It is amazing how big the universe is. It was a major feat to send men to the moon. At the speed they traveled it would take years to get to the other planets in the solar system. It would take generations to travel to other stars. Astronomers cannot see planets orbiting other stars. They detect those planets by how the planets pull the star from side to side as the planets revolve around the star. Recently an astronomer was able to detect the presence of a planet by how it dimmed the light of a star as it passed in front of it. This shows how puny we are compared to God Who created the universe! Our own solar system would be like the point of a pin in a photograph of our galaxy. But God the Father created all things through Christ, and Christ sustains it!
About 3000 years ago King David of Israel looked up at the stars and realized the smallness of man compared to the universe and its creator. He asked God the question, “What is man that You are mindful of him?”
In this Bible study let us see that our potential is to inherit the universe and to become members of the God family!
Please open your Bible to Hebrews 2:5. The context of this portion of the book is “the world to come,” that is the kingdom of God.
In verses 6, 7, and partway through 8, Paul, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, quotes Psalm 8:4-6: “But one testified in a certain place, saying: 'What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You take care of him? You made him a little lower than the angels; You crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of Your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet.'” David then continued in Psalm 8 showing that God put in subjection to man the earth and all that is in it. In the rest of Hebrews 2:8 Paul leaves off quoting Psalm 8 and changes the emphasis: “For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him.” The term “all things” is translated “the universe” in the Moffat translation.
This is telling us that we are to inherit the whole universe! We will be able to travel among the galaxies, visiting planets among distant stars. But not yet. That will be in the world to come.
Continue reading in Hebrews 2:9. Jesus Christ was raised from the dead as a glorious spirit being. Verse 10 talks about “bringing many sons to glory.” This shows that we are to be sons of God, and we are to have the same glory that Christ has. In verse 11 we are called brethren of Christ. Brethren is an old fashioned word for brothers. One brother is of the same species as another brother. They are the same kind of thing. We Christians are brothers of Christ, so we are the same kind of being as Christ. Christ is a member of the God family, and we will be members of the God family.
Read Genesis 1:26-27. Being made in the image and likeness of God we have the opportunity to develop the character of God, and we look like God. Philippians 3:20-21 mentions a transformation where we will be conformed to Christ's glorious body. Conformed means to come to have the same form. The King James Version translates verse 21 as, “Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.” Fashioned is #4832 in Strong's Concordance. It means jointly formed, similar, from a root meaning resemblance. We resemble God physically now. We will even be of the same composition as God after our change!
We are called children of God in John 1:12. In Romans 8:14-17 we are called sons of God, children of God and heirs of God. We can even address God the Father as “our Father.” Another place where we are called sons and heirs of God is Galatians 4:1-7.
Read Ephesians 3:14-15. We even have a family name. God's family is named after Him. His family in heaven consists of the Father and Christ. His family on earth consists of the Father's sons who are also Christ's brothers. In verse 19 we read that we are to “be filled with all the fullness of God.” To be filled with all the fullness of God means that we are to literally be God! Like God we will be composed of spirit and live forever! We will have the same holy righteous character that He has. Some might think it is blasphemous to say we will be God, but the scriptures prove it. Of course we will be different from God in two ways: we did not always exist, and we will not be supreme in authority. God the Father will always be in charge with Jesus Christ immediately under Him in His government.
Why is it important to understand that we are to become members of the God family? 1 John 3:1-3 answers that question. Since we are physical beings we cannot fully understand God, but we know that we will be like Him. If we have this hope of becoming members of His family, we will purify ourselves. We will strive to put the filth of sin out of our lives. It gives purpose to our lives and a daily goal.
In the Old Testament book of Job, in chapter 14 verses 14 to 15, we read of the change that we must undergo from physical to spiritual. We learn something else from these verses. We are the work of God's hands. God is trying to accomplish something with us. Isaiah calls God a potter (one who makes clay pots) and humans the clay in Isaiah 64:8. Think of how the potter shapes the clay and puts it on a wheel. He spins the wheel and forms the clay into a round pot or other object. Both Job and Isaiah are writing that we are the work of God's hand!
What is God forming in us? Read about it in Ephesians 4:23-24. The King James Version of verse 24 is, “.and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” A new person is being formed. He or she will be like God, or “after God” as in the King James. The new person will have righteousness as God has. Psalm 119:172 defines righteousness as God's commandments. The new person will be keeping God's commandments. He will have God's perfect holy righteous character.
To be part of God's family means that we will be spirit beings who will live forever and we will have righteous character. Please read the Bible study on “Who and What Is God” to see what God is like now and what we will be like.
Revelation 21:7 sums it up: “'He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.'” “All things” is a good translation. Some versions say, “all this,” which is an understatement. In this one verse we see our potential to inherit the universe and to be true sons and daughters of God. Won't it be wonderful to live for eternity with the Father and Jesus Christ, and with billions of other people changed to immortal spirit, all living God's way of outgoing concern as expressed by His commandments!