Missing Estates

Did you know that there are over 5,700 British estates which are unclaimed? People have died without wills or obvious heirs, and so the Solicitor of His Majesty’s Treasury holds their former wealth until such time as they are claimed. I suspect there is a cut off point, but the hope is that teams of lawyers will locate distant relations, or individuals will prove they are the heirs to some vast fortune belonging to great aunt Agatha or their favourite fifteenth cousin thrice-removed. Coming from a family of modest means, I did not bother looking down the list of names, though one can do so here if curiosity demands it.

Adam and his heirs were given Eden by the Creator God. It was theirs to use, enjoy, develop and arrange. In rejecting God’s simple law, he and his wife were expelled from Eden and were forced into exile, away from God’s presence and into a harsher world of thistles and thorns. Furthermore, we began to die, failing to keep hold of that rougher, harder world which became our home. The New Testament, however, describes the Christian as an heir, even a co-heir, with Jesus Christ. We inherit that which we lost- the earth and the presence of God- and much more beside. As a verse of Isaac Watts' hymn Jesus Shall Reign declares, which certain hymnals fail to include:

In Him the tribes of Adam boast

More blessing than their father lost.

If the unbeliever knew how impoverished he was, he would get on his knees and pray. If the Christian knew how truly wealthy he was, he would get on his knees and pray.