Coheirs With Christ
Coheirs With Christ
Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (Romans 8:17)
How do you picture being a coheir with the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you visualize Heaven, with golden streets, numerous angels, spectacular mansions, everyone dressed in white sheets?</p>
Now stop and think. Is this what you really want, or would you prefer life pretty much as it is now without trouble or pain?
Here is an interesting verse. It describes life when there is a new sky and a new earth.
They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. (Isaiah 65:21)
It is introduced by a prior verse:
See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. (Isaiah 65:17)
If we are going to build houses and dwell in them, and plant vineyards and eat their fruit, under the new sky and on the new earth, then the last two chapters of the Book of Revelation must be largely symbolic.
In fact, the last two chapters indeed are largely symbolic. The ornate wall, for example, speaks of the resistance to sin constructed in the personalities of the saints. The trees of life are Christ and those who are part of Him, that is, the members of the Royal Priesthood.
We may believe at this time that we would enjoy walking on a golden street. But I would prefer grass myself. Gold would be hard on the feet. How do you feel about this?
We assuredly would enjoy being filled constantly with the Spirit of God, but not as a literal River flowing down a street of gold.
It is scriptural that those who through Christ have overcome disobedience to God will inherit all that is described in the last two chapters of the Book of Revelation; but they shall inherit the actual physical counterparts of what is described there.
They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. (Isaiah 65:21)
We are near to the appearing of Jesus and His brothers, the Royal Priesthood. Therefore it may be true that the Bible is becoming clearer then it has been in time past.
If we are coheirs with the Lord Jesus Christ, what then is His and our inheritance. Is it indeed golden mansions, or is our inheritance something we really would enjoy?
What does the Scripture say?
Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. (Psalms 2:8)
Notice the two parts of our inheritance: the nations, and the ends of the earth. But we have to ask, don't we?
In addition we inherit all that is mentioned in Revelation, Chapter Two and Three, and Revelation, Chapters Twenty-one and Twenty-two, if we have lived the life of victory in Christ..
Our most important inheritance is that of being for eternity with Christ in the Bosom of the Father. "I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am."
That all being true, I would like to focus on the two parts of Christ's and our inheritance mentioned in the second Psalm: the nations, and the ends of the earth.
There has been a lot of Christian talk about going to Heaven to live there for eternity. I don't believe most of us would care for that. But we might like to live on an earth that no longer was under the Divine curse!
Anyway, eternal residence in Heaven is not what the Bible teaches.
Mankind was created in a garden on the earth, and it probably is true that we would rather spend eternity on the earth among friends doing something worthwhile and interesting, instead of floating around in a white robe with the angels.
I have been occupied lately with the thought of the appearing of Christ with His brothers. Did you know Jesus has brothers?
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:28,29–NASB)
From my point of view, I do not believe nearly enough attention is paid to the following verse:
When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)
On the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you. (II Thessalonians 1:10)
How often have you heard a minister of the Gospel emphasize that when Christ appears we will appear with Him?
I don't think I ever have. But this is unfortunate because appearing with Christ implies that some preparations have to be made other than saying "I accept Christ."
If we add Romans 8:29 ("For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, the He might be the firstborn among many brethren") to the idea of our appearing with Christ, then we might venture that it will be those who are in the image of Christ and who are His brothers who will appear with Him. Does that make sense to you?
So we see that to appear with Him, He must be our Life, and we must be conformed to His image. He will appear with His brothers.
Now, what does this have to do with our being His coheir? The answer to this question has to do with the reason for our appearing.
In our day, the nations of the earth are in a terrible mess. There are people who are ridiculously rich and there are others who are paupers. There are numerous children in our day who are dying from malnutrition while in other countries there are many children who are obese.
The time when I am writing appears to be an age of revolution. Nations are rising up against their governments. The self-will that Satan advocates seems to be increasing, as people uses the social networks to tell us how their "rights" are being violated.
It appears to me that war is inevitable, there is so much hatred and mistrust among and within nations. I personally see no lasting solution until Jesus appears with His brothers. They will bring righteousness, love, joy, and peace to the peoples of the world. No human political leader will be able to accomplish this.
Does the Bible teach that when the situation is at its darkest, God finally is going to intervene? Indeed it does!
"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn." (Isaiah 60:1-3)
The passage above is a true vision of the future for those whose life Christ is and who have been conformed to the image of Christ. Remember that our Lord said that when we are one in Him and the Father the world would believe that it is God who sent Him.
It is the Glory of God that will make us one in Christ, and the Glory will be visible to the nations as a great light.
"Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the hip." (Isaiah 60:4)
I realize that the statements of Isaiah, Chapter Sixty are expressed in grandiose terms. But they are telling us of something extremely personal.
These people that will assemble and come to us with their sons and daughters are our inheritance. They are worth a thousand heavens!
Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come. (Isaiah 60:5)
The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. (Revelation 21:24)
Christ will give each of us a specific group of people to love and care for. Today they are abused by self-seeking people. But we, with the help of the Spirit of God and the angels, will work with them until they know Jesus and are living in righteousness, love, joy, and peace.
These are the inheritance of the Lord Jesus. He paid for them with His blood on the cross. Now He is sharing them with us.
Each of the brothers (and sisters) of Christ have been predestined to work with a specific population of people. They may be old people. They may be young children. They may be scholars, or peasants, or soldiers, or farmers, or laborers. Each of the saints is dealt with by the Lord Jesus until he or she is the answer to the needs of the specific kind of people.
Doesn't it inspire you to know that there are people who are waiting for you and who need you? This fact accounts for what you are experiencing, so don't quit! Keep on pressing forward in Christ.
God will give us His love for those who are our charge. We will govern them with iron righteousness, for they still are people with their own will. But it will be a delight to see them take their place in the Kingdom of God.
The appearing of Christ and His brothers will mark the beginning of the thousand-year Kingdom Age. The Kingdom Age will take place on the present earth. Remember, we are coheirs with Christ of the nations and the farthest reaches of the earth.
Christ will appoint a hierarchy of rulers over each area of the earth. Some will be assigned large areas of land. Under them will be governors of parts of the large area, and then governors of smaller areas yet. Everyone on the earth will have someone who knows him or her personally and will have the resources to supply his or her immediate needs.
Have you ever thought about the rewards for those who used their talents well?
"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'" (Matthew 25:23)
"I will put you in charge"!
There will be a multitude of tasks and services other than governing. I for one was an elementary school teacher. I really enjoyed this. Perhaps this will be at least part of my role in the future Kingdom.
It will be a real world, such as we are accustomed to, with schools and hospitals and areas of many kinds of industry, including farming. The main difference will be that money will not be used for the exchange of services. Each person will be given freely of the product of another individual, and will give freely of what he or she has accomplished.
This is, of course, the ideal of communism and socialism. But giving and receiving freely will not work until Jesus returns, because of the self-seeking of people. The angels will see to it that there are no greedy or lazy individuals who prevent the operation of a money-free society.
I think there will we geographic areas much like today, some deserts, some tropical environments, some who live near oceans and harvest the various kinds of fish, some rich farmlands, and so forth.
There will be the different kinds of weather to which we are accustomed. But the environment will be moderated by the Lord until it is pleasant for everyone and productive.
Will people actually eat? Remember at the beginning of this essay the verse that was emphasized?
They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. (Isaiah 65:21)
And that was written concerning the new sky and earth. How much more will it be true during the thousand years on the present earth?
We may think that we would desire a strange new world where people, animals, and plants are all different. That is not what is in our heart! The only thing that matters is people, people, people. Some poet stated that all that interests man is man. And that is true.
There may be individuals during the Kingdom Age who prefer to live alone and not be "bothered by anyone." I think Christ will honor that. But remember---the purpose for the coming of the Lord with the saints is to bring righteousness to the nations of the earth. Those who appear with Christ will be motivated to do just that.
"Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations." (Isaiah 42:1)
Because we are coheirs with Christ, His Body, the above is our commission also.
Will all those who are deceased appear when Christ appears? I do not believe the Scriptures support this idea.
Remember, to appear with Christ, He has to be our Life. This means that, like the Apostle Paul, we no longer are living. It is Christ who is living in us.
When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)
To tell the truth, I am not certain that most of the Christian people today have made Christ their life. I hope I am mistaken in this. But people will believe and act upon what they have been taught. And what they have been taught, lawless grace, an unscriptural "rapture," go out and get everyone "saved," may not result in their dying with Christ and living a new life in His resurrection.
It would be foolish and incompetent of God to send along with Christ the church people of today. Because of unscriptural teaching many of them are quite immature and self-centered. In no way are they equipped to return with the Lord Jesus and bring righteousness to the nations. They have been taught that when they die and enter the spirit world they will go straight to a mansion in Paradise and recline on their couch.
It may be true that they would not want to get up from their couch and return to the earth to work with a group of self-willed people who resisted them at every turn.
I just have been speaking about life on our present earth, during the thousand-year Kingdom age, when Christ and His saints are in the positions of authority. This is prior to the coming down to the new earth of the new Jerusalem.
But what is life like in the spirit world after we die and before the resurrection? (The general resurrection of the dead will take place at the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age.) I do not know. There is not much said in the Bible about life in the spirit world after we die.
I believe I can state safely that we do not go to a mansion in Paradise to do nothing for eternity. The statement in the fourteenth chapter of John, in the King James version, is not referring to "mansions" as we use the term today. This can be verified by the Greek text or by any modern translation.
I have written a book about the spirit world, titled, Godwill Castle. The book kind of wrote itself in that I was aware of the people and situations I was describing, sensing many circumstances but not actually seeing anything as in a vision.
In my "awareness" I entered the Land of Light. There also was a Land of Darkness, which I described. What I was aware of was communities of people living in ordinary houses—communities of people of the same racial background.
There were children and animals in abundance. People were working at familiar occupations, including farming.
I was aware of the army of the Lord descending to put an end to Satan and his work in the earth, and then going through the earth to destroy all the works of Antichrist.
In the Land of Light there is a special city on a promontory. This city is Mount Zion, the new Jerusalem that will come down upon the new earth to govern the nations of saved people. This is the home of God's elect, the Church.
Those who appear with Christ and govern the nations on the earth for a thousand years are a firstfruits of the elect, of the Church. After the thousand year Kingdom Age has been completed, the firstfruits will join with the remainder of God's elect and descend with them to the new earth as the Royal Priesthood.
The theme of the present essay is that of the coheirs with Christ. They shall inherit the saved people of the nations. The nations shall bring their wealth to them, including their children.
Since we have been taught for so long that our destiny as saved people is to go to Heaven to live in a mansion, we may not realize that such is not our inheritance. Our inheritance is people and the whole earth. The earth is the Lord's, and all the people and resources of it. Not one stick, not one stone, of our earth belongs to Satan.
The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. (Psalms 24:1)
God is using the wickedness so prevalent in the earth at this time in order to select, test, and train those who will govern the new world of righteousness. We are not to fret about the evil in the present world but to keep looking to Christ day and night that we might accomplish perfectly His will for us as an individual.
As the Apostle Paul said, "We must grasp that for which we have been grasped."
If we plod along faithfully, one step at a time, bearing our cross patiently, following and obeying the Master carefully, there shall come a day when we are given a group of people to love and care for, or perhaps some other area of responsibility.
Having people to love and care for is the greatest inheritance of all, and it shall be given to those who have been prepared to receive it.
Many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. (Isaiah 2:3,4)