Wednesday

Related Verses
Gal. 4:6-7
6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father!
7 So then you are no longer a slave but a son; and if a son, an heir also through God.

Gal. 3:14, 29
14 In order that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
29 And if you are of Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise.

Gen. 12:7
7 And Jehovah appeared to Abram and said, To your seed I will give this land. And there he built an altar to Jehovah who had appeared to him.

Gen. 17:7
7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your seed after you.

Eph. 1:13-14
13 In whom 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,
14 Who is the pledge of our inheritance unto the redemption of the acquired possession, to the praise of His glory.

2 Cor. 1:22
22 He who has also sealed us and given the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.

1 John 3:2
2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been manifested what we will be. We know that if He is manifested, we will be like Him because we will see Him even as He is.

Related Reading
Galatians 3:29 reveals that the believers are heirs according to the promise given by God to Abraham…Abraham’s seed is only one, Christ (v. 16). Hence, to be Abraham’s seed we must be Christ’s, a part of Christ. Because we are one with Christ, we are also Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise, inheriting God’s promised blessing, which is the all-inclusive Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God to be our portion. In God’s New Testament economy, the believers as God’s chosen people, being sons of God, are such heirs, not under law but in Christ. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 1082) 

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Galatians 3 reveals that God intended to give the promise to Abraham according to His eternal purpose. Before this promise was accomplished, the law was given to serve as the custodian of God’s chosen people. Then, at the appointed time, Christ, the promised seed, came to fulfill God’s promise to Abraham…Now we are in Christ, the One who has fulfilled the promise, to inherit the fulfilled promise and to enjoy the blessing of the promise to Abraham. This blessing is the processed Triune God as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. 

The believers have become heirs of God through regeneration in the resurrection of Christ [1 Pet. 1:3]…Regeneration, like redemption and justification, is an aspect of God’s full salvation. Redemption and justification solve our problem with God and reconcile us to God. Regeneration enlivens us with God’s life and brings us into a relationship of life, an organic union, with God. Hence, regeneration issues and results in a living hope. Such regeneration takes place through the resurrection of Christ from among the dead. When Christ was resurrected, we, His believers, were all included in Him. Thus, we were resurrected with Him (Eph. 2:6). In His resurrection He imparted the divine life into us and made us the same as He is in life and nature. This is the basic factor of our regeneration to become heirs of God. 

To be regenerated is to receive another life, the divine life, in addition to the human life…Because of God’s choosing, the Spirit’s sanctifying, and Christ’s redeeming (1 Pet. 1:2), God begets us, regenerates us. As a result, we have a second birth. Through regeneration God the Father imparts the divine life into us. Therefore, the first birth was the birth of our human life, and the second birth, the birth of the divine life. 

Once a person has been born on earth, he has the right to enjoy an earthly inheritance. In the same principle, once a person has been born again by God with His Spirit, that one is born unto a living hope, and this living hope is the inheritance (v. 4) of all the spiritual and heavenly blessings related to eternal life. Daily we need to take possession of this inheritance and enjoy it. 

Through regeneration in the resurrection of Christ we have become heirs to inherit the Triune God as our inheritance with the Holy Spirit as the pledge. The “Holy Spirit of the promise” is the “pledge of our inheritance, unto the redemption of the acquired possession” (Eph. 1:13b-14). God is our inheritance. We shall inherit all that God is and has…The Greek word for pledge in verse 14 also means foretaste, guarantee, a partial payment in advance. 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 shall inherit of God. 

In ancient times the Greek word for pledge was used in the purchase of land. The seller gave the buyer a sample of the soil from the land being purchased. Hence, according to ancient Greek usage, a pledge was also a sample. As a pledge, the Holy Spirit is the sample of what we shall inherit of the Triune God. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1083, 1085-1086) 

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