…to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you... (1 Peter 1:4)

With the death of my father last week, inheritance has been on my mind. Not whatever earthly inheritance I might receive from his estate. That is actually farthest from my thoughts. No, it is the inheritance that awaits my father and all other followers of Jesus. That has been a comfort to my heart and soul.

The Apostle Peter early on in his first epistle brings the Christian’s inheritance to the fore. In doing so, he illuminates several key aspects of this inheritance. Most importantly, he acknowledges that only proper recipients will inherit. Who are those proper recipients? The elect exiles of verse 1. It is not based on our personal characteristics of wealth, strength, or wisdom but on the choice and work of God to make us His children and if we are His children, then we, by necessity, are heirs (cf. Galatians 4:7).

Another key consideration about receiving an inheritance is that one must be alive to receive it. Read almost any will and it is clear that the inheritance goes to living descendants. Peter makes this clear in 1:3. He declares that God has caused us to be born again. This new birth instills in us a living hope. And this all happens because of resurrection from the dead, the resurrection of Jesus being the firstfruits of our own resurrection. Three times in one verse, it is emphasized that life is a prerequisite for receiving the inheritance.

Peter then describes the inheritance. I mentioned this in the sermon but consider again these wonderful truths.

• It is imperishable. In those days, a good portion of an inheritance would have been of living things such as cattle or sheep that could perish and thus diminish the overall value of the inheritance. Not so the Christian’s inheritance. It will lose none of its value.
• It is undefiled. It cannot be ruined. It won’t turn to dust in our hands.
• It is unfading. It is everlasting. It will be as great 1000 years in as it is on the day we receive it.
• It is kept in heaven for you. We don’t have to do anything to try and keep it safe or preserve it. God guards and shields it from anyone or anything that would seek to steal or damage it.

Saints, we are receiving an inheritance. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews says that inheritance is a kingdom that cannot be shaken (12:28). That same verse tells us how we are to respond to that reality. First, we are to be grateful. And second, we are to offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe. We do so because we know the inheritance is not the main thing but the giver of the inheritance and relationship with Him is.