There is an interesting verse at the end of Hebrews, chapter 1. It reads: "Therefore, angels are only servants-spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation." Normally we think of an inheritance as something we receive in this life if someone else dies. Here the future tense is used to show that believers will receive (future) salvation as an inheritance and angels care for people while they are physically alive so that the fulfillment of that inheritance will be realized eventually. The implication is that the fulfillment of that inheritance will be realized after the believer dies, himself. It occurs to me that this kind of inheritance calls for two deaths. Jesus' death and resurrection made heirs of all who would come to trust in Him. We have the assurance of becoming heirs by the reassurance of the Holy Spirit's presence and by the sure promise of God in scripture. But then we, as heirs, must also die...first to self that we might become heirs and secondly in our bodies that we might directly enter into the Lord's presence and complete the inheritance. I love the truth of this verse, that God has provided a way back to Himself and that He will care for His children so that they will fully realize the inheritance. Jesus' death becomes a gateway that our death to self allows us to walk through.
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blessings,
Rob Smith
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