Our Inheritance

Strong and Courageous

 Nov. 16, 2018

Often times when we think of the word inheritance, the meaning is wrapped up in the idea of receiving financial gain (hopefully large) from a deceased relative. Although we may grieve the loss of a loved one, we also may appreciate the financial windfall as well.

Concerning the Kingdom of God, our inheritance takes on a very different nature. It is based on more valuable things than just financial gain. It may be difficult to think this way, but the spiritual blessings far outweigh the natural.

The Apostle Paul in 1^st Corinthians Chapter 15 lays out the glory of our future inheritance in Christ. What we have to look forward to is so beautiful. Our inheritance is kept secure in heaven forever! I have listed some of these major ideas from Chapter 15 below. Just read them and soak in the promises and find peace at its impact.

"For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.  Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death." 

The Resurrection Body

 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?”  You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.

So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.  It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”;^[e] the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man (Jesus) is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall^[f] also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Mystery and Victory

 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.  Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.  For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.  When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
 “O death, where is your victory?
    O death, where is your sting?”

 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.