God’s Promises to the Church

10/08/2019

Throughout the history of mankind, our benevolent almighty Creator has chosen to deal with us through a system of promises. By His own initiative, He has put Himself on the spot over and over, extending His love and grace to us by making promises that He absolutely guarantees to keep. He has never failed. His irrevocable commitment to keeping His word was proven when He laid aside His divinity, lived a perfect life as a man, and died a horrific death on the cross. He has done everything necessary to save us.

In the Old Testament, we read the many promises that God made to Israel. The Church, a mystery hidden in God until the Lord began to reveal it in the Kingdom of Heaven parables of Matthew 13, is on a different track than Israel, destined for a much different reward in the ages to come. Unfortunately, by failing to rightly divide the two, many believers have become confused about exactly what we can expect from God in the coming Tribulation and promised Kingdom: Who gets what and who will live where?

In the Old Testament, we read of how God reached out to Abram, changed his name to Abraham, and promised to make of him a great nation, his seed as numerous as the sands of the sea, and promising a land in which to dwell that would be theirs forever. Among the very many promises God has made to Israel is the promise to make Jerusalem His capitol, ruling the Earth from the throne of David for eternity.

Israel has yet to see the total fulfillment of those promises, but they will soon. They must first be cleansed of their sin and redeemed to God. To Jerusalem, the Lord declared: “39 For I tell you, you will not see me from now on, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ (Psalm 118:26)” Matt 23:39 WEB. The time is at hand. God’s final dealings with Israel are about to commence, and they will enter into the first phase of that promised reward when Jesus establishes His Kingdom at His second coming.

The question arises at the same time though, ‘What has God promised His Church?’ What reward can we look forward to? Do we have a fate beyond that promised to Israel or are we merely destined to hang out at the Heavenly buffet, looking down at Israel and the Gentile nations? Will we have an active role in the events to come, or will Heaven be for us like a summer camp where we swim, hike, ride horses, learn crafts and sing by the campfire? Will we just be there to have a good time, rest up, and recover from our life on Earth?

I began to answer these questions in a recent article titled “God’s Possessions.” It was written at a time when I first began to discern the glow on the horizon that was the fulfillment of God’s promises to His Church. His coming for us in the Rapture is so near that we can begin to see what He has waiting for us, like the glow of a distant city whose lights you can see reflecting on the sky as you approach in the night. 

While the things that God has promised to Israel are primarily temporal, a physical Kingdom on a physical Earth with living humans inhabiting it, the promises to the Church are centered in the Heavenly realm. As a result, the fulfillment of those promises can be very difficult to describe to creatures that have only ever lived in the physical realm. We have almost no frame of reference to understand what is coming for us. In trying to describe it, the Apostle Paul turned to the Prophet Isaiah:

“Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear, which didn’t enter into the heart of man, these God has prepared for those who love him.” (Isa 64:4) 1Cor 2:6 WEB

The fact that we cannot even imagine much of what is coming for us hasn’t stopped God though, and His promises to us are many. The text continues: “10 But to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” 1Cor 2:10 WEB. I have chosen to begin the following list with the promises that Jesus made to us in His messages to the Seven Churches, mentioned in Revelation Chapters 2 and 3. Those are clearly addressed to the Church.

Many of God’s promises are directed at both Israel and the Church, but with some help from the Holy Spirit that indwells us, we can differentiate as we study God’s word. My purpose on this page is to provide you with promises made to the Church. I will add to it as I continue to study the word of God, and I invite you to send me additional promises that you may find.

One of the best remedies for the weariness and frustration we experience as we weather the battle and watch for our Lord’s soon return is to review His promises to us. One qualifier that I must add regards what seem to be conditions associated with many of the promises. For example, some of the promises to the Seven Churches begin with words like, “To him who overcomes.” This is not a requirement for works.

We are overcomers in Christ. We keep the word of God as a result of the sanctifying work done in us by the Holy Spirit. If we are in God, we do not sin (see #25 on the list). Christ is our righteousness and wherever the religious heart might see a requirement for works in these promises, the heart that has been freed by our Lord sees evidence of His power to save.

You may need to stew on that for a while to get the full impact of it, but I assure you, it is the saving power of our Lord that is able to save us to the uttermost. The religious works of our flesh play no part in our salvation or our walk with God.  Below is the beginning of my list, which begins with the Church in Revelation:

  1. “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of my God.” Rev 2:7 WEB
  2. “He who overcomes won’t be harmed by the second death.” Rev 2:11 WEB
  3. “To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows but he who receives it.” Rev 2:17 WEB (Emphasis added)
  4. “He who overcomes, and he who keeps my works to the end, to him I will give authority over the nations. 27 He will rule them with a rod of iron, shattering them like clay pots (Psalm 2:9) as I also have received of my Father: 28 and I will give him the morning star.” Rev 2:26-28 WEB (Emphasis added)
  5. “He who overcomes will be arrayed in white garments, and I will in no way blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” Rev 3:5 WEB
  6. “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will go out from there no more. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name.” Rev 3:12 WEB
  7. “10 Because you kept my command to endure, I also will keep you from the hour of testing which is to come on the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 I am coming quickly!” Rev 3:10-11 WEB
  8. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me. 21 He who overcomes, I will give to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father on his throne.” Rev 3:20-21 (Emphasis added)
  9. “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed.” Jam 1:5-6 WEB
  10. “12 Blessed is a person who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love him.” Jam 1:12 WEB
  11. “17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow. 18 Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.” Jam 1:17-18 WEB (Emphasis added)
  12. “21 Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” Jam 1:21 WEB
  13. “17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. 18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” Jam 3:17
  14. “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Be subject therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you… 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.” Jam 4:7-10 WEB (Emphasis added)
  15. “8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.” Jam 5:8 (Emphasis added)
  16. “The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.” Jam 5:16 WEB
  17. “7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:7-9 WEB
  18. “If anyone sins, we have a Counselor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. 2 And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.” 1 John 2:1-2 WEB
  19. “5 But God’s love has most certainly been perfected in whoever keeps his word.” 1 John 2:5 WEB
  20. “17 The world is passing away with its lusts, but he who does God’s will remains forever.” 1 John 2:17 WEB
  21. “23 Whoever denies the Son doesn’t have the Father. He who confesses the Son has the Father also.” 1 John 2:23 WEB
  22. “If that which you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son, and in the Father.” 1 John 2:24
  23. “27 As for you, the anointing which you received from him remains in you, and you don’t need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, you will remain in him.” 1 John 2:21 WEB
  24. “See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn’t know us, because it didn’t know him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God. It is not yet revealed what we will be; but we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is.” 1 John 3:1-2 WEB
  25. “6 Whoever remains in him doesn’t sin. Whoever sins hasn’t seen him and doesn’t know him.” 1 John 3:6 WEB
  26. 9 Whoever is born of God doesn’t commit sin, because his seed remains in him, and he can’t sin, because he is born of God. 1 John 3:9 WEB
  27. ““21 Beloved, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have boldness toward God; 22 so whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. 23 This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded. 24 He who keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in him. By this we know that he remains in us, by the Spirit which he gave us.” 1 John 3:21-24 WEB
  28. “13 By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God.” 1 John 4:13-15
  29. “4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith.” 1 John 5:4 WEB
  30. “14 This is the boldness which we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us. 15 And if we know that he listens to us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him.” 1 John 5:14-15 WEB
  31. “16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16 WEB
  32. “29 Because it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer on his behalf, 30 having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.” Phi 1:28-30 WEB
  33. “20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will change the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working by which he is able even to subject all things to himself. Phi 3:20 WEB”
  34. “4 Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say, “Rejoice!” 5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.” Phi 4:4-7 WEB
  35. “8 Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report: if there is any virtue and if there is any praise, think about these things. 9 The things which you learned, received, heard, and saw in me: do these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” Phi 4:8-9
  36. “… To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them. 12 For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he has.” Matt 13:11 WEB
  37. “43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Matt 13:43 WEB
  38. “16 For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, because it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first, and also for the Greek. 17 For in it is revealed God’s righteousness from faith to faith.” Rom 1:16 WEB
  39. “ 4 But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus; 8 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, that no one would boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.” Eph 2:4-10 WEB
  40. “27 Only let your way of life be worthy of the Good News of Christ, that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your state, that you stand firm in one spirit, with one soul striving for the faith of the Good News; 28 and in nothing frightened by the adversaries, which is for them a proof of destruction, but to you of salvation, and that from God. 29 Because it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer on his behalf, 30 having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.” Phi 1:27-30 WEB (Emphasis added)