Conclusion
CONTENTS
Introduction 1. Acceptance 2. Help 3. Service 4. Rest 5. Renewal 6. Presence 7. Recognition Conclusion About Our Books
INTRODUCTION
The promises recorded in the Bible are among the most important words in the Scriptures – and there are literally thousands of them! In fact, it has been estimated that almost seven thousand promises can be found between the opening chapter of Genesis and the final chapter of Revelation. But are all these promises important, and how do we recognize the ones that are significant for us?
Of course, a promise is only as good as the person making it, and some promises recorded in the Bible are actually lies – as we see in Matthew 4:9 where Satan is recorded as saying "All this I will give you ... if you will bow down and worship me." Other promises, made by humans, could not always be counted on – as when a teacher of the law said to Jesus "I will follow you wherever you go" but did not (Matthew 8:19). Even when we look only at the true promises made by God, we see different types.
For example, there is often a difference between promises and prophecies. In one way, a prophecy is simply a promise about the future made by God, but many prophecies apply to events that are now past and many others are conditional – they would only occur if and when certain conditions occur. As the apostle Paul wrote, prophecies may "fail" or not come to pass for various reasons (1 Corinthians 13:8). But there are other promises of ongoing help that God makes to those who love and obey him that are unconditional and will never fail (1 Kings 8:56).
Even when we "narrow the field," as we do in this book, by looking specifically at the promises made by Jesus during his earthly ministry, there are hundreds of promises that could be considered. Yet many of these are prophecies that apply, for example, only to those who reject God, while others are clear promises made to those who submit their lives to God and strive to obey him. That type of promise is of particular interest and
importance to every believer, and it is on those promises that we focus in this book.
We can recognize these particularly significant promises in a simple and helpful way. A promise is almost always preceded by the words "I will" followed by what the individual promises to do. Many Christians are familiar with the seven "I AM" statements made by Jesus that are recorded in the Gospel of John (John 8:12; etc.) and that explain aspects of his nature. Jesus' "I WILL" statements record his promises and are similar to the "I AM" statements, but less familiar to many believers. These "I WILL" statements are especially important, showing Jesus' personal involvement in the fulfilling of God's purposes. But even here we can narrow the field to get to the most significant of all the promises Jesus made. For the purposes of seeing those core promises, we can set aside the following:
1) Promises made by Jesus that applied only to him. For example: "I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes" (Luke 22:18), and "After three days I will rise again" (Matthew 27:63). 2) Promises of Jesus that were spoken to specific people and were conditional. For example, speaking to those who tried to trap him, Jesus said: "If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things" (Matthew 21:24), and to the Church at Ephesus, "If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place" (Revelation 2:5). 3) Promises that were unconditional, but made to individuals in Jesus' time. For example, "after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee" (Matthew 26:32), and "I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal" (Luke 13:32).
If we set the above types of promises aside, seven specific, unconditional, ongoing, and completely trustworthy promises are left that Jesus made regarding his relationship with his followers. These "I will" promises are of gifts that he would bestow on believers in every age – and they apply as much to you personally as to anyone else in history. It is these seven wonderful promises that this book examines.
The promises are arranged in order of their application to us as followers of Christ – from when we first come to him, through his interaction with us in various aspects of the Christian life, to the eternal future we are promised to share with him. There are no more important promises that apply to you than these!