What does it mean to inherit eternal life (Matthew 19:29)?

Not only would the apostles be rewarded, but everyone who had forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for His name's sake would receive an hundredfold, and also inherit everlasting life. This forsaking does not mean giving up any sense of responsibility in regard to these relationships; but it does mean giving Christ supreme place, so that none of these things hinder our prime responsibility to Him.

Receiving one hundredfold does not only speak of reward in heaven, but even in this life the spiritual reward will be great. Compare Mark 10:30, which speaks of receiving, "now in this time, houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions." This of course is spiritual recompense; then it speaks of eternal life as connected with "the world to come." Certainly the believer has eternal life now, and eternal life goes beyond the world to come; but that life will be enjoyed more fully then than it can be in present circumstances.

106 Mark 10:17. "Inherit life eternal." Inherit stands for "take possession of," as in Matt. 25:34 (Dalman). So in Luke 18:18. In the Synoptic Gospels it is regarded as in reserve; so in Paul's Epistles. Luke 18:22 tells us that the young man was to have treasure in heaven. Cf. Col. 3:3.

And not only the apostles, but every one that had forsaken that which nature loves, which God Himself owns in its place; every one who should renounce himself for Christ, renouncing also everything that was dear to him, should have an hundredfold in reward, and inherit eternal life. It is not a question of the special position of Israel, as in the case of the twelve companions of Christ at the time of His humiliation in Israel; but at all times, in every place, he who should lose the present life for His name's sake should receive an hundredfold, and eternal life. This is the Principle, for we have already an hundredfold down here, and afterwards everlasting life. The Lord says here, "eternal life"; to the young man He only said, "Thou shalt enter into life"; for the law had no formal promise of eternal life, it only said, "This do, and thou shalt live." Life and incorruptibility have been brought to light through the gospel; God had promised it before the world began, but in due times manifested His word through the preaching of the apostle (Titus 1:2-3). Eternal life is twice mentioned in the Old Testament (Ps. 133; Dan. 12), but the two passages refer to the millennium. No doubt there were facts, such as those of Enoch, of Elijah, and passages like Psalm 16, which gave ground for that belief which the Pharisees had rightly received. The Sadducees had known neither the scriptures nor the power of God. But the passage which the Saviour quotes shews how obscurely this doctrine was revealed, save for a spiritual eye. Christ was the eternal life come down from heaven (1 John 1). With Him, and specially after His death, it was fully manifested. This already takes place here: one renounces the good things of life here below for oneself; one receives an hundredfold, and inherits eternal life: When He says, inherits, He turns our eye towards that which is properly eternal. I have already said one may have an hundredfold here below, even with persecutions, as Mark says; but then the inheritance surely is not limited to this world, and the eternal life, although we possess it already down here, belongs to another world, and never ends. The Lord here reveals it clearly, while carrying our thoughts to new things, and declaring that this denial of oneself should bring advantages a hundred times greater.

But the flesh, the carnal mind, enters yet farther into the career of the life of grace. Peter reminds the Lord that the disciples had forsaken all to follow Him. The Lord replies, that every one who had done so should have everything that would make him happy in his social affections, as God had formed him, and all this world could give as to the real enjoyment of it and a hundredfold, together with the opposition that He Himself met with in this world; but in the world to come (Peter was not thinking of that) not some private individual advantage, but everlasting life. He went beyond the sphere of promise connected with the Messiah on earth, to enter, and to make others enter, into that which was eternal. As to individual reward, that could not be judged of according to appearances.

"And Jesus said to them, Verily, I say unto you, That ye who have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit down upon His throne of glory, ye also shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one who has left houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life. But many first shall be last, and last first" (verses 28-30). Here is the declaration of an important principle, the principle of rewards in glory. Whatever a disciple, a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ has done or suffered for His sake will not be forgotten. This, however, does not mean that we can earn a position in glory; it is grace and grace alone, which has brought us there. Service and self-denial of a believer are the results of grace, and so the rewards are mercies, nothing else. But it is glorious to think, He remembers all, yea even the cup of cold water given in His name and for all we shall find in His presence a recompense.

When Peter heard how hard it was for the rich to be saved, he thought it time for him to speak of what they had given up for the Lord's sake, and to learn what they should get for it. Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed Thee; what shall we have therefore?" How painfully natural was this! "Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit upon the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life" (vers. 28, 29). There is nothing the believer does or suffers but what will be remembered in the kingdom. While this is most blessed, it is also a very solemn thought. Our ways now, though they have nothing to do with the remission of our sins, are yet of all consequence as a testimony to Christ, and will bear very decidedly on our future place in the kingdom. We must not use the doctrine of grace to deny that of rewards; but even so, Christ is the sole motive for the saint. We shall receive for the thing's done in the body according to that we have done, whether it be good or bad, as the Lord shows plainly here. The twelve had followed the rejected Lord, albeit His own grace had given them the power. It was not they who had chosen Him, but He had chosen them. They are now cheered by the assurance that in the blessed time of the regeneration, when the Lord will work a grand change in this world (for as He regenerates a sinner, so will He, as it were, regenerate the world), their work and suffering for His name will not be forgotten of Him.

Sorrowful as it was, and manifesting as it did how the carnal mind may mix itself with the life of grace in the believer's history, Peter's question leads to instruction of a most blessed and cheering nature. Every one who has renounced anything for Jesus' sake will assuredly receive a hundredfold here, and inherit everlasting life, but, further, each will have his own place in the kingdom. The twelve apostles will have the first place in the administration of the earthly kingdom, when, under the reign of the Son of Man, there shall be an entirely new state of things, here called the regeneration. Each will have a reward answering to what the pathway has been for Christ here. The doctrine of reward is very clearly taught in the New Testament, not indeed as a motive, — that Christ Himself alone can be, — but as an encouragement. Reward, in Scripture, is always an encouragement to those who having from higher motives entered into God's way, are suffering shame and persecution therefor. It is the call of Christ that leads the soul out. He had called Peter and his fellow-disciples, and therefore says, "Ye which have followed me … shall sit," etc. They had found their motive in Himself — and they would find their reward according to their devotedness.

Peter seized upon the Lord's words, desiring a definite pronouncement as to what reward was offered to those who like himself had followed the Lord. The reply made it plain that there is to come "the regeneration;" that is, a wholly new order of things, when the Son of Man should be no longer rejected but be seated on the throne of His glory, and that then the disciples should also be enthroned and vested with powers of administration over the twelve tribes of Israel. In that age the saints are going to judge the world, and here is indicated the place of special prominence reserved for the Apostles. It is also indicated that all who have given up earthly relationships and joys for His Name will receive a hundredfold together with everlasting life. The life which the rich young man desired, and missed by not following Christ, shall be theirs.

The question of Peter thereupon shows doubtless a modified form of the rich man's trouble, so far as disciples may be affected by it. They bad left all, — little or much as it might be, — to follow Him: what would they have for it? It is evident that what they have given up has still some value for them, then: and what will be their compensation for it is a matter of concern. The Lord's answer seems one of encouragement, which has with it also a certain blending of reproof. They shall have what the rich man might well crave — eternal life; but in the present also — and had they not begun to taste that blessing yet? — "manifold more" than all that they had given up. Such is God's mercy towards those who, whatever they may have deemed themselves to have renounced for Christ, were in fact but bankrupt beggars when His grace laid hold of them!

Ver. 27. This was quite true. Peter did not turn his back on his business when it was unsuccessful, but when he had had such a very good day's fishing. The Lord shows our particular path here is preparing us, for our place in the coming kingdom. Faithfulness in what is committed to us now determines our place in the kingdom. This is not actually the new heavens and the new earth that is before us; it is the millennium. "The regeneration" here answers to the new heaven and the new earth of Isaiah, not to the eternal state. We shall never sit on the Father's throne but on the Saviour's throne. "To him that overcomes will I give to sit with me on my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father on his throne." "Judging" here is in the sense of rule, to take up the cause of, and execute, justice. "Receive a hundredfold," that is in the present; and "shall inherit everlasting life," there it is in all its fulness. The believer has it now; it is for him to enjoy. "But to them that by patient continuance in well doing, seek for honour and glory and incorruptibility, eternal life" (Rom. 2:7). This is at the end. He has it before him in all its blessedness.