God purposes to get praise for His glory by working out His will in stages.

He made a promise to Abraham about possessing land while calling Abraham to be a pilgrim. Then Abraham acquired a small piece of property in the land in order to bury his wife. Generations later took control of much of the land, and we believe that there is still coming the final fulfillment for Israel’s boundaries as described to Abraham under Christ’s reign in the land of Canaan. At each stage: God be praised.

We also have only been given a portion of what will be the uniting of all things in heaven and things on earth. In Christ “we have obtained an inheritance,” we’ve been brought into some predestined promises. And we’ve only got a small, albeit supernatural, piece of that inheritance now.

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13–14)

A dead body buried in a tomb in Canaan became a seed of possession for an entire people. A dead body buried in another tomb in Canaan became a seed of salvation for another people, and the same Spirit that raised that body from the dead dwells in us. There is “one body, and one Spirit” (Ephesians 4:4). The Spirit is the seed and seal we share together of faith and a future. We are “saved to sin no more.” When our tongues lie silent in the grave, we will a sweeter, nobler song about His power to save.

This phase is great by grace, and yet we are not in the possession of all that will be ours for all time.