What if I told you that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, David and all the heroes of faith listed in the Hebrews 11 hall of fame did not receive the promise? What if I told you that, by believing in Jesus, you have received much more than they could ever have hoped to receive? What if I told you that you are far more advantaged than they ever were? What if I told you that you are greater than Abraham? Would I be speaking the truth? Would you believe me? What exactly does the bible say?
Hebrews 11:39 & 40 - And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, RECEIVED NOT THE PROMISE: God having provided some BETTER thing for US, that they without us should not be made perfect
1 John 5:12 - He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life
Matthew 11:11 - Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he
Each of them had peculiar dealings with God. Abraham had a covenant; Isaac, Jacob & Joseph benefited from it. Elijah was a "fireman", Samson had the Spirit of might come on him several times; David was unbeatable in battle, he also saw revelations of the coming Christ & the new creation. No matter how unique God's dealings with them, however, the one thing they never had, never could receive, was the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Jeremiah saw it, Ezekiel caught a glimpse of it (Jer. 31:33-34 & Ezek. 36:27); the Spirit of Christ signified to them the coming grace, but when they sought it out, they discovered it was not for them but for us. The promise of the Spirit was to perpetually remain just that: a promise.
The good news is this: God has kept the best for last! God has provided something better for you, for me, for us. We have the Spirit of God living in us now, not as a promise, but a reality! He doesn't come upon us & leave, coming & going again & again; rather, He now makes His home in us. The sovereign eternal limitless God living inside mortal man!
Once Adam committed treason in the garden of Eden and became separated from God and joined to Satan, there was no way God could indwell him, no way he could be one with God; sin had made a gap that could not be crossed; sin had transmutated his nature from life to death. Only the blood/life of a sinless man could qualify as payment for such a terrible betrayal. Only a person man with the life of God could possibly be sinless. So God became a man. The blood of the Man, Jesus Christ, became the necessary payment.
When a man is cleansed with that blood, he becomes holy enough to be God's house. Nothing but that holy blood can make him holy; not his own works, not penance, not all the tears in this world, just the blood of the Lamb of God. That blood has made you holy, now the fullness of the Godhead lives in you in the person of the Holy Spirit. To you, the promise of the Spirit is no longer a distant promise; it is a present tense reality, it has been received! It's here & now; He's here, He's now! This is what Jesus hung on the cross for (Galatians 3:14). It's the reason He died & rose. The blessing of Abraham, the promise of the Spirit!
Please note that while the promise of the Spirit primarily has to do with the Holy Spirit recreating your human spirit & making His home in you; the reception of this promise is not complete without the baptism/infilling of the Holy Spirit. Even after Jesus had breathed on the disciples and imparted the Holy Spirit to them in John 20, he kept talking about waiting for the promise until He finally poured out the Spirit on them in Acts 2. You keep saying that you have the Holy Spirit living in you and therefore don't need to speak in tongues. Who told you so?! I know for sure it wasn't Jesus! Jesus couldn't have been more clear: the Holy Spirit has to come UPON you (Acts 1:8) and you're supposed to speak in tongues in His name (Mark 16:17)! If for any reason you haven't received the fullness of the promise of the Spirit & you don't speak in tongues, I beg you by the mercies of God, don't stay there! Don't be deprived of something Jesus died for!
When Jesus breathed on them in John 20, He said "Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained". Remember, Jesus said "the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins" (Mt. 9:6); and the result in that particular instance was the healing of a paralysed man. If Jesus then says that now that I have received the Holy Spirit, I have power on earth (just like Him) to forgive & retain sins, imagine what endless possibilities there are? No wonder He said in Mt. 10:8, "heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils!"
Something more than gold
Something more than silver
The Spirit of God in my heart
Something more than gold
Hey somebody, I have received the promise of the Spirit! As Jesus is, so am I in this world; I have become one with Him! I am a new creation, limitless in expression! I've got the divine nature, the very life of God in me! The world has never seen our kind before; in fact, the world is waiting for us, it just doesn't know it yet!
If you haven't received the promise of the Spirit, pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaase make sure you do today. If you have, blessed are you among men, rejoice!!!
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