YOUR INHERITANCE - PART 7

SATURDAY 27 JULY 2024

Since the grace of God appeared on earth, so much of its virtue that is exerted each year in this present world is still unknown to man. To instantiate this verity, Pauline epistolary expression stated that God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in order that in the coming ages, He might demonstrate the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus (see Ephesians 2:6-7 NIV).

Considering the above Scripture, did you notice that God made reference to the future glory of the blessed lives of the saints as a result of His grace? In a nutshell, His plan was to point to those in Christ in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of His grace and kindness, which is shown in all He has done for us due to our inextricable union with Christ Jesus. Got it? Yet this glorious plan is still unfathomable by all of us put together. More below!

Reference: Galatians 3:18 New International Version (NIV)

"For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in His grace gave it to Abraham through a promise."

The grace of God is the ladder of advancement to the higher realms, where degrees of glory among the saints are clearly encountered and experienced. To construct it in plain words, we belong to Christ through His own merits, meaning that we were saved by GRACE alone. That's how all men obtain salvation, not by works of the law, and so, the position we occupy with Christ in God's eternal Kingdom is based on Christ's victory and His finished works alone, which are the empowering realities that grant us access to higher degrees of glory.

So the informative connotation, "For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise" serves as part of an antithetical parallelism portraying that the inheritance was not given on the grounds of law, but the latter clause is considered as being an explicatory inference that the promised inheritance was based on grace, according to the manner of Pauline written presentation in the versified reference. Hence, separating the versified reference into two segments with the coordinating conjuction "but" - is a dramatic way of emphasizing the contrasting superiority introduced by the presence or display of God's grace. This was why Apostle Paul declared in the latter part of the subsequent Scriptures, saying,

"This is what I mean: God had an agreement with Abraham and promised to keep it. The law, which came four hundred thirty years later, cannot change that agreement and so destroy God's promise to Abraham. If the law could give us Abraham's blessing, then the promise would not be necessary. But that is not possible, because God freely gave His blessings to Abraham through the promise He had made" (Galatians 3:17-18 NCV).

So why was the law given (or what is the purpose)?

It was added because of transgressions, which is to reveal to people's wrong actions against God's will and to make them conscious of the sinfulness of sin, until the arrival of the descendant to whom the promise had been made. Who is that descendant? Jesus Christ, the very seed of Abraham. To that effect, Galatians 3:16 reads, "Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to His descendant. Scripture does not say, "and to the descendants," referring to many, but "and to your descendant," referring to one, who is Christ" (NET). So the law was administered through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary is not for one party alone, for God is One of the two parties. Got it?

Is the law therefore opposed to the promises of God?

Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that was able to give life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But the scripture imprisoned everything under sin so that the promise could be given—because of the faithfulness of Jesus Christ- to those who believe (Galatians 3:19-22 NET).

Now watch this: Since the law does not rest on or require faith, it means that it has nothing to do with faith in Christ, but those who are born-again have been reborn from above - spiritually sanctified, transformed, and renewed as the very sons of God with complete access to full rights and privileges of the promise through faith in Christ.

Beloved, from the above interrogatory monologue, we can reasonably grasp that the commission which Christ gave to Paul - was to preach salvation to the Gentiles (so that the blessing of Abraham might come to those who would believe), and he accomplished this by pointing to Christ's death and resurrection as the acceptable and accurate platform for making us the qualified heirs of the promise as sons of God, which describes his expository teaching in this Scripture context as an apostle that preached the great blessings of the promise, by communicating and conveying such interesting divine discoveries to the saints (see also Hebrews 9:15-16). And stay tuned for part 8. Shalom!

Scripture Reading - Psalm 16:6; Ephesians 1:11; Galatians 3:29; Ephesians 5:5.

Guided Prayer:

Dear Father in heaven, I acknowledge that you have positioned me to walk in absolute dominion in the realm of abundance of grace, where I continually discover and acknowledge the detailed realities of the glorious inheritance in Christ Jesus. Thank you for guiding me into all truth concerning the clearest knowledge of the gospel - based on my inheritance, unto all the riches of its full assurance and understanding in Christ, in Jesus' Name, Amen!