Author: Joe
Last saved by: PJD
Company: GDC

99-03-14-B.JSH-113 / 

©℗ 1999  Joe Griffin

Doctrine of the Faith-Rest Drill: Claiming Promises: Promises to the Gentiles; to the Church of God

	2)	Promises to the Gentiles.
a.	Remember that a Gentile is anyone who is not a Jew.
b.	The Scripture reveals a number of names used by the Jews to describe Gentiles: (1) heathen, (2) the nations, (3) peoples, (4) the uncircumcised, (5) strangers, (6) “dogs,” (7) unclean, and (8) goiim (heathen; nations).
c.	Paul refers to the riches of the Gentiles in:
Romans 11:12 -	If the Jews’ transgression be riches for the world and their failure be riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be!
d.	The Jewish rejection of Jesus as Messiah resulted in riches to the Gentiles who were brought into the Royal Family of the Church Age.
e.	God commissioned Paul to be an apostle to the Gentiles so that they could hear the promises of the Gospel.
Romans 11:11b -	By the Jews’ transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles.
Romans 15:16 -	That I should be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles ministering as a priest the good news of God …
1 Timothy 2:7 -	I was appointed a preacher and an apostle … as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
		f.	As apostle to the Gentiles, Paul informs the jealous Jews of Antioch that this is necessary because they rejected the message.
Acts 13:44 -	The next Sabbath nearly the whole city of Antioch assembled to hear the word of God.
v 45 -	But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul and were blaspheming.

v 46 -		And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you Jews first; since you repudiate it, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.
v 47 -		“For thus the Lord has commanded us [ Isaiah 49:6 ], ‘I have placed You as a light for the Gentiles that You should bring salvation to the end of the earth.’”
		g.	Following the birth of the Christ Child the Prophet Simeon proclaimed both a prophecy and a promise to the Gentiles by also quoting Isaiah:
Luke 2:26 -	It had been revealed to Simeon by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.
v 27 -		And he came in the Spirit into the temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law,
v 28 -		then he took Him into his arms and blessed God and said,
v 29 -		“Now Lord, You do let your bond-servant depart in peace according to Your word;
v 30 -		for my eyes have seen Your salvation
v 31 -		which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
v 32 -		[ Isaiah 42:6 ] ‘A light of revelation to the Gentiles’ and the glory of Your people Israel.”
		h.	All biblical personalities prior to Abraham were Gentiles and many received promises, most notably Noah.
Genesis 9:13 -	I set My bow in the cloud and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.

v 14 -		“And it shall come about when I bring a cloud over the earth that the bow shall be seen in the cloud
v 15 -		and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.”
1)	Promises to the Church of God.
a.	The Apostle Peter introduced his second Epistle by speaking of the abundance of promises issued the believer and made accessible through knowledge.
2 Peter 1:2 -	May grace and prosperity be multiplied unto you in the sphere of ™p…gnwsij / epignosis / knowledge whose source is God and Jesus our Lord;
v 3 -	seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness by means of the ™p…gnwsij / epignosis / knowledge of Him Who called us by means of His own glory and virtue.
v 4 -	For through the agency of these [ omnipotence, grace, omniscience, glory, and virtue ] He has granted to us His valuable and preeminent promises, in order that by means of them you might become partakers of the divine nature …
b.	The Greek word for “partakers” is the predicate nominative koinwnÒj /koinonos / which means: partner, sharer, one who takes part in something with someone.
c.	It is through knowledge, grace, power, glory, and the virtue of God that we have made available to us these magnificent promises.
d.	We are able to take part in the divine nature through a partnership with God made possible by executing the prototype spiritual life of Christ under the filling of the Holy Spirit.

e.	Thus equipped, we may draw from the divine treasury of valuable and preeminent promises.
f.	These promises are granted to the church through the Rock of our salvation, a point made clear to Peter and the disciples in Matthew 16.
g.	In that passage the Lord asks His disciples to identify Him:
Matthew 16:15 -	Jesus said to them, “Who do you say that I am?”
v 16 -		And Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
v 17 -		And Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal it to you but My Father who is in heaven.
v 18 -		“And I say to you that you are Peter [ Pštroj / Petros /: a stone ], and upon this Rock [ Pštra /Petra /: Bedrock ] I will build My church [ ™kklhs…a / ekklesia /: the universal church, the Body of Christ ]; and the gates of Hades [ pÚlai ¯dou / pulai haidou /: Jewish idiom for physical death ] shall not overpower it.
h.	Verse 16 is Peter’s correct identification of Jesus as the Messiah.  In verse 17 the Lord asserts that the heavenly Father revealed it to Peter.  In verse 18 He refers to Peter, whose name means “small stone,” as a member of a future church which He, the Lord, will construct upon the Bedrock of salvation referred to by Peter in verse 16, “The Christ, the Son of the living God.”
i.	The Lord goes on to subtly indicate that even His upcoming physical death could not prevent Him from accomplishing this mission.

j.	The edifice of which the Lord speaks is not a building but an organism.  And it is to the individual “stones” of this organism that the promises are given.
k.	We will now in our next paragraph examine a number of these promises in their various categories.