What type of inheritance do believers have?
What type of inheritance does the Bible say that believers have?
The apostle Peter has this to say categorically about it:
1 Peter 1:3-5
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
We have been begotten to a living hope – not for temporal, earthly things – but a hope for an inheritance that is not temporal in any way. Note the key points about our inheritance:
- our inheritance is reserved in heaven for us
- is incorruptible (and so cannot be cars, houses, money or babies)
Peter’s teaching on this subject is in agreement with the words of Jesus, Paul and the other apostles. Note also that this is in sharp contrast to the popular false gospels of today.
When Joel Osteen (and others of the same mould), for example, says that you can have “your best life now“, one begins to wonder what has been reserved in heaven – a poorer life? A worse life?
When the popular pimps of today preach and teach their followers that they have an inheritance here, where do they get such ideas from? If a man truly believes that he has his reward or inheritance here, then he must be sure that he has nothing waiting for him in the life to come. Effectively, he is on his own.
Those of us who are true believers know and acknowledge that we are pilgrims here. Our hope is in the life to come – the return of our Lord and the transformation of our bodies. We know that material possession, social status or economic power is not IN ANY WAY an indication of our status in Christ.
Our inheritance is incorruptible and undefiled, does not fade away, and is reserved in heaven for us. Come, Lord Jesus!!!
