God made a covenant with Abraham, noted first in Genesis 12. This covenant included the promise of a great nation, and a land in which they would dwell. This land — Canaan — was given as an inheritance to the Israelite nation. Under that Old Covenant, the Jews were Abraham’s seed and heirs. “So the LORD gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it. The LORD gave them rest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And not a man of all their enemies stood against them; the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand. Not a word failed of any good thing which the LORD had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass” (Joshua 21:43-45). In fact, the very word is used to describe this gift. “These are the areas which the children of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan” (14:1).
Things have changed with Christ. No longer is the physical Jew the heir of God’s promises. As Paul explained in his epistle to the Romans, “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God” (Romans 2:28-29).
Elsewhere Paul also affirmed this truth. “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus … And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:26,29). Now race is no longer significant. “There is neither Jew nor Greek … for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
So Christians (believers in Christ) are the new heirs of God under a New Covenant. Paul wrote in Romans 8 that we are God’s children, “and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” (17). Our inheritance is far greater than physical Israel’s inheritance. Instead of Canaan, our inherited land is heaven itself! Whether it be described as an inheritance or a reward, it is promised by God to us if we are faithful!
I’m on my way to that fair land,
Where the soul of man never dies;
Where there will be no parting hand,
Where the soul never dies.
No sad farewells,
No tear-dimmed eyes;
Where all is love,
And the soul never dies.
