SEEING, UNDERSTANDING AND APPREHENDING OUR INHERITANCE PART II

Kay Keith Peebles  6/25/21 21.24

Seeing, understanding and apprehending our inheritance is a more comprehensive topic than I am able to cover in one or two writings.  I am only able to give the highlights; but I pray it will whet the appetite of our readers to research on their own.  For those who have not read Part I from June 11, I encourage all to read that installment first because it sets the foundation of this message.

At the end of Part 1, I capsulated our inheritance in Paul’s Prayer in Ephesians 3 emphasizing verses 10-11.  “[The purpose is] that through the church the complicated, many-sided wisdom of God in all its infinite variety and innumerable aspects might now be made known to the angelic rulers and authorities (principalities and powers) in the heavenly sphere.  This is in accordance with the terms of the eternal and timeless purpose which He has realized and carried into effect in [the person of] Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The church (or Greek-Ekklesia) is “called out” from the world system and is now a part of the body of Christ (who is the Head).  It now operates through the system of covenants and laws, promises and decrees in the Kingdom of God.  What is the Kingdom of God?  Simply, it is the Kingdom where God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) rules and reigns with absolute dominion and sovereignty over the entire universe.  But on earth, He predominately governs through His body-the church, which is built of individual believers (disciples) in Jesus Christ.  Each believer is to be an ambassador of Christ Jesus. 

“So we are Christ’s ambassadors, God making His appeal as it were through us.  We [as Christ’s personal representatives] beg you for His sake to lay hold of the divine favor [now offered to you] and be reconciled to God.”  2 Corinthians 5:20, See verses 5-21.

“A wicked messenger falls into evil, but a faithful ambassador brings healing.”  Proverbs 13:17.

As an ambassador, we are the Lord’s representative to whom He gives the authority to enforce and invoke His Kingdom principles, covenants and benefits wherever we go.  It does not mean we are all pastors of a church or Apostles like Paul.  It means we are to spread the “Good News” of the Gospel to people we meet whether at work, the grocery store, the ball field, or the restaurant, as examples.  We are to speak on behalf of the King, and enforce His will, by declaring His laws and decrees, in the earth.

Jesus could only affect the people He met in his three short years of ministry but He trained not only His 12 Apostles, but hundreds of others who followed His ministry.  There were 120 in the upper room, but not everyone else He had taught stayed and waited for the Holy Spirit to come! 

 “And [also] that He appeared to Cephas (Peter), then to the Twelve.  Then later He showed Himself to more than five hundred brethren at one time, the majority of whom are still alive, but some have fallen asleep [in death].  Afterward He was seen by James, then by all the apostles (the special messengers).  And last of all He appeared to me (Paul) also.”  1 Corinthians 15:5-8.  Emphasis mine.

Stephen (Acts 6) was not an original disciple.  He was not an Apostle.  He was a believer, a convert after the resurrection of Jesus.  He was one of seven men chosen to help serve the widows of the church.  They were to be of good character, full of the Holy Spirit and the wisdom of God.  Luke wrote of Stephen in Acts 6:8, “Now Stephen, full of grace (divine blessing and favor) and power (strength and ability) worked great wonders and signs (miracles) among the people.”  Stephen was the first believer martyred in the church.

The whole plan and purpose of God was the work that the 12 Disciples/Apostles began immediately after the Holy Spirit empowered them on Pentecost.  That very day Peter preached to the crowds in the street and 5,000 were converted.  They not only became believers/disciples, they were empowered with the same Holy Spirit and fire the Apostles were given at Pentecost.  That empowering did not die with the last Apostle, it has continued through the two thousand years since.  It is only a body of believers, empowered with the Holy Spirit and fire that will do the same works that Jesus did!  It is still available for every believer. 

The way to change the world is to be changed ourselves; so that like Jesus, we say only what God is saying, and we do only what we see Him doing.

We are not to have church meetings in our buildings and simply celebrate our salvation.  We are to go out of our church building into the places we work, study, and do business to engage people and share the Good News by doing the same works that Jesus did.  That includes heal the sick, cleanse the leper, cast out demons, raise the dead!  See John 14:12.

In Part 1, I discussed the Apostle Paul’s prayer in Ephesians Chapter 3 explaining the purpose of the church-Ekklesia.  (See above).  His prayer in Ephesians Chapter 1 is for the church to understand and apprehend that purpose through intimacy with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

“[For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him, by having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones).  And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength, Which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places], far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which are to come.

And He has put all things under His feet and has appointed Him the universal and supreme Head of the church [a headship exercised throughout the church], which is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all [for in that body lives the full-measure of Him Who makes everything complete, and Who fills everything everywhere with Himself].”  Ephesians 1:17-23.

Jesus is our inheritance and we are His!

His Presence is our inheritance but abiding continually in His Presences requires our complete surrender!  Our flesh must die so that He can live in and through us.  As long as we call the shots, He is extremely limited in what He can do for and with us.  Our un-submitted free will hinders and can sometimes block the flow of the Holy Spirit to and through us.

Our inheritance is the fullness of the Godhead-Who has Supreme rule above every principality and power.   Jesus died for us all that we might become sons (and daughters) without spot or wrinkle.  The Apostles weren’t perfect men, but they were totally surrendered to the Lord.  Our perfection will come as we continue to surrender everything to Him and eventually when we see Him as He is. 

A father cannot give his immature son a rifle until he has proven to be mature enough to safely handle a dangerous weapon.  God the Father cannot release upon His body the fullness of the Godhead until we have proven we can be trusted to use His authority as He intended.  When we do, He will back it up with all the power of the Godhead.

There is a remnant of the true believer, who has been surrendering and preparing for the Lord to pour Himself upon them, in them and through them for the days ahead.  May we all choose to give up the ineffective, compromised, contemporary church ideology which is fruitless!   Rather, may we lay ourselves prostrate on the altar of our King in complete surrender to Him.  Only then will we See, Understand and Apprehend our full Inheritance in Him!