Write down your two favorite promises from the Bible, just the scripture references. Go ahead and do it. I'll wait, lol!
OK, now, after you finish reading this post, in the comments section for this blog, please put the scripture references for those. I'd love to read them!
The Bible is full of God's promises. He is not a Pinky-Swear God. No.
He is the ultimate Promise-Keeper. He is immutable, unchangeable. He will never break His word. How wonderful, yes? And terrible....for some.
I was reading a verse this morning, Joel 3:20-21. . .
But Judah will be inhabited forever And Jerusalem for all generations. • And I will avenge their blood which I have not avenged, For the LORD dwells in Zion.
That is a terror-invoking promise of God, revealed by the prophet Joel, isn't it? You can be sure God will ultimately fulfill it. Best not to be on the wrong side of history in that one. (What a great couple of verses! But, I will not allow myself to get distracted, haha!)
So, more to the point: I got to thinking about what my two favorite promises of God are, and it is really hard to pin them down to two, right? But, at the moment, here are my two favorites, and both are what I'd call "bookend promises".
The first of my favorites is the last words of Jesus before He ascended into Heaven, at the end of His forty days of interaction with men after His resurrection. Most call this passage The Great Commission, and the precious promise is at the end. Matthew 28:16-20 . .
16Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
I guess the disciples wondered how that was going to be possible, that "Jesus was going to be with them always" even as He disappeared into the sky. Yet, just a few days later, on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit arrived . . . to remain forever in the hearts of all of Jesus' own, throughout all generations to follow as well! Hallelujah!
I want to blog more about Pentecost and the Jewish feast of Shavu'ot later this month, as Pentecost falls on May 20, 2018 and Shavu'ot falls at dusk on May 19 and ends at dusk on May 21 this year.
The second promise is one I was thinking about yesterday morning.
There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him;
Revelation 22:3
These are the words of the apostle John, as he was living in exile on the island of Patmos, and as he wrote about Heaven.
Consider this:
These two promises are linked. The second takes the place, in a way, of the first.
Key point: when is "the end of the age"? According to Jesus' words in the gospel of Matthew, the end of the age refers to that time when Jesus has returned to Earth and conducts the final judgment of people, both the living and the dead.1
We see this described in Revelation 20:11-15.
What occurs right after this judgment? Well, the old heaven and old earth are done away with, and the New Jerusalem, Heaven, replaces both (Revelation 21:1). This, then, is the eternal dwelling of all who have trusted God in faith throughout the history of mankind, both those in the Old Testament who walked with God by faith, and then in this present age since Christ's first coming, true believers in Jesus Christ as their only hope of salvation, as He is the only way to reconciliation with holy God.
Now, notice in the Revelation verse that we have a totally different paradigm in that new age:
First of all, we will be free from the curse of sin. Hallelujah! Think about that! We have absolutely NO idea what that is like, as every, single one of us has lived with the inborn sin curse every moment of our lives. What will it be like to be free of that? I can't begin to imagine, but what a precious promise!
Accordingly, we will not need the Holy Spirit dwelling IN us in Heaven, because the presence of God will be so strong in that city. Revelation 21:23 tells us this:
And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.
Paul tells us that we will SEE Him, face-to-face!! Can you even imagine? I honestly can't.
Ok, so those are my two favorites. Don't forget to write your comment below in the Comments section and tell me yours!
Here's a little gem to put some "pep in your step" this day. Enjoy a little Toby Mac!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wNpOeakhEM
Source:
1 https://www.gotquestions.org/end-of-the-age.html
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