Eph. 1.11-14, 17-21 — In 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, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In 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, the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.…
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,”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, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21far above all principality and power and [might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.”
Today, the Church seems to be divided into two groups. The first is the largest of followers that are self-centered and care about what God can do, or has done, “for them.” The second much smaller group are followers that are God-centered and care most about the will and purpose of God being fulfilled “in them.” The walk of faith is quite different between the two groups but should not be. This message seeks to elaborate on this distinction, and make further a distinction between the practice of religion and living a life in Christ.
In the knowledge of Him.
Paul’s prayer for the Church in our opening scripture was that its people may grow up spiritually in Godly wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Mind you, there is a vast difference in “knowing Him” and “knowing about Him.” The focus of religion is to know about Him, His power, glory, His acts and commandments. But, it is only in the initiation of the new birth that one comes to know Him in a higher spiritual plane as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in both a relationship to Him and fellowship with Him.
Having made “The Case for the New Birth” and “eternal life” in our previous message, let’s go on looking for understanding of what lies before us in our walk in the kingdom of God. With the new birth one crosses the threshold into the Kingdom of God and enters into the eternal purposes of God. The walk in this life is extremely important; although the matter of a spiritual birth has forever been settled, attention must now turn to the progressive salvation of the soul. This is the time of preparation for the age to come. To begin our journey into the Kingdom we must first lay a clear understanding of the principles of inheritance and of calling, both of which will help lay a foundation for a deeper appreciation for this relationship and fellowship with God.
Inheritance
Every child of God, born of the Spirit of Christ, has this hope for eternal life in the age to come. We may anticipate this to be a life absent of sin, and without sickness and death; we further anticipate this to be a life of joy and peace with a Divine presence. This would define “our” inheritance, as explained in Eph. 1.11, “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance;” meaning, there is the certainty of a measure of that future glory to come. At this point we can only speculate on the exact nature of this life and inheritance, perhaps only as it is partly described in Isaiah as a life of bliss and peace.
Is. 11.6-9 — “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
Their young ones shall lie down together;
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,
And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea.”
This sounds wonderful as true peace and a rest for our souls. In addition to this, one thing more we know for sure, and that is what we are going to be like. This is revealed in 1 Jn. 3.2, “Beloved, now we are the children of God; and it has not yet appeared what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” One can only imagine what is to be our resurrected likeness to Christ; for in this resurrection our salvation is consummated in spirit, soul and body. What a blessed hope, having put off this mortal body and be given a new body no longer subject to sickness, death and decay. Christ is not only our Savior, Redeemer, and Lord, He is also the One who has gone before being the “firstborn” from the dead in resurrection, signifying there are others to follow.
It is of the utmost importance to understand that the fullness of our eternal inheritance in Christ is intricately intertwined into God’s inheritance. Yes, each person of the Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, has an anticipated inheritance which completely overshadows our inheritance. And why does it overshadow our inheritance? It is because any or all things we are to receive in that day are incorporated into God’s inheritance. It is written,
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.”
It is of particular interest to note that both calling and inheritance are mentioned in this verse. We will discuss this calling a little later. But for now, the consideration of “His inheritance” must be in the forethought of our minds. And why? It is because the saints, the believers in Christ, are the Lord’s portion and the particular people of His inheritance. It will be in this people, and this people alone, in whom He is to be now and eternally glorified. It is in the forethought of God to have a people of His very own to share in and manifest His glory.
While discussing the scripture, “What is man that You are mindful of him?” (Ps. 8.4, Heb. 2.6) In our Bible study I recalled an incident when my brother-in-law was visiting me. He was restoring old cars for a living. We were driving in the country one day when he spotted a rusting away old 1951 Ford automobile sitting in a farmer’s back yard. At this point the car was only worth the weight of the metal in a junk yard. But in his mind he saw something savable and glorious in it. He bought the car for what it was only worth and towed it to his shop. Over the years the car was progressively restored, and eventually it became a beautiful fully restored classic automobile.
In the eyes of a classic car enthusiast it was glorious to see and drive. A representative from Disney Land driving by saw it and purchased it for display at the theme park. Man’s present fallen condition is not worth much, but God sees in him something in which He might manifest His glory. He redeems man from sin and death and works in him a process of salvation; but not to restore him to a likeness of the original Adam, but to start from scratch and create in him a new man, in whom He might manifest Himself, creating in him a likeness of His only Begotten Son.
It is only in knowing that God’s purposes are ultimately for His inheritance, and that our inheritance is seen to be amalgamated into His inheritance, that we begin to have a glimpse into His eternal purposes. This word, “amalgamated,” is of particular usage here; it is the action or process of uniting or merging two or more things into one. If two companies become amalgamated, they become one new company. When iron and a little carbon are combined, they form an altogether new product called steel. Unless the consideration of our inheritance is combined with God’s inheritance it remains egocentric, centered upon ourselves, and only limited in understanding.
Once having a clearer picture of what His inheritance is in the saints, we then have a more complete understanding and appreciation for our inheritance. If His glory is to be manifested in His people, then there needs to be a working of His power and grace in those people, the lives of a new generation of people being formed into His image and likeness. Although it may be difficult for our natural minds to grasp the true fullness of inheritance, I believe there is enough evidence here to speculate on what is to come.
Calling
Returning now to Eph. 1.18 where it is written that there is a “calling according to His purpose.” It is interesting to note that this is reinforced elsewhere in scripture, as in 2 Timothy.
2 Tim. 1.9 — “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.”
“Who has saved us and called us” looks in the past for a salvation and in the future for a destiny. This calling means not a call to a particular office, or a vocation, or to a specific ministry, or even a calling to work many good deeds and benevolent endeavors, but a calling that is internal, one that transforms our very souls; it is with spiritual power working in us, but is directed upward, heavenly.
I wish to enlarge some on this note on the “calling” of God. The account of Moses is well known; how he was raised in the Pharaoh’s house, educated and given the highest quality of life in Egypt; yet he gave that all up, surrendering his will to the call of God to lead God’s people out of slavery in Egypt to a Promised land. Of this response to the call of God it is written,
Heb. 11.25 — “choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,”
The Bible here specifically says that for Moses to reject the call of God and remain in the luxury of Egypt would be a sin. This sin would not be a moral sin such as murder, stealing, or pornographic; rather it would be a sin of disobedience to God. You see, sin, by definition, is “missing the mark,” or more specifically, suffering the consequences for missing the mark. If one shooting an arrow misses the target, he would lose or forfeit the prize of a winner. In this case, if Moses refused the call of God on his life, he would miss the mark and suffer the spiritual consequence, forfeiting the blessings of God, with an eternal epitaph, “the servant of God.” Rev. 15.3 .
For those who reject the call of God on their lives miss the mark of salvation, and in sin suffer the eternal consequences; it is as Jesus spoke these words to Nicodemus,
Jn. 3.16-18 — “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
Judgment comes upon all who reject the call of God in Christ Jesus. The spirit of man finds its highest and greatest fulfillment being in communion and fellowship with God. He cannot fail to recognize and believe in this most fundamental and critical revelation of his life, the call of God in His Son. The very fact that Christ is rejected brings judgment upon the man, for he misses the mark of salvation and the prize of eternal life; and the inheritance it brings is forfeited as well. Whether it is by deception or blindness or by the will of his spirit, he hides himself from the call of God. Adam was the first to do this. After sinning by disobediently eating of the forbidden fruit in the Garden, his following sin was even greater; he said to God, Gn. 3.10 — “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
In marriage between a man and woman, it is written that the two shall be one body, divinely joined together as one in the sight of God. Keeping this mystery of thought in mind, but lifted it to a higher spiritual level, the believer’s inheritance of God is seen in the unity, or oneness with Christ, which is the sole basis and hope for the glory to come. This thought must be repeated. That is, the unity, or oneness with Christ, which is the sole basis and only hope for salvation and the glory to come. This is the prize of hitting the mark. Our personal inheritance of unity in Christ gives to us a place in the Kingdom of God both now and forever. If Christ is in the Kingdom, then we are in the Kingdom; if Christ is risen and seated at the right hand of God, then we in spirit are risen with Christ and are seated with Him in heavenly places, as it is written,
Eph. 2.5-6 — “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,”
This, beloved, is our immediate inheritance in Christ, but yet this is but a temporary time of readiness for the age to come and the fullness of our inheritance, even as Paul heard the voice of God calling him upward, as he writes,
Phil. 3.12-14– “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Let these words of scripture take up residence in your heart. Let them be as an upward calling upon your spirit and a longing to your soul. May these words be not heard as the words of man, nor quoted from some inert script, but as the word of God spoken clearly. Col. 3.16 — “ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.”
So do you now see how our inheritance and God’s inheritance is intricately intertwined together in the same purpose. The intertwining begins in the union of man’s spirit and the Holy Spirit,
1 Cor. 6.19-20 — “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God with your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
This is absolute truth at its highest level of understanding: that is, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you. Prayerfully contemplate this, meditate upon these words. We have been joined together, as one, with the Spirit of Christ. Let us lay aside wishful and mythical thoughts of heaven which have no eternal value, and of religious services which are only outward attempts at Divine obedience and serve only as a distraction to the truth. The ways of the world, with all its mysticisms, philosophies, and lofty thoughts are blinders to the truth; they only serve to keep the soul in darkness, and darkness cannot comprehend or lay hold of light. For those who yet abide in the darkness of the world it is said,,,
1 Cor. 2.9 — “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
The entire world is in darkness, the only point of light was in Jesus when He walked this earth, and now this light is seen in the Church; all else upon planet Earth is in darkness where one cannot see or hear or understand the call of God. However, this passage of scripture goes on to say,
1 Cor. 2.10-12– ”But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”
The mysteries of God, hidden from the ages are intended for the believer to know and understand, to be progressively unfolded and brought not just into the intelligence of man, but brought into his experience as well. This knowledge and understanding elevates us to further ponder the eternal purposes of God.
I hope we more clearly see now how the believer’s salvation, calling, and inheritance in Christ is intertwined with, and inseparable from the grace, the purposes, and the inheritance of God. If God the Father inherits a true son or daughter born of His will, then we inherit Almighty God as our eternal Father. If Christ inherits a Church, the Body of Christ to become His bride to be, then we inherit a living membership in that body of believers, and if the Holy Spirit inherits a dwelling place, then our inheritance is as being the temple of the Holy Spirit.
I will elaborate on this in the following message.
S1.E2. Inheritance and Calling: Questions for discussion
- Explain the difference between “knowing Christ” and “knowing about Christ.” How are the religious minded more focused on knowing “about” Christ? How does that fall short of actually knowing Him?
- How is it that the believer’s eternal inheritance is intricately linked to God’s inheritance? Is our inheritance just getting into heaven?
- Explain the difference between the believer’s Godly calling “to” salvation and his or her calling “in” salvation.
- Explain Ephesians 2.5-6 noting specifically the significance of the verb tenses: were dead, made alive, raised up, and made to sit.
- Discuss the significance of actually knowing and walking in the reality of being a temple of the Holy Spirit.