Jesus: The Believer’s Inheritance

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  It is fascinating to observe when people talk about inheritance, ones mind would immediately cater properties, wills, houses, jewelries, and other material things. All of which are centered on material temporal things.   In 1 Peter 1:4 , although The Apostle Peter used the term “inheritance” once in his letter, Apostle Paul on the other hand, mentioned this term in his letters several times. ( Eph_1:14 , Eph_1:18 , Eph_5:5 , Col_3:24 ,) But what is so significant about this particular emphasis of Peter? After all, he made a brief description of the inheritance (verse 4-5) a believer will obtain now that he is part of God’s family.   The term “inheritance” is not something new among Jewish ears. Going back to the OT, when God divided the promised land among the 12 tribes of Israel, every tribe received a portion of the land as their inheritance, except for the tribe of Levi…”the priestly tribe”. They were the only tribe that didn’t get one. God’s reason for doing so is i...

What makes someone truly human? How are humans and animals similar and different?

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Humans and animals are similar in many ways. They both are born; they grow; they get hungry; they get thirsty; they rest and sleep; they get tired; they reproduce their own kind; and they both die. However, despite the similarities, there are vast differences; primarily, that man is created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27; 2:7).

Unlike animals, human beings exhibit the following as God’s image bearers: (1) as moral beings, we have been given the ability to choose and determine what is morally right or wrong; (2) as emotional beings, we manifest a variety of emotions such as love, anger, sadness, hatred; (3) as relational beings, we desire and long for relationships and to belong to a community (Genesis 2:18); (4) as intelligent beings, we invent, engage in debate and increase in knowledge (from building cities and cultures [Genesis 4:17, 20-22] to inventing the internet, smart phones, tablets and sending astronauts and spacecrafts to space); and finally (5) as spiritual beings, we humans are religious by nature (the person who lives in the metropolis and the one who lives in the remotest jungle have one thing in common—they worship something or someone. All these aspects of humanity make animals clearly different.

 

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Jesus: The Believer’s Inheritance

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  It is fascinating to observe when people talk about inheritance, ones mind would immediately cater properties, wills, houses, jewelries, and other material things. All of which are centered on material temporal things.   In 1 Peter 1:4 , although The Apostle Peter used the term “inheritance” once in his letter, Apostle Paul on the other hand, mentioned this term in his letters several times. ( Eph_1:14 , Eph_1:18 , Eph_5:5 , Col_3:24 ,) But what is so significant about this particular emphasis of Peter? After all, he made a brief description of the inheritance (verse 4-5) a believer will obtain now that he is part of God’s family.   The term “inheritance” is not something new among Jewish ears. Going back to the OT, when God divided the promised land among the 12 tribes of Israel, every tribe received a portion of the land as their inheritance, except for the tribe of Levi…”the priestly tribe”. They were the only tribe that didn’t get one. God’s reason for doing so is i...
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