A Promise Fulfilled

Jesus had worked and walked with His disciples for three years, and it seemed to come to a calamitous and climactic end on a wooden cross, but on the third day Jesus rose from the dead. Appearing to His disciples and friends, He encouraged them to stay together, and to not put too much stock in His physical (though glorified) body, and to look forward to something else. Just before He ascended into Heaven, never to be seen in the body again, He said these words to His disciples, as recorded by Luke the physician in the books of Luke and Acts:

“And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.” Luke 24:49-51

“When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.  And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 1: 6-11

Jesus was taking His disciples attention and directing it forward, directing it away from His physical presence to something else entirely. He was pointing them to the spiritual rather than the physical.

“I send the promise of the Father upon you…” This is a big statement in the context of God’s dealings with the Jewish nation, which marked it’s beginnings with the promise God Jehovah made to Abraham when He first called him. “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (Genesis 12: 1-3)

He re—affirmed this promise with Abraham a few years later, “And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” (Genesis 15:5-6)

And again, when Abraham was an old man, “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.  And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,  as for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.  Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.  And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.  And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.  And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17:1-8)

On this promise the nation of Israel was founded, first as a small family, then a large family, then as a population of slaves in Egypt, and then as “a mighty army marching out of Egypt land.” The promises of God to Abraham were fulfilled again and again over the course of a thousand years as the land of Canaan was conquered, lost, re-conquered and lost, and attained again. Israel became a great nation, was scattered, inhabited many nations, became numberless, and all traceable back to this one man, Abraham.

But the word of God seldom exists in only one dimension, and this is certainly the case here. The promise to Abraham was not just about the “land” of Canaan, about the hills and vales and trees and rivers. It was not limited to farms and forests, towns and villages. The promise was not just about a long lineage of progeny, about the kings such as King Solomon the Wise and King Herod the Great. There was a deeper meaning, a truer meaning. God’s promise was more than just physical, it went beyond and reached into the spiritual. This is what Jesus was sharing with His disciples, but He knew they couldn’t fully understand until the day appointed, which is why He instructed them to “tarry…until ye be endued with power from on high.”

And they did tarry, in the upper room where they had enjoyed the last supper with Jesus, one hundred and twenty faithful followers prayed and encouraged each other, waiting for this “promise of the Father” that Jesus had spoken of.

“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2: 1-4)

Just like that, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,” the promise came to them. They had waited, seeking, longing, hoping, and Jesus had returned into their hearts. This was what Jesus had told them about as recorded by John the Beloved, “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” (St John 14:23).

If you know the story, then you know that after the Spirit entered their hearts and sanctified them, the 120 disciples became quite animated, praising God and sharing with each other what had happened, to the point that the public noticed that something unusual was going on. “These men and women are drunk,” some said mockingly. Peter noticed what was going on, and he stepped forward onto the balcony and addressed the curious crowd, delivering the first holiness sermon (and what a sermon it was!). I won’t dive into the content in this article, but there is one point I would like to highlight; Peter closed his sermon with, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”

This promise was not just for this small group, and not just for that generation. The promise was for a continuing event, not just a one time show. And it does continue - each time a converted man or woman carefully seeks the gift of the Holy Ghost, and they surrender all their will to the Father, then the promise is fulfilled once again as they are sanctified. Has the promise been fulfilled in you? If so, then you have something to rejoice over! If not, then today could be the best day of your life, the day you are filled with the blessed Holy Ghost.