Page 4 - The Church and Education PDF Pro

Promise Made to the Church

At the last supper, Jesus, in his Olivet Discourse, promised to send the Holy
Spirit in a few days to guide the church into the fullness of truth.

John 14:25-26 These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. But
the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things, and
bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

What’s more, He promises that this Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, will remain with us forever! Before
that time, the Holy Spirit would indwell a person, but would leave the person at a later time. He would,
in a sense, come and go. But now, Jesus promised that the coming of the Holy Spirit to indwell the
believer would be permanent!

John 14: 16-17 And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for
ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him;
you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you.

A little later in the same discourse, Jesus reiterates this same point:

John 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his
own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to
come.

This is really a twofold promise: that the Holy Spirit will remain with the Church forever, and that the
Holy Spirit will preserve the Church in the fullness of truth.

In Matthew 16:16-18, Jesus promised to build his church. Here is the Church in prophecy and promise;
the first mention of the Church in the New Testament. Note the distinction here recognized between
the “Kingdom” and the “Church.” Jesus promised to build his Church, not his Kingdom. A new age was
coming!

This passage notes that the Church was to be founded on Peter’s confession of Jesus Christ as the Son of
the living God. No supremacy is given to Peter as he is referred to a little stone, but Jesus said on this
“foundation stone” (different word) referencing Peter’s confession is what the Church will be built upon.

In Matthew 18:15-20 our Lord recognizes the fact of the Church, and also that it has the divine seal and
sanction in the exercising of the power of the keys to the kingdom.

Let’s Practice…

1. What does the Hebrew word for assembly mean?

2. God made unconditional promises to Abraham and to David. What does unconditional
mean?

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