Heirs of God

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Oct 1, 1903

“As many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, . . . who were born . . . of God.” “The Spirit himself 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.” One who is born of God becomes a child of God, an heir of God. This does not mean that when God is dead, the child will come into possession of some material things which are now the exclusive property of his Father; but it does mean that as long as God lives, the child of God, the heir of God, shares with him in the present possession of what he is. The child is not simply heir to some property, but he is heir of God, the inheritor of God's character by virtue of the new birth, the partaker of the divine nature. It is true that as the consequence of this he will inherit all things, but the inheritance of character is prior to, and a condition of, the inheritance of all things. How wonderful is the gift of God to us!