The Inheritance
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.”
Y7<jyjK0W little does the wailing infant, over whose cradle glistens the coronet first won by the stout arm of a soldier-ancestor, understand of the inheritance to which he has been born! The ancestral home, the far-spread lands, the noble rank, the prestige of an ’ ancient and lofty lineage — all these things are his; but years must pass ere they can be truly realized or appreciated. And how much less do the most saintly and heaven-taught spirits conceive of that inheritance which is ours so soon as we become the children of God through faith in Jesus Christ !* See how this fervent Apostle, though he would fain find words to tell us in what its bhss consists, is obliged to content himself with negatives. It is so much easier to say what the inheritance is not, than to set down the elements of its exceeding weight of glory. It were easier far to enumerate all the ills of this mortal life, and to say of each, T/tz’s is not there, than to give an inventory of all that awaits the saints, as one by one they pass through the vail, and find themselves in the land of their choice.
But surely, in dealing with the ungodly, it were well not only to dwell on the woes they must incur, but to insist on the glories they must miss unless they bethink themselves and repent. Ah! if only we could speak in terms glowing enough, tinged with the certainty and rapture of our own glad hopes
* These opening sentences were suggested by one of Dr. Guthrie’s sermons on The Inheritance of the Saints. concerning the fair land to which we are going, we should induce many a dweller in the City of Destruction to start with us on pilgrimage. But how can we talk with vivid conviction of that which occupies so small a space in our own inner life?
The Nature of our Inheritance. — Many and varied descriptions might be given of it: Salvation in its fulness and perfectness, which is ours in germ, but which waits for its hidden glories of colour and form to be revealed in the summer that is coming (5, 9; Mark xiii. 28). The City of God the vision of which, as its walls and pinnacles rose above the mists of time, allured the patriarchs forward, and made them content to dwell in frail and shifting tents. Heaven, with its cloudless light and sweet societies. Glory, as we shall see it on the face of our Emmanuel, and as it shall flood our own happy spirits.
But there is a deeper and more comprehensive view than any of these: one which includes them all; as the ocean includes seas, and bays, and straits, which, though known by separate names, are parts of its majestic and all-embracing fulness. In the law of the Jewish priesthood, “the Lord spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in theii land, neither shall thou have any part among them. I am thy part, and thine inheritance, among the children of Israel” (Num. xviii. 20). It was a very satisfactory arrangement for the pious priest. He could well dispense with the oliveyards and vineyards, the cornfields and homesteads of Palestine, if he might have God to be the strength of his heart, and his portion for ever. And the Psalmist eagerly caught at the thought, gladly surrendering all portion in this life, if only he might be “satisfied” with God (Psa. xvii. 15). “The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: Thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage” (Psa. xvi. 5, 6).
Our inheritance is God Himself. — Not the golden harps. Not the sea of glass mingled with fire. Not rest from pain and immunity from sorrow. Not the blessed society of heaven.
From all these, apart from God, we should at last turn away dissatisfied. They are but the accessories and embodiments of something deeper, more inward and rapturous — the possession of God. Heirs of God, i.e., of all the communicable glories of the Divine nature. The Psalmist expressed the literal truth when he said, “Whom have I in heaven but Thee?” (lxxiii.) To know Him, to explore his being, to live on his fulness, to discover new tracts and continents in the terra incognita of Godhead, to see his glory, to be changed into his image — this is “the heritage of the servants of the Lord.”
Our inheritance begins here. — As a matter of right all God’s nature is ours directly we are born into his family; as a vast tract of country, filled with woods and rivers and ore, belongs to the heir at the moment of birth. But, as a matter of fact, we shall never occupy all, even when eternity is passing over us; the finite can never fully grasp the infinite. Yet, from the first moment of conversion, we may begin to enter on our inheritance. We commence by studying the inspired chart, which maps out that inheritance, and tells us what God is, and what He is prepared to be to us. Next we proceed to appropriate and make use of his attributes and properties for daily need. Then we become possessed of the indwelling Spirit of God, who brings his very nature into ours. And so we come to possess God just in proportion as He possesses us. We inherit Him as our portion up to the measure in which He inherits us. “The Lord is my portion, saith my soul.” “The Lord’s portion is his people.”
Up! friends; you are living on a vast estate. Around you on all hands are God’s love, and grace, and power, and wisdom, awaiting your use. Set yourselves to know, and then to appropriate and enjoy. “There is much land yet to be possessed.” Do not be content to be circumscribed and limited, as were the Danes by our great Alfred. Be rather like the early squatters in the Western States, who roll back their fences, taking in evermore of the rich virgin soil, so adding field to field.
But our inheritance can only be perfected hereafter. — It is “reserved in heaven.” We tire and faint amid our most rapturous experiences. The body refuses to sustain the weight of glory. The machinery of mortality breaks down beneath the pressure of the loftiest spiritual emotion. “I fell at his feet as dead.” “Thou canst not see my face; for no man can see my face and live.” And it may be that just as there are qualities in the universe which we cannot perceive because we have only five senses, so there are properties in God which we know not of because our powers of perception are limited. It is therefore quite conceivable that when clothed upon with our house which is from heaven, which will have a great many more windows in it than the earthly house of this tabernacle which is built for stormy weather, there will be sides and aspects of the Divine nature that we know nothing about to-day, but which shall be communicable and communicated to us.* Ah, fair inheritance! If earth and heaven, which are but as his vesture, are so lovely, what will He be!
The Qualities of this Inheritance. — /«(rrr//^/z(5i/^ i.e.^ as to its substance. It is not liable to decay. Nature looks her best in the days of early autumn. The golden corn-sheaves; the gorgeous tints of the fading leaves; the berries of the wild rose and the rowan; the undiminished foliage of the forest trees; the ruddy wealth of the orchard: but, amid all, our enjoyment is tinged with sadness, for we know, that decay lies beneath, eagerly at work; and that ere long the woodland glade will be strewn with the dying leaves, falling in myriads before the gale, and rotting in drenched heaps. So, too, amid our happiest converse with beloved ones, a sad foreboding sometimes invades our hearts, suggesting that it will not last: the artless child must leave the mother’s embrace; the brother will choose another confidante than the sister whom he dearly loved. But the knowledge of God, like our treasure in heaven, cannot corrupt, nor can it be stolen from us by any thieving hand. It cannot pass from us; nor we from it. It cannot share the fate of any earthly possession. Nay, when we are stripped of all things else, and sit like another Job amid the wreck of former wealth, then we begin as never before to take measure of our eternal treasure; and there arises before us such a conception
* Suggested by Dr. Maclaren. of the magnificence of our inheritance in God that we cry, “Give what Thou wilt! without Thee I am poor; and with Thee rich; take what Thou wilt away!”
Undefiled, i.e., as to its purity. — “All possessions here are defiled and stained with many defects and failings.” No marble without its flaw. No flower without its freckle. No fruit without its blight. No face without its blemish. No joy without its taint. No day without its regret. No heart, except one, without sin. The leprosy of human sin has so spread itself throughout the whole creation that, as in Israel of old, garments and houses are alike infected (Lev. xiii., xiv.). And even in the purest earthly friendships, a love which in its inception is innocent and natural too often becomes tainted with jealousy and selfishness, if not with pollution.
But to know God is to come into contact with the source of Purity itself “He that is near Me is near to the fire” is a saying which an ancient writer puts into the mouth of Christ. A wisp of straw might sooner survive the flame than defilement outlive contact with God. “Neither shall evil dwell with thee.” So far from our heritage becoming defiled, we cannot enjoy it unless we love Purity. The pure in heart alone see God: and the more they see of Him, the more pure they become.
Unfading, i.e., as to its beauty. — Here grows the amaranth, the flower that fades not. One never tires of what is really beautiful. There is always some fresh expression on a beautiful face, some new witchery of colour on a beautiful landscape. We can easily understand how a great preacher of this century, after some masterly effort, would quiet his mind by taking from his pocket a handful of precious stones which he always carried there; handling them, rolling them to and fro, holding them up to the light, and never tiring of their ever-changing beauty.
There is all this in fellowship with God. To know Him is a fountain of ever fresh delight. He never palls on the satiated appetite. We never feel that there is monotony, sameness, weariness, in his love. “All the happiness of this life,” said William Law, “is but trying to quench thirst out of golden etnpfy cups.” But who shall speak thus of the river of God’s pleasure, which, as it gratifies the thirst, increases it; which is ever more and better than we could conceive; and which allures us on to deeper and yet deeper draughts, to desires which grow in being satisfied?
Our Title to this Inheritance. — “Begotten again.” It is not ours by merit; or by conquest; or by natural birth. We may be the children of parents who have passed into the skies; and yet we may miss the inheritance of the saints in light. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”; so said One who could not err. “If children, then heirs,” is the indispensable order.
Nor is it difficult to see why it must be so. The inheritance is spiritual; and it requires spiritual faculties to apprehend and enjoy it. But in such as have not been born again those spiritual faculties are wanting. A blind man may stand amid the fairest landscape unconcerned, because the one organ by which he could enjoy it is wanting. A lunatic may live in a house stored with treasures of art and literature unaffected, because his mind is blank to all its attractions. And the unregenerate man might stand in heaven itself, and miss God, for want of those powers of spiritual perception of which he is deficient. Sin blinds the eye, stops the ear, and hardens the heart. The prime necessity is life; and life can only begin in the new birth.
We cannot possess God unless we love Him. We cannot love Him, unless there is a kinship and reciprocity of nature. But this nature is not ours by the first birth; and if it is to be ours at all, it can only be by the impartation of a new nature and life, which are the gift of God, through his Word {ver. 23).
Hast thou been born again? The certain sign is the faith which receives Christ. “As many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name; which were born ... of God” (John i. 12, 13, R.V.).
The Link between our Present and Future. — “A living hope.” We already have something of our inheritance, but at the best it is only the earnest — what the half crown of the labourer in the feeing market is to the year’s wage, or the sod of the estate to the broad acres. “Now through a glass darkly” — glimpses soon shadowed; outlines not filled up; dark sayings we cannot interpret.
But the time is coming when we shall know even as we are known, and see face to face; when our communion with God shall be as unfettered as our service; when we shall love Him better, and possess Him more fully. Towards this blessed consummation, as yet reserved, our hope stretches out both her hands; meanwhile, it is an inspiration and stimulus for every moment of our life. It is, indeed, “a living hope.”
Hope is said sometimes to die: this never can. Sometimes, though it hngers in the breast, it is inoperative: this is always quick and powerful. “Worldly hopes often mock men; they are not living, but lying and dying ones. We live to bury them. But this hope answers our expectations to the full, and deceives in no way, but far exceeds them.”
//s basis is “the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” — The man who was once so hard to convince as he ran to the empty tomb, now realizes the full meaning of that marvellous fact. Our Brother, Representative, and Lord, not only identified Himself with us in life and death, but has made us one with Himself in the Resurrection, which is also God’s seal and Amen to all He said and did; and is, therefore, a Divine corroboration not only of his words, but of all the structure of hope and expectancy which we have built on them.
The Ascription of Praise, with which this paragraph begins is most befitting: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!”
Who shall compute the full measure of his abundant mercy? Mercy that He gave his Son to die and to rise again! Mercy that He has adopted us to a position which angels might envy; because we are children, and therefore heirs! Mercy that He is willing to be the inheritance of such as we are! Mercy that He has given us such strong consolation, and an anchor so sure and steadfast! What multitudinous, infinite, inexpressible praise sim! 23
mercy! Let us bless Him for it, the Father of Jesus, and our Father in Him! Praise Him! praise Him!
“It is a cold, lifeless thing to speak of spiritual things on mere report; but they that speak of them as their own, and as having some experience of their sweetness, cannot mention them, but their hearts are straight taken with such gladness as they are forced to vent in praises. This is such an inheritance that the very hopes and thoughts of it are able to sweeten the greatest griefs. What, then, shall the full fruition of it be!”