Our Inheritance
. . . the fulness of him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:23)
. . . the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying it refers to Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:31-32)
What is our promised inheritance?
We’ve already learned that we are God’s inheritance. In fact, we are called his glorious inheritance. This is confirmed in many places throughout Scripture -
Deuteronomy 32:9 says, “the Lord’s portion is his people.”
Ecclesiastes 9:9 says, “Enjoy life with the wife you love . . . because that is your portion in life.”
In both these verses, the word translated portion means inheritance.
During most of 2019, I was separated from my wife, Sherri. It was hard. We connected with each other regularly, thanks to the internet, but there was still a huge hole in my heart: an emptiness that could not be filled, an ache that would not go away. And I know she felt the same way. That’s because we are one flesh and when separated, we feel incomplete, fractured, divided. Sherri truly is my inheritance, my portion in life, and I am hers.
That brings me to the answer to yesterday’s question -what is the inheritance that awaits us as Christians? The answer is, God, seen most clearly and experienced most fully in our relationship with Jesus!
This is one of the most profound truths, or mysteries, as Paul refers to it, in Scripture.
Look again at the two passages for today’s meditation. They are intricately connected and reflect this great truth that Christ is our inheritance. (Just as we are his!)
The relationship between husband and wife, described in Ephesians, chapter five, points beyond itself to the relationship between Christ and His church - the two shall become one. In other words, complete intimacy! On that day, we will become whole and complete.
But there is something else even more amazing. Not only will we become whole and complete, but we will bring Christ to wholeness, to completion in the sense that our Lord will possess all of us, his bride, whom He eagerly longs for.
Look again at the words of Ephesians 1:23. This time I’ve added Ephesians 1:22 for context -
And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fulness of him who fills everything in every way. (Italics mine.)
Compare this verse to Ephesians 5:28-30 -
In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. (Italics mine.)
Jesus Christ has taken us to be his bride. Yes, his Spirit lives in us and speaks to us, but we are still incomplete, longing for the day when we are made whole in him. And Christ longs for that day as well. After all, we are his portion! (See Deuteronomy 32:9 above.)
This is a staggering truth, almost unimaginable. Think about it - someday, we will become the fulness of him, who “fills everything in every way.”
The Lord of heaven and earth, creator and sustainer of all things, is our inheritance.
In Christ,
Dan