The Spirit & the Inheritance
The history of Israel includes national sins that caused her expulsion from the land. But God foresaw her failures and determined to institute a new covenant, one energized and characterized by His Spirit, and one that includes the Gentiles. And it culminates in the Resurrection and the New Creation.
With the death and resurrection of Jesus of
Nazareth, a new era dawned the messianic age, the time of fulfillment. In him,
all God’s covenant promises reach their intended conclusions.
As promised in the Hebrew scriptures, when
Israel repents wholeheartedly, the God of Abraham will gather her “from
among all the peoples where Yahweh your God has scattered you,” He will “multiply
you beyond your fathers, and He will “circumcise your heart to love Him
with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live” - (Deuteronomy
30:3-6).
Two things are noteworthy. First, God planned
to “multiply Israel beyond her forebears.” “Multiply”
translates the same Hebrew verb found in the call to Adam to be “fruitful
and multiply,” and in God’s
promise to multiply
Abraham’s seed - (Genesis 1:28, 17:2).
Second, the restoration would occur when God
“circumcised Israel’s heart” and inscribed His laws on it, an internal
change promised in the scriptures and actualized by His Spirit under the “new
covenant” - (Jeremiah 31:31-34, Ezekiel 11:19-20).
IN JESUS
Thus, the promised restoration was far more
expansive and glorious than anything the ancient nation ever knew. In the end,
it would be a new creative act
that impacts all the nations of the earth - (Isaiah 65:17-18, Revelation
21:1-3).
In the New Testament, His promises are fulfilled in Jesus Christ as God implements His new covenant, and this includes the covenant promises to Abraham - the “circumcised heart” and the “new Spirit.”
Jesus came to fulfill the “Law and the
Prophets.” The Jews who saw him experienced something “greater than
Jonah,” “greater than Solomon,” “greater than David,” and
greater than the Temple. In Christ, God’s kingdom was inaugurated and
began to advance on the earth - (Matthew 5:17-21, 12:6, 12:28, 12:41-42).
Having established the “new covenant,”
Jesus commenced building his community based on the “new covenant in his
blood.” But in this new messianic era, his covenant community would be
formed around and centered on him, not the land of Canaan or the Temple in
Jerusalem - (Acts 3:24-26, Acts
10:42-43, 13:18-33).
To the Apostle Paul, “all the promises
of God find their ‘Yea’ and ‘Amen’ in Jesus.” He ascended on high “that
he might fulfill all things.” The jurisdiction of the Torah was
only for a limited time “until Christ came,” the true seed of
Abraham, and in him, all those who have faith in the word of God as the Patriarch
did become the “children of Abraham” - (2 Corinthians
1:20, Galatians 3:24, Romans 10:4).
THE GENTILES
Jesus became the Suffering Servant portrayed
in the book of Isaiah who “confirms the promises to the fathers so that
the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.” Thus, the promised “blessing for the nations” is fulfilled in Jesus. He has expanded the covenant far
beyond the limited boundaries of Ancient Israel and the land of Canaan - (Romans
15:8-9).
Prior to his death, the Gentiles were “separated
from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the
covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” However,
“those who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
The promises to regather God’s people are fulfilled as both Jews and Gentiles
respond in faith to the gospel.
From the beginning, God’s purpose was “to
sum up all things in Christ in the fullness of the times,” and that includes
the redemption of the nations, indeed of the creation itself - (Ephesians 1:10,
2:11-13).
When referring to the promised land, the Hebrew
Bible employs the terms “inheritance,” “inherit,” “heir,”
and “promise.” In the New Testament, the same terms are applied to what
God is accomplishing in His Son. He is the heir of all things -
(Matthew 21:38, 28:18, John 13:3, Colossians 1:12-13, 1 Peter 1:3-5).
The gift of the Spirit confirms the
status of believers. They are the “children of God, and if children, then
heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.” Anyone who has received
the Spirit becomes part of his covenant community regardless of ethnicity,
nationality, or gender. The salvation provided by Jesus is a universal offer of life for all
men, women, and children.
HEIRS & THE INHERITANCE
Christ is Abraham’s true “seed,” and
as partners with him, disciples also become “heirs according to promise.”
Moreover, the Spirit is the “earnest of our inheritance for the
redemption of the possession” - (Romans 8:16-17, Galatians
3:29, Ephesians 1:13-14).
- He is “the mediator of the new covenant, that a death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they that have been called may receive the promise of the everlasting inheritance.”
He implemented the New Covenant by becoming
the heir of Abraham. Consequently, all who are “in Christ” are coheirs
with him and destined to receive the same inheritance - (Romans 8:1-23, 2
Corinthians 3:4-6, Hebrews 8:6-13, 9:15).
And he became the “surety of a better
covenant” and established the promised new one. And therefore, “he made
the first one obsolete” - (Hebrews 7:22, 8:6-13, 9:15, 10:16).
The bodily resurrection of Jesus was an act
of new creation. God did not resuscitate a corpse but gave him a glorious
new body that is no longer subject to death and decay. And that means his
resurrection inaugurated the New Creation, although there is an overlap
between the existing age and the coming one - (1 Corinthians 15:42-50, 2
Corinthians 5:17).
And the arrival of the new creation means the redefinition of the boundaries of the land promised to Abraham. As Paul wrote to the church in Rome, Abraham will “inherit the world,” and not just a tiny strip of land in the Middle East - (Romans 4:13).
Moreover, his disciples are his coheirs. Their
final hope will be realized in the bodily resurrection and the New Creation. At
present, the creation itself “sighs and travails in birth pangs” as it “ardently
awaits the revelation of the sons of God.”
Both humanity and the entire universe are
subject to decay and death due to Adam’s “transgression.” But God will
reverse the curse when His sons receive the redemption of their bodies at the
arrival of Jesus in glory. In the interim, his disciples have the Spirit as the
“first fruits” of and the down payment on the final redemption - (Romans
8:17-23).
The New Creation is the ultimate inheritance
of believers. According to his promise, “we look for the new heavens and the
new earth wherein dwells righteousness,” and in it, “God will tabernacle
with men, and they will be his people.” When that day arrives, He will wipe
away every tear and death will cease forevermore - “Behold, I make all things new!” - (2 Peter
3:13, Revelation 21:1-7).
Thus, the promised “New Covenant”
and “New Creation” both began with the death and resurrection of Jesus,
a process that is underway that will culminate in the resurrection and the “new
heavens and the new earth” when Jesus arrives in glory from heaven.
