Ages to come the transcendent riches of His grace." (Ephesians 2:4-7 WEY) Notice, God enthroned us with Jesus in the heavenly realms. Does that sound like a Church that's defeated and is still having to do battle to gain mastery over Satan? Absolutely not. The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ stands triumphant because we are partakers, we share with Christ in His victory over Satan.
Paul also tells us, "For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." (Colossians 3:3) The Body of Christ, in Christ, is connected to the head. Jesus is the Head of His Body, the Church. If Jesus the Head triumphed over the devil, is the Body of Christ to be any less triumphant since we are in Christ? Of course not! It is our legal right to enjoy our joint-seating with Christ in heavenly places in a position of authority and triumph. "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..." (Romans 8:16-17) The believer's position and seating in Christ is a fact. It has already happened. That position was attained for us through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, all we have to do is enjoy the rights and
privileges that already belong to us as joint-heirs with Christ.
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm…" (Galatians 5:1) Unless the eyes of our understanding are enlightened to see what we truly possess in this life, then talk of freedom in Christ becomes just that, talk. Believers cannot possess if they do not know what belongs to them. This is why Paul tells us to renew our mind. (Romans 12:2) The un-renewed mind has convinced many believers into thinking that they are helpless against the devil and are always subject to defeat and failure. Even some of the songs that believers sing, new and old, proclaim that we do not have much in this life, but when we all get to heaven, what a glorious time awaits us. Yes, believers have a glorious future to look forward to, but the Holy Spirit wants us to know the glorious present we possess right now because of our position in Christ. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all...
Showing posts with label inheritance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inheritance. Show all posts
Monday, July 15, 2019
Monday, April 24, 2017
Of His Fullness We Have All Received
Inheritance in the legal sense refers to actual property or goods received after a family member's death. Although defined from the natural sense, this definition is fairly close to the biblical perspective of an inheritance. For instance, while Jewish inheritance customs were linked to family blood lines, Greek and Roman laws also provided for the placement of family possessions through the adoption of an heir. The Scriptures transform the concept of inheritance to include the acquisition of spiritual blessings and promises from God. The Apostle Paul tells us, "In Him (Jesus Christ) also we have
obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of
Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will...who (the Holy Spirit) is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory." (Ephesians 1:11, 14)
From the biblical sense, to inherit means to "receive an irrevocable gift" with an emphasis on the special relationship between the benefactor, God, and the recipient, the believer. Unlike legal inheritance, where the benefactor dies then the recipients can receive, for believers, as Paul tells us, our inheritance is through Christ. The great difference is, "knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more...Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God." (Romans 6:9, 8:34) The believers benefactor is Jesus Christ who is very much alive. It is through Christ that God provides material and spiritual blessings, our inheritance, for his people, both in this life and in the life to come.
The recipients of an inheritance are also heirs. An heir is defined as, "a person legally entitled to the property or rank of another upon that person's death; a person inheriting and continuing the legacy of a predecessor." The Holy Spirit through Paul reveals another wonderful work of the Father through Jesus for the believer, "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 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..." (Romans 8:15-17) From the biblical sense, to be an heir means, "one who receives his allotted possession by right of sonship."
Notice how the Holy Spirit through Paul reveals that believers are adopted by God, in other words, believers are God's children, sons and daughters. "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:12-13) "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God..." (1 John 3:1) This in and of itself is a most wonderful inheritance, but it goes even further.
The Apostle John tells us, "And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace." (John 1:16) The Apostle Paul tells us, "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power." (Colossians 2:9-10) The word complete means, "to make full; to fill up; to fill to the full; to cause to abound; to render full; full measure; to completely fill to the top so that nothing shall be wanting or lacking." All the grace that was manifest in Christ envelops us, surrounds us, we are completely in it. All the perfections and beauties in the character and life of Jesus are ours, we are complete in Him. The perfection of Christ was all reckoned to every believer. The Lord enables us, by His grace, to enter into our inheritance and to assume our responsibilities in His wonderful family as His sons and daughters. He won no victory nor did He win any triumph in His substitutionary work that was not for the benefit of the church, every believer. (Ephesians 1:22-23)
Our inheritance, all that Jesus was and is, the believer receives as heirs from the Father, through Christ. His righteousness is ours; His love is ours; every promises is ours; as well as all the graces that embellish His beautiful life are ours. How is this possible? The writer of Hebrews tells us, "But now He (Jesus) has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises." (Hebrews 8:6) Believers are under a better covenant. A covenant that is greater and more fulfilling than any other covenant that God had established with man from the time of creation. Our covenant through Christ, is complete and so far reaching, the believer lacks absolutely nothing.
When, by grace through faith, we confessed Jesus as our Lord and received Him as Savior, all the wealth and riches in Christ became ours automatically. How rich we truly are. The heart can hardly take it in, but that does not change the truth, that we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, "That of His Fullness have we all received and grace upon grace." May the Lord help us by the power of the Spirit to enter into the riches of our inheritance in Him.
From the biblical sense, to inherit means to "receive an irrevocable gift" with an emphasis on the special relationship between the benefactor, God, and the recipient, the believer. Unlike legal inheritance, where the benefactor dies then the recipients can receive, for believers, as Paul tells us, our inheritance is through Christ. The great difference is, "knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more...Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God." (Romans 6:9, 8:34) The believers benefactor is Jesus Christ who is very much alive. It is through Christ that God provides material and spiritual blessings, our inheritance, for his people, both in this life and in the life to come.
The recipients of an inheritance are also heirs. An heir is defined as, "a person legally entitled to the property or rank of another upon that person's death; a person inheriting and continuing the legacy of a predecessor." The Holy Spirit through Paul reveals another wonderful work of the Father through Jesus for the believer, "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 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..." (Romans 8:15-17) From the biblical sense, to be an heir means, "one who receives his allotted possession by right of sonship."
Notice how the Holy Spirit through Paul reveals that believers are adopted by God, in other words, believers are God's children, sons and daughters. "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:12-13) "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God..." (1 John 3:1) This in and of itself is a most wonderful inheritance, but it goes even further.
The Apostle John tells us, "And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace." (John 1:16) The Apostle Paul tells us, "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power." (Colossians 2:9-10) The word complete means, "to make full; to fill up; to fill to the full; to cause to abound; to render full; full measure; to completely fill to the top so that nothing shall be wanting or lacking." All the grace that was manifest in Christ envelops us, surrounds us, we are completely in it. All the perfections and beauties in the character and life of Jesus are ours, we are complete in Him. The perfection of Christ was all reckoned to every believer. The Lord enables us, by His grace, to enter into our inheritance and to assume our responsibilities in His wonderful family as His sons and daughters. He won no victory nor did He win any triumph in His substitutionary work that was not for the benefit of the church, every believer. (Ephesians 1:22-23)
Our inheritance, all that Jesus was and is, the believer receives as heirs from the Father, through Christ. His righteousness is ours; His love is ours; every promises is ours; as well as all the graces that embellish His beautiful life are ours. How is this possible? The writer of Hebrews tells us, "But now He (Jesus) has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises." (Hebrews 8:6) Believers are under a better covenant. A covenant that is greater and more fulfilling than any other covenant that God had established with man from the time of creation. Our covenant through Christ, is complete and so far reaching, the believer lacks absolutely nothing.
When, by grace through faith, we confessed Jesus as our Lord and received Him as Savior, all the wealth and riches in Christ became ours automatically. How rich we truly are. The heart can hardly take it in, but that does not change the truth, that we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, "That of His Fullness have we all received and grace upon grace." May the Lord help us by the power of the Spirit to enter into the riches of our inheritance in Him.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)