In Acts 26:18 we see that when our eyes are opened and we have a turn, a transfer, from darkness and satanic authority to light and God, we may receive forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins is the base of all the blessings of the New Testament jubilee. The genuine forgiveness of sins comes through the opening of the eyes and the transfer from Satan to God. Therefore, we need to have our eyes opened and to have a transfer from the authority of Satan to God in order to receive the complete and perfect forgiveness of sins.
As the result of having our eyes opened and of being transferred from the authority of Satan to God, we not only have the forgiveness of sins on the negative side, but also we receive an inheritance on the positive side. This divine inheritance is the Triune God Himself with all that He has, all that He has done, and all that He will do for His redeemed people. This Triune God is embodied in the all-inclusive Christ (Col. 2:9), who is the portion allotted to the saints as their inheritance (1:12). The Holy Spirit, who has been given to the saints, is the foretaste, the seal, the pledge, and the guarantee of this divine inheritance (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 1:13-14), which we are sharing and enjoying today in God’s New Testament jubilee as a foretaste and will share and enjoy in full in the coming age and for eternity (1 Pet. 1:4). In the type of the jubilee in Leviticus 25:8-13, the main blessings were the liberty proclaimed and the returning of every man unto his own inheritance. In the fulfillment of the jubilee here, liberation from the authority of darkness and receiving the divine inheritance are also the primary blessings.
This inheritance in Acts 26:18 is Christ as the embodiment of the processed Triune God. This Christ is the portion of the saints. In Colossians 1:12 Paul says that the Father has qualified us “for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light.” This portion is the “lot,” the inheritance, of the saints. The inheritance is a lot, and this lot is a portion. The saints are the persons who have been sanctified by God; hence, the portion of the saints in Colossians 1:12 is the portion of those who have been sanctified by faith in the Lord in Acts 26:18.
In the Old Testament the twelve tribes of Israel each received an allotment, a portion, of the good land for an inheritance. The good land is a type of the all-inclusive Christ given to us as our inheritance. Therefore, Christ, the embodiment of the processed Triune God, is our inheritance. This inheritance is the processed Triune God fully embodied in the all-inclusive person of Christ, who through resurrection has become the life-giving Spirit.
According to Acts 26:18, the divine inheritance is among those who have been sanctified by faith in Christ. This sanctification is not only positional but also dispositional (Rom. 6:19, 22). Sanctification (being made holy) is not only a matter of position, that is, not only a matter of being separated from a common, worldly position to a position for God, as illustrated in Matthew 23:17 and 19, where the gold is sanctified by the temple and the gift is sanctified by the altar through a change of position, and in 1 Timothy 4:3-5, where food is sanctified by the saints’ prayer. Sanctification is also a matter of disposition, that is, a matter of being transformed from the natural disposition to a spiritual one, as mentioned in 2 Corinthians 3:18 and Romans 12:2. This involves a long process, beginning from regeneration (1 Pet. 1:2-3; Titus 3:5), passing through the whole Christian life (1 Thes. 4:3; Heb. 12:14; Eph. 5:26), and being completed at the time of rapture, at the maturity of life (1 Thes. 5:23).
To be sanctified positionally is only to have a change in position and usage; to be sanctified dispositionally is to be transformed in nature by and with the holy nature of God. Sanctification is a saturation with God as our possession for our enjoyment today. It will consummate in our maturity in the divine life so that we may resemble God and be qualified to fully possess and enjoy Him as our inheritance in the coming age and for eternity.
We need to pray desperately to the Lord that we want to experience Him as the content of the full, complete, perfect, and thorough gospel that He revealed to Paul as mentioned in Acts 26:18. When we pray this way, the Lord Jesus will appear to us, and His appearing will give us a vision. If we experience the whole gospel, we shall not merely be a preacher—we shall be a witness. Therefore, we should pray, “Lord, open my eyes and turn me thoroughly from all darkness to light. Turn me from the dominion of Satan unto God, and grant me a thorough forgiveness of all my sinfulness. O Lord, sanctify me that I may enjoy You as my portion among the saints.”