Deuteronomy 10:9

The Lord is his inheritance.

The Lord the Christian’s inheritance

The obvious meaning of having the Lord for our inheritance is, that we have dedicated ourselves to His service, that we have surrendered ourselves altogether to Him, the energies of the body and the faculties of the mind, to do His will and advance His kingdom and glory; again, that we have secured Him as our own forever, that we are attached to Him as a man to a possession which he cannot alienate; further, that we have, as it were, the use of the Lord God Almighty, that His perfections and His grace are guaranteed to us to be employed for our personal advantage; and, lastly, that we are in the actual enjoyment of those blessings which belong to living in a state of favour with the righteous Governor of the universe.

I. In life the true believer realises the promise, and has the Lord for his inheritance.

1. Because he deliberately chooses Him in preference to the charms and allurements of the world. In proportion as he is separated from the world, does the Lord become his inheritance; he is more closely united to Him, and more exclusively employed in His service; he perceives the wisdom of his choice, tastes of the blessings that are at God’s right hand, and finds a supply of all his wants from the fulness that is in Christ Jesus; that the Lord is his portion and his sole inheritance, he has taken Him for his own, and every other less perfect and substantial he has absolutely and utterly renounced.

2. The Christian has the Lord for his inheritance, in that all things are working together for his final salvation.

3. The true believer has the Lord for his inheritance, because he has the peace of God shed abroad in his heart. The voice of Christian experience is unanimous. God does not hide Himself from those whom He has given to His beloved Son.

4. The true believer has surrendered to him the Lord Christ Himself as his inheritance; he has Him for his own. It is the assurance of St. John that “he that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life.”

II. But not only in this life, but also after death--not only in time, but also in eternity, has the Christian the Lord for his inheritance. He is not deprived of his portion by the separation of soul and body, by the change of scene, nor the commencement of a spiritual existence. Not only is it his own now, but also in the world to come.

1. For, first, He is eternally with him. Wherever is the heaven where Christ lives and reigns, there is the habitation of His chosen people. They are with Him where He is, they see Him as He is, they walk in the light of His countenance.

2. But the great truth stands out in all its excellency when we find it is the presence of the Lord that constitutes the believer’s happiness and joy. Every joy and blessing of those blessed places originates in the fact, that we are to dwell in the presence of the Lord. His presence is the fountain and spring of happiness to every individual of His glorified Church.

Conclusion: Let us bear in mind--

1. That whether we have made the Lord our inheritance must be the criterion of our hopes. To have no part in Him is to be an outcast from the promises, to live with the Divine wrath upon our heads.

2. Let us also seriously inquire, what will be the state of those in the next world who have not made the Lord their inheritance? Can their souls be conceived in any way capable of participating in heavenly joy? Is there anything in the circumstances or employments of redeemed spirits which can fill up the measure of their cup, and make them perfectly and forever blessed? (H. Hughes, M. A.)