One day, you and I are going to be very, very rich.
That’s because we have an inheritance ahead of us. In Ephesians 1 v 14, Paul says the Holy Spirit dwelling in God’s people is “the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.” Our inheritance is already ours, but we have not taken ownership of it all. There is more that yet awaits us, and we’ll enjoy it when we enter into glory. To benefit from an inheritance, a death is required. Usually, it’s someone else’s death. Here, it’s yours.
And so Paul prays that you and I will know what we will one day own and experience: that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened to “know … what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints” (v 18).
Peter encourages his readers along the same lines:
"[God] has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (1 Peter 1 v 3-5)
Your inheritance is unfading and it is guaranteed, Peter says. It’s never going to dissipate or disappoint. It will be there exactly as God has planned, ready to be entered into on the day when God, who is shielding you on your journey, gets you to that destination.
What is so good about this inheritance? Why is it so wonderful that it can bring us joy on the journey towards it, though “you have been grieved by various trials” (v 6)?
The answer is that the inheritance is so glorious, the riches are so glittering, because the inheritance is God: God himself. The riches we stand to inherit are what Paul calls in Ephesians 3 v 16 “the riches of his glory.”
What is the glory of God? The glory of God is the summation of his being. The glory of God is the sum and substance of all that he has revealed to us of himself, which our limited minds are able to glimpse and that our perfected minds will one day grasp.
So, for example, God’s glory is his might, his self-existence, his majesty, his justice, his truth, his righteousness, his holiness, his purity… we could go on. It is the perfection that we see manifested in the human character of Jesus—the Word, who, John says, became flesh and dwelt among us so that we might say, “We have seen his glory” (John 1 v 14).
And one day, you are going to see that glory face to face, and you are going to enjoy it as you praise him for eternity.
I don’t know if there’s ever been someone for you with whom you just wanted to spend all your time. You couldn’t conceive of growing bored of their company, and when they weren’t with you, everything was a little less colorful because of their absence. Well, God is infinitely perfect. There is always more of him and more about him to appreciate and to enjoy, and so his company is unimaginably perfect.
The greatest gift of God to his people is God. The greatest joy of heaven is God. Your greatest joy today is God.
As C.H. Spurgeon put it:
Would you lose your sorrows? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead’s deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of grief and sorrow; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead. (The New Park Street Pulpit, Vol. 1, Sermon No. 1)
This is where we must start. You can have as many how-to books as you want. You can try as many practical solutions as you can find. But to start there is to start from the wrong end. We need to pray for ourselves and our friends what Paul prayed for his: that we would be animated and excited each day by the prospect of our glorious inheritance—God himself.
So many of us struggle with prayer. Many books have been written on the subject and there’s a reason for that. Prayer comes hard to most of us, in most seasons. Pray Big by renowned Bible teacher Alistair Begg combines warmth, clarity, humor, and practicality as he examines Paul’s prayers for his friends in the church in Ephesus. It's available to buy here.
Alistair Begg is Senior Pastor at Parkside Church in Cleveland, Ohio and the Bible teacher at Truth For Life, which is heard on the radio and online around the world. He graduated from theological college in London and served two churches in Scotland before moving to Ohio. He is married to Susan, and they have three grown children.
