To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
The verse describes an inheritance that does not corrupt, defile, or fade, kept safe in heaven for believers. It is eternal life itself, a life that measures with the life of God, enjoyed in the earth made new freed from sin and in the prepared home of the Father's house, as an unfading crown of glory. God the Father in abundant mercy begets believers again to a living hope for this inheritance by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and those so begotten are kept by His power through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Those who accept Christ become sons and daughters of God and joint heirs with Christ, holding title through His righteousness, yet gaining it requires becoming incorruptible and undefiled in holy, obedient character fit for above. It is far more worthy than all earthly wealth, honor, and gain, and will be fully enjoyed at the close of earth's history when Christ is revealed and the redeemed are gathered to reign with Him.
Nature of the Inheritance
The inheritance is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for believers as part of the living hope made possible by Christ's resurrection and God's abundant mercy, belonging to salvation to be revealed in the last time and to future grace at Christ's revelation, a precious promise and foundation for confident expectation to be studied, understood and trusted without uncertainty, and gaining it requires being incorruptible and undefiled and not turning from the straight lines laid down. It is immortal, imperishable, undecaying, lasting, secure and eternal, a possession that cannot perish, be corrupted, be destroyed, fade or lose its value, kept for those received as sons and daughters of God. Becoming heirs of it is true exaltation that prepares for life with the heavenly company in the kingdom of glory, and those who have endured most for truth will count heaven cheap beside it rather than thinking they have had a hard time. In contrast with a perishable name, earthly inheritance and possessions that misfortune can take away, it is the better choice over the world, and even the lowliest disciple may become an inhabitant of heaven and heir of God, with hope that should shape education and spur toward the high calling in Christ. It is eternal life and immortality itself, given to a life of obedience and to those who follow Christ through His suffering and death opening the way, the hope of eternal life to be received in reality at last by all the faithful, calling for courage and full trust in the Saviour to the end. It is a life that measures with the life of God and runs parallel with His life, held with deeds and title papers even by those poor in temporal things yet rich in enduring treasure, purchased by Christ's death, secured by His resurrection for justification and His continual life to make intercession, by whose death believers are reconciled and by whose life wrought out in their life they shall be saved, acknowledging those lifted from sin as God's children and heirs with Christ.
It is the earth made new, not merely Canaan but the whole earth freed from the curse of sin, promised to Abraham and his seed and belonging to all who are Christ's as Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise, since Jewish occupation of Canaan did not meet the promise. It is Abraham's farm, God and glory and heaven itself, an everlasting, secure, incorruptible home on the earth made new by Christ at His coming, prepared for the obedient, and Abraham seeing it by view was content to live as a stranger. Those who would gain it must live as pilgrims and strangers seeking the heavenly country and the city whose builder and maker is God, weaning affections from earth and dwelling on heavenly things rather than making getting rich or honor or laying up earthly treasure the object, refusing entanglement with farms and earthly care and showing by works and lives that treasure is laid up in heaven as men waiting for their Lord. Earthly possessions and beauty are uncertain and only faintly represent the joys prepared for those who love Him, so understanding the conditions for receiving this inheritance matters, while this sure hope grounded in Christ's resurrection and joined to salvation to be revealed at the last time brings joy amid trials and sustains through affliction as faith is tested toward Christ's appearing.
It is a prepared home in the Father's house, the mansions Christ ascended to prepare and to which He will come again to receive His people that they may be where He is, the higher school above, the better heavenly country and city of God made ready for those who seek it, where they will be with Him and live with Him in light and glory. For those who have sinned and fallen there is still rejoicing as with Peter after his fall, because the living hope means an undecaying inheritance kept safe in heaven for repentant believers who trust Christ for pardon, for Jesus died to prove love, rose and ascended, and stands as advocate pleading their case to rescue from Satan's slavery and keep them for it. It is eternal life with Jesus in heaven, being raised to live with Him in the mansions He is preparing, enjoying heaven's light and glory, hearing angels sing praise, honor and glory to Jesus and singing with them, the eternal reward of those who love Christ whose lasting glory eclipses every earthly pleasure. This world is the educating school to prepare to graduate to heaven, with eternal destiny decided by one's own course, requiring constant exercise of faith and formation of character fit for the courts above, with God's claims applied to little things that discipline life and train the soul, pressing from light to greater light until victorious and complete in Christ, not in own righteousness but the righteousness by faith.
It is an unfading crown of glory and crown of life for the overcomer, an eternal provision and treasure in heaven that cannot fade, be spoiled, decay or be lost to decay, with sure reward of everlasting life, unalloyed happiness and eternal glory, greater in value than earthly kingdoms. Lifting Christ's cross is the pledge of that immortality and crown, requiring submitting to His yoke and carrying it with Christ bearing one end so the yoke is easy and burden light, and giving up gratification of depraved appetite however great the suffering in pursuit of purification of body and spirit. Through Christ's merits victories may be gained to win it, yet the Holy Spirit's pleading to become heirs can be missed by one absorbed in earthly property who values worldly gain above the spiritual inheritance and fails to see the crown awaiting him, and those who hinder others from winning it will be repaid according to their deeds. It is as boundless as the universe and as lasting as eternity, the only inheritance worth seeking, with rich, glorious possessions and enduring honors and riches not measured by worldly success or wealth, so allegiance belongs to God alone and not to any earthly power. As Christ's purchased possession believers are bound to Him in divine love and lifted to highest rank, adopted into the royal family as heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ when respecting God's law, while choosing sin refuses heaven's hope, eternal glory and inheritance with Christ for sin's sure consequence.
It is a reward of excellent glory purchased at great cost by the Son of God leaving all the glory and honor He had in heaven and patiently bearing every indignity, slight, wound, smiting and bruising, stretched on Calvary's cross in agonizing death to save from death, His blood washing sinners for this life. All heaven is interested in men gaining it, so indifference, carelessness and trifling with offered mercy slights the sacrifice, brings God's frown and the departure of His grieved Spirit, and ends in dearly purchased dreadful death in which the lost feel the agony Christ felt to purchase the refused redemption, then realizing what they have lost. It is riches that cannot be specified or described, being one with Christ as heir of God and joint heir with Jesus Christ in the kingdom of glory and city of God, where believers have their own portion, are welcomed by Christ, receive a crown of life never taken away, and share glorious singing with harps of gold in great happiness. It is a life insurance policy demanding immediate decision to come into Christ's ranks and not join the enemy's army, secured by remembering cleansing from old sins and staying cleansed, living fervent in spirit serving the Lord, and obeying all of God's law. Once secured it cannot be taken away by anyone else and can only be lost by one's own choice to give it up.
Grounded in Christ's Resurrection
According to abundant mercy God the Father is to be blessed because He begets believers again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that does not fade away and is reserved in heaven for them. This new birth brings multiplied grace and peace and the light and presence of God, and it fills the heart with praise when faith takes hold of Christ. These promises are clear evidence of God's desire to bless His people and may be trusted without uncertainty. Those whose portion is trials and afflictions are called by this hope to cling to the Mighty One, be of good courage in the Lord, and believe in Jesus and trust Him implicitly even when tried as by fire, because the night is far spent and the day is at hand. The promise can be appropriated personally now because the last time has come, receiving it meaning to be quickened together with Christ so that new life from Christ enters the soul and lays hold by faith on a new, strong hope. It is given to each one who sanctifies the Lord in the heart, keeping the heart clean and pure, and it makes life useful during the short sojourn here.
Those thus begotten to this hope are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. The inheritance made possible by Christ's resurrection belongs to that hope of salvation to be revealed in the last time. Surrounding truth shows that trials can develop Christian graces and strengthen faith as believers await Christ's appearing. Christ's resurrection from the dead should be joy and song, not gloom with heads down as if Jesus were still in Joseph's new tomb, because He is risen and His death brings salvation through His love and power to save from sins. Believers have as much reason to rejoice as the disciples of old and to talk of Him.
When Jesus Christ is received by faith and abides in the heart, light from Christ shines into the chambers of the mind so that invisible things are seen correctly. It belongs to faith which works by love and purifies the soul, giving life and vigor to all mental powers and spiritual exercises in cooperating with Christ very near the end of this world's history. Speech is then not doleful or gloomy but greatly rejoicing with joy unspeakable and full of glory even when in heaviness through manifold temptations and trial. Tested faith proves more precious than perishing gold and results in praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom unseen believers love and believing rejoice over with unspeakable glorious joy, receiving the end of faith in the salvation of their souls. Even those who have sinned and fallen can still rejoice as Peter did after his fall, because God gives this living hope through the resurrection.
The undecaying inheritance is kept safe in heaven for repentant believers, which is the place in the Father's house that Christ ascended to prepare and to which He will come again to receive them so they may be where He is. Jesus died to prove His love, rose and ascended on high, and now stands before the Father as advocate pleading the case of those who trust Him for pardon, so they are rescued from slavery to Satan and kept for that inheritance. Every believing child of God is rich in treasure that endures forever even when poor in temporal things, holding the deeds and title papers to an immortal inheritance and a life that measures with the life of God. This inheritance was purchased by Christ's death, secured by His resurrection for justification and His continual life to make intercession, and given through His life and death bringing salvation; by His death believers are reconciled to God, and by His life wrought out in their life they shall be saved. Through Christ's death and God's power, sinful, mortal people are fitted for it as an everlasting home on an earth made new by Christ at His coming, He having become a servant and suffered so that fallen people might be exalted through His righteousness, made kings and priests of God, and come into possession of this inheritance.
Heirs and Their Keeping
Those who accept Christ and hold the beginning of their confidence firm to the end become sons and daughters of God, members of the royal family and children of the heavenly King, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. Their inheritance is incorruptible, undefiled and unfading, imperishable and lasting, reserved and kept in heaven for them, and they themselves are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Becoming heirs is true exaltation and not degradation, for the truth prepares them for life with the heavenly company in the kingdom of glory. Even the lowliest disciple may become an inhabitant of heaven and heir with a secure inheritance that cannot be destroyed, fade, or lose its value, which is the better choice over the world and should shape the aims of education toward the high calling in Christ. Giving up worldly ties and a perishable name and earthly inheritance for Christ is no true loss beside this eternal inheritance, the honor of salvation, and having the name written in the Lamb's book of life.
The inheritance promised to Abraham and his seed belongs to all who are Christ's, for those who are Christ's are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. That promise was not met by Jewish occupation of Canaan, for it includes not merely Canaan but the whole earth freed from the curse of sin, an immortal inheritance untouched by corruption or defilement that does not fade and is kept in heaven. Abraham was given a view of it and was content to live as a stranger, and those who would gain it must also live as pilgrims and strangers, loosen affections from earthly gain, dwell on heavenly things, and seek the heavenly country and the city whose builder and maker is God. The Father takes pleasure in giving the kingdom to every believing soul who loves God and believes in Him, and the promises to Abraham belong to every such soul.
Believers hold title deeds to this inheritance and through Christ may read their title to what is incorruptible, undefiled and unfading. Christ's attractions and all-sufficient grace draw them to follow Him, while growing faith and confidence strengthen assurance of the inheritance. The Holy Spirit draws the heart away from temporal, perishable things and awakens earnest desire for the immortal, imperishable eternal substance set before the soul. That same Spirit recreates, refines, transforms and sanctifies them to become members of the royal family and children of the heavenly King.
Coming into close relationship with Christ brings extensive privileges and advantages, revealing the value Christ places upon the human agent entirely surrendered to Him. Such believers may bear testimony in life and character that God loves the obedient as He loves His Son, and, delivered out of the hand of enemies, may serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness all the days of life. Always looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of faith, they are delivered from the devices of evil men and evil angels while breaking the bonds of sin and Satan.
Title to the inheritance will stand the test of law only through the righteousness of Christ, never through old tattered garments of self-righteousness, for entrance into the kingdom among the sanctified comes only through righteousness woven in the loom of heaven. It is a secure title deed to immortal, imperishable wealth, the priceless gift of eternal life and full and free salvation with a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. It belongs to the overcomer who travels the path of implicit obedience close to the Redeemer, with converted body and soul in harmony with God's laws, daily receiving renovating grace and walking in the overcomer's path with the heart reposing on the promise. Having a name to live is not enough if spiritually dead, for believers need a clear title and must bring eternity into daily reckoning, being right with God today and ready if Christ should come today, with Christ formed within as the hope of glory and faith working by love to purify the heart for the latter rain and the descent of the Holy Spirit. God takes responsibility for every soul bearing the sign of His government by loyalty to the Sabbath and through Sabbath obedience faithfulness to every principle of the Decalogue, so there is no need for anxiety over earthly life-insurance papers or sleepless moments over them. Keeping God's commandments proves heart-love, as faith and works join the Spirit's inward work with practical godliness. The inheritance is worth more than all worldly gain, farms, honor, and the gold associated with service in Christ's army, being an assurance and rich blessing with eternal weight of glory.
Gaining this inheritance requires being incorruptible and undefiled and not turning from the straight lines God has laid down. This world is the educating school to prepare people to graduate to the higher school above and the mansions Christ has gone to prepare, with eternal destiny decided by each person's own course of action. To be welcomed there requires constantly exercising faith and forming in this life such character as fits for the courts above, with God's claims applied to little things because little things constitute life's discipline and train the soul and develop character for heaven. The grace of Christ works in and with every child of God who presses from light to greater light and strength to greater strength until victorious and complete in Him, not having own righteousness but the righteousness which is by faith in Jesus Christ. Receiving it is connected with becoming sons and daughters of God through a religious experience that sanctifies by the truth. It is identified with eternal life and is not gained without effort through faith and perfect obedience, for the enemy must be overcome by constant striving, spiritual vigilance and clinging to Jesus as the appointed way of salvation. Looking back causes dizziness, letting go leads to perishing and ruin, and relaxing diligence fosters selfishness, self-indulgence and falling back. Obtaining it requires believing in Christ as personal Saviour, receiving and believing His words and meeting the conditions He laid down, through relationship with Christ and obedience to the laws of His kingdom rather than human inventions, giving proof of faith in Christ as Saviour and Redeemer, revealing His character, resembling Him in character, and being one with Him here in order to be one with Him hereafter, until at last entering a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory where the Lord is portion and hope.
Revealed in the Last Time
The inheritance belongs to the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, for which believers begotten again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ are kept by the power of God through faith. It is incorruptible, undefiled and unfading, reserved in heaven, imperishable and pure, and its fulfillment is assured as part of that hope. It is the reward Christ will give to the obedient, to be revealed at the very close of this earth's history when the Son of man is revealed in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Those who accept Christ and hold confidence firm to the end are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ unto this kept inheritance.
The promise can be appropriated personally now because the last time has come. Receiving it means being quickened together with Christ, so that new life from Christ enters the soul and lays hold by faith on a new, strong hope. It is given to each one who sanctifies the Lord in the heart, keeping the heart clean and pure, and it makes life useful during the short sojourn here. The pressing question is whether people are living in those very last days after the proclamation of the third angel, the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, and whether they are ready for that reward.
The inheritance will be enjoyed fully at the resurrection, when the redeemed are gathered from the earth and enter the city of God to receive eternal life in His kingdom through Christ's sacrifice as partakers of His nature. There is no humiliation in surrendering all to God to become joint-heir with Christ, for being linked with Him gives the heaven of His presence in this life and the promise of an eternity of bliss, with strong comfort in God's unchangeable promises and reward according as works have been. Then believers will see the King in His beauty, behold His matchless charms, and go no more out forever. They will share Christ's glory and reign with Him as kings and priests before God and on the earth, receiving a place with Christ on His throne if willing to share His humiliation and suffer affliction with God's people rather than enjoy sin's temporary pleasures, and receiving life in reality. The hope of this lasting inheritance untouched by decay sustains through affliction and remains alive even when mortal bodies die, so that God's people count heaven cheap beside the reward and suffering not worthy to compare with the glory to be revealed, enduring trials for the truth until after their final trial they receive eternal life.
This hope calls those whose portion is trials and afflictions to cling to the Mighty One, be of good courage in the Lord, and believe in Jesus and trust Him implicitly even when tried as by fire, because the night is far spent and the day is at hand. It belongs to faith which works by love and purifies the soul, giving light from Christ shining into the chambers of the mind so invisible things are seen correctly, with life and vigor to all mental powers and spiritual exercises in cooperating with Christ very near the end of this world's history. In it believers greatly rejoice even when in heaviness through manifold temptations and trials, with speech not doleful or gloomy but with joy unspeakable and full of glory in Him whom unseen they love. Their tested faith proves more precious than perishing gold and develops Christian graces unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, receiving the end of faith in the salvation of their souls. So believers facing present trials and coming persecution are pointed to their eternal inheritance kept in heaven, untouched by corruption or defilement and never fading, that they not lose heart amid suffering.
Greater Than Earthly Gain
The home of the saints is an inheritance that cannot decay or be defiled and will never fade away, imperishable and lasting and immortal, and it is more worthy of human toil and affection than earthly wealth and honor and property and outward display. Earthly possessions and plans can be lost, and misfortune can easily take them away, while the possessions God grants are reserved in heaven for those who receive them. A perishable name and earthly inheritance stand in contrast with this lasting heavenly treasure promised to those who belong to God, and adoption into God's family makes believers heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ with their names written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Giving up worldly ties for Christ is no true loss beside this eternal inheritance and the honor of salvation, and earthly things only faintly represent the coming joys.
The Holy Spirit pleads with people to become heirs of this incorruptible, undefiled, unfading inheritance reserved in heaven, a spiritual treasure greater than gaining earthly property, and calls them to seek it rather than fix their hearts on temporal gain. A person absorbed in gaining earthly property can value worldly gain above this spiritual inheritance and fail to see the crown awaiting him above his head. One fixed on gaining a worldly share of property may treat God's gift as a means of worldly gain and fix attention on an earthly inheritance instead of the inheritance that cannot perish or be defiled or fade away kept in heaven. Those ransomed by Jesus can be freed from Satan's bondage and become God's children, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, yet some live for earthly possessions and status and turn away from that inheritance.
People lose the blessing of this immortal inheritance and everlasting life, both in this life and the life to come, when they turn from God to pride and selfishness and display and worldly wisdom and Satan's rule. God's grace gives believers gifts in this life that ennoble and prepare character for heaven through Christ and a life of obedience, with entrance to heaven and free, equal fellowship with Christ and heavenly angels and God's princes, but choosing selfishness and Satan's rule turns away from it. The hope of this lasting treasure greater than earthly riches is eclipsed when the pursuit of money absorbs the mind and eternal things are treated as unimportant, when people become greedy for more wealth and lose love for truth and for Jesus. Trading a glorious eternal heritage, pure and undefiled and enduring and kept for God's people, for momentary indulgence and passing pleasure and fleeting prospects of worldly gain is selling it for a temporary good.
A title to this immortal inheritance in heaven is of greater worth than worldly prosperity and honor and the gold of Ophir, and entering the city of God to receive it makes being a millionaire insignificant. Setting the heart on earthly treasures eclipses heaven, while its immeasurable value calls for earnest, energetic, and persevering effort to become a candidate for everlasting life rather than anxious devotion to earthly wealth and preservation of this life. Sacrificing eternal interests to secure wealth for children is a terrible loss, and valuing possessions more than this inheritance treats them as greater riches than the eternal glory God offers. Those who remain faithful amid moral corruption become rich in faith and heirs to this inheritance, and its hope is reason to join in advancing the gospel work.
The prospect of heavenly happiness and eternal honor and glory kept for heaven's inhabitants gives hope and awakens desire and spurs effort. Christ offers this immortal inheritance and rich, glorious possessions to those who respect God's law, as an inheritance shared with Christ. Choosing sin means refusing the hope of heaven and the riches of eternal glory and the inheritance with Christ, and choosing instead sin's sure consequence and wages, which are death.
Living Toward the Inheritance
The promise calls for a sober, obedient, holy life in all conduct to the end, hoping for grace at the revelation of Jesus Christ, turning from former lusts and from fleshly lusts that war against the soul. Those who would gain it must live as pilgrims and strangers, as Abraham did when shown the immortal inheritance, seeking the heavenly country and the city whose builder and maker is God. God has chosen a people out of the world to remain forever separate from the world, living in the world without being of the world and kept free from its contaminating influences. This world is not home, so affections must be weaned from earth to dwell upon heavenly things, refusing to make getting rich or honor or laying up treasure on earth the object, refusing entanglement with farms and earthly care, and showing by works and life the laying up of treasure in heaven as men waiting for their Lord. Preparing for an inheritance that cannot be corrupted, is pure, and will not pass away means not filling the mind with folly or wasting God-given time on things without lasting value. The hope of an eternal inheritance and a place in God's city free from every impurity gives reason to resist temptation and to live in a way that teaches others true living.
Living in reverent fear of the Father who judges without partiality belongs to those redeemed not with silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ as a spotless lamb, whose honest conduct causes others to glorify God. For physicians and medical missionary workers this separateness requires the designed relation with brethren, with medical missionary work bound up with gospel ministry rather than made the body, workers molded after Christ's similitude, standing on truth uninfluenced by false theories, respecting pure gospel principles, and laboring unitedly with church and ministers in soul-saving work rather than binding up with worldlings. It is a peculiar work to hold up the standard of truth and win souls as God's peculiar people.
Gaining the incorruptible inheritance identified with eternal life through faith and perfect obedience involves constant striving and spiritual vigilance to overcome the enemy. Looking back causes dizziness, letting go leads to perishing and ruin, and relaxing diligence fosters selfishness and self-indulgence. Believers must cling to Jesus as the appointed way of salvation, for letting go of Him leads to ruin. The noble object ever kept before believers to glorify God and gain that inheritance swallows up all else earthly, brings death to the world when truth affects the heart, creates anxious desire to be separate like Christ, and leads to laying aside pride and imitation of fashions and customs unmoved by scorn. Those who continue to desire and imitate worldly fashions put off Christ, show themselves strangers to grace and to the meek and lowly Jesus, fail to walk worthy of Him, and God ceases to acknowledge them as His children, leaving them as children of the world and darkness. Mere profession is of little advantage unless hope of everlasting spiritual victory in the fullness of the immortal inheritance and sharing life with Christ is kept in view and worthiness to share that life is gained, which requires the daily fructifying influence of the Holy Spirit to quicken purposes into life and productiveness, for without it a person falls back into the channel of the past life.
Deciding to have heaven means fighting the battles of the Lord, pressing the battle to the gate, and being victorious as members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King known by name to the Saviour of the universe, heirs of God to an immortal inheritance and eternal substance held as privilege and prize. This hope gives reason to press forward and run the race with patience for the prize of the high calling in Christ and the imperishable inheritance with its immortal crown. The hope of the immortal inheritance and crown of everlasting life calls for thorough work for eternity in repentance and confession of wrongs and remaining with the Lord's people rather than turning away from warning or justifying sin.
The eternal reward as treasure in heaven and unfading inheritance is reason to give up gratification of depraved appetite however great the suffering and to pursue purification of body and spirit. Those who accept Christ are adopted as sons and daughters and become heirs of God with Christ, giving no cause for regret over the self-denial and sacrifice involved in following Him. Those who indulge gluttony and destroy health through appetite have no part in the better life in heaven, for entry into God's kingdom is incompatible with self-indulgence rather than self-denial, and being praised by others or carried to heaven in their thoughts at death is not enough. The immortal inheritance is obtained by those who live with a spirit of self-denial and sacrifice, and young people who excuse themselves from carrying responsibility for God's cause cannot possess it. Lifting the cross of Christ is the pledge of the crown of glory that fadeth not away and immortality given to the overcomer, received by submitting the neck to Christ's yoke and carrying it with Christ bearing one end and lifting the burden together, so the yoke is easy and the burden light.
In trial believers are to have faith in God, turn mistakes and defeats into victories, and let faith overcome the test that comes to every child of God, with difficulties, disappointments, and trials testing intensity of love and fidelity, love for Christ measured by burden borne for His sake and service in complete surrender of will to God's will. Sufferers afflicted by unconsecrated shepherds and others who should have helped them must remember Jesus knows it all, must not become exasperated or let natural feelings control them, must cherish no spirit of retaliation whatever course others pursue, will not have to be a sin-bearer for any soul, and are to commit their case wholly to Jesus who died for them, not let go faith or drop His hand stretched in pitying tenderness to every suffering child, trusting Him as sufficient for the present hour. It is the privilege of believers to hold lively hope of the heavenly inheritance kept and reserved in heaven for all the faithful who at last receive eternal life in reality, calling for courage and full trust in the Saviour to the end. That hope calls for encouraging faith, talking faith, refusing to look on the dark side or talk of what is objectionable in others, talking of Jesus, and treating transformation of heart and character as more important than anything else.
The imperishable, undefiled, unfading inheritance kept in heaven through new birth and Christ's resurrection is a sure hope to grasp by faith that encourages living and working for others' salvation. It reproves make-believe Christians who do very little for God and misdirect and misuse God-given talents instead of entering with heart, soul, and strength into appointed work. New birth to living hope through Jesus' resurrection is to awaken the church to concern for those who do not know God and to prayer, self-denial, and work for their salvation. Believing, commandment-keeping people have a special work as faithful laborers together with God in saving sinners, with every soul responsible for proper exercise of entrusted talents. Even the lowliest disciple may become an inhabitant of heaven and heir of God with a secure inheritance that cannot be destroyed or fade, the better choice over the world, shaping education's aims and spurring toward the high calling in Christ. The immortal inheritance and everlasting life made possible by Christ's ransom and attained through obedience include entrance to heaven and free, equal fellowship with Christ, angels, and God's princes, yet people may turn from it by living for pride, selfishness, display, or Satan's rule and lose blessings in this life and the life to come.
Understanding the conditions of receiving the secure, incorruptible home on the earth made new prepared for the obedient matters more than anything, for earthly possessions and beauty are uncertain and only faintly represent joys prepared for those who love Him, and salvation rests not on emotion but on following God's course. This world is the educating school to prepare people to graduate to the higher school above and the mansions Christ has gone to prepare, with eternal destiny decided by each person's course of action. Being welcomed requires constantly exercising faith and forming character fit for courts above, applying God's claims to little things because little things constitute life's discipline and train the soul and develop character for heaven. The grace of Christ works in and with every child of God who presses from light to greater light and strength to greater strength until victorious and complete in Him, not with own righteousness but the righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ.
Keeping God's commandments proves heart-love, with faith and works joining the Spirit's inward work to practical godliness, and the future inheritance gives reason for joy even in trials, persecution, and affliction rather than living for worldly approval as members of God's royal family looking toward redemption and eternal life. The incorruptible, undefiled, unfading inheritance reserved in heaven is a secure title deed, so there is no need for anxiety over earthly life-insurance papers or sleepless moments over them. God takes responsibility for every soul bearing the sign of His government by loyalty to the Sabbath and through Sabbath obedience faithfulness to every principle of the Decalogue.
The chapter gives rich food from the living oracles comforting, strengthening, and blessing feeble, afflicted, and aged believers who seldom have preaching, showing God's love bestowed in large measure upon His chosen ones. It points out the source of strength, for by Christ's sacrifice every provision is made to receive all things pertaining to life and godliness, calling believers to the highest standard of glory and virtue, with Christ's perfect character making perfection possible.
The verse describes an inheritance that does not corrupt, defile, or fade, kept safe in heaven for believers. It is eternal life itself, a life that measures with the life of God, enjoyed in the earth made new freed from sin and in the prepared home of the Father's house, as an unfading crown of glory. God the Father in abundant mercy begets believers again to a living hope for this inheritance by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and those so begotten are kept by His power through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Those who accept Christ become sons and daughters of God and joint heirs with Christ, holding title through His righteousness, yet gaining it requires becoming incorruptible and undefiled in holy, obedient character fit for above. It is far more worthy than all earthly wealth, honor, and gain, and will be fully enjoyed at the close of earth's history when Christ is revealed and the redeemed are gathered to reign with Him.
Nature of the Inheritance
The inheritance is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for believers as part of the living hope made possible by Christ's resurrection and God's abundant mercy, belonging to salvation to be revealed in the last time and to future grace at Christ's revelation, a precious promise and foundation for confident expectation to be studied, understood and trusted without uncertainty, and gaining it requires being incorruptible and undefiled and not turning from the straight lines laid down.
It is immortal, imperishable, undecaying, lasting, secure and eternal, a possession that cannot perish, be corrupted, be destroyed, fade or lose its value, kept for those received as sons and daughters of God.
Becoming heirs of it is true exaltation that prepares for life with the heavenly company in the kingdom of glory, and those who have endured most for truth will count heaven cheap beside it rather than thinking they have had a hard time.
In contrast with a perishable name, earthly inheritance and possessions that misfortune can take away, it is the better choice over the world, and even the lowliest disciple may become an inhabitant of heaven and heir of God, with hope that should shape education and spur toward the high calling in Christ.
It is eternal life and immortality itself, given to a life of obedience and to those who follow Christ through His suffering and death opening the way, the hope of eternal life to be received in reality at last by all the faithful, calling for courage and full trust in the Saviour to the end.
It is a life that measures with the life of God and runs parallel with His life, held with deeds and title papers even by those poor in temporal things yet rich in enduring treasure, purchased by Christ's death, secured by His resurrection for justification and His continual life to make intercession, by whose death believers are reconciled and by whose life wrought out in their life they shall be saved, acknowledging those lifted from sin as God's children and heirs with Christ.
It is the earth made new, not merely Canaan but the whole earth freed from the curse of sin, promised to Abraham and his seed and belonging to all who are Christ's as Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise, since Jewish occupation of Canaan did not meet the promise.
It is Abraham's farm, God and glory and heaven itself, an everlasting, secure, incorruptible home on the earth made new by Christ at His coming, prepared for the obedient, and Abraham seeing it by view was content to live as a stranger.
Those who would gain it must live as pilgrims and strangers seeking the heavenly country and the city whose builder and maker is God, weaning affections from earth and dwelling on heavenly things rather than making getting rich or honor or laying up earthly treasure the object, refusing entanglement with farms and earthly care and showing by works and lives that treasure is laid up in heaven as men waiting for their Lord.
Earthly possessions and beauty are uncertain and only faintly represent the joys prepared for those who love Him, so understanding the conditions for receiving this inheritance matters, while this sure hope grounded in Christ's resurrection and joined to salvation to be revealed at the last time brings joy amid trials and sustains through affliction as faith is tested toward Christ's appearing.
It is a prepared home in the Father's house, the mansions Christ ascended to prepare and to which He will come again to receive His people that they may be where He is, the higher school above, the better heavenly country and city of God made ready for those who seek it, where they will be with Him and live with Him in light and glory.
For those who have sinned and fallen there is still rejoicing as with Peter after his fall, because the living hope means an undecaying inheritance kept safe in heaven for repentant believers who trust Christ for pardon, for Jesus died to prove love, rose and ascended, and stands as advocate pleading their case to rescue from Satan's slavery and keep them for it.
It is eternal life with Jesus in heaven, being raised to live with Him in the mansions He is preparing, enjoying heaven's light and glory, hearing angels sing praise, honor and glory to Jesus and singing with them, the eternal reward of those who love Christ whose lasting glory eclipses every earthly pleasure.
This world is the educating school to prepare to graduate to heaven, with eternal destiny decided by one's own course, requiring constant exercise of faith and formation of character fit for the courts above, with God's claims applied to little things that discipline life and train the soul, pressing from light to greater light until victorious and complete in Christ, not in own righteousness but the righteousness by faith.
It is an unfading crown of glory and crown of life for the overcomer, an eternal provision and treasure in heaven that cannot fade, be spoiled, decay or be lost to decay, with sure reward of everlasting life, unalloyed happiness and eternal glory, greater in value than earthly kingdoms.
Lifting Christ's cross is the pledge of that immortality and crown, requiring submitting to His yoke and carrying it with Christ bearing one end so the yoke is easy and burden light, and giving up gratification of depraved appetite however great the suffering in pursuit of purification of body and spirit.
Through Christ's merits victories may be gained to win it, yet the Holy Spirit's pleading to become heirs can be missed by one absorbed in earthly property who values worldly gain above the spiritual inheritance and fails to see the crown awaiting him, and those who hinder others from winning it will be repaid according to their deeds.
It is as boundless as the universe and as lasting as eternity, the only inheritance worth seeking, with rich, glorious possessions and enduring honors and riches not measured by worldly success or wealth, so allegiance belongs to God alone and not to any earthly power.
As Christ's purchased possession believers are bound to Him in divine love and lifted to highest rank, adopted into the royal family as heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ when respecting God's law, while choosing sin refuses heaven's hope, eternal glory and inheritance with Christ for sin's sure consequence.
It is a reward of excellent glory purchased at great cost by the Son of God leaving all the glory and honor He had in heaven and patiently bearing every indignity, slight, wound, smiting and bruising, stretched on Calvary's cross in agonizing death to save from death, His blood washing sinners for this life.
All heaven is interested in men gaining it, so indifference, carelessness and trifling with offered mercy slights the sacrifice, brings God's frown and the departure of His grieved Spirit, and ends in dearly purchased dreadful death in which the lost feel the agony Christ felt to purchase the refused redemption, then realizing what they have lost.
It is riches that cannot be specified or described, being one with Christ as heir of God and joint heir with Jesus Christ in the kingdom of glory and city of God, where believers have their own portion, are welcomed by Christ, receive a crown of life never taken away, and share glorious singing with harps of gold in great happiness.
It is a life insurance policy demanding immediate decision to come into Christ's ranks and not join the enemy's army, secured by remembering cleansing from old sins and staying cleansed, living fervent in spirit serving the Lord, and obeying all of God's law.
Once secured it cannot be taken away by anyone else and can only be lost by one's own choice to give it up.
Grounded in Christ's Resurrection
According to abundant mercy God the Father is to be blessed because He begets believers again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that does not fade away and is reserved in heaven for them. This new birth brings multiplied grace and peace and the light and presence of God, and it fills the heart with praise when faith takes hold of Christ. These promises are clear evidence of God's desire to bless His people and may be trusted without uncertainty. Those whose portion is trials and afflictions are called by this hope to cling to the Mighty One, be of good courage in the Lord, and believe in Jesus and trust Him implicitly even when tried as by fire, because the night is far spent and the day is at hand. The promise can be appropriated personally now because the last time has come, receiving it meaning to be quickened together with Christ so that new life from Christ enters the soul and lays hold by faith on a new, strong hope. It is given to each one who sanctifies the Lord in the heart, keeping the heart clean and pure, and it makes life useful during the short sojourn here.
Those thus begotten to this hope are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. The inheritance made possible by Christ's resurrection belongs to that hope of salvation to be revealed in the last time. Surrounding truth shows that trials can develop Christian graces and strengthen faith as believers await Christ's appearing. Christ's resurrection from the dead should be joy and song, not gloom with heads down as if Jesus were still in Joseph's new tomb, because He is risen and His death brings salvation through His love and power to save from sins. Believers have as much reason to rejoice as the disciples of old and to talk of Him.
When Jesus Christ is received by faith and abides in the heart, light from Christ shines into the chambers of the mind so that invisible things are seen correctly. It belongs to faith which works by love and purifies the soul, giving life and vigor to all mental powers and spiritual exercises in cooperating with Christ very near the end of this world's history. Speech is then not doleful or gloomy but greatly rejoicing with joy unspeakable and full of glory even when in heaviness through manifold temptations and trial. Tested faith proves more precious than perishing gold and results in praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom unseen believers love and believing rejoice over with unspeakable glorious joy, receiving the end of faith in the salvation of their souls. Even those who have sinned and fallen can still rejoice as Peter did after his fall, because God gives this living hope through the resurrection.
The undecaying inheritance is kept safe in heaven for repentant believers, which is the place in the Father's house that Christ ascended to prepare and to which He will come again to receive them so they may be where He is. Jesus died to prove His love, rose and ascended on high, and now stands before the Father as advocate pleading the case of those who trust Him for pardon, so they are rescued from slavery to Satan and kept for that inheritance. Every believing child of God is rich in treasure that endures forever even when poor in temporal things, holding the deeds and title papers to an immortal inheritance and a life that measures with the life of God. This inheritance was purchased by Christ's death, secured by His resurrection for justification and His continual life to make intercession, and given through His life and death bringing salvation; by His death believers are reconciled to God, and by His life wrought out in their life they shall be saved. Through Christ's death and God's power, sinful, mortal people are fitted for it as an everlasting home on an earth made new by Christ at His coming, He having become a servant and suffered so that fallen people might be exalted through His righteousness, made kings and priests of God, and come into possession of this inheritance.
Heirs and Their Keeping
Those who accept Christ and hold the beginning of their confidence firm to the end become sons and daughters of God, members of the royal family and children of the heavenly King, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. Their inheritance is incorruptible, undefiled and unfading, imperishable and lasting, reserved and kept in heaven for them, and they themselves are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Becoming heirs is true exaltation and not degradation, for the truth prepares them for life with the heavenly company in the kingdom of glory. Even the lowliest disciple may become an inhabitant of heaven and heir with a secure inheritance that cannot be destroyed, fade, or lose its value, which is the better choice over the world and should shape the aims of education toward the high calling in Christ. Giving up worldly ties and a perishable name and earthly inheritance for Christ is no true loss beside this eternal inheritance, the honor of salvation, and having the name written in the Lamb's book of life.
The inheritance promised to Abraham and his seed belongs to all who are Christ's, for those who are Christ's are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. That promise was not met by Jewish occupation of Canaan, for it includes not merely Canaan but the whole earth freed from the curse of sin, an immortal inheritance untouched by corruption or defilement that does not fade and is kept in heaven. Abraham was given a view of it and was content to live as a stranger, and those who would gain it must also live as pilgrims and strangers, loosen affections from earthly gain, dwell on heavenly things, and seek the heavenly country and the city whose builder and maker is God. The Father takes pleasure in giving the kingdom to every believing soul who loves God and believes in Him, and the promises to Abraham belong to every such soul.
Believers hold title deeds to this inheritance and through Christ may read their title to what is incorruptible, undefiled and unfading. Christ's attractions and all-sufficient grace draw them to follow Him, while growing faith and confidence strengthen assurance of the inheritance. The Holy Spirit draws the heart away from temporal, perishable things and awakens earnest desire for the immortal, imperishable eternal substance set before the soul. That same Spirit recreates, refines, transforms and sanctifies them to become members of the royal family and children of the heavenly King.
Coming into close relationship with Christ brings extensive privileges and advantages, revealing the value Christ places upon the human agent entirely surrendered to Him. Such believers may bear testimony in life and character that God loves the obedient as He loves His Son, and, delivered out of the hand of enemies, may serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness all the days of life. Always looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of faith, they are delivered from the devices of evil men and evil angels while breaking the bonds of sin and Satan.
Title to the inheritance will stand the test of law only through the righteousness of Christ, never through old tattered garments of self-righteousness, for entrance into the kingdom among the sanctified comes only through righteousness woven in the loom of heaven. It is a secure title deed to immortal, imperishable wealth, the priceless gift of eternal life and full and free salvation with a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. It belongs to the overcomer who travels the path of implicit obedience close to the Redeemer, with converted body and soul in harmony with God's laws, daily receiving renovating grace and walking in the overcomer's path with the heart reposing on the promise. Having a name to live is not enough if spiritually dead, for believers need a clear title and must bring eternity into daily reckoning, being right with God today and ready if Christ should come today, with Christ formed within as the hope of glory and faith working by love to purify the heart for the latter rain and the descent of the Holy Spirit. God takes responsibility for every soul bearing the sign of His government by loyalty to the Sabbath and through Sabbath obedience faithfulness to every principle of the Decalogue, so there is no need for anxiety over earthly life-insurance papers or sleepless moments over them. Keeping God's commandments proves heart-love, as faith and works join the Spirit's inward work with practical godliness. The inheritance is worth more than all worldly gain, farms, honor, and the gold associated with service in Christ's army, being an assurance and rich blessing with eternal weight of glory.
Gaining this inheritance requires being incorruptible and undefiled and not turning from the straight lines God has laid down. This world is the educating school to prepare people to graduate to the higher school above and the mansions Christ has gone to prepare, with eternal destiny decided by each person's own course of action. To be welcomed there requires constantly exercising faith and forming in this life such character as fits for the courts above, with God's claims applied to little things because little things constitute life's discipline and train the soul and develop character for heaven. The grace of Christ works in and with every child of God who presses from light to greater light and strength to greater strength until victorious and complete in Him, not having own righteousness but the righteousness which is by faith in Jesus Christ. Receiving it is connected with becoming sons and daughters of God through a religious experience that sanctifies by the truth. It is identified with eternal life and is not gained without effort through faith and perfect obedience, for the enemy must be overcome by constant striving, spiritual vigilance and clinging to Jesus as the appointed way of salvation. Looking back causes dizziness, letting go leads to perishing and ruin, and relaxing diligence fosters selfishness, self-indulgence and falling back. Obtaining it requires believing in Christ as personal Saviour, receiving and believing His words and meeting the conditions He laid down, through relationship with Christ and obedience to the laws of His kingdom rather than human inventions, giving proof of faith in Christ as Saviour and Redeemer, revealing His character, resembling Him in character, and being one with Him here in order to be one with Him hereafter, until at last entering a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory where the Lord is portion and hope.
Revealed in the Last Time
The inheritance belongs to the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, for which believers begotten again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ are kept by the power of God through faith. It is incorruptible, undefiled and unfading, reserved in heaven, imperishable and pure, and its fulfillment is assured as part of that hope. It is the reward Christ will give to the obedient, to be revealed at the very close of this earth's history when the Son of man is revealed in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Those who accept Christ and hold confidence firm to the end are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ unto this kept inheritance.
The promise can be appropriated personally now because the last time has come. Receiving it means being quickened together with Christ, so that new life from Christ enters the soul and lays hold by faith on a new, strong hope. It is given to each one who sanctifies the Lord in the heart, keeping the heart clean and pure, and it makes life useful during the short sojourn here. The pressing question is whether people are living in those very last days after the proclamation of the third angel, the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, and whether they are ready for that reward.
The inheritance will be enjoyed fully at the resurrection, when the redeemed are gathered from the earth and enter the city of God to receive eternal life in His kingdom through Christ's sacrifice as partakers of His nature. There is no humiliation in surrendering all to God to become joint-heir with Christ, for being linked with Him gives the heaven of His presence in this life and the promise of an eternity of bliss, with strong comfort in God's unchangeable promises and reward according as works have been. Then believers will see the King in His beauty, behold His matchless charms, and go no more out forever. They will share Christ's glory and reign with Him as kings and priests before God and on the earth, receiving a place with Christ on His throne if willing to share His humiliation and suffer affliction with God's people rather than enjoy sin's temporary pleasures, and receiving life in reality. The hope of this lasting inheritance untouched by decay sustains through affliction and remains alive even when mortal bodies die, so that God's people count heaven cheap beside the reward and suffering not worthy to compare with the glory to be revealed, enduring trials for the truth until after their final trial they receive eternal life.
This hope calls those whose portion is trials and afflictions to cling to the Mighty One, be of good courage in the Lord, and believe in Jesus and trust Him implicitly even when tried as by fire, because the night is far spent and the day is at hand. It belongs to faith which works by love and purifies the soul, giving light from Christ shining into the chambers of the mind so invisible things are seen correctly, with life and vigor to all mental powers and spiritual exercises in cooperating with Christ very near the end of this world's history. In it believers greatly rejoice even when in heaviness through manifold temptations and trials, with speech not doleful or gloomy but with joy unspeakable and full of glory in Him whom unseen they love. Their tested faith proves more precious than perishing gold and develops Christian graces unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, receiving the end of faith in the salvation of their souls. So believers facing present trials and coming persecution are pointed to their eternal inheritance kept in heaven, untouched by corruption or defilement and never fading, that they not lose heart amid suffering.
Greater Than Earthly Gain
The home of the saints is an inheritance that cannot decay or be defiled and will never fade away, imperishable and lasting and immortal, and it is more worthy of human toil and affection than earthly wealth and honor and property and outward display. Earthly possessions and plans can be lost, and misfortune can easily take them away, while the possessions God grants are reserved in heaven for those who receive them. A perishable name and earthly inheritance stand in contrast with this lasting heavenly treasure promised to those who belong to God, and adoption into God's family makes believers heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ with their names written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Giving up worldly ties for Christ is no true loss beside this eternal inheritance and the honor of salvation, and earthly things only faintly represent the coming joys.
The Holy Spirit pleads with people to become heirs of this incorruptible, undefiled, unfading inheritance reserved in heaven, a spiritual treasure greater than gaining earthly property, and calls them to seek it rather than fix their hearts on temporal gain. A person absorbed in gaining earthly property can value worldly gain above this spiritual inheritance and fail to see the crown awaiting him above his head. One fixed on gaining a worldly share of property may treat God's gift as a means of worldly gain and fix attention on an earthly inheritance instead of the inheritance that cannot perish or be defiled or fade away kept in heaven. Those ransomed by Jesus can be freed from Satan's bondage and become God's children, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, yet some live for earthly possessions and status and turn away from that inheritance.
People lose the blessing of this immortal inheritance and everlasting life, both in this life and the life to come, when they turn from God to pride and selfishness and display and worldly wisdom and Satan's rule. God's grace gives believers gifts in this life that ennoble and prepare character for heaven through Christ and a life of obedience, with entrance to heaven and free, equal fellowship with Christ and heavenly angels and God's princes, but choosing selfishness and Satan's rule turns away from it. The hope of this lasting treasure greater than earthly riches is eclipsed when the pursuit of money absorbs the mind and eternal things are treated as unimportant, when people become greedy for more wealth and lose love for truth and for Jesus. Trading a glorious eternal heritage, pure and undefiled and enduring and kept for God's people, for momentary indulgence and passing pleasure and fleeting prospects of worldly gain is selling it for a temporary good.
A title to this immortal inheritance in heaven is of greater worth than worldly prosperity and honor and the gold of Ophir, and entering the city of God to receive it makes being a millionaire insignificant. Setting the heart on earthly treasures eclipses heaven, while its immeasurable value calls for earnest, energetic, and persevering effort to become a candidate for everlasting life rather than anxious devotion to earthly wealth and preservation of this life. Sacrificing eternal interests to secure wealth for children is a terrible loss, and valuing possessions more than this inheritance treats them as greater riches than the eternal glory God offers. Those who remain faithful amid moral corruption become rich in faith and heirs to this inheritance, and its hope is reason to join in advancing the gospel work.
The prospect of heavenly happiness and eternal honor and glory kept for heaven's inhabitants gives hope and awakens desire and spurs effort. Christ offers this immortal inheritance and rich, glorious possessions to those who respect God's law, as an inheritance shared with Christ. Choosing sin means refusing the hope of heaven and the riches of eternal glory and the inheritance with Christ, and choosing instead sin's sure consequence and wages, which are death.
Living Toward the Inheritance
The promise calls for a sober, obedient, holy life in all conduct to the end, hoping for grace at the revelation of Jesus Christ, turning from former lusts and from fleshly lusts that war against the soul. Those who would gain it must live as pilgrims and strangers, as Abraham did when shown the immortal inheritance, seeking the heavenly country and the city whose builder and maker is God. God has chosen a people out of the world to remain forever separate from the world, living in the world without being of the world and kept free from its contaminating influences. This world is not home, so affections must be weaned from earth to dwell upon heavenly things, refusing to make getting rich or honor or laying up treasure on earth the object, refusing entanglement with farms and earthly care, and showing by works and life the laying up of treasure in heaven as men waiting for their Lord. Preparing for an inheritance that cannot be corrupted, is pure, and will not pass away means not filling the mind with folly or wasting God-given time on things without lasting value. The hope of an eternal inheritance and a place in God's city free from every impurity gives reason to resist temptation and to live in a way that teaches others true living.
Living in reverent fear of the Father who judges without partiality belongs to those redeemed not with silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ as a spotless lamb, whose honest conduct causes others to glorify God. For physicians and medical missionary workers this separateness requires the designed relation with brethren, with medical missionary work bound up with gospel ministry rather than made the body, workers molded after Christ's similitude, standing on truth uninfluenced by false theories, respecting pure gospel principles, and laboring unitedly with church and ministers in soul-saving work rather than binding up with worldlings. It is a peculiar work to hold up the standard of truth and win souls as God's peculiar people.
Gaining the incorruptible inheritance identified with eternal life through faith and perfect obedience involves constant striving and spiritual vigilance to overcome the enemy. Looking back causes dizziness, letting go leads to perishing and ruin, and relaxing diligence fosters selfishness and self-indulgence. Believers must cling to Jesus as the appointed way of salvation, for letting go of Him leads to ruin. The noble object ever kept before believers to glorify God and gain that inheritance swallows up all else earthly, brings death to the world when truth affects the heart, creates anxious desire to be separate like Christ, and leads to laying aside pride and imitation of fashions and customs unmoved by scorn. Those who continue to desire and imitate worldly fashions put off Christ, show themselves strangers to grace and to the meek and lowly Jesus, fail to walk worthy of Him, and God ceases to acknowledge them as His children, leaving them as children of the world and darkness. Mere profession is of little advantage unless hope of everlasting spiritual victory in the fullness of the immortal inheritance and sharing life with Christ is kept in view and worthiness to share that life is gained, which requires the daily fructifying influence of the Holy Spirit to quicken purposes into life and productiveness, for without it a person falls back into the channel of the past life.
Deciding to have heaven means fighting the battles of the Lord, pressing the battle to the gate, and being victorious as members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King known by name to the Saviour of the universe, heirs of God to an immortal inheritance and eternal substance held as privilege and prize. This hope gives reason to press forward and run the race with patience for the prize of the high calling in Christ and the imperishable inheritance with its immortal crown. The hope of the immortal inheritance and crown of everlasting life calls for thorough work for eternity in repentance and confession of wrongs and remaining with the Lord's people rather than turning away from warning or justifying sin.
The eternal reward as treasure in heaven and unfading inheritance is reason to give up gratification of depraved appetite however great the suffering and to pursue purification of body and spirit. Those who accept Christ are adopted as sons and daughters and become heirs of God with Christ, giving no cause for regret over the self-denial and sacrifice involved in following Him. Those who indulge gluttony and destroy health through appetite have no part in the better life in heaven, for entry into God's kingdom is incompatible with self-indulgence rather than self-denial, and being praised by others or carried to heaven in their thoughts at death is not enough. The immortal inheritance is obtained by those who live with a spirit of self-denial and sacrifice, and young people who excuse themselves from carrying responsibility for God's cause cannot possess it. Lifting the cross of Christ is the pledge of the crown of glory that fadeth not away and immortality given to the overcomer, received by submitting the neck to Christ's yoke and carrying it with Christ bearing one end and lifting the burden together, so the yoke is easy and the burden light.
In trial believers are to have faith in God, turn mistakes and defeats into victories, and let faith overcome the test that comes to every child of God, with difficulties, disappointments, and trials testing intensity of love and fidelity, love for Christ measured by burden borne for His sake and service in complete surrender of will to God's will. Sufferers afflicted by unconsecrated shepherds and others who should have helped them must remember Jesus knows it all, must not become exasperated or let natural feelings control them, must cherish no spirit of retaliation whatever course others pursue, will not have to be a sin-bearer for any soul, and are to commit their case wholly to Jesus who died for them, not let go faith or drop His hand stretched in pitying tenderness to every suffering child, trusting Him as sufficient for the present hour. It is the privilege of believers to hold lively hope of the heavenly inheritance kept and reserved in heaven for all the faithful who at last receive eternal life in reality, calling for courage and full trust in the Saviour to the end. That hope calls for encouraging faith, talking faith, refusing to look on the dark side or talk of what is objectionable in others, talking of Jesus, and treating transformation of heart and character as more important than anything else.
The imperishable, undefiled, unfading inheritance kept in heaven through new birth and Christ's resurrection is a sure hope to grasp by faith that encourages living and working for others' salvation. It reproves make-believe Christians who do very little for God and misdirect and misuse God-given talents instead of entering with heart, soul, and strength into appointed work. New birth to living hope through Jesus' resurrection is to awaken the church to concern for those who do not know God and to prayer, self-denial, and work for their salvation. Believing, commandment-keeping people have a special work as faithful laborers together with God in saving sinners, with every soul responsible for proper exercise of entrusted talents. Even the lowliest disciple may become an inhabitant of heaven and heir of God with a secure inheritance that cannot be destroyed or fade, the better choice over the world, shaping education's aims and spurring toward the high calling in Christ. The immortal inheritance and everlasting life made possible by Christ's ransom and attained through obedience include entrance to heaven and free, equal fellowship with Christ, angels, and God's princes, yet people may turn from it by living for pride, selfishness, display, or Satan's rule and lose blessings in this life and the life to come.
Understanding the conditions of receiving the secure, incorruptible home on the earth made new prepared for the obedient matters more than anything, for earthly possessions and beauty are uncertain and only faintly represent joys prepared for those who love Him, and salvation rests not on emotion but on following God's course. This world is the educating school to prepare people to graduate to the higher school above and the mansions Christ has gone to prepare, with eternal destiny decided by each person's course of action. Being welcomed requires constantly exercising faith and forming character fit for courts above, applying God's claims to little things because little things constitute life's discipline and train the soul and develop character for heaven. The grace of Christ works in and with every child of God who presses from light to greater light and strength to greater strength until victorious and complete in Him, not with own righteousness but the righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ.
Keeping God's commandments proves heart-love, with faith and works joining the Spirit's inward work to practical godliness, and the future inheritance gives reason for joy even in trials, persecution, and affliction rather than living for worldly approval as members of God's royal family looking toward redemption and eternal life. The incorruptible, undefiled, unfading inheritance reserved in heaven is a secure title deed, so there is no need for anxiety over earthly life-insurance papers or sleepless moments over them. God takes responsibility for every soul bearing the sign of His government by loyalty to the Sabbath and through Sabbath obedience faithfulness to every principle of the Decalogue.
The chapter gives rich food from the living oracles comforting, strengthening, and blessing feeble, afflicted, and aged believers who seldom have preaching, showing God's love bestowed in large measure upon His chosen ones. It points out the source of strength, for by Christ's sacrifice every provision is made to receive all things pertaining to life and godliness, calling believers to the highest standard of glory and virtue, with Christ's perfect character making perfection possible.