«　WEEK 5　DAY 6　»

　　Acts 26:18 To open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God, that they may receive…an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.

　　Eph. 1:13-14 …You also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in Him also believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise, who is the pledge of our inheritance…

　　In Acts 26:18 Paul refers to the all-inclusive Christ as our inheritance. As the result of having our eyes opened and of being transferred from the authority of Satan to God, we not only have the forgiveness of sins, but we also receive a divine inheritance. This inheritance is the Triune God Himself with all that He has, all He has done, and all He will do for His redeemed people. This Triune God is embodied in the all-inclusive Christ (Col. 2:9) who is the portion allotted to the saints as their inheritance. The Holy Spirit, who has been given to the saints, is the foretaste, the seal, the pledge, and the guarantee of this divine inheritance (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 1:13-14), which we are sharing and enjoying today as a foretaste and will share and enjoy in full in the coming age and for eternity (1 Pet. 1:4). The good land truly is a type of the all-inclusive Christ. Christ, the embodiment of the processed Triune God, has been given to us as our inheritance. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 468)

　　To be sealed with the Holy Spirit is to be marked with the Holy Spirit as a living seal. We have been designated as God’s inheritance (Eph. 1:11). At the time we were saved, God put His Holy Spirit into us as a seal to mark us out, indicating that we belong to God. The Holy Spirit, who is God Himself entering into us, causes us to bear God’s image, signified by the seal, thus making us like God. (Eph. 1:13, footnote 1)

　　Since we are God’s inheritance, the Holy Spirit is a seal upon us. Since God is our inheritance, the Holy Spirit is a pledge to us of this inheritance. God gives His Holy Spirit to us not only as a guarantee of our inheritance, securing our heritage, but also as a foretaste of what we will inherit of God, affording us a taste beforehand of the full inheritance. In ancient times the Greek word for pledge was used in the purchasing of land. The seller gave the purchaser some soil as a sample from the land. Hence, a pledge, according to ancient Greek usage, is also a sample. The Holy Spirit is the sample of what we will inherit of God in full. (Eph. 1:14, footnote 1)

　　The inheritance in 1 Peter 1:4 comprises the coming salvation of our souls (vv. 5, 9), the grace to be revealed at the unveiling of the Lord (v. 13), the glory to be revealed (5:1), the unfading crown of glory (v. 4), and the eternal glory (v. 10). All these items of our eternal inheritance are related to the divine life which we received through regeneration and which we are experiencing and enjoying throughout our entire Christian life. “This inheritance is the full possession of that which was promised to Abraham and all believers (Gen. 12:3; see Gal. 3:6ff.), an inheritance, as much higher than that which fell to the children of Israel in the possession of Canaan, as the sonship of the regenerate, who have already received the promise of the Spirit through faith as a pledge of their inheritance, is higher than the sonship of Israel: compare Gal. 3:18, 29; 1 Cor. 6:9; Eph. 5:5; Heb. 9:15”—Wiesinger, quoted by Alford.

　　Through our second birth, regeneration, we have been born into a new inheritance. According to 1 Peter 1:4, this inheritance is not on earth; rather, it is kept in the heavens. Although this inheritance is kept for us in the heavens, we can enjoy it now on earth. Our heavenly, divine, spiritual inheritance is kept in the heavens; yet it is continually being transmitted into our spirit for our enjoyment. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 1090)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 101