The 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 Bible describes the Gift of the Spirit as the “Promise of the Father” and links it 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, and the Spirit bestowed on us is the “earnest” of that inheritance.

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 – (Ephesians 2:11-22).

[Lions Bay - Photo by Jeremy Allouche on Unsplash]

The outpouring of the Spirit marked the start of the Era of Fulfillment. The Gift of the Spirit transforms Gentile believers so they are now heirs of the Patriarch, “children of Abraham,” coheirs with Jesus, and members of God’s one people – (Galatians 3:28, Colossians 3:10-11).

• “For you received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear, but you received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” – (Romans 8:15-17).

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 it empowers us to walk in the newness of life - (Romans 8:2, 2 Corinthians 3:6).

Paul identifies the “Promise of the Spirit” with the “Blessing of Abraham.” The original covenant always envisioned the inclusion of the nations, a point Paul uses when arguing for the acceptance of Gentile believers without circumcision or the other deeds and rituals 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, 3:29):

• “Know therefore that they that are of faith, the same are sons of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, In you will all the nations be blessed <…> Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree, that upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” - (Galatians 3:8-14).

The Gift of the Spirit is the “down payment” that confirms and guarantees our participation in the inheritance when Jesus returns, including resurrection and everlasting life in the New Creation:

• “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 references in the passage from 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.” Thus, Paul connects the Gift of the Spirit to the Abrahamic Covenant, including the promise of territory - (Genesis 17:8).

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 under the guidance and with the empowerment of the Spirit - (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4).

• “And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you. But wait in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” – (Luke 24:49).

• “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” – (Acts 1:8).

PROMISES FULFILLED

In his sermon on the Day of Pentecost, Peter declared that the outpouring of the Spirit was according to the prophecy of 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 must continue until the “Day of the Lord” - (Genesis 17:7-10, Joel 2:28-32).

• “This is that which has been spoken through the prophet Joel: And it shall be in the last days, says God, I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all flesh <…> And I will show wonders in the heaven above, and signs on the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the Day of the Lord comes, that great and notable day. And it shall be that whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” – (Acts 2:16-21).

• “Repent be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call” – (Acts 2:38).

The Gift of the Spirit is how we receive the “Blessing of Abraham” and the “Promise of the Father.” By the Spirit, men from every nation are blessed with faithful Abraham, and become heirs of the promises and equal members of the covenant community:

• “And in you will all the families of the earth be blessed” – (Genesis 12:3).

• “Yes, and all the prophets from Samuel and those who followed later, as many as have spoken, they also told of these days. You are the sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, And in your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his Servant, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your sins” – (Acts 3:24-26).

• “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are of Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise” – (Galatians 3:28).

The implementation of the promises began with the outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. Since then, everyone who receives the Gift becomes a “child of Abraham,” and therefore, the old boundaries between Jew and Gentile are inappropriate in the one people of God.

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 on Pentecost, God began to write His laws on the hearts of His people - (Jeremiah 31:31-34, Hebrews 8:6-13).

The Book of Ezekiel added the aspect of the Spirit to this 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.” 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).

• “Who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life <…> Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit”  (2 Corinthians 3:6, 3:17-18).

The New Testament links the promise to Abraham to “bless all the nations of the Earth” with the Gift of the Spirit that is granted freely to Jewish and Gentile followers of Jesus, and it calls the Gift the “Promise of the Father.”

The activity of the Spirit in our lives is the mark that identifies us as the people of God. The Spirit empowers us to walk in the New Covenant, fulfill the “righteous requirements of the Law,” proclaim the Gospel to the “ends of the Earth,” and continue doing so until the moment Jesus arrives to gather his people.

[PDF Copy]

SEE ALSO:

• Earnest of the Inheritance - (Believers are the heirs of Abraham, and the possession of their inheritance is secured and guaranteed by the Gift of the Spirit)

• The Life-Giving Spirit - (Jesus declared, The Spirit makes alive. The flesh profits nothing. The words which I have spoken to you, they are spirit, and they are life)

• The Blessing of Abraham - (Jesus grants the Gift of the Spirit as part of God’s promise to bless the nations in Abraham’s Seed - Jesus Christ)

• La Promesse du Père - (Avec l'effusion de l'Esprit le jour de la Pentecôte, les bénédictions promises à Abraham pour toutes les nations ont commencé)