“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.”
1 Peter 1:3-5 NLT
According to Peter’s letter, we have an inheritance waiting for us in Heaven. That is, for those who are believers, of course. Someone who has denied God and turned his or her backs on His offer of grace through His Son Jesus will miss out. No point really in their having a Heavenly inheritance, because they won’t be going to Heaven anyway. But we pilgrims, followers of Jesus Christ, and who have embraced His salvation, now “live with great expectation” about the “priceless inheritance” awaiting us.
But what is this “pure and undefiled” inheritance? If we have thoughts of anything we see as valuable in this life, such as a nice fat bank account, or a few bars of gold, we will be very mistaken, because our earthly currencies won’t appear in Heaven. Popular cartoons depict an angel with wings, dressed in white, and sitting on a cloud plucking a harp, but that won’t be it either. No, our inheritance in Heaven will be everything that God has promised us when we embraced His offer of salvation. We won’t need any “stuff” in Heaven because we will have God Himself. Eternal life in Heaven is our inheritance. We get a glimpse of some of that this means from Revelation 21:4, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”” All the negatives that we experience in our lives here on Planet Earth won’t be in Heaven. I’m sure we can think of many more.
Jesus told His disciples about our Heavenly inheritance in Matthew 6:19-21, “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be”.
We have no idea of the full extent on what we can expect when we get to Heaven. In fact, although life in Heaven is our expectation, there are verses in Revelation that indicate that we will still be spending our lives here on Earth, though by then the earth as we know it will have been replaced. Revelation 21:1,3, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. … I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them”. There are also verses that talk about us pilgrims ruling and reigning with Christ. Revelation 20:6, “Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. For them the second death holds no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand years”.
Eternal life will be amazing. The treasure in Heaven, our inheritance, will be Jesus Himself. It doesn’t get better than that!
Father God. We look forward with eager anticipation for the time when we cross the threshold into Heaven. Come Lord Jesus! Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 