Why Your Inheritance Is Bigger Than You Think: The Doctrine the Church Has Overlooked

“And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.” Romans 8:17

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.” Colossians 3:23

---

Growing up in an evangelical, gospel-preaching church, I often heard teachers mention our “inheritance” in Christ. But to my dismay, no one ever seemed to dig very far into what that inheritance really entails. I think most Christians hear the word “inheritance” and just assume it means the exact same thing as salvation, and so we keep it moving, glossing over a whole well of depth and richness.

I know, because that’s what I’ve done for most of my years as a believer. But more recently, I began noticing how often the theme of inheritance is talked about in the New Testament. Not only that, but it’s also one of the things that the apostles use as grounds for deep hope, like we see Paul and Peter do:

“…that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints…” Eph 1:18

“to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice…” 1 Peter 1:4-6

I began to wonder to myself, “what exactly is this inheritance?”

You would think that such a prominent theme in Scripture would have many books written about it. But while many teachers talk around the concept of inheritance, few have addressed it head on, at least from a solid theological perspective that isn’t tainted by prosperity gospel teaching. In fact, I haven’t been able to find one mainstream Christian book dedicated entirely to that topic alone. This absolutely boggles my mind.

The doctrine of inheritance is a deep theme whose threads run through the entire tapestry of Scripture. When we read the epistles without the context of the Old Testament, we can wonder where Paul and Peter and others are getting this idea of inheritance from. But when we start with the Old Testament and trace the theme of inheritance through Scripture, we will find that it’s arguably one of the major themes of Scripture, and contains a rich world of meaning for us to uncover and feast upon.

Before we dive into the Old Testament, let’s think quickly on what the term inheritance means. An inheritance is the possessions, authority, and power that an heir (usually the first-born son) was given when his father dies. I love old murder mystery novels by Agatha Christie, and many of them center on the theme of inheritance. Old families with old money. Old grandfathers and grandmothers who are targeted because of the inheritance money. And often times the plot of a novel will center on who inherits the estate in the case of the parent’s death, right? And sometimes when they open the will, the contents come as a shock to those who inherit (or don’t).

So as we read the Bible on our quest to understand inheritance, we should be looking for these themes: heir, inheritance, dominion, first-borns, and wills. Keep these in mind.

These key themes appear right in the beginning pages of Genesis with Adam. In Luke’s Genealogy, Luke calls Adam the “son of God” (Luke 3:38). And we see the theme of dominion prominently with Adam: he was given the world (Genesis 1:28). God, starting with Adam, made humanity his heirs, and their inheritance was the world. But as we know, Adam squandered his inheritance. Like Esau, he traded his birthright for the promise of immediate gratification.

Adam’s failure set the trajectory for the rest of Scripture. Humanity was meant to inherit the world as God’s royal children, but sin plunged us into exile. Instead of reigning in wisdom and love, we are ruled by futility and death, and we turned to seek dominion over each other instead of exercising godly dominion over creation.

But even with the depth of our fall, God never abandoned us or forsook His purposes for His children. If I had been God, I would have scrapped the entire human project and started over. But our fall never shocked or surprised God. We don’t see Him reject humanity, but rather, He promises redemption and begins working it out through each successive covenant, starting with Abraham.

Abraham, Heir of the World The promises to Abraham are shot through with inheritance language. God promised him land, descendants, and blessing (Gen. 12; 15; 17). At first glance, it looks like Abraham’s inheritance is limited to the land of Canaan. But Paul interprets this promise in Romans 4:13: “For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.”

Did you catch that? The land was always pointing beyond itself. Abraham’s true inheritance was not a strip of land, but the whole world. And if we belong to Christ, Paul says, “then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:29).

Israel and Canaan The nation of Israel experienced inheritance in a very earthy and substantial way when they entered the land under Joshua. Each tribe received its allotted portion. The land was a tangible sign of God’s faithfulness. But even here, there were hints that the land was not ultimate.

The Levites, the priestly tribe, received no land inheritance. Instead, the Lord said to them, “I am your portion and your inheritance” (Num. 18:20). While the other tribes enjoyed the shadow inheritance of fields and cities, the Levites pointed forward to the substance of inheritance—God Himself.

And when Israel fell into idolatry and was sent into exile, they lost their land inheritance, reminding us that shadows can be taken away. But God’s promise of a better inheritance remained.

Inheritance in the Mosaic Covenant When God gave Israel the Mosaic covenant at Sinai, inheritance took on a concrete, geographical form. The land of Canaan was their promised possession, a gift sworn to Abraham and confirmed to his descendants. Under Joshua’s leadership, the tribes received their allotted inheritance (Josh. 13–21). The land was a visible sign that God’s covenant promises were true.

But even within the Mosaic covenant, there were layers of meaning. Israel was reminded that the land ultimately belonged to the Lord: “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me” (Lev. 25:23). Their inheritance was never absolute ownership—it was tenancy under God’s kingship. And the Levites, uniquely, received no parcel of land at all. Instead, God declared, “I am your portion and your inheritance” (Num. 18:20). This priestly exception pointed beyond the soil of Canaan to the substance of inheritance: God Himself.

The Mosaic covenant thus shows both the beauty and the limits of shadow inheritances. The land was good, but it could be lost through idolatry and covenant unfaithfulness (Deut. 28). Exile became the painful reminder that earthly inheritances can be forfeited, and that the people’s ultimate hope had to be in something more secure.

Inheritance in the Davidic Covenant The covenant with David added a royal dimension to inheritance. God promised David an eternal dynasty: “I will raise up your offspring after you… and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Sam. 7:12–13). Psalm 2 expands this promise, where God tells His anointed King: “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession” (Ps. 2:8).

Here inheritance moves from land to kingship, from tribal allotments to global dominion. The Davidic heir would not just guard Israel’s borders—he would inherit the nations. Yet like the Mosaic covenant, the Davidic covenant showed its limitations in Israel’s history. David’s descendants often fell into sin, and the kingdom fractured, diminished, and eventually went into exile. The promise of inheritance needed a royal Priest-King who could bear the weight of perfect faithfulness and global dominion.

I hope you can see where this is going. Jesus, the Son of God, the HEIR, was the only one who could bear that weight and fulfill the righteousness required. If you read the Old Testament straight through, as I did this past year, you will find yourself by the end, so sick and tired of the failure, the idolatry, and the stupidity of humanity. Israel keeps falling into sin. It keeps looking to a king instead of to God. It keeps losing the inheritance and getting exiled.

What a relief it is to see The New Testament identify Jesus as the perfect Son. He is the Firstborn who inherits the nations (Heb. 1:2, Rev. 5:9), the true King who reigns over the earth. Through Him, the Davidic promise reaches its fullest expression: not just a kingdom in Jerusalem, but a cosmic inheritance extending to all creation.

Jesus isn’t like Adam who will trade His inheritance for instant gratification. We see Him stay faithful under temptation in both the wilderness (with strong themes that tie back to Eden) and in the garden of Gethsemane (again, a garden theme). Jesus would not bow to temptation. Jesus, the Second Adam succeeded where the first Adam failed.

Jesus isn’t like Israel, who received the land of promise but squandered their inheritance through disobedience and idolatry. Where Israel broke covenant in Canaan, Jesus fulfilled the law perfectly. He conquered the nations in the most surprising way, not through military conquest, but through His own obedience unto death.

Jesus isn’t like David, who though a man after God’s own heart, fell into grievous sin and whose reign ended in weakness. Where David’s sons lost the kingdom through unfaithfulness, Jesus as the Son of David reigns with perfect justice and righteousness. He inherits not just Israel’s throne, but the nations and the ends of the earth as His possession.

Another inheritance thread woven through the Old Testament is the theme of the firstborn. In the ancient world, the firstborn son held the right of inheritance. Yet time and again, God subverts expectations:

• Isaac, not Ishmael, inherits the promise

• Jacob, not Esau, inherits the blessing

• Ephraim, not Manasseh, is placed first

• David, the youngest, is anointed king over his brothers

• Solomon, not Adonijah

These reversals were shocking in the ancient world, and pointed forward, whispering of a deeper truth: God’s inheritance comes not by natural right but by grace. And they foreshadow the ultimate reversal in Christ.

Jesus is called the “Firstborn of all creation” (Col. 1:15) and “heir of all things” (Heb. 1:2). By rights, the inheritance belongs entirely to Him. As one of my pastors once pointed out: in His humility, He became like a second born—despised, rejected, crucified—so that we, the outsiders, might be brought in. This is a divine reversal of great proportion. In Him, we who had no rightful claim, are now treated as firstborn heirs. Hebrews 12:23 even calls the church “the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven.” Now, Jesus who set aside His rights for our sake (Phil 2:6-8), raised us up with Him (Eph 2:6), and now is seated at God’s right hand, heir of all things. It is this very redemptive reversal that Philippians 2 outlines:

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:5-11

But though Jesus set aside His firstborn rights to secure our redemption, God has exalted Him, and restored Him as the Heir of all things. Right now, we are in the already-not-yet tension that Psalm 2 lays out:

“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together,against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,‘Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, ‘As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.’I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,and the ends of the earth your possession.You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.’ Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” Psalm 2 (ESV)

What we see in this Psalm is Jesus, the anointed King, waiting for his inheritance. His Father says to Him,“Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” (v.8) and right before that,“You are my Son”. This is resounding with the inheritance motif!

So when does Jesus get the nations as His inheritance?

We aren’t left to guess. In Revelation chapter 5, we see a dramatic scene, beautifully poignant with meaning, unfold before us. It’s dripping with inheritance themes. I’ll let Jen Wilkin walk you through it:

“Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.” Revelation 5:1 Jen: “Though we hear this and we aren’t exactly sure what we’re looking at, to someone living in first century Rome, this is immediately recognizable as a last will and testament. We have legal writings from this time period speaking about the necessity of having seven witnesses who seal a will, and then all seven witnesses present when the will is to be opened. It is just the way that it was done in Rome. So we should be asking, as the listeners would have asked, ‘whose will is this, and what’s in there?’… a will includes what is to be inherited. And we talked about how we inherit all things that Christ inherits from the Father. So whose inheritance is in this will? Ours. Ours in Christ.” “And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it…” Revelation 5:2-3 Jen: “Nowhere, in all of the created order, in everything that God has made, past, present, or future, is there found anyone or anything that meets the requirements necessary to open the scrolls on this last will and testament. And how does John respond?” “I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” Revelation 5:4-5 Jen: “We hear this read, and we turn, expecting to see what? A lion from the tribe of Judah, or a king, like David. And yet, what do we behold?” “And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain…” Revelation 5:6 Jen: “Like a slaughtered lamb… the will is enacted upon the death of it’s author. Thus, we see Him here, already slain, and yet already living again.” - Jen Wilkin, Revelation Bible Study, Video on Revelation 5

Jesus has triumphed. He has accomplished all that the Father set out for Him to accomplish, and He, at last, gets to inherit what is rightfully His.

“And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.” Revelation 5:7

At this, all of heaven’s hosts erupt into praise and worship:

“And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.’” Revelation 5:8-10

I cannot read this passage now without being moved to tears. Imagine for John, what it must have felt like to be familiar with the long, sad history of Israel’s failures to inherit. He is heartbroken when no one is found to open the inheritance. And then Jesus steps onto the scene. The slain Lamb, the anointed King, the great High Priest, the perfect Son, the faithful Heir.

In previous articles, I’ve explored how we are a kingdom of priests to God, and what that means. We see that language echoed here in this passage: “you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God” (v10).

This priest language should ring a bell for us in the context of inheritance. The priestly tribe of Levi did not receive land as their inheritance, like the rest of the tribes did. Deuteronomy 18:2 says, “They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them.”

As priests, we share in the Levitical pattern: “I am your portion and your inheritance” (Num. 18:20). Our inheritance is God Himself. But this makes the end of verse 10 shocking. “and they shall reign on the earth.”  Wait a second. I thought the earth was Jesus’ inheritance. How is it that we are reigning on the earth?

We get two inheritances. Our priestly inheritance of God Himself AND we share in the inheritance of Jesus Himself because we are “fellow heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17). We inherit Jesus, and with Him, we inherit everything that belongs to Him. The New Testament is bold on this point: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5), and Paul says that in Christ “all things are yours… the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (1 Cor. 3:21–23). Our inheritance is both the Lord Himself and, through Him, the renewed earth and kingdom that He reigns over forever (Rev. 21:7).

Indeed, we see that this was foreshadowed in the Old Testament. Psalm 37 repeatedly declares that “the meek shall inherit the land”, which Jesus expands on in the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5). Even Abraham himself was never ultimately looking for Canaan as his final possession. Hebrews tells us that “he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10). Paul goes further and interprets the promise to Abraham as inheritance of the world:

“For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.” Romans 4:13

Abraham understood that the promises given to him and to his children were not only for his direct descendants, for even in the promises God gave to Him, they held the seed of a wider blessing for all nations: “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Gen. 12:3

Now that Jesus has come and fulfilled the requirements of a faithful heir, we who are in Christ get to partake in all that is His. The Bible identifies several different aspects of our inheritance in Christ:

Our priestly inheritance:

1. God Himself

• “I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.” (Num. 18:20; cf. Deut. 10:9; 18:2)

• “The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.” (Ps. 16:5)

• “The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in him.” (Lam. 3:24)

• “The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” (Rev. 21:7)

2. Eternal Life / Salvation

• “He saved us… so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:7)

• “He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.” (Heb. 9:15)

What we inherit as Jesus’ co-heirs:

The Kingdom of God

• “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matt. 25:34)

• “The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Cor. 6:9–10; cf. Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5)

The Earth / The World / The Nations

• “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matt. 5:5; cf. Ps. 37:9, 11, 22, 29, 34)

• “For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world…” (Rom. 4:13)

• “The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.” (Rev. 2:26-27)

A Heavenly City / New Creation

• “He was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” (Heb. 11:10)

• “We seek the city that is to come.” (Heb. 13:14)

• “You joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.” (Heb. 10:34)

Glory and a Crown

• “When the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.” (1 Pet. 5:4)

• “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” (Rom 8:16–17)

• “To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thess. 2:14)

The Riches of Christ

• “…the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.” (Eph. 1:18)

• “…an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” (1 Pet. 1:4)

All Things

• “For all things are yours… the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” (1 Cor. 3:21–23)

In short: Our inheritance is Jesus Christ Himself, and with Him, everything that belongs to Him.

What this means for you

So what does this promise of inheritance mean for you, especially when you’re in the thick of doing the daily grind of your mundane, ordinary life?

1. Honor Incomplete Shadows, and Look Forward to their Substance As entrepreneurs, we operate in this realm of shadows. And this can cause a lot of tension and confusion for us unless we hold onto this doctrine of inheritance. We see the Biblical charges to us to be stewards. We want to multiply the talents God has given us. We see many Biblical examples of wealthy saints (Abraham, Joseph of Arimathea, and Lydia, just to name a few) verses that tie widsom and wealth together, that exhort us to leave an inheritance to our children’s children, and to be good stewards that multiply what is given to us. At the same time, we see many verses about how wealth can be a snare and that encourage us to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven. “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have…” (Heb. 13:5 cf. 1 Tim. 6:10, Matt. 6:19–20).So how are we to understand what looks like a contradiction in how the Bible perceives wealth?The doctrine of inheritance, paired with the doctrine of stewardship, beautifully harmonizes all of Scripture’s words. When we understand earthly wealth as a shadow inheritance—a temporary gift that trains us in stewardship and points us beyond itself to the substantive inheritance in Christ— what felt foggy snaps into beautiful clarity. The call is not to despise wealth but to hold it loosely, knowing that our true inheritance is Christ Himself, who promises “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Pet. 1:4).Every earthly shadow of inheritance — land, wealth, blessing — was meant to point beyond itself. Just like marriage points beyond itself to Christ and His church, so earthly inheritances point beyond themselves to the eternal inheritance we have in Jesus. That doesn’t make the shadow bad; it simply makes it incomplete. Wealth, land, and family are good gifts, but they are temporary. They are meant to whet our appetite for the substantive reality: our wealth in Christ, our reign with Him, the unfading riches of His glory, and the everlasting kingdom.
   

2. See This Life as a Training Ground for Stewardship And when we tie this with stewardship, we see the beautiful weightiness embedded into our current lives. This is our trianing ground. We are being shaped for an eternity where we will inhabit resurrected, glorified bodies. We will reign with Christ. We will judge angels. We are on a trajectory of glorification. How we learn to steward right now shapes us for the responsibilities waiting for us in glory.

“Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” Matt. 13:12

Faithful stewards will be entrusted with more responsibility. And that should be our aim. Not out of fear of loss, for then we will act like the faithless servant in the parable of the talents who hid his talent in fear. We should multiply what God gives us out of gratitude because we want to look like THE Faithful Servant, Jesus Himself.

This world isn’t where our inheritance is to be found. We are in training, stewarding what God entrusts to us, waiting for the day when our inheritance will be revealed. And this is SUCH sweet news! Because this world is so broken and incomplete. We wrestle with futility. We might be able to get our dream house, but then something breaks. We might marry our dream man, but then we have a fight. We might enjoy a spectacular feast, but it always comes to an end. This life is not the substance our hearts are longing for. We get to enjoy the shadows, and we should! It would be idiotic to say that we should despise marriage because it’s a shadow. It is a shadow, but it’s still good and pleasant and something we should delight in. The evangelical church so easily falls into the trap of diminishing the shadows like wealth and marriage and the earthiness of embodied life in an attempt to exalt the future fulfillment. But when we seek to diminish the shadow, we unintentionally diminish our understanding of the fulfillment.

But Scripture is clear that these shadows are tainted by sin and death and decay, which is why we read with such relief and joy of our inheritance in Christ that it is:

“an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you…” 1 Peter 1:4

Now, because we are a “royal priesthood” (1 Pet. 2:9), this inheritance is not a private stash for us to hoard. This is a shared, communal identity and portion. Our inheritance is a shared vocation of cosmic significance.

3. See Your Preisthood as a Shared Vocation The church, as God’s royal priests inherit Him and with Him we inherit the nations. Evangelism, then, is not mere recruitment or an attempt at marketing; it is participation in Christ’s inheritance claim. When we preach Christ, we are announcing to the nations that the rightful Heir has come to take His throne. This is exactly why the Great Commission is couched in the language of Jesus’ dominion:

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…” Matt 28:18-19

3. Let Inheritance Fuel Your Work But our inheritance isn’t just the souls of people. It’s the whole world. Paul tells us in Romans 8 that “the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God” (Rom. 8:19). Our inheritance includes a renewed creation, where “the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21). This means that our hope is not for escape from the world, but for its renewal. The meek really shall inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5), because Christ, the rightful Heir, will make all things new—and we, as co-heirs, will share in that glory with Him (Rom. 8:17, 30). And this changes how we see our daily work. If the whole creation is groaning for renewal, then every act of faithfulness we perform in this world — whether cultivating gardens, building businesses, teaching children, or writing code — is the direct outworking of Jesus’ dominion over all of creation.
   

   In fact, Paul directly ties inheritance to our work ethic in Colossians:

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.” Colossians 3:23–24

Our work is not wasted, because it participates in God’s greater project of making all things new. Every task done in Christ is a signpost pointing toward the day when the children of God will be revealed, creation will be set free, and the true inheritance will be unveiled.

This is why even the smallest, most mundane acts matter. Tish Harrison Warren puts it this way in Liturgy of the Ordinary:

“When I stand before the sink brushing my teeth and see my reflection in the mirror, I want it to be an act of blessing, where I remember that these teeth I’m brushing are made by God for a good purpose, that my body is inseparable from my soul, and that both deserve care.…My teeth will be in eternity and are eternally good.When I brush my teeth I am pushing back, in the smallest of ways, the death and chaos that will inevitably overtake my body. I am dust polishing dust. And yet I am not only dust… Brushing my teeth, therefore, is a nonverbal prayer, an act of worship that claims the hope to come.”

Every mundane act of care — folding laundry, scrubbing dishes, brushing teeth — is an act of resurrection hope. It says: yes, futility is real, but it is not forever.

So when we do our ordinary work, we are acting in faith. We are declaring with our hands, “God, I believe you are redeeming this physical world from its bondage to decay. I believe this creation has a future. I believe my body, my labor, and even this tiny task matter for eternity.”

As a priest, everything you do is a spiritual sacrifice of worship (Rom 12:1), which means that it is impossible for you to do anything that is not charged with spiritual significance. Your labor in the Lord is not wasted. We may be working in the shadowlands of futility, but we are advancing the kingdom with every faithful act, every word of witness, every quiet moment of obedience. The inheritance is not just ahead of us; it is breaking in even now as Christ reigns through His people.

One day the shadows will give way to substance. The inheritance that Adam squandered, Israel forfeited, and David’s line fractured has been secured forever by Jesus, the faithful Son. And because we are united to Him, we will inherit with Him — God Himself, the nations, the earth, the new creation, the crown of glory. Until then, we live as priests and heirs, folding laundry, writing code, teaching children, planting gardens, and preaching Christ, all in hope. For soon the groaning will end, the futility will be undone, and the sons and daughters of God will be revealed in glory (Rom. 8:19–21). This is our inheritance. This is our hope. And it is made sure by the true and Faithful Heir, the Lamb who was slain, who will open the scroll and share with us all that is contained in it.

There is no better way to close than to simply to join in the praise of the throne room of heaven as they see the Lamb who opens the scroll and takes his inheritance once and for all:

“And they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.’ Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!’ And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!’ And the four living creatures said, 'Amen!' and the elders fell down and worshiped.” Revelation 5:8-14