But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.
Psalms 37:11 NIV
When it was mentioned that the man Moses was the meekest that there was in his days, one must ask: What did he inherit? Did he inherit the earth? On the contrary, he died before getting to the land of promise. Although the bible said Moses was the ‘meekest man’ in his days.
Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.
Numbers 12:3 KJV
Meanwhile, the Lord Jesus also said in Matthew 5:5: “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”. So, what exactly does it mean to inherit the earth? Let us consider Paul’s word as he talked about his hardships as a minister of the gospel.
As grieved and mourning, yet [we are] always rejoicing; as poor [ourselves, yet] bestowing riches on many; as having nothing, and [yet in reality] possessing all things.
2 Corinthians 6:10 AMPC
We can clearly see from this scripture that Paul does not have great possession of materials things, nor a fat bank account. On the contrary, he said that he had nothing, he had no asset that people may point at. This is to establish that, though Christians are not to live in penury, but to inherit the earth as mentioned in the beatitude is not to have a great wealth of material things.
What does it mean to inherit?
To inherit is to come into possession of something. What was not originally yours now handed over to you. You may not necessarily need to do anything as such. For example, a son that inherit his father’s property is eligible mainly because he is a son, he might not be required to do anything to come into this possession. But because he is a son, he becomes the heir of everything his father had.
Likewise, it is important to note that to inherit the earth is not something that we earned. That all have sinned is not necessarily because of what was done by the individual. But the sin nature is what we inherited from Adam. However, through Jesus Christ, we have a new identity and a new inheritance. Since we are now sons and daughters of God, and joint-heirs with the Lord Jesus, we have this inheritance. And we preserve our citizenship of the kingdom by living the kingdom life. Meanwhile, one of the kingdom lifestyle is meekness. This is what qualifies to become a heir, our citizenship of the kingdom.