What is our inheritance in Christ? Many Christians are confidently and patiently waiting for their own death to occur before they receive their inheritance in Christ. Yet there are Christians who are not so sure what it is, or if they will qualify to receive it.

Who gets an inheritance in Christ?

 Giving thanks to the Father, Who has qualified and made us fit to share the portion which is the inheritance of the saints (God’s holy people) in the Light. Colossians 1:12 (AMPC)

The term saints can be misunderstood. It is a mistake to suppose only those having the status of sainthood from the Catholic Church are referenced here. This is not correct. The term “saints” means sanctified by God or set apart for God. My readers know that the righteousness that God requires cannot come to anyone by living a perfect life. It is a free gift of God. This means that the saints of old, and all of us who are in a covenant relationship with God, qualify. This is precisely what this verse is saying. God qualifies and thereby makes us fit to be saints. This is why Christians share in the inheritance of Christ God gives to saints.   

Who else gets an inheritance?

While the focus of this article is on a Christian’s inheritance, there is another inheritor.

By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones). Ephesians 1:18 (AMPC)

This verse lets us know God is pleased with how rich and glorious His inheritance in the saints is. Jesus going to the cross for us enables him to give the gift of us to the Father. We may not feel like He gets much when God gets us. We need to remember how much He loves us, lost us, and now gets us restored to Him. Remember the story of the prodigal son. The father is so jubilant to have the lost child return that he runs to accept him. Next, He throws an awesome welcome home party. God is the father in that story. There is another party coming. The welcome home party we will attend is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. It will greatly exceed anything that ever happens on earth.

What do those in Christ get as their inheritance?

There are many very beneficial things God makes available to those who are in Christ. “In Christ” means those who are born again into a new relationship with God through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Being “born again” is a term that deserves its own study. However, one thing it does mean is this – It gives us the same relationship to Father God and Jesus that we have with human parents. It makes us their children, and rightful heirs.

Human children can qualify to receive an inheritance from their natural parents if there is one. The Children of God qualify to receive an inheritance from God, and there is indeed one. When we accept the New Covenant, the promises to those in this new relationship are not just potentially available. The promises are our inheritance.

The promises include righteousness, peace, joy, love, and an eternal home. Jesus says before His death that He is going to a heavenly realm to prepare a place for us.

When do we get our inheritance in Christ?

Many Christians are waiting for an inheritance that comes after they die, in the great by and by. There is an eternal reward to inherit. Fortunately, there is a provision in place for us that we greatly need in the ugly here and now. We are to live a victorious and abundant life expanding His Kingdom on earth. Its the will of God for us to have a portion of our inheritance now. Why? Because, it benefits Him to provide what we need to accomplish His will while on earth.  

Receiving an inheritance for use on the earth does not wait for the death of the beneficiary. The inheritance goes to the beneficiaries upon the death of the one leaving the inheritance. After their death, an executor follows the will of the giver in disbursing the inheritance. Jesus does die, He then raises from the dead. Now Jesus can be His own executor. What is more, He then appoints the Holy Spirit to administer to us what Jesus gives to his own.

What part of our inheritance do we get to have now?

We will not have enemies in heaven. We need the love of God that enables us to love our enemies now. We will not need daily bread, forgiving of trespasses, the ability to overcome temptation, or deliverance from calamity in heaven. We need all of these now. We need all that pertains to life and godliness, all things that sustain life and impart godliness. This is what Jesus provides to those who seek by faith what it is their covenant right to inherit.

May grace (God’s favor) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity, and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in [the full, personal, precise, and correct] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [full, personal] knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue). 2 Peter 1:2-3 (AMPC)

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