WHAT WILL YOUR INHERITANCE BE?

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:

This is why my unsettling thoughts compel me to answer, because I am upset! I have heard a rebuke that insults me, and my understanding makes me reply.  

Don’t you know that ever since antiquity, from the time man was placed on earth, the joy of the wicked has been brief and the happiness of the godless has lasted only a moment? Though his arrogance reaches heaven, and his head touches the clouds, he will vanish forever like his own dung. Those who know him will ask, “Where is he?” He will fly away like a dream and never be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night. The eye that saw him will see him no more, and his household will no longer see him. His children will beg from the poor, for his own hands must give back his wealth. His bones may be full of youthful vigor, but will lie down with him in the grave.

Though evil tastes sweet in his mouth and he conceals it under his tongue, though he cherishes it and will not let it go but keeps it in his mouth, yet the food in his stomach turns into cobras’ venom inside him. He swallows wealth but must vomit it up; God will force it from his stomach. He will suck the poison of cobras; a viper’s fangs will kill him. He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream. He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he doesn’t enjoy the profits from his trading. For he oppressed and abandoned the poor; he seized a house he did not build.

Because his appetite is never satisfied, he does not let anything he desires escape. Nothing is left for him to consume; therefore, his prosperity will not last. At the height of his success distress will come to him; the full weight of misery will crush him. When he fills his stomach, God will send His burning anger against him, raining it down on him while he is eating. If he flees from an iron weapon, an arrow from a bronze bow will pierce him. He pulls it out of his back, the flashing tip out of his liver. Terrors come over him. Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. A fire unfanned by human hands will consume him; it will feed on what is left in his tent. The heavens will expose his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him. The possessions in his house will be removed, flowing away on the day of God’s anger. This is the wicked man’s lot from God,
the inheritance God ordained for him.

Job 20:1-29 (Holman Christian Standard)

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Do you know if will receive an inheritance sometime in your life?

Many people do or at least hope to have one. Some even yearn for it before someone dies. In the Bible, we find an example of this in Jesus’ story about the prodigal or lost son (Luke 15:11-32).

Most people know what an inheritance is. Typically, someone who dies has allotted belongings to another or others. Most of the time, this is in the form of money but it also could be in the form of property or possessions.

In the case of the lost son, the son asked his father for his portion of the inheritance while the father was still alive, something considered as much an insult then as it should be today if the same thing occurred. You’ll recall the father gave his son what he asked for and the son went off and blew all his inheritance on a wild lifestyle until one day the money ran out. The son ended up working in the fields feeding pigs with little to no food to eat. Scriptures imply that the pigs were eating better than the son. And so the son figures he would be better off going home and confessing to his father that he had sinned, hoping the father would allow him back in as a slave. Surely the father would be angered at him for his actions.

I wonder how many lost sons there are in the world today…those who have taken what the Father has granted and squandered it away on things that were not glorifying or edifying to the Lord or His kingdom. How many people are lost and feeling like they would be rejected if they turned back to God their Father, confessed their wrongs, and asked Him to accept them back?

And what if people just continue their sinful ways without any desire to turn back…to repent and return back to God? What about those who wish to remain lost?

Well, before we answer that we should ensure we establish that there is a greater inheritance available to all of God’s children, one that is spiritual and eternal unlike the worldly physical inheritance that is only good for as long as God grants one life.

What do the scriptures have to say about this inheritance? Consider these passages:

He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” Matthew 25:33-34

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of His glory. Ephesians 1:13-14

For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. Hebrews 9:15

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:3-5

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:1-3 (NKJV)

Through a belief and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior, a person gains their eternal inheritance and is born into eternal hope. Just as the grave could not hold Jesus, it will not be able to hold the Christian believer either. Therefore, death is not the end but only the eternal beginning of a life with God the Father and His Son Jesus who has prepared a mansion for each of His followers so they might abide with Him one day.

Is there any greater inheritance one could receive than that? And why wouldn’t everyone want to have a portion of it?

Maybe because they don’t know what the alternative is…the alternative inheritance they will receive if they opt to not choose Christ.

In Job, Chapter 20, Zophar, the third of Job’s friends to deliver a second discourse, shares with Job what kind of inheritance a wicked person can expect with someone as wicked described as one who is godless or one not believing in God (capital G). Let’s look at what a godless person can expect to receive from God:

- …the joy of the wicked (is) brief and the happiness of the godless (lasts) only a moment?

- …he will vanish forever like his own dung. Those who know him will ask, “Where is he?” He will fly away like a dream and never be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night. The eye that saw him will see him no more, and his household will no longer see him.

- His children will beg from the poor…

- His bones may be full of youthful vigor, but will lie down with him in the grave.

- …the food in his stomach turns into cobras’ venom inside him. He swallows wealth but must vomit it up; God will force it from his stomach. He will suck the poison of cobras; a viper’s fangs will kill him.

- He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream.

- He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he doesn’t enjoy the profits from his trading.

- …his prosperity will not last. At the height of his success distress will come to him; the full weight of misery will crush him.

- When he fills his stomach, God will send His burning anger against him, raining it down on him while he is eating.

- If he flees from an iron weapon, an arrow from a bronze bow will pierce him. He pulls it out of his back, the flashing tip out of his liver.

^- Terrors come over him.

- A fire unfanned by human hands will consume him; it will feed on what is left in his tent.

- The heavens will expose his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.

- The possessions in his house will be removed, flowing away on the day of God’s anger.

Friends, the Bible tells us that “this is the wicked man’s lot from God, the inheritance God ordained for him.” Paul goes on to say this:

For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Ephesians 5:5

So now you know why I think that most people don’t know the alternative inheritance to the one offered through belief and trust in Christ Jesus.

For who in their right mind would yearn for the inheritance ordained by God for the godless? Maybe those who enjoy and crave misery but I have yet to meet many people who wish for that.

Friends, there really only two inheritance options that count…one that offers us eternity or one that offers us damnation. It’s as simple as that.

What will be your inheritance?

My prayer is that your mansion will be on the same street as mine. Jesus has it ready for you.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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