Promise of the Father
The Apostle Paul calls the Gift of the Spirit the “Promise of the Father” and links it to the Abrahamic covenant. The covenant promises to Abraham and “his seed” find their fulfillment in the New Covenant inaugurated by Jesus of Nazareth. The bestowal of the Spirit on his Assembly marked the commencement of the age of fulfillment, and “in him,” Gentile believers now become full heirs of the Patriarch along with believing Jews.
Moreover, Paul
identified the “promise of the Spirit” with the “blessings of Abraham.”
The original covenant always envisioned the inclusion of the nations, a point he
used when arguing for the acceptance of Gentile believers in the covenant
community without the rite of circumcision.
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All men and women who belong to Jesus become “Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise.” Moreover, the old distinctions between “Jew and Gentile” no longer apply in the Assembly of God. The inclusion of the Gentiles was not 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. 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).
Thus, Paul connected the Gift
of the Spirit to the Abrahamic Covenant, including its promise of territory. Likewise,
Jesus labeled the Gift the “Promise of the Father,” and before his
ascension, he commanded his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they received
the Spirit, and then they would become his “witnesses to the uttermost parts
of the Earth” thereby taking his Gospel to the nations - (Luke
24:49, Acts 1:4).
PROMISES FULFILLED
In his sermon
delivered 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 presence of the Spirit demonstrated that the final period known as the “Last
Days” was underway, an era that would continue until the return of Jesus at
the end of the age - (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 full 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 on
Pentecost. Since then, every man and woman who receives the Gift, the “promise
of the Father,” becomes a “child of Abraham,” and therefore, the old
boundaries that divided Jew from Gentile are wholly inappropriate in the new community
formed by and around Jesus, the true “seed of Abraham” - (Galatians
3:27-29).
The Mosaic
legislation anticipated the need for something beyond the Law. The Torah could
not complete what God had begun with Abraham, and later, revealed in more
detail through Moses. Inevitably, the nation of Israel disobeyed and violated
the Covenant.
However,
after chastisement and repentance, the nation 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 fully intended to “make a New Covenant
with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,” but not like the Covenant
at Sinai.
With the
outpouring 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 promised “New Covenant.”
When Yahweh gathered the children of Israel, He would put “a new spirit”
in them, and thus 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, and so, the covenant promises are linked to and 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 applies the promise made to Abraham to the Gift of the Spirit
that is now 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 Holy Spirit is the identifying mark of the people of God. Moreover, the
Spirit provides believers with the power to walk in the New Covenant, fulfill
the “righteous requirements of the Law,” and proclaim the Gospel to the “uttermost
parts of the Earth,” to all nations until the moment Jesus arrives “on
the clouds of heaven.”
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