What Will We Inherit?

Steve Corley

Given in Roanoke and Kingsport on Sabbath, December 9, 2023

Given in Knoxville on Sabbath, July 6, 2024

When we die, our children typically inherit something from us.  Proverbs 13:22 tells us that a good man leaves an inheritance to his grandchildren.  In Israel under the Old Covenant the land which was allotted to each family when Canaan was occupied after the Exodus was supposed to remain permanently in that family – if sold, the sale was to be only for a temporary period of time until the next jubilee year.  Naboth realized that he was not supposed to sell his inheritance permanently, refused to sell it to King Ahab and for this reason was tried and executed on false charges by the command of the evil queen Jezebel.  For this reason dogs were to lick up the blood of Ahab and to eat most of the body of Jezebel (1 Kings 21:17-24).  God took very seriously His granting of land inheritances to the Israelites – and He expected the Israelites themselves to take the issue with a similar degree of seriousness.  But God has in mind for us as New Covenant Christians an inheritance tremendously greater than anything He ever promised to the ancient Israelites.  In this sermon we will cover what God promises us and what He expects in return.   We can title the sermon “What Will We Inherit?”

The Scripture which summarizes what we will inherit is Hebrews 6:12 – we will inherit “the promises.”  But what does God indeed promise that we will inherit?  Those who inherit the promises will be blessed by God (Psalm 37:22).  But what blessings will we receive? 

First, we are promised eternal life (Luke 10:25-28, Matt. 25:46).  Without this what would the other promises be worth?  Wouldn’t they just be a cruel joke?  We are promised not only eternal life – but eternal life within the God Family.  Angels do not die but they are not members of the God Family – note that angels are not to be worshiped and an angel corrected John twice when he fell down at his feet to worship the angel (Rev. 19:10, 22:8-9).  Angels can also rebel (as did Heylel/Lucifer who became Satan and the angels who followed him, who became demons).  However, we are promised that when we are “born” of God in the first resurrection we will not – and in fact cannot – ever sin again (1 John 3:9).  Since rebellion is of course a sin – a terrible sin (1 Sam. 15:23) the statement that we will never sin again contains a huge promise – that none of us will ever rebel.  There will be eternal peace in the God Family and another Satan will never rise from among us.  Our place will be secure for eternity – the second death will never have power over us (Rev. 20:6).  

We are promised (Psalm 17:15, 1 John 3:2) that as members of the God Family, we will be like our Elder Brother, Jesus Christ (who is identified as our Elder Brother in Scriptures such as Rom. 8:29 and Heb. 2:11).  We will be like Him analogously to the way all humans are like other humans, though of course we will not be like Him in terms of rank or authority.  We know that we will have bodies like Christ’s body (Phil. 3:20-21).  Our new bodies will be spirit bodies (1 Cor. 15:42-44).  Given this knowledge, we can glean a considerable amount of information by looking at what Christ did before His human birth and also after His resurrection (in a spirit body) in contrast with what He did during His human life (in a physical body).

A key point to understand is that when God gives us a spirit body, that does not mean that we cannot also have a physical body whenever we want one.  The Gnostics thought the physical body was evil, or at least fundamentally impure.  They thought of humans as spirits imprisoned in physical bodies, yearning to be unclothed, free of these physical bodies in order to reach some sort of pure state.  In contrast, however, let us see what Paul said in 2 Cor. 5:1-4.  The physical body, which was created by God, is not evil.  We do not want to be without a body, as the Gnostics did.  Our human spirit without a body has no life in itself (James 2:26 – this is a sermon topic in itself).  We want to be not unclothed but further clothed – in a spirit body which has the inherent ability to manifest itself in a physical body whenever it wants to.  An analogy might be a version 2.0 computer program which incorporates all the features of version 1.0 and tremendously more.  A spirit body can manifest itself as a physical body whenever it wants to – and can make that physical body disappear and reappear anywhere, anytime. 

Let’s turn to Matt. 28:2.  When the angel rolled back the stone from the tomb, the women were already there.  The angel said that Christ had already risen.  The angel was simply rolling back the stone to show that the tomb was already empty.  The risen Christ, in His invisible spirit body, had stepped through stone.  A few verses later this spirit body did manifest itself as a physical body (verse 9).  Likewise, Jesus after His resurrection could go through closed doors or walls in His spirit body (John 20:19) and then immediately appear inside the room in a physical body.  Similarly, while in a room of people He could vanish – causing His physical body to disappear instantly (Luke 24:31).  And our bodies will not grow old or be subject to any degeneration or decay.  Let’s turn to 1 Cor.15:42-44.  After we are resurrected into a spirit body, every time we choose to manifest ourselves in a physical body it will be in a sense a new one.  (Of course, in the Millennium and Great White Throne Judgment we will almost certainly be spending a considerable fraction of our time in physical bodies so the people we are trying to teach can see us – cf. Isaiah 30:20-21.)

We are promised offices which we shall fill (John 14:2-3) – and these offices will involve, in various functions, power over the nations (during the Millennium and Great White Throne Judgment while physical human beings exist) (Psalm 82:8, Rev. 2:26-27).  The offices will also almost certainly involve quite a bit of teaching (cf. Isaiah 30:21).  Of course, everything we do will be for the benefit of humanity, just as Christ as a physical human being made the ultimate sacrifice that we might have the opportunity for salvation and eternal life.  

As Christ delegates power to us, we will [figuratively or literally] sit with Him on His throne (Rev. 3:21). We are promised an inheritance of grace and glory (Prov. 3:34-35).  Christ will share with us some of the glory which He has (cf. John 17:4-5) – we will have prestige and glory in our positions of power over the nations.  Christ will inherit all nations (Psalm 82:8) and He will set us under Him in various positions over nations.  Collectively we will inherit the earth, forever (Isaiah 60:21, Psalm 37:11, Matt. 5:5).  This of course will include the “new” earth following the Great White Throne judgment.

And we are promised that we will inherit an eternity that will be fun.  We will have everlasting joy with pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11, Isaiah 61:7).  In the “new” earth – after all human beings either have been made members of the God Family or else (if incorrigible) have been destroyed in the lake of fire – there will be no more pain (Rev. 21:4).  (Of course – while there are still physical human beings present we can still experience the pain of seeing them fail, seeing them reject God’s way, seeing them show themselves to be incorrigible.  When we see people finally burned up in the lake of fire the sorrow may cause us “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (mentioned in several Scriptures) but after that point there will be no further pain (as we can read in Rev. 21:4).

And ultimately, after the Great White Throne judgment and in the time of the “new heavens and new earth,” we are prophesied in Rev. 21:7 to inherit all things (Greek word in the Textus Receptus being πάντα (“panta”), accusative of πας (“pas,” Strong’s #3956 = “all”)). The Majority Text (which draws from the majority of available Greek manuscripts, Byzantine and Alexandrian) says alternatively “I shall give him [the one who overcomes] these things” instead of “he who overcomes shall inherit all things.”  However, the two readings mean essentially the same if the antecedent of the Greek word ταυτα (“tauta”) translated “these things” in verse 7 is the word πάντα translated “all things” in verse 5.   Does “all things” refer to the entire physical universe?  Will we colonize other potentially habitable planets elsewhere in the universe and transform them into earth-type worlds?   Isaiah 9:7 would certainly suggest this as a possibility – “of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.”

We have seen a number of tremendous promises regarding what God the Father and Jesus Christ plan for us to inherit – if we meet the conditions for doing so.  But what are the conditions required?  There are many conditions but they largely overlap and fuse into one general requirement – generally we cannot fulfill one of the conditions without meeting several of the others also.

First, we are required to be part of God’s “elect” (Isaiah 65:9) – those who are “selected” by God out of all the human beings on earth today.  The words translated “elect” are the Hebrew “bachir” (Strong’s #972) and the Greek ἐκλεκτός (“eklektos,” Strong’s #1586).  Both mean “selected.”  When we say that a room is full of “eclectic” furniture that means that it contains pieces selected out of several different styles – just as God’s elect today are chosen from all different racial and ethnic groups.  To be and remain in God’s elect we must meet three conditions.  We must be called, chosen and faithful.  We have been called (like many) and chosen (like few) (Matt. 20:16, 22:14) – the chosen are the same as the elect (Mark 13:20).  Because we have been chosen (or selected) by God we are already part of His elect – but to remain in the elect we must complete the process by being faithful (Rev. 17:14) – faithful to the promise we made to God at baptism.  As the elect we have our names written in heaven (Luke 10:20) – in the Book of Life (Rev. 20:15, 21:27; cf. Phil. 4:3) with the names of those who will later be given eternal life.  But if we do not remain faithful our names can be blotted out (Rev. 22:19)

We are told in Heb. 6:12 that it is through faith and patience we will inherit God’s promises.  We must show our trust in God that He indeed exists and will keep His promises – and we demonstrate our faith and trust by obeying Him (James 2:18).  God has given us the Holy Spirit – and having the Holy Spirit at death is the key condition for receiving eternal life in the first resurrection (Romans 8:11).  With the help of the Holy Spirit we must overcome our sinful nature as influenced by Satan and the world (mentioned in many Scriptures).  We must strive to faithfully keep the requirements of the New Covenant – to obey God’s commandments.  These are summed up in the two great commandments – those who are promised the inheritance of eternal life in the Kingdom of God are those who love God with all their heart, soul, strength and mind and who love their neighbor as themselves (Luke 10:25-28, Matt. 25:34, 46). 

Those who will “inherit the land” are the righteous – those who are obeying God’s commandments (Psalm 37:29).  Those who will inherit the earth are those who are meek and humble toward God – those who realize that God’s Law stands above them and that it is to be obeyed (Psalm 25:12-13, Psalm 37:11, Matt. 5:5).  Similarly, those who will inherit the earth – those who will be blessed by God (Psalm 37:22) – are those who are willing to wait on God, for things to be done on His schedule (instead of some humanly devised schedule) and who are willing to follow His commandments and keep His spiritual law in the meantime (Psalm 37:9, 34).  The wise – those who will inherit grace and glory – are those who behave humbly before God (Prov. 3:34-35).  Remember that the “wise” virgins in the parable (Matt. 25:3-4) carried extra oil (which we believe symbolizes the Holy Spirit – which among its other benefits helps us to obey God’s Law better (Romans 8:36 – the Spirit helps in our weaknesses)).  James 1:5 tells us how to get wisdom – ask God for it in faith.  Romans 12:16 warns us against assuming that we are already wise!

Of course, as we have discussed before, for us to inherit these promises we must be changed into a spirit body (1 Cor. 15:44), either by being resurrected in the first resurrection or being suddenly changed if a person is still alive at that time (1 Thess. 4:15-17).  Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Cor. 15:50).

In summary – God gives us a number of huge promises of what we are to inherit in the future, in the first resurrection.  These include eternal life in the Kingdom of God, a spirit body which can manifest itself as a physical body as needed at any time, offices under Christ with power over the nations, and an eternity of everlasting joy with (eventually) no more pain.  Also included is possession of the earth and [apparently] colonization of habitable planets in the rest of the universe.  We have been called and chosen by God to receive these wonderful promises but in order to do so we must complete the process by being faithful.  We must have a meek and humble attitude toward God, realizing that His law stands above us and must be obeyed.  With the help of the Holy Spirit we must overcome our sinful nature as influenced by Satan and the world (as mentioned in many Scriptures).  We must strive to faithfully keep the requirements of the New Covenant – to obey God’s commandments.  Let us be faithful the rest of our lives to the promise before God we made at baptism – let us all be there to hear Christ tell us “Well done, good and faithful servant.  You were faithful over a few things; I will make you ruler over many things.  Enter into the joy of your Master!”