Our Inheritance
Dearly beloved of God, what does our future look like? I am not talking about your retirement plan, or your long term financial outlook; I’m talking about something much more impactful. I’m talking about your future inheritance.
The Word of God reveals all there is to know about salvation, resurrection life, and the glory to come. All else is conjecture based on philosophy, myths, and the doctrines of men.
God raised His Son Jesus from the dead. He raised him from death unto life, and death no longer has dominion over him. He will never die again.
Jesus Christ was the first and only person to be raised from the state of death thus far, but because of his resurrection out from among the dead people others will follow when God gives him the command to raise them.
Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection out from among the dead is the cornerstone of Christianity. Nothing like this ever happened before. Jesus Christ is the firstfruits of them that sleep.
The resurrection separates Christianity from every other religion.
Forty days after God raised Jesus from the dead he ascended into heaven, God made Jesus both Lord and Christ, and He seated him at His right hand as Lord of the living and the dead. He is the only man in heaven today according to John 3:13.
God raised His Son from the dead, and based on that event God set the terms of salvation.
Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
If there is no resurrection from the dead our believing is vain, we are yet in our sins, we are not saved, but are among those who perish, and there is no hope, however, this is not the case.
Death is an enemy, and the only release from it will be by the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming.
I Corinthians 15:25 reveals that there is an order to the raising of the dead. Christ was the firstfruits, and others will follow at his coming.
The dead in Christ of the Church will be raised at the gathering together unto him in the air, and the living will be changed, and together they will rise to meet the Lord in the air.
According to I Corinthians 15:50-57 some will be dead and some will be living when the Lord Jesus Christ returns. He will raise the dead as incorruptible, and change the living ones from mortal to immortal. See also I Thessalonians 4:15-18.
After the Lord Jesus Christ delivers the Church from death and this evil age at the gathering together, the Lord’s Day will begin.
During the Lord’s Day the Lord Jesus Christ will come to earth and reign as King of kings and Lord of Lords. The first resurrection will take place at this time, and then at the end of this period in the Lord’s Day the resurrection of the just and the unjust will take place. This was spoken of by Daniel, the Apostle Paul, and Jesus Christ.
Every grave will come forth at the Lord’s command; some to life, and some to damnation. The resurrection of the just and the unjust will take place at the very end of this period.
The resurrections were not a mystery; they were spoken of previously, but that some would be alive and changed, and that the dead in Christ would be raised to life was a mystery. This is unique to the Church.
Until God sends His Son once again to gather the Church together up to him in the air the dead will remain in the grave, but when he comes the Lord will raise the dead in Christ as incorruptible, and he will change the living ones from mortal to immortal, and both will have glorious bodies like his glorious body, and everlasting life.
There is no release from death except by the Lord Jesus Christ, and it will only occur at his coming. Because God raised Jesus from the dead it will be possible for us to be raised to life, also.
What does God require from us in order to participate in this monumental event? We must confess Jesus as Lord, and believe that God raised him from the dead and we will be saved.
Rejoice forevermore, it is Christ in you, the hope of glory! God has given us everlasting comfort and good hope through grace. We are the children of God, and that makes us heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; we will acquire the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming.
It will take God our Father the ages to come to display the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
Rejoice! Our future prospects are great, dearly beloved of God. We have an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that will not fade away, reserved for us in heaven. Our future looks glorious. He is coming!