The following is an excerpt taken from the twentieth and final lesson of Bible First.
Jacob’s Inheritance
Jacob, the third of the great patriarchs, seemed an unlikely candidate to carry on the Abrahamic covenant, and yet his life demonstrated a personal relationship with God and a genuine walk of faith. Many aspects of Jacob’s life parallel that of Christ, but perhaps most significant is his inheritance.
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On the night that Jacob wrestled with God, his name was changed to Israel, which also became the name of the nation God had revealed to Abraham years earlier. Jacob’s sons, who themselves became the heads of twelve tribes, were born into a glorious inheritance. From their lineage sprang a nation without equal on the earth: chosen of God, blessed of God, and known to the world as the people of God.
The Scriptures reveal that Christ also received a great inheritance from His Father, and became heir to a kingdom. All who believe on His name are made citizens of this kingdom, and are born again into the family of God, receiving what the Apostle Peter calls “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.” (1 Peter 1:4) Speaking of believers, Peter further expounds our great inheritance in Christ: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:” (1 Peter 2:9)
Jacob’s Inheritance in Genesis
“And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Genesis 28:12–14)
Our Inheritance in Christ
“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” (Hebrews 9:14–15)
“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” (Romans 8:16–17)
“That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:” (Ephesians 1:10–11)
BIBLE FIRST, LESSON 20 — COPYRIGHT © 2013 EURO TEAM OUTREACH, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
