Inheritance

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

INHERITANCE

Matt 19:27-30

27 Peter answered him, "We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?" 28 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

NIV

Peter responds to that statement of Jesus about how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, in fact, it is impossible with man to make his own way into the kingdom, but with God all things are possible, or it is God and God alone who makes the way for man to enter into the kingdom of God. So, Peter tells Jesus that they, the disciples have left everything to follow Jesus, so what then will there be for them. There is some confusion among our scholars of old, but then, of course, they also come from various denominational biases which could account for their differing views. Nevertheless, Jesus does respond to Peter’s question as to what reward will they receive, considering they are not like that rich young man who went away sad, because he could not leave everything behind to follow Jesus, but they did. What we first should note is the word renewal. The Greek word used here is only used twice in the whole of the New Testament, Titus being the other place. Titus used it to mean rebirth, as in born again, but this word translated as renewal, even as rebirth, as Jesus used, means the renewal of the earth, the new creation when everything has been said and done, and Jesus is sitting on his throne to judge the living and the dead, the time when he separates the sheep from the goats, and those who accepted him as their Lord and Savior, the sheep, will enter into his rest. Jesus tells them they will also have a throne. If we take the revelation of Jesus that was given to John, we find twenty-four elders sitting on twenty-four thrones. It is possible these could be the leader of each of the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles. This could be the meaning of what Jesus meant. We will only know for sure, when we stand before the great throne of our Lord and hear those words when he says, enter in my good and faithful servant. However, Jesus goes on to include all who left houses and family or their work for the sake of the kingdom. Certainly, Jesus did not mean that we all should become homeless and isolate ourselves from all our family becoming a hermit-like wandering soul, following some spiritual journey. There have been men over the years who have done that, such as various monks who have even taken the vow of silence. How do we, the average everyday type believer who lives in this country, who has a family, a home, along with many possessions leave everything behind to follow Jesus? It has to be a heart issue, for the disciples still had families, as we see Jesus went to Peter’s home and healed his mother-in-law. This heart issue is at the core, as the young rich man’s heart was where his treasure was, his wealth and not seeing Jesus as his treasure. It comes down to where is the focus of our lives, our stuff, or Jesus. Yes, we need the stuff, but Jesus said that if we seek first his kingdom if that is the focus of our lives, he knows we need the stuff, the things the pagans chase after, and that he would ensure that we have enough of the things of this world to make our way through it until the time comes for us to set down our bodies and join him in heaven. We will deal with the first and the last as we get into the parable about the landowner and those he hires to harvest. For now, let us simply understand that our reward is Jesus, as we focus our life on him and our reward will be eternal life.