Law and Life

Inheritance and Possession

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Law

Genre: Speech

Lesson: 34 of 39

Track: 140

Dictation Name: RR156S34

Date: 1960s-1970s

[Rushdoony] Our Scripture this morning is Leviticus 18, verses 24 through 30. Our subject: Inheritance and Possession. We have the past few meetings been dealing with inheritance and we shall deal with it again next Sunday morning and on two subsequent occasions. Inheritance and Possession, Leviticus 18, 24 through 30. “Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: and the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you: (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)

That the land spew not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spewed out the nations that were before you. For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people. Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the Lord your God.”

As we have seen, God’s fatherhood is a legal fact. By the adoption of grace, we are the sons of God. According to Galatians 3:29, we have been made Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. Those who meet the spiritual requirements are promised far-reaching material blessing. Because we are made Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise, the reference is very clearly and emphatically to Genesis 17, 1 through 9, and Genesis 22, 17 and 18. So that the New Testament very emphatically makes clear that we are heirs to the promises to Abraham, very literally so. If we are sons of God by faith, according to Galatians 4:7, we are then an heir of God through Christ. Again according to Romans 8:17, we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together. The work of Christ makes us joint heirs. Our readiness to stand with Him and to suffer for His name’s sake marks us as true heirs. Our inheritance is real because Christ’s work is real and our membership in Him is real. Every aspect of the equation is real. To spiritualize any part of it is to erode the whole equation. We are the sons of God by adoption, heirs together with Christ, and this is a legal fact.

Because God’s fatherhood is a legal fact, then our heirship is a legal fact, and we have been called to serve God and reclaim our lost inheritance. The fullness to that inheritance is the new creation, but it is here and now also in time as well as in eternity. Now, Scripture makes clear that a godly inheritance of things material and spiritual is a necessity. According to Proverbs 13:22, a good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children, and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. Now, Hebrew scholars tell us that this very obviously means that not only is it that the just man, the godly man, can alone leave a true inheritance, but that they also will inherit from the wicked. Now, no time limit or span or location is placed on that promise. It is very emphatically stated that the godly alone can leave (The just is the word that is used) an inheritance, and that they and their children and children’s children inherit what the ungodly have amassed. This is quite a startling statement. It means when the just stand fully and clearly on the whole Word of God, on justification through the atoning sacrifice of Christ, or the lamb slain typifying the Christ in the Old Testament, and on the law of God as the way of sanctification, they are heirs of all things. But they cannot deny the law of God and be heirs under that law. Notice, it is emphatically the just that they are called; those who live in terms of the law requirements of God, who walk by faith and obedience to the Word of God. And it is stated very plainly that when men meet these requirements then they not only leave a good inheritance, but they accumulate the inheritance of the ungodly.

This, of course, ties in with what our Lord said as He dealt with the things men seek after. The Gentiles, He said, meaning that this quest for things when it has priority in our lives is the mark of those outside the covenant. But in Matthew 6:33, He says seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Now we don’t understand what righteousness means if we separate it from obedience to the law. And all these things, He says, that the Gentiles seek after shall be added unto you. To place priority upon gaining wealth, however, Scripture also says, invites judgment. According to Proverbs 20:21, an inheritance or estate may be gotten hastily at the beginning, but the end of thereof shall not be blessed.

Now when Scripture speaks of the inheritance of believers, it describes it as a total one. Over and over again it declares that their inheritance is the kingdom of God, as Matthew 5:34, 1st Corinthians 6, verses 9 and 10, Galations 5:21, Ephesians 5:5, James 2:2, and many another passage. Their inheritance is also declared to be the earth; Psalm 37:29 and Matthew 5:5. It is declared to be salvation in the fullest sense of the word in Hebrews 1:14. It is declared to be the blessing of God in 1 Peter 3:9. In Romans 8, 17 and 18, it is declared to be glory, and in 1st Corinthians 15:50; incorruption. Thus it is a total thing; material and spiritual. Now as we look further at Biblical law concerning inheritance, one of the things that comes out is that land and property belong to the family, not to the individual. As a result, there were no wills in the Bible in the Old Testament times when the law was given. In the New Testament time, there was a knowledge of wills because it existed in the Greco-Roman world, but in the Holy Land, they did not as such exist. The estate remained in the family, the only question was who was the family? The family was defined in terms of the faith. The ungodly had to be excommunicated from the nation and from the family. So we do not understand excommunication in the Bible unless we see it as excommunication from the household of faith (the church of the Old Testament), from the nation, and from the family. It meant there could be no inheritance or citizenship, of covenant or church membership, or of family membership. Among orthodox Jews this is still the case, so that the service of the dead is read over anyone who departs from the faith. He is dead, therefore he cannot inherit. Because property belongs to the family in Biblical law, to be with the father meant to hold the property. Remember how the father reminds the older son in the parable of the prodigal son, thou art ever with me and all that I have is thine. Now this was fully in accord with Biblical practice; to be with the father was to be with the property and to be a possessor of it.

Theologically, the same fact holds; to be with the Father, God the Father, by faith and obedience, is to be the blessed possessor of the kingdom of God. It means then we are heirs and that we can pray in terms of that fact. Now Scripture also speaks of a godly son and godly children, as we saw two weeks ago, as an inheritance from the Lord, according to Psalm 127, verse 3. But we find, as we turn to the New Testament, God uses the same language regarding His children; us. In Ephesians 1:18, the saints are spoken of as God’s inheritance, so that when we truly believe, when we walk by faith and when we obey God, then are we indeed sons. We manifest our sonship, we manifest the grace of God. Then we are heirs. At the same time we are heirs also of God. God regards us as His inheritance.

The biblical words for inheritance mean both succession and possession. Now as we turn to our Scripture with this background in mind, we find that certain things are apparent in the law here, as given in Leviticus 18, verse 24 through 30. It makes clear of course that God’s covenant requires faith and obedience. And so, God here declares “Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you.” First of all, this passage makes clear that defilement is both personal and national. When the people are defiled the nation is defiled. When the nation is defiled it is because the people is defiled, and the judgment of God is upon both.

Therefore, it follows second that this inheritance is both personal and national. God disinherited Israel, both as a nation and as individuals, and only as they separated themselves from Israel and became a part of the covenant of faith self-consciously saying they were departing from that to be with this, or as Hebrews declares we must go outside the camp, by camp meaning the language of the wilderness journey, leaving the old Israel, leaving the old church, leaving the old nation, self-consciously saying we belong not to that because it is apostate, but we belong to this; the new covenant of our God. We are disinherited personally and nationally unless we separate ourselves in terms of the law, in terms of God, in terms of Christ our redeemer, and even as He was crucified outside the camp, cast out, so we cast them out as it were and separate ourselves unto Him.

Then third, disinheritance and judgment are both of God and of the earth itself. Over and over again in this Scripture we are told, as for example in verse 27, “For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled. That the land spew not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spewed out the nations that were before you.” In other words, God said this is both natural and supernatural, the earth is the Lord’s. The laws of all creation are God’s creation, so that the very earth rejects that which violates God’s word, so that God supernaturally from heaven brings His judgment upon those who violate His word, His law order, and the earth, the land itself spews them out, vomits them literally, because they violate that order which God has established in all of creation. The land becomes defiled by them, and after a certain point the earth itself cannot bear them, and therefore it disinherits them. Now again, we must take Scripture very literally. It is telling us that there is a natural judgment. We referred to this on many occasions before; earthquakes, drought, floods, natural disasters. This is what Scripture is talking about. The earth vomits out the people, it can no longer abide their defiling presence, and therefore it brings judgment to bear upon them.

Then fourth, our passage very definitely tells us that sin not only disinherits, but it renders us unclean, and thus our text spells it out; that sin defiles, it renders unclean. Now uncleanness in the Bible is again a total concept. It is religious, it is moral, it is ceremonial. It means pollution and ultimately death. There are those I know who say that the idea of uncleanness in the Bible is purely ceremonial and has to do with entering into the temple and handling holy vessels, but that idea becomes meaningless unless you also insist with Scripture that uncleanness is religious and moral, and that’s why it is also ceremonial. The temple cannot be defiled by sin, and the man who is unclean when he comes in is unclean because morally and religiously he is defiled by sin.

Now some will argue and have argued against the idea of the inheritance and heirship being a material thing by saying well look at the early church, think of how much they suffered. Indeed they did. But here again history has been falsified, because while it is true the early church suffered fearfully, they also suffered because not only did they suffer for worshipping Christ rather than Caesar, but because of the intense envy and hatred due to their success and prosperity. This is a fact that is too seldom stressed, but we find even in the New Testament before the fall of Jerusalem, in Paul’s letters that the Christian were members of Caesar’s household, which meant cabinet. That precisely because God blessed them for their faith and obedience, Christians were rising to the top almost at once. They were exercising a power far beyond their numbers, and for this they were hated with a passion. Why else would Rome bother to persecute a group of people who were just a small handful? They were afraid of their power, afraid of the way they were advancing materially as well as spiritually, in position, in influence. And as a result, even when they were still a handful, long before they spread over the empire, Christians were persecuted because they were prospering. And it will be the same in the days ahead. As men get back to the whole word of God, they are going to be blessed and prospered and it will create conflict. But it will lead to victory.

Again and again I have heard it said across country on college campuses, how totally lacking in quality the students are today. Because of their grade school training and high school training in the public schools, their minds are blown, to use the expression I’ve heard so often. There are too few students that are worth anything, and while they prefer their own kind, the liberal and leftist in the graduate schools, the caliber of those in graduate schools is appalling. It’s easy for Christians to take over, and hence their hostility against the Christian graduate student and student, because he is so obviously far out in front. And in a few years, as the products of the Christian schools begin to hit more and more colleges and universities, the differences are going to be greater, even the poorer Christian schools turn out products so far ahead of the public schools. So that while numerically we may be smaller, our influence and power will be great because God blesses and prospers, naturally and supernaturally, those who walk in faith and obedience.

Then finally, what this Scripture tells us it that just as unbelief and disobedience lead to disinheritance, inheritance means dominion, because it means that the blessing of God follows faith and obedience, and all true heirs obey the Father. Antinomianism is the mark of the disinherited. We cannot be sons and not heirs. True sons pray to their Father, their legal Father and guardian, in confidence of their common estate, power, and dominion, and they pray that it be used in the Father’s discretion and wisdom to prosper His kingdom. Thus, when we pray we are to pray in Jesus’ name as joint heirs with Christ to the Father as His heirs. To pray in faith and obedience confident that God honors His family, that it is His avowed and declared purpose to bless them. It is not for us to dictate to God, but it is up to us and required of us to pray in the confidence that He who chooses our inheritance for us intends to bless us and endow us richly. The old hymn, therefore, is very, very sound. Thou art coming to a King, large petitions with thee bring, for His grace and power are such none can ever ask too much, none can ever ask too much. How much more so when that King is our legal Father, has declared us to be heirs, and has declared that we are His inheritance. Therefore, it is indeed a sin when we do not pray and when praying we do not pray boldly and confidently in faith and obedience. Let us pray.

O Lord, our God, we come to Thee as Thy children through the adoption of grace, and as Thine heirs we come, O Lord, to claim our children and our children’s children, for Thy kingdom, for Jesus Christ. We come, O Lord, to claim the churches and this land, that in Thy name they may be reclaimed and made Thine again. We claim, O Lord, the entire earth, the nations beyond the seas. O Lord, our God, make us strong in Thy Word, instant in prayer, confident in Thy grace and Thy promises, which in Christ Jesus are yea and amen, that in Thy name we may, as heirs, exercise dominion and subdue all things to Christ, our king and our joint heir. Thou hast called us, O Lord, to be kings, priests, and prophets unto Thee and in Thy name. Forgive us, O Lord, when too often we have acted as the slaves and the beaten ones of the ungodly, and by Thy grace and mercy make us a strong people unto Thee in Christ. In His name we pray, Amen.

Are there any questions now, first of all on our lesson? Yes?

[Audience member] Regarding the land {?}

[Rushdoony] Regarding the what?

[Audience member] Regarding the {?} the ungodly, the land spews out.

[Rushdoony] I’m not sure I got all of the question, but could you repeat it again?

[Audience member] The land spews out the ungodly {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes

[Audience member] Is there a {?} way, the godly of Israel and the ungodly of Israel to {?}

[Rushdoony] Right, yes oh. First of all, the Canaanites were spewed out. Then when Israel and Judah became ungodly, they too were spewed out by the land, that the land might enjoy her Sabbaths. The ungodly were regarded as finished and were flushed down the drain of history to be destroyed. The godly were preserved and were carried into captivity and were given instructions as to how to prepare themselves to buy houses, to enter into business, to stay there for seventy years, and God would prosper them in captivity, as He did. So that God made provision for the godly who separated themselves unto Him at the time of the captivity. Yes?

[Audience member] You, number one, mentioned that an inheritance implies dominion. We may be heirs of the earth in the sense that it will come to {?}, but it doesn’t imply mean that we will exercise dominion, we have to do that. {?} must be accomplished by us, we don’t get dominion automatically.

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[Audience member] Maybe I’m {?} but it seems to imply by simply happening to you by inheritance necessarily you will exercise dominion. I don’t think that’s correct.

[Rushdoony] Yes, it is. First of all, since we have the adoption of grace we are the legal sons. The earth is ours.

[Audience member] By legal right.

[Rushdoony] By legal right. It is in the hands of the enemy, but it is obedience to the law that is the plan of conquest, so that as we obey we also conquer, and exercise dominion.

[Audience member] Right.

[Rushdoony] So that it is both a legal fact and, to the extent that we obey, it progressively becomes an actual fact.

[Audience member] But that’s conditional, we must obey the law.

[Rushdoony] Right.

[Audience member] Well, second question, talking about earthquakes, floods, and famines and so forth, do you believe that these, what people call natural disasters, are specific judgments for specific national sins, or are they just a general result of God’s curse of the earth {?}?

[Rushdoony] Yes, I think it is both. First, the earth was cursed, and therefore it has built into it certain handicaps to man, certain penalties. But at the time of great sin, these are intensified, and we are told that as men become more and more godly, and the earth begins to be fully under the dominion of God, then these natural penalties of sin also disappear, and the desert places shall blossom like the rose, we are told. So that as the righteousness of God is more and more manifested throughout the earth, these natural consequences of the fall will recede. Never entirely in this world, totally of course in the new creation. Yes?

[Audience member] Haven’t you said that natural disasters have increased since World War I?

[Rushdoony] Yes. Especially since World War II. Natural disasters have increased. Yes?

[Audience member] Would you please comment on the {?} over the radio, well not only over the radio, but {?} have been throughout the century.

[Rushdoony] Yes, well Matthew 24 makes it very clear that these things were signs of the judgment on Jerusalem but not the end of the world. There are many of course predicting the end of the world very soon, or the rapture, in fact the Jehovah’s Witnesses have stuck their necks out and forecast September of 1975 as the end. Of course, they will do what they did some years ago, I think it was Russell, the founder of the group, prophesied something like 1914 or 15 or 16 as the end, and then he spiritualized it away. He said that Christ had entered the heavenly sanctuary so the old age had ended and so on. So no doubt they will do something, and some of their leaders are beginning are to hedge a little as the date approaches because they’re beginning to realize it could be possibly very embarrassing, and of course Hal Lindsey has said it will come by 1980 at the latest.

We cannot set dates, first of all. Second, we do know that, emphatically, before the end, every people, tribe, tongue, and nation will be brought under the dominion of Christ and His kingdom. They will not all be totally converted by any means, but they will be governed by men of God. We’ve got a long ways to go for that. Yes? What’s that?

[Audience member] {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes!

[Laughter]

[Audience member] Can you explain Luke 20:18?

[Rushdoony] Luke 20:18. Luke 20:18, or beginning with verse 17, “And he beheld them, and said, “What is this then that is written, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?’ Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” Well the reference is very clearly to Christ, the capstone or cornerstone, and it declares that whoever finds Christ a stumbling block is going to be broken by Him. But even worse, those on whom Christ falls in judgment, He will grind them to powder. Does that clarify?

[Audience member] I thought perhaps the broken might refer to recanting, you know.

[Rushdoony] No, no. In other words, the capstone and the building, if it tumbled and fell on anyone, it would break his head. But if it were used as a grinding stone, if it falls on him, it will grind him to powder. So it’s talking about degrees of judgment. Yes?

[Audience member] One point, the Scriptures speak of a nation of God’s people, how does that compare with the nationalism of today {?} whole world {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes. The Bible is not saying it’s going to be a one world order governmentally. That’s the only way the modern man can think of a world united; governmentally. It means rather united in Christ, without destroying the integrity of the various national groups, because they have their place under God. Thus, there is no reason to believe that in God’s kingdom on earth there will be no longer any Russians or Chinese, but it does mean emphatically they will alike be governed by the Word of God. The principle of unity is Christ, it is not a world state. And this of course is where many groups like Armstrong’s group and others go sadly astray. They are insistent on seeing a one world state to come either through Christ’s return; premillennial return, or through some kind of human agency; with the British Israelites the British empire. These are all heretical views I believe. Yes?

[Audience member] We talk about pre-trib, {?}, post-trib, all these refer to the rapture.

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[Audience member] But when we talk about pre-mil, post-mil or a-mil, does that refer always to the return of Christ?

[Rushdoony] Yes, right. The pre-trib and post-trib are schools within the premillennial school of thought, so that they do not have reference to ideas in either amillennialism or postmillennialism. And you have within the pre-mil school, the belief in pre-tribulation rapture, which is a very modern thing that came from a charismatic girl in Scotland in the last century. You do have the belief on the part of several raptures, these are departures from the historic premillennial position. But they do not apply those terms outside of premillennialism. Are there any other questions? Well if not, let us bow our heads for the benediction. And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, Amen.

[End of tape]