Promise of the Father
With the outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, the blessings for all nations promised to Abraham commenced.
The Apostle Paul calls the Gift of the Spirit the “Promise of
the Father” which he links to the Abrahamic covenant. The promises to
Abraham and “his Seed” find their fulfillment in the New Covenant
inaugurated by the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.
No longer are Gentile
believers “alienated
from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the
promise.” By his
shed blood, Christ has dismantled the “middle wall of partition” that
once separated Jews and Gentiles.
[Photo by Lucas MARULIER on Unsplash] |
The bestowal of the Gift of the Spirit on Pentecost marked the start of the era of fulfillment. Gentile believers now become heirs of the Patriarch, “children of Abraham,” coheirs with Jesus, and members of God’s one people.
The
Gift of the Spirit is an essential part of the Gospel. God has provided the
means to reconcile men to Himself and one another, and the power to walk in “newness
of life” through the Spirit that now dwells in true believers.
Paul
identified the “Promise of the Spirit” with the “Blessings of Abraham.”
The original covenant always envisioned the inclusion of the nations, a point Paul
used when arguing for accepting Gentile believers in the covenant community without
circumcision or the other deeds required by the Mosaic Law.
All
men and women who belong to Jesus become “Abraham’s heirs according to promise.”
The old distinctions between “Jew and Gentile” no longer apply in the
Assembly of God, and the inclusion of the Gentiles was never an afterthought or
later adjustment to the Abrahamic covenant - (Genesis 12:1-3, Galatians 3:1-14,
3:29):
- “In whom, you also are hearing the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also believing, were sealed with the Spirit of the promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance, for the redemption of the acquisition, for his glorious praise” - (Ephesians 1:13-14).
The
Gift of the Spirit is the “earnest,” the “down payment” that
guarantees the disciple’s participation in the inheritance when Jesus returns.
The references in Ephesians to “inheritance” and “acquisition”
allude to the territory promised by God to Abraham - “I will give to you and
your seed all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession” - (Genesis
17:8).
Paul connects the Gift of the Spirit to the covenant, including its promise of territory. Likewise, Jesus labeled the Gift the “Promise of the Father.”
Before his Ascension,
he commanded his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they received the Spirit.
Only then would they become his “witnesses to the uttermost parts of the Earth”
and take his Gospel to the nations under the guidance and empowerment of the
Spirit - (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4).
PROMISES FULFILLED
In
his sermon on the Day of Pentecost, Peter declared that the outpouring of the
Spirit was according to the prophecy in the Book of Joel - “In
the last
days, God will pour out His Spirit on all flesh.” The final period, the “Last Days,”
was underway, an era that would continue until the return of Jesus - (Genesis
17:7-10, Joel 2:28-32, Acts 2:38-39).
The
Gift of the Spirit is how men and women receive the “Blessings of Abraham.”
By the Spirit, men from every nation find themselves blessed with faithful
Abraham, heirs of the promises and equal members of the covenant community -
(Genesis 12:3, Acts 3:25, Romans 4:13).
The
actualization of the promises began with the outpouring of the Spirit. Since
then, everyone who receives the Gift becomes a “child of Abraham,” and
therefore, the old boundaries between Jew and Gentile have no place in the one people of God - (Galatians 3:27-29).
The
Mosaic legislation anticipated the need for something beyond the Law. The Torah could
not complete what God began through Abraham. Inevitably, the nation of Israel violated
the Covenant. However, after chastisement and repentance, Israel would “return
to Yahweh and obey His voice,” and He would gather His people from all
nations and “circumcise their hearts to love Him” - (Deuteronomy 30:1-6).
The
themes of renewal and the circumcision of the heart were taken up centuries
later by the prophet Jeremiah. God intended to “make a New Covenant with the
house of Israel and the house of Judah.” It would not be like the covenant made
at Sinai. With the arrival of the Spirit, God began to write His laws on the
hearts of His people, and the promised circumcision of the heart was and
is being actualized in the Body of Christ - (Jeremiah 31:31-34, Hebrews 8:6-13).
The Book of Ezekiel added the aspect of the Spirit to the coming “New Covenant.” When Yahweh gathered the children of Israel, He would put “a new spirit” in them, and thereby He would “cause them to walk in His statutes.”
The
Book of Ezekiel combines the promises of the Spirit, the circumcised
heart, and the New Covenant, making the covenant promises dependent on the
receipt of the Spirit by the people of God - (Ezekiel 36:16-28, 37:25-28, 2 Corinthians 3:1-6).
Consistently,
the New Testament links the promise to Abraham with the Gift of the Spirit that
is granted freely to Jewish and Gentile followers of Jesus, and it labels it the
“Promise of the Father” and the “Blessing of Abraham.”
The
Gift of the Spirit is the identifying mark of the people of God. The Spirit empowers
believers to walk in the New Covenant, fulfill the “righteous requirements
of the Law,” proclaim the Gospel to the “uttermost parts of the Earth,”
and to do so until the moment Jesus arrives “on the clouds of Heaven” to
gather his people.
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SEE ALSO:
- Spirit and Covenant - (The New Testament links the “Promise of the Spirit” to the “Blessings of Abraham,” the promise that God would bless the nations through the Great Patriarch)
- The Age of the Spirit - (The Gift of the Spirit is part of the New Covenant, and the first fruits of the New Creation and the gathering of the nations)
- Promise and Spirit - (The Gift of the Spirit is one of God’s covenant promises and his ways of blessing all Nations in Abraham’s Seed)
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