Therefore I encourage that as Pastors, Family heads, leaders of units, groups and corporate organizations and individuals learn to believe in any word that is given in your local assembly because whatever He says to one, He says to all. More importantly, the word is for the profit of as many as those who have enough faith to fertilize it.
It is not surprising that various teachings are going on right now around the world on the subject of our inheritance in Christ just like in my local Church. Wonderful insights, some of which I may never have known. However, there is an insights that I wish to share in today's volume of the Rabbi which will not only help to correct some myopic views about our inheritance but if embraced will open anyone to unlimited blessings of salvation.
What is inheritance? Dr. Francis Wale Oke calls it something that is bequeathed to you and needs to be treasured not because of the cost of the thing but the relationship between the original possessor and the inheritor. He opines that wise people don't sell their inheritance no matter how much you are willing to pay for it. Only the generations of Esau sell their inheritance.
In my own opinion, inheritance is simply a gift, handed down to you by a person because of your relationship with him or her. It is not what you labour for but a product of grace from the owner.
Friends, if I ask you, what is your inheritance as a believer? I can guess some of the things on your list; good health, long life, financial prosperity, children, lands, houses and every other good thing of life. For those who are a bit more spiritual, you'd talk about the mansions in heaven. Those are the things that used to preoccupy my mind also until recently when the Lord refreshed my memory with deeper understanding of the matter of inheritance. As wonderful as those things you think about are, do you know they are not reliable. When I say reliable, I mean they are physically tangible but they hold no promise of the future because they shall fade away. Imagine you build a house reputed as the most beautiful even in Guinness book of records or you buy the latest model of car today, they will soon become outdated because someone will improve on them.
However, God does not want your inheritance to become outdated. That is why He did not make them physical. Rather, He packaged our inheritance (blessings) in spiritual form.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hat 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.(1 Pet. 1:3,4)
The implication of this scripture is that you can always download from the spiritual reserve and convert them to the physical. This is the more reason we should not make these things our pursuit not because we are not entitled to them but because they are not the real things we should seek. We would not be different from unbelievers if we limit our pursuit to physical things.
…………………………………For after these things do the gentiles seek (Matt. 6:32 KJV)
Seeking after the physical dimension of the blessing is like going for the egg rather than the goose that lays it. It is tantamount to dying for the offer of bread when you have the option of owning a bakery and having access to the ingredients for production.
David understood it better. He did not make anything his inheritance not even his children because they cannot be trusted completely. Imagine his own son conspiring against him. God forbid that we experience such in Jesus name. If David had made anything perhaps his throne his inheritance, he would have been finished when the inheritance was usurped. What was the psalmist’s inheritance?
The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and mine cup, thou maintainest my lot (Psalm 16:5 KJV)
David spoke here in recognition of his priesthood calling of which kind we are. The Levitical priesthood is the old order and it is the shadow of the priesthood to come. One of the fundamental statutes of the Levitical priesthood is that the priests cannot share inheritance with the other people. The underlying idea is that God wanted the Priests to learn to focus on him and not on things. He wanted to be their sole means for living. He wanted them to learn how to trade spiritual substances for material blessings, so their dependence was on the altar.
We have a better Priesthood. It is the permanent priesthood after the order of Melchidezek. It is the Priesthood of Jesus, our Lord who sprang out of Judah as the son of David. God expects also that we would focus more on Him than on things. In the new priesthood, we can own things but they come by the law of exchange. I do not want to dwell much on that today.
Now you know that the inheritance is first spiritual before conversion to physical and that the natural blessings take their source from the supernatural. You and I therefore need to focus on the supernatural. What then is the supernatural inheritance? It is Christ; our Lord himself!
Christ is the summary of the inheritance. He is God giving himself to man. He is God’s best offer to mankind (John 3: 16). Therefore everything that was freely given to us with Him and for which He suffered and died has automatically become ours.
Surprisingly, He had no house or wife. He purchased no land or property but He had an anointing and the presence of God (Acts 10:38). He had wisdom combined with favour with God and man (Luke 2:52). He had the Spirit of God upon Him without measure. Above all, He had the status of the firstborn and the Champion of the world (John 16:33). When He died as the Lamb of God before the foundation of the world, He earned for himself seven incomparable heritages - Power, Riches, Wisdom, Strength, Honour, Glory and Blessing. What then could he hade left for us? All these things!
Sharing the status of first born with Christ (Ex. 4: 22, Heb. 12:23) entitles us to whatever belongs to God as the possessor of heaven and earth (Gen. 14:19, Ps.24:1). Therefore, we depend not upon our ability or connection with men but our right of sonship as heirs. Being heirs, we have access to all things. Our spiritual inheritance of favour with God and man make us to turn anywhere and get anything we want. The anointing and the grace of Christ give us access to physical blessings. By His wisdom, we access hidden wealth of secret places and make witty inventions in exchange for great financial rewards. Are you not excited about this?
As we earlier established in the words of Dr. Francis Wale Oke, we are expected to treasure our inheritance and not trade it for anything. If you inherited a physical land, you may choose to give it for humanitarian purpose or sell it in exchange for money. In that case, you have not lost anything great. But if you trade your status of firstborn like Esau, you have lost everything! If you are betrayed by a friend and perhaps lost your wife (God forbid) like Samson, you have not lost everything but if you lose the anointing, you have lost everything.
Therefore, we don’t hold on to things not even children (Hannah did not). However, we hold on to our spiritual inheritance. When our garments of many colours given to us by our parents are taken away, the favour of God upon us will buy for us another one if not many as replacement because the coat is not the inheritance; it is the favour of God. When you dig a well and they come to fill or strive with you over it, you can afford to leave the well like Isaac left his inherited well because the well is not the inheritance, it is the covenant. They may take your well but they can’t take the covenant!
Can you shout with me, I cherish my status as firstborn? Shout I cherish the favour of God upon me. Scream with me, I cherish the anointing. Lift you voice and shout I treasure the grace! Finally my brethren, if we must treasure anything, it is your salvation; Christ dwelling in your heart by faith. Love you all.
No comments:
Post a Comment