S134P1 – A message to Ephesus: a guaranteed inheritance
Eph. 1:11-14
In [Christ] we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
The will of God to make us part of his family works in a certain fashion. Just as we believers have been predestined to obtain an inheritance in Christ, we also have been predestined to adoption through Christ as an operation of God’s love. Adoption brings a child who occupied a position outside the family to a position inside the family. It is not that those outside of God’s family belong to no family. Jesus himself spoke about the family of people who do not believe in him and the father who is their head. [Jn. 8:39-47] So, the transition is the same for all who come to have faith in Christ. We trade the inheritance of our former father for the inheritance which comes from God the Father.
The Church in Ephesus, along with the Church at large, heard the truth and believed. As Jesus stated, those who hear the truth are of God. [Jn. 8:45-47] To hear God’s words is to accept and believe those words. When we hear the truth in faith, we then are sealed with the Holy Sprit, who was promised to all believers. [Jn. 14:15-26; Gal. 3:10-14] This Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance from now until then. Like an earthly inheritance from a natural family member, there is a time when that inheritance is passed along. I might be mentioned in a person’s will today, but that does not mean I receive my inheritance today. I must wait until the time my inheritance can be properly conveyed by operation of law.
We have an inheritance awaiting us at a future time. We have not acquired that inheritance yet, but the seal of the Holy Spirit serves as our guarantee of receiving it. In Christ through his Spirit, that future inheritance is secure now. These words of truth are a comfort and an encouragement on the long road from now until then. They also are a picture of God’s love, that our predestined adoption into his family would bring us something so great and beyond human merit, and all this to the praise of his glory. Father, thank You for the love that calls us to be children in your family, and thank You for the sure inheritance awaiting us on that day.