Are You Ready to Claim Your Inheritance?
This post is taken from the book,
THE REVEALING: Unlocking Hidden Truths On the Glorification of God’s Children.
The book is on sale during the holiday weekend. See below the article for details.
The Scripture plainly teaches that we have an inheritance awaiting us, an inheritance that includes joining with Jesus Christ to rule and reign throughout the Cosmos.
Eph 1:10-11 10That in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth – in Him. 11In Him 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,
Eph 1:13-14 13In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
Rom 8:16-17 16The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
Rom 8:22-23 22For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
Definition of earnest: A token of what is to come, pledge. Inheritance, real estate, etc. Usually a small amount of what is to come.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit is spoken of in Ephesians and Romans as the earnest of the inheritance and the firstfruits – also a pledge of what is to come. Firstfruits is the first, early part of the harvest indicating what the harvest might be like. When the Israelites spied out the promised land, they were not aware that their heroics would one day signify the resurrection of the People of God. But their inspection of the land of Canaan was the first incident of bringing forth “firstfruits:”
Num 13:1-2 1And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, everyone a leader among them.”
Num 13:17-20 17Then Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, “Go up this way into the South, and go up to the mountains, 18and see what the land is like: whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, few or many; 19whether the land they dwell in is good or bad; whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or strongholds; 20whether the land is rich or poor; and whether there are forests there or not. Be of good courage. And bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.
The season of the first ripe grapes signifies the firstfruits of harvest – the giant grapes were literally a huge sign to the Israelites of the great harvest that could be theirs if they would go forth into the promised land and take what God had given them. These grapes were the earnest of their inheritance from God. Let’s review the full story:
Num 13:23-33 23Then they came to the Valley of Eshcol, and there cut down a branch with one cluster of grapes; they carried it between two of them on a pole. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs. 24The place was called the Valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the men of Israel cut down there. 25And they returned from spying out the land after forty days.26Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.” 30Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.” 31But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” 32And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. 33There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
Num 14:7-9 7And they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. 8If the LORD delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’ 9Only do not rebel against the LORD, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the LORD is with us. Do not fear them.”
This account is a prefiguring or illustration of the firstfruits or earnest of our inheritance. If the infilling of the Holy Spirit is a token of 
what will be given to believers (as the huge grapes were to the Israelites), then our inheritance must be something beyond imagination. Notice that receiving the inheritance includes overcoming the enemy, even when the enemy is of giant proportions. But no problem, they are bread for us. After we take responsibility and wage war against the giants inhabiting the land (the enemies we face today), comes our full inheritance.
Deu 10:9 Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brethren; the LORD is his inheritance, just as the LORD your God promised him.)
Deu 9:29 Yet they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your mighty power and by Your outstretched arm.’
Deu 32:9 For the LORD’S portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance.
These three verses from Deuteronomy indicate that the inheritance of the priests (we are such priests) is God and that God’s inheritance is His people. We read in 1 Peter 2:9, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” “For ye are…a royal priesthood.” Paul’s teaching in the Book of Ephesians demonstrates the same truth:
Eph 1:13-14 13In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (ESV)
Eph 1:18 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.
The Revealing is on sale this weekend for $14.95
on CreateSpace and Amazon. It is on sale for the Kindle Version at $4.99.
Click HERE to go to S. Douglas Woodward’s
author page on Amazon.
You can select the printed or eBook (Kindle) version there.
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