Heirs Of God...Romans 8

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.(Romans 8:14-17)

Christians are Sons of God. Not naturally, but by adoption, God has brought us into his own family,and given us the status of sons. Also by virtue of a new birth, having been born from above, we share in the Divine nature,and are Sons of God.

*adoption,“As many as received Him(Jesus) to them he gave the power to become sons of God…”(John 1:12)

* And new birth, the imputation of a new nature,“Who were born not blood nor of the will of man, nor of the flesh, but of God.”(John 1:13)

Being adopted into God’s family, and born again into it, makes us into heirs. “Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ”. We have an inheritance in store for us, God has promised it.

By virtue of the fact that we have the Holy Spirit, we can be assured of the inheritance, because the Holy Spirit is called “the earnest of our inheritance”, that is the first installment on everything else.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,(I Peter 1:3-4)

What is this inheritance that is reserved by God himself for us? It is Glory that we shall inherit. We shall be glorified, and so shall the heavens and the earth, all shall be made new, He has promised us a Kingdom of Glory.

We are awaiting the inheritance, it isn’t here yet, it cannot be brought in until the last ‘heir’ is seated, for we are called “Joint Heirs” with Christ. This is a legality which means that no heir may receive the inheritance without all the heirs being able to.

Think of it, Jesus Christ himself cannot yet receive the full inheritance he died for, and purchased, without all of the rest of the heirs being able to have a share. Joint heirs with Christ!

* the New Creation-Salvation is comprehensive, it includes the soul of the individual, but extends to the reconciliation of heavens and the earth to God’s purpose and glory.

2 Corinthians 5:17 literally says, “If any man be in Christ, behold a new Creation…”the point being that a renewed person is made fit to enter into a new creation. Remember that Revelations has God saying, “Behold I make all things new”.

* The New heavens and the New earth-We believers are the only true new agers, for there is coming a new age of Righteousness. The church is the witness to this New age of Righteousness, as well as the vanguard of it. We possess through the gifts and fruit of the Spirit, “the powers of the Age to come”.

* Incorruption and Immortality,-Only the believer indwelt by the Holy Spirit, longs to be finally free of all sin, decay, evil, and everything false and unholy. This longing is a sign that they have the Spirit, and that is a sign that the longing shall soon be fulfilled.

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.(I cor 15:50-54)

Deliverance from Death also, in all of its mutant forms, is our inheritance. We shall be changed, glorified, we shall live forever in God’s sight! hallelujah!

*A New City-A New Country-Abraham and Isaac and Jacob considered themselves pilgrims and strangers in their travels here, they lived in tents. They had no permanent city or country, for as Hebrews 11 tells us,

For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.(Hebrews 11;10)

True faith calls us out of the city of man, “Love not the world, nor the things of the world”Part of our inheritance is a new city, a God built, God centered city, the new Jerusalem. We inherit a place in this city that God is preparing.

But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.(Hebrews 11:16)

We have also inherited citizenship in a new country, a nation of priests and Kings, whose government is the Lamb of God.

* The regeneration of all things-Jesus spoke of this in Matthew 19, the coming time when everything in heaven and on earth will be reconciled to God’s original intent. We inherit, with Jesus, a restored earth.

*Glory-Remember when Romans 3 lamented that all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God? Our inheritance as Sons of God is restoration to that Glory that we were created to live in. Truly eyes haven’t seen, nor have ears heard nor has it even entered the heart of man, the things God has prepared or them that love Him!

True faith calls us out of the city of man, “Love not the world, nor the things of the world” Part of our inheritance is a new city, a God built, God centered city, the new Jerusalem. We inherit a place in this city that God is preparing. … We have also inherited citizenship in a new country, a nation of priests and Kings, whose government is the Lamb of God.

In Romans 4 we are told:

13 For the promise that he would be the heir of the world (kosmos) was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

With believers in Jesus Christ being identified as the true children of Abraham (Gal 3:28,29), and Abraham said to be the heir of the entire world, and that ultimately the inheritance of Abraham's children is spiritual in nature, how is it that some so-called prophecy experts put so much emphasis on a future, physical Israel?

Joel 3:1-2 For ...

Interesting verse. Would you say that we are compelled to interpret this and the rest of the OT prophecies in light of the fuller revelation of Jesus Christ that we find in the New Testament? Doesn't the NT have much to say about the true children of Abraham and their relationship to what amounted to the real, ultimately spiritual promises made with Abraham and His Seed, Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:16)?

Wasn't Hebrews 11:16 true when the prophecies was spoken to Joel?

But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

If Abraham were alive today, do you think he would be be associating himself with the prophecy teachers who seem to dwell more in physical earthly Israel than Jesus Christ and the spiritual Israel spoken of in the NT?

Joel 3 is cited to show you that there is a significance to the Land of Israel- of course the heavenly country is to be prefferred, and spiritual Israel is also, but the Land is not without profound significance to God-

But the “profound significance” was typological and temporary. The promise to Abraham was that ultimately he would inherit the entire kosmos.

For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. (Rom. 4:13)
But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. (Heb. 11:16)
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, (Heb. 12:22)

The ancient land of Israel was merely a down payment, temporary earnest money, on the real promise of God.

We know this to be true because we know that all the promises to Abraham were made with His Seed, that is, with Jesus Christ.

Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "And to your Seed," who is Christ. … There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Gal. 3:16,28,29)

We know the universal nature of the promise from the explicit NT language cited above. We can also deduce this from the lack of any reference in the NT to the so-called land promise. When we arrive at the NT we find that the kingdom of God (aka kingdom of heaven) is never spoken of in terms of the ancient plot of ground in the middle east.

In fact Jesus says something quite different to His people:

Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth (kosmos).

Any attempt to read the OT, for example Joel 3:1,2, apart from the universal understanding of the promises shown to us in the NT will cause one to arrive at incorrect conclusions and a faulty understanding of God's true covenant promises given to Abraham.

I fear that many Christians today are in that interpretative predicament because they have been taught to slice and dice the Bible rather than read it as a unified whole.

Then why do the prophets make so much of the Land?
Ezekiel 36:24For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.

Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.(Jeremiah 31:10)
And I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again.

10I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them.
11And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away.(Zechariah 10:9-11

Then why do the prophets make so much of the Land?

For the same reason that make much of all the OT types and symbols. Like the sacrificial system, the priesthood, the Davidic kingship, etc, they were (temporary) pointers to the person and work of Jesus Christ. They have no importance in and of themselves, only insofar as they point us to Christ.

Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me." (Luke 24:44)

If you don't make the connection to Jesus Christ, you will miss the intent of the prophecies.

The fact remains that the NT writers interpret the OT prophecies all in terms of Jesus Christ, but never in the context of national Israel.

Otherwise you are left with some very confusing ideas.

The resurrection of national Israel,(Ezekiel 37) is a total sign pointing to Christ, for Christ will cpme back in judgment to save them...
I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way[e] all Israel will be saved. As it is written:
“The deliverer will come from Zion;
he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27 And this is[f] my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”[g](Romans 11:25-26)
5 For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but ressurrection from the dead?(Romans 11
“They shall look on Him whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for Him as for an only son, they shall weep over him bitterly...and a fountain shall be opened for cleansing ...Zechariah 12-13
Zechariah 14:1-
Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.

2For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

3Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.

4And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives,
You still want to tell me there is no significance to the Land of Israel? That it isn’t a direct witness to Jesus Christ?

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way[e] all Israel will be saved. As it is written:

The salvation of Israel in Romans 11 is in the context of Paul's definition of the Church, that is, the Jews (natural branches) and gentiles (wild branches) growing together. This is the age in which we live. It is the picture of the true children of Abraham:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Gal. 3:28,29)

Paul explains earlier in Romans that the “all Israel” that is being saved is the remnant.

6 But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, 24 even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? 27 Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, The remnant will be saved . (Romans 9)

In the entirety of the NT we see Israel being saved only in the context of the Church. The Church is God's only vehicle of salvation in the new covenant era.

Some people don't seem to get this and prefer to read all those OT prophecies as if the NT had not been written, or at least as if significant portions had not been written.

9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. (1 Peter 2)

God applied all the terms He formerly reserved for old covenant Israel (chosen generation, a royal priesthood, holy nation) to Christ' Church, His one true body made up of both Jews and gentiles without distinction.

It's puzzling that folks work so hard to not see all this when the read the OT prophecies.

You still want to tell me there is no significance to the Land of Israel? That it isn’t a direct witness to Jesus Christ?

If you prefer to read these verses without any regard to the NT truth concerning Christ and what He has already done in securing the salvation of His people, including the remnant of Israel, then I can see where you would miss the true significance in favor of a carnal understanding.

Is there some greater (material) blessing for Israel than the salvation provided for them in the person of Jesus Christ? Or, rather, is the land, priesthood, sacrifices, just types of God's great salvation, shadows of the true reality (Col. 2:17), that have decayed and given way now that Christ has appeared (Heb. 8:13)?

Topcat I have not said that there is any blessing for Israel that compares with the salvation provided for all,Jew and Gentile-furthermore I always make a direct connection with prophecy and the ultimate fulfillment of it in Jesus Christ, However the second coming of Jesus will be preceded by the return of the Jews in unbelief to their ancient homeland over the heated opposition of all nations, the climax of human history will be the recognition by Israel that Jesus is the Messiah,(Zech 12:10)I know that Salvation is ultimate for all of us the Jew first and the gentiles who are grafted into the tree-

Glad to hear that. Many futurists are obsessed with Israel.

However the second coming of Jesus will be preceded by the return of the Jews in unbelief to their ancient homeland over the heated opposition of all nations, the climax of human history will be the recognition by Israel that Jesus is the Messiah,(Zech 12:10)I know that Salvation is ultimate for all of us the Jew first and the gentiles who are grafted into the tree-

But the Bible does not teach that. They only way you get there is by assuming certain things are true and then reading those ideas into the Bible. You're hung up on this land thing.

Jews are being saved today, coming to faith in their Messiah Jesus. They have been doing that for the last 2000 years. This is the remnant that Paul speaks of. Paul calls this elect remnant of Israel by the phrase “all Israel.”

There is no place in the NT where the notion of some future land promise to Israel is mentioned. Even thought Jesus and most of the disciples who wrote the NT were Jews. They never once spoke of the land and Israel as modern prophecy talkers do.

BTW, the fulfillment of Zech. 12:10 is found in the gospel of John. It's a past event. It was that generation of Jews that pierced Jesus (cf. Matt. 27:25). Applying that passage to some future generation of Jewish people is akin to calling modern Jews “Christ killers.” Not very becoming.

Matthew 23 Jesus told the Jewish leaders,”You will not see me again until you cry out “Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord”

The warning in Matthew 23 was to that generation of Jews living at the time of Christ:

36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation . 37 " O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!' " (Matt. 23)

Whenever a Jewish person comes to faith in Christ, this prophecy is fulfilled. This was massively true in passages like Acts 2:41 and 4:4 when thousands came to Christ.

Acts 1 the apostles ask Jesus “Lord will you at this time restore Israel? Jesus answer- “it is not for you to know the times or the seasons...”

Jesus did not answer their question as they expected, but He did answer it nonetheless:

6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7 And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

The answer is the gospel. The answer is Jesus Christ, not a carnal kingdom with an earthly king. The truth that restoration has come to Israel was the preaching of the gospel throughout Judea and even to the ends of the earth.

Once again we see it's all about Jesus Christ, not physical land called Israel.

Matthew 24 “Let them who are in Judea flee to the mountains...

That was all fulfilled in the first century. We can see this by comparing Matthew 24 to the parallel passage in Luke 21:

20 "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her.

When Jerusalem was surrounded by the armies of Rome in AD70, the believers fled the scene into the mountains around Judea.

Are you a preterist?

Yes. I believe that many of the events foretold in the Bible transpired in the first century with the coming of Jesus.

The only thing left on the eschatological horizon is His second coming, followed by the final judgment and the new heavens and new earth.

22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming . 24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. (1 Cor. 15)

This is the most consistent view of Scripture, especially doing justice to the NT approach and interpretation of the OT prophecies.

And you are a futurist? Are you a dispensationalist?

I think I am a futurist, I do believe with you that the Coming of our Lord and Saviour to judge the world in Righteousness is the great climax of all prophecy. But I believe that there are many prophecies related to the second coming, which involve the restoration of Israel in unbelief, the international hatred and eventual invasion of Israel, and the salvation of Israel at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The only mob hatred expressed in the NT is against Christ and His true covenant people.

And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. (Matt. 10:22)

The world has no reason to hate the Jews. They do not love Christ, and the world does not love Christ. They are in the same league. They are allies against God's covenant people, the body of Christ.

9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. (1 Peter 2:9,10)

We are the spiritual house of God.

I've come to the conclusion that the only way you can accept what some folks teach today about Israel and the future is to disregard or minimize much of what the NT says about Christ and His people. The apostle Paul, for example, worked very hard teaching the unity of Jews and gentiles who believe in Christ. He identifies believing gentiles with the commonwealth of Israel. This is the true Israel of God (Gal. 6:16). I just don't see this futurist Israel stuff in the Bible. I certainly don't see any prophetic significance in the modern secular state of Israel.

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