You can grow up in the same house, eat the same food and sleep in the same room… You can share the same baseball glove, and wear each other’s hand-me-downs… You can read the same books, listen to the same music and attend the same church… You can share the same last name, love the same relatives and take the same vacations… But you will never really know a person until you try divide an undesignated inheritance with him. An inheritance will bring out a person’s true personality. Thankfully there are many wise parents who stipulate in writing how their assets will be distributed. And above them all there is the Lord.
Peter reminds us that God has begotten many children “unto an incorruptible inheritance.” One day soon Jehovah shall divide His inheritance with those who have been adopted into His family. And then, not only will our true character be revealed, but we will see His character in a way in which we’ve never seen it before. “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God… Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, (and what inheritance we shall receive); but we know… that we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”
Christians are somewhat like orphaned Pakistanis or Koreans, who have been adopted by the rich American. We may know that our new Father has a natural son, and to him everything has been given. But together, our adopting Father and our elder Brother, have agreed to share the inheritance with us. And when our plane finally lands at the Seattle International Airport, and we meet face to face, only then can we begin to understand their love what they are agreeing to share with us.
In other words, there has never been a greater bequest than this one to which Peter refers. Though a man be endowed with the whole world, he is a pauper without this inheritance. And though a person has almost nothing here, but he shares in this bequest, then he is incredibly rich. If all that the saint of God receives in Heaven is a tiny cottage, he will be infinitely better off than Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk combined and multiplied ten thousand times.
I’d like us to think about the inheritance to which verse four refers. It will be good for us for a number of reasons – To learn things from the Word of God is always good – whether it’s pleasant or not, and this is very pleasant. It is good to consider this scripture, because as we meditate on God’s promises, He is glorified. It is always good to praise and glorify the Lord. And it is good to present to a child of the world what God has promised to those who are children of Heaven. Christians, and only true Christians will be enjoying in this inheritance for eternity. But perhaps the most practical reason to spend the next thirty minutes on this subject is the fact that you and I are drowning in the sewage of the secular and the temporary. We are prone to be a carnal, profane, and worldly bunch of earthly, prodigal sons and daughters. We are in need of revival. As always, a stirring of the soul is the gift of God, and He has many tools with which to produce it. And perhaps a consideration of the Lord’s future blessings might do that for us. “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” “The Spirit itself bearth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.”
What is the distinguishing feature of an inheritance?
It is not the content of that inheritance, because that can be anything which the testator might choose. Rather, it is the simple fact that a choice has been made. The elderly father might choose to give his house to his son and his vintage Sopwith Camel to his daughter. Or he might give all of his worldly goods to feed poor and give nothing at all to his children. A man might include a perfect stranger in his will, providing him everything. A woman might leave all that she has to her cats. In regard to this scripture and this inheritance, it needs to be remembered that you and I are sinners deserving nothing from the Lord. We were born aliens and grew up spiritual rebels. By our actions, if not our words, we have all said early in our lives, “I will not have the God of the Bible to rule over me.” There is no one who is a child of God today, who is a Christian strictly by his own wise choice. That notion is as silly as choosing to be born to our natural parents. The fact is we have been chosen BY GOD, and given new birth by HIS grace. And this inheritance is a part that gracious gift, bequeathed by God only to whom He has chosen.
At this point we need, for a moment, to lay aside one aspect of our usual understanding of “inheritance.” The Greek word, and the New Testament use of the word, speak of property passed from father to son. But the word itself doesn’t require the death of the father before it becomes an “inheritance.” In one of the Lord’s parables, a certain householder planted a vineyard and paid some men to care for it. When the owner sent his servants to collect the fruits of the vineyard, the wicked husbandmen beat, stoned and killed them. “Last of all (the landowner) sent unto them his son, saying, they will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance,” ie. take the property which the father had given him. Notice that the father had not died, and yet the son had the inheritance. The son inherited that property in the sense that the father had given it to him. In another case, didn’t the prodigal son demand his inheritance, and wasn’t it given before the father died?
On the other hand, I will admit that the Book of Hebrews does add death to that of “inheritance,” but the context there is to the “testament” more than the inheritance contained in the testament. Hebrews 9:15 says, “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.” And in our text, Peter seems to refer to the death of Christ as he speaks of Jesus’ resurrection.
In our culture a distinguishing part of an inheritance is the fact that someone had to die. And isn’t it true that the Christian’s inheritance is based upon the death and the resurrection of Christ? There would be no inheritance for any of us apart from Jesus’ death. The pain, the separation, the abandonment, the nails, the torment, the accusations all played a part. But if Jesus had not actually died, there would be no grounds for our thoughts about an inheritance. “He was wounded for our transgressions and he was bruised for our iniquities,” If he had not literally died, shedding His blood, there would be no hint, or hope, of an inheritance.
Isn’t it a blessing for the Christian to lean back today into the arms of the Holy Spirit? It is as if the lawyer of some wealthy man came telling us that we were named in a stranger’s will. We have only the word of this lawyer, whom we have never seen or met before. But when he visited us, a couple of his employees brought along a gift. In this case it is the huge stuffed antique chair which the rich benefactor had used for years. It is tremendously expensive, something that we could never buy for ourselves. This lawyer is giving us this chair as a token of our inclusion in the man’s will, which will be read and dispensed in a few month’s time. Ephesians 1:13-14 – “In (Christ) ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”
What about those three descriptive terms: “Incorruptible,” “undefiled” and “fadeth not?”
As I thought about these things, I realized that they are all descriptions of God Himself. Romans 1:23 speaks about the wicked of the world “changing the glory of the UNCORRUPTIBLE God into an image make like to CORRUPTIBLE man.” Both the Lord and His inheritance are incorruptible, or it is incorruptible because He is incorruptible. And the Lord Jesus exhorted us all, not to lay up for ourselves “treasures on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and thieves break through and steal.” Rather we are to lay up for ourselves treasures Heaven where moths and rust cannot corrupt. Obviously, the things of heaven are incorruptible – they cannot be tarnished or diminished in any way. But First Peter 1 is not talking about what we might lay up in store for ourselves. Rather it speaks of what the Lord has laid up in store FOR US.
And then this inheritance is described as undefiled. That means that it is pure and holy, untainted by any form of sin or pollution. And again I point you to the Lord Jesus, who is described in Hebrews 7:25-26 – “Wherefore (Christ) is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, UNDEFILED, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.” Can you imagine a day, or a place, or a person, where there is no taint of sin or defilement? Not so much as even a hint of that corruption? Not only will we reside by grace in such a place, everything given to us will be like that.
Third, this inheritance is described as fading not away. “Fadeth” is the Greek “amarantinos” (am-ar-an’-tee-nos); it is a first cousin of “hamartia” (ham-ar-tee’-ah). In many old theology books there is a section called “hamartiology” – it is the doctrine of sin. Put that idea into your understanding of this verse and see what it says: “The inheritance which the Lord has for His child contains neither any sin nor any of the effects of sin. And furthermore it cannot be sinned away.” It is impossible for the child of God to sin this inheritance away.
This might be used to argue that Christians don’t have to worry about sin because grace has saved them. Some wicked people may say, “Because I am guaranteed God’s inheritance, I can sin all and not loose anything. There is no penalty any longer for sin.” Some might abuse this verse, but the true saint of God will never do so. Yet the fact remains that we do sin – far too frequently and painfully. But no matter how we sin or how often we sin, God’s people, those who are kept by the power of God, have an inheritance kept for them by God. Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord for a double protection.
I suppose that it might be natural to think that our inheritance is Heaven itself.
But let me point out that this inheritance is reserved for us IN Heaven. I won’t tell you that the inheritance of the saints does not include our residence in Glory. Abraham was looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. And the Lord Jesus said that He has gone to prepare a mansion for us. This inheritance does include Heaven, but then it also includes much, much more. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that love him.” So does this inheritance consist of golden streets and gates of pearls? If that were the extent of it, I think that we’d all be greatly disappointed. But we shall not be disappointed. Like the little girl said as she stared at the starry sky: “If the wrong side of Heaven is so pretty, just think how beautiful the right side is.”
I’m not sure about all that this inheritance will contain. But a part of it will be our likeness to Christ, and our own particular glorification. It must include those others whom we love who will also be freed from their pain and glorified with us. I’m not sure it’s wise to pursue this question too far, since the Lord has chosen not to reveal very much. I am not sure that it is wise to pursue this question, when Paul spoke of a man who visited Heaven and was forbidden to discuss what he had seen there.
There was once an elderly Christian lady who lay dying in her bedroom at home. She confessed that she knew that she was a child of God, but she was still concerned because she hadn’t done great things for her Saviour. She had been saved later in life, after arthritis had limited her mobility, and after she had spent her limited wealth on her family. She had never taught a Bible class, and she couldn’t play the piano at her church. She regretted the lateness of her conversion. One day she asked her doctor, “What is death going to be like?” He was unsure as to how reply, until he heard his dog scratching at the door. He had brought his puppy from home and had left him in the car, but apparently he had squeezed out a window and now he wanted in that door. The good doctor told the woman, “We may approach death like that silly dog.” He has no idea what is inside your door, except for one thing – I am in here, and that is all that matters to him.”
For the Christian, that is what leaving this world is like; it is going to be with Christ Jesus our Saviour. Precisely what, and all, this inheritance contains should not concern us at this point. What matters is that our Saviour is the divine Testator and the Administrator.
Suffice it to say that it is incorruptible, unlike any inheritance ever received upon this earth. And this inheritance is undefiled and guaranteed more securely than anything the Secret Service of the United States might try to protect. It is reserved in Heaven for us. And that leads us to our last consideration –
For whom is this inheritance reserved?
It is only for a special group of people. It will be presented to those who are “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” That is the actual and Biblical truth of the matter. But to put it more practically, it is for those “who have been sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ.” It is reserved only for those who have been ”begotten again” and “born again.” “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
And this leads me to ask: Do you know without a doubt that you have been born again unto this lively hope? Perhaps more to the point – can you say that your complete, undivided, faith and hope for eternity is firmly planted in the Lord Jesus Christ and His death on the cross? Do you hate your sins as much as the Saviour hates them? It’s not our job to analyze whether or not we are among the elect – we’ll leave that to God. Our job is to repent before the Lord, trusting Christ and the work that He has done on the cross. n you say that you are living in repentance for sin and that your faith is in Christ Jesus? It is a blessing to think about the inheritance which God has promised to those who love Him. It is better for us, however, to think about our Saviour, the one who has made this inheritance possible. Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ?