January 15 I Sunday

Genesis 36-38

Matthew 10:21-42

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people.”     —Ephesians 1:18

If we read the opening verse of this devotion closely, we will realize that it is about an inheritance that God receives from us, not about an inheritance we receive from God. In other words, it is in His holy people and not for His holy people. What does this mean? God spoke in the Old Testament of Israel as His inheritance. In fact, there are about 38 passages that speak in that way. For example, Deuteronomy 32:9 tells us, “For the LORD’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance” and Psalm 78:71 says, “…Israel His inheritance.” God speaks about this repeatedly in the Old Testament under the old covenant. Therefore, to understand what He means in the new covenant, we must understand what He meant under the old covenant.

       Under the old covenant, being the Lord’s inheritance had to do with being God’s possession. Deuteronomy 7:6 goes, “The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be His people, His treasured possession.” In the new covenant, God’s inheritance in us also has to do with His possessing us. Paul writes, “When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14). We are not only God’s possession; we are purchased as possession. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 tells us, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price.”

       When Christ died on the cross, amongst the various things that were involved in His death was that He bought us; we are His possession now. Revelation 5:9 confirms, “They sang a new song, saying: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slain, and with Your blood You purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.’”

       We owe our very existence to God, as our Creator, Who has given us as an inheritance to His Son because He redeemed us with His precious blood, becoming our Saviour. If we call ourselves a Christian, it means we are owned by Jesus Christ. Paul writes, “For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that He might be the Lord of both the dead and the living” (Romans 14:9). The Christian life is about recognizing the lordship of Christ in every area of our lives.

Prayer: Dear Jesus Christ, You are the Lord of my life. Thank You for purchasing me with Your precious blood thereby redeeming me. Praise You!