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The Daily Word of Righteousness
Four Aspects of Our Inheritance
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. (Hebrews 4:1—NIV)
There are at least four aspects of our inheritance, of the Divine rest to which we have been called. The Book of Hebrews is one long warning to Christians to not come short of God's rest, to not cease pressing forward toward the mark that has been set before us. If, after having received Jesus Christ as our Savior, we do not then continue joyfully in His Presence, living diligently as a disciple, we shall be judged as having neglected our great salvation.
The Persons of God and Christ
The first and most important aspect of the inheritance of the royal priesthood, the Church, is the Persons of God and Christ.
The religion of Christianity has adopted Heaven, or Paradise, as being the main goal of the Christian. This is not accurate. While Heaven may be the most important inheritance of the members of the saved nations, the primary inheritance of the members of the Body of Christ is God Himself.
This was true of the priests of Israel. They had no inheritance among the tribes because God was their inheritance.
The Apostle Paul had set everything else aside that he might come to know Christ—and this toward the end of his life!
We think because we have made some initial profession of faith in Christ that we know Christ. This is not true. Many years of patiently seeking Christ bring us only to the threshold of knowing Christ.
The opening verses of the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John are preached quite frequently in Christian churches:
In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. (John 14:2,3—NIV)
Perhaps due to the influence of Gnosticism on Christian thinking the above two verses have come to mean the Lord Jesus is building houses for us in Heaven. Soon He will return and bring us to those houses where we shall dwell forevermore. But there is no other passage from the Scriptures in support of this interpretation!
This would be a nice thought if it were supported by the remainder of the New Testament, but it isn't. The New Testament is not about saved people going to Heaven but about Christ and His saints returning from Heaven to install the Kingdom of God among the nations on the earth.
In the first place, the Father's house is not Heaven. The Father's house is always Jesus Christ. In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead.
The many "rooms" in Christ refer to the saints who are being made through Christ the dwelling place of God.
Christ has gone to the cross, and then into the holy place in Heaven, to sprinkle His blood, to make intercession for us, and to shed forth the Holy Spirit so we might have a place in the great house of God. This is how Christ prepares a place for us.
To be continued.