Holy Spirit & Inheritance
Holy Spirit & Inheritance
Bruce Billingto
Introduction
Ephesians 1:13 – In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation — having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,
This seal of the Holy Spirit refers to the fact that we now belong to God.
His Role
One of the key roles of the Holy Spirit is transformation. He is responsible to bring this to our own lives, our families, our communities, and to the world around us.
The fact that we have the Holy Spirit living within us means that we now have access to the mind of God, and we are able to impart this to others. In fact, when Paul says in 1 Cor 4:20 that the Kingdom of God does not consists in words but in power he is referring to this very blessing.
This majesty shows itself, by means of power rather than of speech — that is, we do not place confidence on our own intellect, or eloquence, but, furnished with spiritual armour, we speak with a zeal for maintaining the Lord’s honour — an eagerness for the raising up of Christ’s kingdom — a desire to edify — a heart full of the fear of the Lord — a purity of conscience, and other necessary endowments.
John Calvin.
When we share our faith or preach the message of the Kingdom the power of the Holy Spirit is present to deliver people from the slavery of sin and Satan and to renew them both inwardly and outwardly.
But this is not just for the lost – through our words the Holy Spirit can also bring comfort and strengthening to those who need it in the Body of Christ. When inspired by the Holy Spirit, our words carry the power of God in them, and that power is such that it will always produce an impartation of life from the essence of God.
The Holy Spirit Is A Person
It is important that we understand that the Holy Spirit is a person – not an “it.” He is the third person of the Godhead – He is living and active; He is one with God; He lives, thinks, works, and grieves. Because He is a person, we need to build a relationship with Him. He is not an event that happens once, or even occasionally in our lives. God’s intention in sending the Holy Spirit to us, is all about us getting to know Him, love Him, and allow Him to constantly transform us to the image of Christ.
Our Inheritance
Ephesians 1:14 – who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
Here we are given the great promise or blessing of a guaranteed inheritance.
The Big Picture
In the Scriptures, the idea of inheritance is a reminder that God desires to work with us – He has never intended for humanity to lead an autonomous, isolated, self-sufficient existence.
Each believer’s life has an allotted place in the great movement of history and counts for much. God has given us both gifts and responsibilities to be exercised, not only for our own benefit but also for the benefit of others. The Greek word for inheritance and other words related to it, look to what is received from the past, but then they bring this into the present reality and look forward to the future.
The inheritance that God makes available to all believers comes from the very depth of His being. In the Old Covenant this inheritance had a physical dimension in the shape of the Promised Land. In the New Testament it is a spiritual inheritance which comes through the Kingdom of God and the promise of eternal life. It does include land and material blessings, but it goes way beyond them to something far greater. The essence of it is found in Sonship.
Like the principle of covenant, the concept of inheritance which is embraced through being a son, expresses a fundamental relationship between God and His people. It depicts God’s desire to give His people, as a Father to His family, a secure environment in which to dwell both for now and eternity.
Embracing this, Paul particularly, did not use the Greek word for “inheritance” on its own, because it is not able to convey this whole picture, so the Greek word meros, is added here, because it involves the idea of sharing.
Our inheritance has community all over it – it is not something we can achieve as an individual and it applies to past, present, and future.
Our Inheritance on Earth
Although our inheritance has an incredible meaning for eternity, it is not just something confined to the next life. It is God’s intention that we embrace an inheritance now – in our present time reality.
Our inheritance on earth is the fact that the Kingdom of God has arrived upon the earth through Jesus first coming (Mark 1:15) and we can be part of it now. Huge topic but I want to look at one beautiful truth it contains.
What makes up a huge part of our inheritance on earth is the fact that the family unit is called to bring itself up into the Biblical community – the church, Christ’s bride. This community that was established 2,000 years ago. It was here when we arrived on this plant and will still be here when we depart at the end of our life.
This community is made up of kingdom citizens who are all in Christ together, and as such, have full access to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. With this comes the ability to relate to one another in a way that was the great prayer of Jesus in John 17 – that we be one as He and the Father are one. Obviously, this cannot be achieved without Him. Eph 2 tells us that we are brought together, [obviously in Christ], as fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God (2:19).
So, a significant part of our inheritance is the kingdom community, which is referred to as a household; a bride; a church; or biblical community; that has been united in Christ. It is a type of a time to come when Eden will be regained and we will again walk with Father, in the garden in the cool of the day.
One of the Bible’s most descriptive pictures of this present-day community is given by its name as the body of Christ. This give us the picture of the human body with Christ being the Head and the church being His body (1 Corinthians 12:12–31).
William Barclay points out that this picture says something of enormous value. Christ needs the church, and the church needs Christ (John 20:21) The head cannot function without the body, nor can the body function without the head.
Our role and the role of others around us, is to offer love, care, sustenance, and security. We are the hands and arms of God, and much of what God wants to bring or express to us, can only be provided by His people. He doesn’t have arms to hug us – He does this, and so many other things, through other people. It is intended to be something beautiful that we would never want to live without.
Right here, in this realm, unity in diversity is doable as we labour together in this calling. Our fallen flesh resists this, as does our Western world independence, so we need to deal with that along the way – but we should not allow it to separate us from our call.
Our Task in this World
We have a major task to focus on. The work we are given, is to be an expression of the Kingdom of God in every sphere we engage in, throughout our life on this earth.
This means that we have been commissioned carry out the plans of God, so that the dream and mission of Christ can be realised. Christ came to bring the plan of peace and reconciliation to a world of lost people – people who are alienated from God and from one another. The message of the Kingdom of God, must be taken to the world through Christ’s people, the church, using the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit,
An important part of this power, in the form of the spiritual blessings we have been exploring, is given to help us proclaim the message of reconciliation and to minister to the desperate needs of a world lost and reeling under the weight of sin, darkness, starvation, disease, and suffering.
Our Future Inheritance In Eternity
Our promised future inheritance is built on the foundation of eternal life. We are promised that we will live for an eternity with our God and King. We gain the glorious privilege of living forever as God’s most cherished possession and a heritage in Christ as His bride. This results in us being the most precious gem and treasure of God. This is the pearl of great price in the believer’s inheritance.
This life will take us into our new home – a redeemed earth that heaven comes down to join. Our eternal dwelling place shall be in the new heavens and earth – a place which reveals the perfect demonstration of God’s glory. A brief picture of this is given in Revelation chapters 21-22.
His unbelievable love will be seen and enjoyed forever by all creatures, both of heaven and of earth. We shall stand in utter amazement as we experience the spectacular glory of God, and how, by His grace and love, we have become the cherished bride of His dear Son, Jesus Christ.