Joint Heirs With the Last Adam
“Wait a minute,” someone might say, “if the devil stole the earth from man through sin, how is it possible for us to really walk in the fulfillment of those verses?”
It’s possible because of Jesus! It’s possible because He came to earth as a Man and reversed what happened through the Fall.
Through His death and resurrection Jesus got back everything the devil stole in the Garden. He not only restored THE BLESSING of God and opened the way for mankind to be born again, He reclaimed all of creation because it rightfully belongs to Him: “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him” (Colossians 1:16).
Remember what Genesis 1 reveals about how in the beginning God created the earth for Adam? Well, Jesus is “the last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45)! He’s the first Man ever to be born again from spiritual death to life. As the firstborn Son of the Father, God has appointed Him “heir of all things” (Hebrews 1:2), and all of us who have been born again by faith in Him have been appointed to be heirs right along with Him! Romans 8 says it as plain as day: “The Spirit [Himself] beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (verses 16-17).
I realize I’ve already said this but I’m going to say it again: As a believer you are rich right now beyond your wildest imaginations! You’ve inherited everything you will ever need or want—everything beyond what you can ask or think—and all of it will respond to faith in God and His WORD.
“But Brother Copeland, if that’s true, why do so many Christians struggle financially?”
Because we’ve been religiously brainwashed. We’ve been wrongly taught by well-meaning but biblically ignorant people to think and say things like, “Oh, we’re unworthy…” and “You just never know what God is going to do.”
Out in West Texas we have a word that applies well to that kind of thinking: “Bull!”
God told us in His Book exactly what He will do and we can expect Him to do everything He said. In fact, we should expect Him to do it. We should expect Him to increase us more and more, us and our children—and if it disturbs someone’s religious sensitivities, too bad!
We shouldn’t pull back on believing God’s WORD just because it shocks a few people. We ought to believe everything He said about wealth, no matter how high voltage it might be.
Take 1 Timothy 6:17, for example: “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.” That verse could be considered shocking not only because of what it says but because of what it doesn’t say. It doesn’t say, “Charge the rich in this world to go sell everything they have and give it away.” It doesn’t tell us to get rid of all our material possessions and shun this old world’s goods because they’re really bad and God doesn’t want us to have them.
No, as we’ve already seen, the goods on this planet don’t belong to the world. They belong to the Body of Christ and we should be in control of them. We ought to be so financially BLESSED that the world is coming to us for help and we’re sharing with them. That way we can show them the love of God by giving to them of our goods.
8 : BVOV
