One of the major themes of Scripture is inheritance. That should not surprise us since the single dynamic that drives history is the relationship between Father and Son. Jesus made it abundantly clear in his last discourse with his disciples that he came to make possible for them a relationship with the Father just like his relationship with the Father. In the new age starting at Pentecost, they would be sons and heirs, just like he was before them.

     This has never been a conflict-free dynamic. After the day of Pentecost, the early church began to walk out their assignment. They were the representatives of God on the earth. But not everyone understood or agreed. There were many Jews who contended that they were the heirs of God’s promise based on a blood connection with Abraham. After the church in Galatia was established, some of these men confused the new believers there by insisting that a proper relationship with God must include Jewish requirements, such as circumcision. Paul, the apostle of the gospel of God, addressed this situation with a letter. It answers the question that has caused conflict since the Garden of Eden:

Who is the heir and what is the inheritance?

And if you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Galatians 3:29 (ESV)

And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son then an heir through God.

Galatians 4:6-7 (ESV)

     Adam was the first son and heir. He had the privilege of living in the presence and pleasure of the Father as he worked to fulfill his purpose. We could say that he had “presence with partnership.” Mankind was designed to live in the presence of God the Father. Outside that relationship, he is lost. Nothing makes lasting sense. Not knowing God accurately, he doesn’t know himself or his environment. He struggles with purpose and with provision.

     We were also designed to work with God in subduing the earth. Mankind cannot do that apart from a genuine partnership with God. Limited to our observational perspective we cannot know what is required to fulfill our assignment. We need the knowledge that only comes by revelation from God himself.

     Adam also had “property with prospects.” He was given a relatively small piece of ground and told to manage it. The idea was to increase his responsibility as he accomplished the task. He was to raise up children who could expand the Garden until the whole earth was subdued under the authority of God, with men and women as his vice regents. The Garden was just the starting point. He was not supposed to build a fence around it and limit his inheritance to the small area between the rivers.

    To jump ahead in history, Israel was given a relatively small piece of land. They became so obsessed with its boundaries and protecting it that they neglected the original plan to expand until the whole earth had the blessings of God’s mercy. Canaan was just the starting point. The whole earth is God’s objective.

     Back to Adam and the original inheritance: Adam was the heir, and the Garden was the prototype inheritance, including the privileges of sonship.

     Noah and his sons were the representatives on earth after the flood. Each of the sons was given a portion. Ham, Shem, and Japheth became the heirs to the purposes of God, but Shem was the one chosen by God to be the heir of the redemptive promise. Not everyone was happy with the choice.

     Abraham had two sons. There was an issue about the inheritance. Ishmael received a special blessing and became a leader of many people with great wealth, but Isaac was the heir to God’s purpose of redemption. Not everyone was happy.

     Isaac had two sons who battled over the inheritance. Jacob traded Esau out of his birthright and tricked him out of his blessing. The line of promise went through Jacob and not Esau. Not everyone was happy.

     Jacob had twelve sons. There was an issue of the heir’s identity and the nature of the inheritance. Joseph was not the first born, but he was the favorite. Joseph’s sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, were accepted by Jacob as his own sons, even though they were really Jacob’s grandsons. Ruben was firstborn, but Judah received the inheritance that would produce the Messiah. Not everyone was happy.

     Later, David became king and representative of God’s people on earth. He captured the physical land that God had promised Abraham and established a kingdom that was admired by all the nations. He then transferred his inheritance to his son, Solomon, who was known early as a worthy heir. After David’s death, his sons began a rapid decline, and eventually the kingdom was divided. Both sections were defeated by foreign nations and the physical inheritance was lost. The people longed for a return of David’s day. Prophets spoke of a coming day when David’s son would regain the inheritance. Even though a remnant returned from exile to rebuild the city and the temple, it was a poor substitute for the kingdom they remembered and the one for which they had hoped.

     Four hundred years passed before the real heir arrived. He was announced by John the Baptist, the last of the line of Old Covenant prophets. The heir had finally come! But not everyone was happy.

     The Jews wanted him to be a military leader. His disciples wanted him to display his superiority by acts of power. The crowds wanted him to provide bread and entertainment for them. He came as the Son of the Father to make a way for other sons to enjoy the Father the way he does. For approximately 33 years he demonstrated the life of an heir. He enjoyed “presence with partnership,” and “property with prospects”. His “garden” was twelve men he chose to develop. He later told them to go into the whole world with the transforming message of the gospel. It would liberate people so that they could develop their own “gardens” to discover the riches and mysteries of creation.

     He instructed his disciples that he was leaving so they could fulfill their assignment. He made sure they knew they were the heirs to God’s inheritance, and that they would discover all that means by partnership with the Holy Spirit. In fact, on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came into the believers, Peter identified the promised inheritance as being fulfilled in the Holy Spirit.

 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off…”

Acts 2:38-39 (ESV)

     Still not everyone was happy. The Jews still clung to their physical link to Abraham as their right of being an heir. They did not receive Jesus as the heir and participated in his death. They were no kinder to the apostles and the early church. They were threatened by those who claimed to be heirs of God.

     The inheritance is grand! It is so much more than a small piece of land and a temple. It is the fulfillment of the prototype of Eden, as well as the prototype of Israel in the Promised Land under David. Joint-heirs with Jesus get what he has a right to. They have the same access to the Father. They are loved by the Father in exactly the same way as the Son. They have been given the responsibility to represent the Father on earth with the guarantee of his continual presence and provision. They even get the privilege of suffering with Christ while they wait in eager hope for the full restoration of all creation (Romans 8:17).

     The task is to implement such a privilege. We have grown accustomed to living like outsiders. We have become adept in managing our orphan-like thinking. God has already acted to make us sons and heirs. It is now our privilege to believe him and act accordingly. It requires a choice that goes against our grain of familiar thinking. We are told to “reckon” on what God says and thereby begin to experience the reality of it. Reckon is a word that is active. It is a choice we make regardless of accompanying emotions. Simply because God said it, we act on it. Much like the man whose withered hand Jesus healed. Jesus told him to stretch it forth. There was no evidence of healing—just Jesus’ word. As the man chose to obey, God performed the miracle that allowed him to stretch forth his hand. Even when we think we can’t believe, we can choose to and God will increase our faith.

    We need encouragement from his word and from the community of faith if we are to continually walk in this privilege. It is a reality that can only be known by the revelation of grace. Those who have not been open to God’s voice can’t understand and they might not be happy. But that can’t stop us. We have been given a little with the prospect of a lot more. The whole world is our objective. We want them all to know that the last Adam has come and the garden is open again.