The Heritage of Heaven - Psalm 127:3

Introduction

THE STEWARD'S TRUST Imagine a poor man who is summoned to the palace and placed in charge of a chest of gold by the king himself. The chest does not become his property—he cannot sell it, squander it, or sleep on it. It is given to him as a trust: he must guard it, invest it, and one day render account. So is every child placed into the hand of every parent. The treasure is not theirs to keep—only to keep watch over. The chest belongs to the King, and the King will one day call the steward to give account of every coin. Beloved, look at the cradle. There lies a chest of immortal gold. There lies a soul that will live forever in heaven or hell. There lies a heritage of the LORD. Will the steward sleep, or will the steward serve?

Scripture establishes this truth:

Genesis 33:5 “And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant.”

Genesis 48:9 “And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them.”

Psalm 139:13–14 “For thou hast possessed my reins: Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: Marvellous are thy works; And that my soul knoweth right well.”

Proverbs 17:6 “Children’s children are the crown of old men; And the glory of children are their fathers.”

I. THE PRECIOUS PROCLAMATION — “Lo”

The verse opens with a single arresting word: “Lo.” It is the Hebrew hinneh, the divine “Behold!”—a holy interruption that summons the dullest soul to stop and stare. Heaven is announcing a truth man is prone to miss.

A. A Demanded Discernment

“Lo” commands the reader to look up, look in, and look hard. The world looks at children and sees burdens; the believer must be taught to look again and see blessings. Spiritual sight is required to see what natural eyes overlook.

B. A Declared Doctrine

This is not a suggestion of sentiment but a settled statement of Scripture. The Holy Ghost is publishing doctrine—truth not to be debated but believed. What God beholds, His people must behold with Him.

C. A Divine Disclosure

Many treasures of Scripture are hidden beneath the surface; this one is paraded in plain view. Yet so common is the gift that the giver is forgotten. “Lo” is God’s gracious finger pointing at a present mercy lest the family of God grow blind to it.

II. THE PARENTAL POSSESSION — “Children are”

The Hebrew word means “to build.” Children are the living stones by which God builds the household; they are the architecture of the home, the masonry of the next generation.

A. The Character of the Gift

Children are persons, not possessions; souls, not statistics. They bear the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and must be received as immortal beings to be shepherded toward heaven.

B. The Composition of the Home

As stones build a house, sons and daughters build the family. Where God grants children, He is constructing more than a household—He is constructing a heritage that will outlive the parents and outlast their generation.

C. The Continuity of the Covenant

From Genesis to Malachi, God works covenantally through generations. “I will be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee” (Genesis 17:7). Every child entrusted to a believing home is a fresh link in the chain of covenant mercy.

III. THE PROVIDENTIAL PORTION — “an heritage of the LORD”

The word heritage (nachalah) is no common term. It is the very word used of the Promised Land allotted to the tribes of Israel. The land was theirs, but the LORD had given it; the tribes possessed it, but God owned it. So it is with children.

A. An Inheritance Bestowed

An inheritance is never earned by the heir—it is bestowed by the benefactor. Parents do not deserve children, produce children, or guarantee children; they receive children from a sovereign Father who alone gives life.

B. An Inheritance Belonging

It is a heritage “of the LORD.” The children are God’s before they are ours, and they remain God’s while they are in our care. Parents are not owners but stewards; not proprietors but trustees of a heaven-sent treasure.

C. An Inheritance Bequeathed

As Canaan was bequeathed to Israel for cultivation and consecration, so children are bequeathed to parents for nurture and admonition (Ephesians 6:4). The land was to be tilled for God’s glory; the child is to be trained for God’s glory.

IV. THE PRODUCTIVE PROGENY — “the fruit of the womb”

Scripture employs the imagery of fruit because fruit testifies to four glorious realities: a hidden source, a sovereign season, a Spirit-wrought process, and a substantive end.

A. Fruit of God’s Power

Fruit comes not by the will of the orchard but by the working of the Creator. Sarah was barren until God remembered her (Genesis 21:1–2); Rachel was barren until God hearkened to her (Genesis 30:22); Hannah was barren until the LORD opened her womb. Conception is creation—and creation belongs to God.

B. Fruit of God’s Plan

Every child is foreknown, formed, and fashioned in the womb by the personal hand of God: “Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). No child is unplanned in the counsel of heaven.

C. Fruit of God’s Pleasure

Fruit is the harvest of God’s good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). God delights to bring forth children from believing homes that He may have a godly seed (Malachi 2:15). The cradle is a pulpit from which the goodness of God preaches to every passing eye.

V. THE PROMISED PAYMENT — “is his reward”

The Hebrew sakar carries the idea of wages—but not wages earned. It is the recompense graciously placed by God into the hand of His servant. Children are not merely a benefit; they are a benediction.

A. A Reward Received

Like every reward from God—salvation, the indwelling Spirit, the inheritance reserved in heaven—children are received, not achieved. They come down from above by the gift of the Father (James 1:17).

B. A Reward Recognized

Many parents lose the joy of the reward because they fail to recognize it as reward. They see diapers, expenses, and exhaustion; they fail to see eternity, evangelism, and inheritance. The gift is the same; only the gratitude has gone.

C. A Reward Returned

Hannah received Samuel as reward and returned him to the LORD: “Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD” (1 Samuel 1:28). The truest stewardship of God’s reward is the giving of that reward back to God for His purposes.

PERSONAL CHALLENGE

• Do I receive them as a heritage from the LORD, or do I resent them as an obstacle to my plans?

• Am I cultivating this heritage for God’s glory, or am I consuming it for my own ends?

• When God calls me to account, will the children in my care be presented as souls saved, shaped, and surrendered to Christ—or as souls neglected, embittered, and lost in the wilderness of a Christless home? Grandparent—the heritage extends to you. Are you praying for the children of your children that they too may be added to the heritage of the LORD? Childless saint—God’s heritage is not bound to biology. The spiritual children you father and mother in the gospel are no less an eternal reward (3 John 4).

CONVICTING CONCLUSION

❖ BEHOLD THE HERITAGE “Lo”—the heavens have lifted up their voice. Children are not a problem to be solved, a project to be managed, or a possession to be wielded. They are a heritage of the LORD—the very vocabulary of the Promised Land applied to the persons in your home. The world will tell you children are a burden; the LORD declares they are a blessing. The world will count them in dollars; the LORD weighs them in glory. The world will limit them; the LORD’s arms are filled with them and His promise extends to a thousand generations.

Parent—kiss the heads of your children tonight, and remember whose heritage they are.

Pastor—preach this text until the cradle is honored in the church and the womb is treasured as the LORD’s workshop.

People—reverence the gift of life wherever the LORD has placed it. One day every parent will stand before the One who gave the heritage and rendered the reward, and the question will not be how much wealth was acquired but how the heritage was handled. May it be said of every believing home: “Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me” (Isaiah 8:18).