His Inheritance—and Ours

Read: Psalm 2

[The Lord says,] “Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the whole earth as your possession.” Psalm 2:8

IN WORD

It’s an astounding promise. God, speaking to His Son, doesn’t just foretell that the nations will belong to the one true King. He urges the Son to ask for them, as though the giving is contingent on the request. But it’s a prayer that is sure to be answered. When the beloved Son, fully in line with the Father’s will, prays a prayer that the Father has promised to answer, it’s a sure thing. The nations will belong to the Son.

That’s a wonderful truth, but what does it have to do with us? Well, before the Son ascended to the throne at the right hand of God, He gave His followers an assignment to make disciples of all nations—not just people among the nations, but entire “nations,” or collective groupings of people as a whole. There is a social side of the mission that encompasses much more than each individual. And even though the Son could simply ask the Father, as the messianic promise assures Him, the mission is to include the followers of the Son. That transforms His prayer from “Lord, give Me the nations” to “Lord, give us the nations.” That’s different. And much more encouraging.

IN DEED

Have you ever prayed with that kind of unity with the Son? Perhaps you’ve prayed for people of all nations to come to Christ, but have you prayed with Him that people of all nations—and whole nations themselves—would be given to “us”? He in us, we in Him, all in the mission together. That unity in prayer with the King Himself adds faith and power to our requests. We aren’t praying that we would win nations ourselves, or that God would give the Son the nations. We are praying along with Jesus that we, together with Him, would be inheritors of a Kingdom full of vast nations.

Let that truth shape your vision of where history is leading and fuel your prayers. In the Spirit, we are partners with God in taking territory for Jesus that, according to the prophecy, we will reign over with Him. There is no greater destiny than that.

ADDITIONAL READING: Romans 8:17

The impulse to prayer, within our hearts, is evidence that Christ is urging our claims in heaven.

AUGUSTUS HOPKINS STRONG