{"id":1028,"date":"2026-04-03T03:37:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T03:37:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/claytonhowardford.com\/?p=1028"},"modified":"2026-04-03T03:59:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T03:59:53","slug":"what-the-believers-inherit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/claytonhowardford.com\/?p=1028","title":{"rendered":"What the Believers Inherit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From A Brief Word of Exhortation<\/a><\/em>, Volume 1:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heb. 1:2<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The <\/strong>writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews says that God has appointed the Son \u201cheir of all things\u201d (1:2). The Greek word for \u201cheir\u201d is kleronomos<\/em>, which means \u201cone who receives by the casting of a lot,\u201d which is interesting because God did not cast a lot to see who would get his inheritance but appointed Jesus to re\u00adceive it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In practice, inheritance was not passed on by cast\u00ading a lot. In the Hebrew culture, the father\u2019s pos\u00adses\u00adsions were passed on to his surviving sons. The in\u00adheri\u00ad\u00adtance would not be passed on to the daughters unless there were no surviving sons. The firstborn son would re\u00adceive twice what the other sons received. His portion was known as \u201cthe double portion\u201d (Deut. 21:15-17). If a father had three sons, his pos\u00adses\u00adsions would be di\u00advid\u00aded into four parts. Two parts would be given to the first\u00adborn and one part would be given to each of the re\u00admaining sons. Of course, if the firstborn was also the only son, he would get it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Elisha asked Elijah to give him \u201ca double por\u00adtion\u201d of his spirit (2 Kings 2:9), he was not asking that he be given twice the amount of the spirit that Elijah had. He was asking to inherit Elijah\u2019s spirit. He was ask\u00ading that he would be the firstborn, so that if others received part of Elijah\u2019s spirit, he would get double that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Greek culture of the first century, the father\u2019s pos\u00adses\u00adsions would be divided equally among the sur\u00adviv\u00ading sons. Daughters would receive an inheritance only if there were no surviving sons and they were un\u00admarried. Again, if the firstborn was also the only son, he would get it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In both cultures, it was possible to give the in\u00adher\u00adi\u00adtance to the sons before the father died, as we learn from the parable of the prodigal son. Jesus, therefore, does not have to wait for God the Father to die to re\u00adceive his inheritance, because, of course, the Father will never die. And since Jesus is God\u2019s only Son, he re\u00adceives all that God possesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I say that Jesus is God\u2019s only Son because he is the only Son who has the divine nature, so he is the only Son by nature. The rest of us do not have that di\u00advine nature and be\u00adcome God\u2019s sons only through adop\u00ad\u00adtion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even so, because of God\u2019s love and mercy toward us, he has decided that we, too, get to inherit all that he has. Paul tells us that since we are the children of God, through adoption, we too are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:14-17). The word for \u201cjoint heirs\u201d is sygkleronomos<\/em>, which means \u201can heir together\u201d or \u201can heir with.\u201d It is used in Eph. 3:6 to say that the Gentiles are fellow heirs with the Jews. It is also used in 1 Pet. 3:7, where Peter reminds the hus\u00adbands that their wives are also heirs of the grace of life with them. So, unlike the Hebrew and Greek cultures, be\u00adlieving women also receive God\u2019s inheritance be\u00adcause they, too, are the children of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What, then, does Jesus inherit? And what do we inherit with him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All things<\/strong> (Heb. 1:2), that is, everything that has been created and therefore everything that God possesses. We, too, will receive all things. God the Father declares in Rev. 21:7, \u201cHe who over\u00adcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The kingdom of God. <\/strong>\u201cListen, my beloved breth\u00adren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?\u201d (James 2:5). Jesus said to the dis\u00adci\u00adples, \u201cAnd I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father be\u00adstowed one on Me\u201d (Luke 22:29). The king\u00addom did not originally belong to him. It belonged to the Father, who gave it to Jesus. And Jesus in turn will give us that same kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The promises of Abraham. <\/strong>Abraham was, of course, promised the land which we now call the Promised Land. It occupies a certain section of the earth. But sev\u00ader\u00adal passages in the Old Tes\u00adta\u00adment suggest that Abra\u00adham was actually prom\u00adised more than that. In Gen. 22, God commanded Abraham to go to a certain moun\u00adtain and sacrifice his son, Isaac. Abraham goes to the moun\u00adtain but the Angel of the Lord stops him from ac\u00adtu\u00adally killing his son. Then the Angel of the Lord makes a promise to him in vv. 15-18. The promise is that ALL of the nations will be blessed in his seed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David says in Ps. 37:22, \u201cFor those blessed by Him shall inherit the earth, but those cursed by Him shall be cut off.\u201d Back in verse 11, David says, \u201cBut the meek shall inherit the earth,\u201d and Jesus, of course, repeats this in Matt. 5:5. In Is. 54:3, God, speaking to the nation of Israel, says that Israel\u2019s descendants will inherit the nations. The promised inheritance, therefore, includes the entire earth, not just the Promised Land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hebrew word for \u201cdescendants\u201d in Is. 54:3 also means \u201cseed\u201d and is singular. This is also the same word used in Gen. 22:15-17 and there it is also sing\u00adu\u00adlar. This fact is important to Paul in Gal. 3:15-29. The promise was made to Abraham\u2019s Seed, who is Jesus Christ, the one who inherits the promise of Abraham. And be\u00adcause by faith we have become one with Christ, we, too, are Abraham\u2019s seed and inherit Abra\u00adham\u2019s promise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul makes the same point in other pas\u00adsages: Rom. 4:13-16; Eph. 3:6. From the be\u00adgin\u00adning of time, God intended for the promises of Abraham to pass on, not to his physical de\u00adscend\u00adants, but only to Christ and to Abraham\u2019s spiritual descendants, whether they were Jew or Gentile. I will talk more about this in Lesson 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God himself.<\/strong> In Num. 18:20, the Lord says to Aaron, who was the first High Priest, \u201cYou shall have no in\u00adher\u00adi\u00adtance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Is\u00adra\u00adel.\u201d Moses states that this was true of the entire tribe of Levi: \u201cThe priests, the Levites\u2014all the tribe of Levi\u2014shall have no part nor in\u00adher\u00adi\u00adtance with Israel; they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and His portion. There\u00adfore they shall have no inheritance among their breth\u00adren; the LORD is their in\u00adher\u00aditance, as He said to them\u201d (Deut. 18:1-2). Since we are now the royal priesthood (1 Pet. 2:9), this applies to us. The Lord is our inheritance. Even better, Jer\u00ade\u00ad\u00admi\u00adah twice calls the Lord, \u201cThe Portion of Jacob\u201d (Jer. 10:16; 51:19). Though the Israelites were given land as their inheritance, in reality the Lord himself was their true inheritance, which means that the Lord is also our true in\u00adher\u00adi\u00adtance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The writer of Hebrews declares, \u201cBut without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him\u201d (Heb. 11:6). If we diligently seek Him<\/em>, then when we find Him, He becomes our reward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, the Old Testament also reverses this. Not only is God Israel\u2019s inheritance, but Is\u00adra\u00adel is also God\u2019s inheritance. Moses said to Israel, \u201cBut the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be His people, an inheritance, as you are this day\u201d (Deut. 4:20). He also said, \u201cFor the LORD\u2019s por\u00adtion is His people; Jacob is the place of His in\u00adher\u00adi\u00adtance\u201d (Deut. 32:9). Since we believers are now His people, we are his inheritance. And since we inherit what he possesses and he pos\u00adsesses us, our in\u00adher\u00adi\u00adtance includes each other.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Usually, only items of value are inherited. And if we know in advance that we will inherit a mansion or an expensive car, we will take real good care of it. What if we started looking at each other as valuable? And what if we started taking care of each other because we are val\u00adu\u00adable?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus, therefore, is the Son who has been ap\u00adpointed heir of all things, all that God possesses. And be\u00adcause we are joint heirs with Christ, we, too, will in\u00adher\u00adit all things. Those things include the kingdom of God, the promises of Abraham, God himself, and each other. Let us take good care of one another because each of us is truly valuable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From A Brief Word of Exhortation, Volume 1: Heb. 1:2 The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews says that God has appointed the Son \u201cheir of all things\u201d (1:2). The Greek word for \u201cheir\u201d is kleronomos, which means \u201cone … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-epistle-to-the-hebrews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/claytonhowardford.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/claytonhowardford.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/claytonhowardford.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/claytonhowardford.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/claytonhowardford.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1028"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/claytonhowardford.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1032,"href":"https:\/\/claytonhowardford.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions\/1032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/claytonhowardford.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/claytonhowardford.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/claytonhowardford.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}