Promise of Jesus 161: Hidden Manna

161. Hidden Manna

 Revelation 2:17b To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna.

 The third promise to the overcomer: Hidden Manna. The overcomer is a believer, and he will be given hidden manna to eat. Manna is supernatural nourishment like the bread of life Himself. The manna is supernatural not only in its nature but also in its origin; it is from heaven; it is miraculous and its presence cannot be explained by natural means. Manna is daily bread and it is fresh every morning; it will be available new every day and it will be enough for the day, but manna can’t be stored up and kept for more than a day (unless God makes exceptions, like Sabbath Days).

God gives us what we need for the needs of every day as the needs arise, and it will always be enough. It seems that the Lord wants us to come to Him on a daily basis to be renewed and strengthened; He doesn’t want us gathering and feeding once in a while and expect that to last. He wants to be in daily contact with us because He loves us and because we need Him. He promises to meet us and feed us, and we will always have the strength needed for every situation.

The manna is hidden. This doesn’t mean we have to find it, but that it works and feeds in hidden ways and means; we can’t always see how God is working and what He is doing, for it is hidden. For this reason we need to believe the promise: we will be given manna to eat when we need it whether we see it or not. It is also hidden from other people; others will not be able to see the source of our strength. When others see our strength they will have to ask us for the reason for the hope that is within us. The invisible Jesus who lives within must be witnessed to, and we are privileged to tell others how we have hope and where we get the strength.

Gather and eat the hidden manna Jesus gives by receiving the promises of His Word morning by morning. He will not fail.

Promise of Jesus 160: No Second Death

160. No Second Death

Revelation 2:11 He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

 The second promise to the overcomer: no Second Death. Overcomers are believers in Jesus Christ. “He who believes in me will never die.” All sinners, of course, will be hurt of the First Death, the physical death which is certain for all mortals. Believers and unbelievers alike will all be resurrected in the body at the last day. After the judgment unbelievers will be consigned to the lake of fire, the Second Death. Believers are written in the book of life and the second death has no power over them. They shall enter into the joy of the Lord and live in the new heaven and new earth forever.

The first death, the physical death common to all people, is temporal, that is, it is only for a time, it does not last and it is over. The second death is eternal, that is, it is permanent, it goes on forever and it never ends. It is hard to imagine what eternal death could be like, so the Word of God uses the image of “the lake of fire.” However we imagine the second death it is definitely terrifying and horrific, and it should strike us with terror down to our bottom of our soul.

The only way to escape the horror is to repent and believe the Gospel: Jesus forgives sins and rescues us from the impending doom of the lake of fire. Or, in the words of this promise: we shall not be hurt of the second death. The prospect of eternal hurt cannot be mitigated or diminished or brushed off. It is what God says it is. If one rejects the salvation freely given by Jesus, the only other option we have is rejection of God, unbelief in His Word and outright denial. The choice is black and white: believe in Jesus and accept His offer or take your chances that God is a liar.

The promise is definite and clear: No Second Death for you.

Promise of Jesus 159: Crown of Life

159. Crown of Life

 Revelation 2:10 Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

 The conditional promise of Jesus in this verse is: If you are faithful unto death, then Jesus will give you a crown of life. The condition is that one must be faithful all through life until he dies; then after death he will receive life as a crown of the entire life; this crown is eternal life that never ends. The condition of being faithful is not up to the individual for he is unable to be faithful by himself; a sinful human being cannot remain faithful because his sin is inherently incapable of faithfulness. The faithfulness is God’s doing and it is up to Him to be faithful for us. He promises to keep us faithful, and he promises to finish what He started within us. He will do what He says and keep us faithful to the end. Thus God does it all; He keeps us and He gives eternal life as a result of his keeping.

God is faithful to us, and a part of God’s faithfulness is keeping us faithful to Him through all of life until we die. After death God continues his faithfulness by granting the crown of life. Crowns are given as a reward or crowns are given to those who have authority to rule. Both aspects of crown are in view in this promise. First, the crown of life is given as a reward but not for our faithful life and good works but as a reward for Jesus’ faithful life and good works. Jesus earns the reward and gives the crown to us by grace.

Second, regarding the crown as the right to rule, like a king, believers are given ruling authority over all the enemies of life. Jesus has absolute authority and uses it to overcome on our behalf. Believers will receive the crown of kings, who in eternity will rule the new heaven and new earth for the good and the positive benefit of all. The life we will enjoy in eternity will be governed beneficently for the extreme good of all who are there. The crown is an awesome privilege and responsibility. And we will have a part of putting right everything that has gone wrong in earth’s history.

Promise of Jesus 158: Tree of Life

158. Tree of Life in Paradise

 Revelation 2:7 To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

Revelation 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

 The first promise to the overcomer: the Tree of Life. If you are an overcomer, then you will eat of the tree of life in the paradise of God. This is considered a conditional promise, the condition being a person who overcomes. One overcomes the Enemies by faith in Jesus Christ; He defeated Sin, Death and the Devil, and those who believe in Jesus overcome with Him. A more narrow sense of being an overcomer refers to those who have learned to activate the victory through experience, that is, they know how to apply faith in Christ to the particular problems that arise. But the wider sense should be applied in these seven Book of Revelation promises to overcomers, that is, all believers in Christ are overcomers, whether they have learned how to apply overcoming faith to the problems of life or not so much; all believers are overcomers.

The promise of Revelation closes the curse of sin in Genesis 3, where access to the Tree of Life is closed off to human beings, lest they eat and live eternally in sin. But in between Genesis and Revelation Jesus Christ has come from God, He has overcome, and He has opened the way for all sinners to the Tree of Life. Christ has restored God’s original purpose for created humanity, sustenance for a life that never ends.

Living in a paradise is a relentless dream of all people; the dream is a remnant memory of humanity “remembering” what once was; the dream is also a hope and wish that in the future life could be like that again. The amazing Good News is that this Paradise Dream is exactly what Jesus earned for us on the cross; He even promises just this to the thief on the cross next to Him. Eternal life is a paradise. Jesus Christ is the Tree of Life through whom paradise is sustained.

Promise of Jesus 157: Inheritance

157. Inheritance

Acts 26:18e And an inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

 The fifth promise from the hearing of the Gospel is inheritance. The promise of an inheritance has its roots in the promise given to Abraham in Genesis 12. God promised Abraham and his descendants an inheritance. Jesus announced it had come in His incarnation: the Kingdom of God is near; repent and believe the Gospel. God has a land and a kingdom prepared for us; He worked it out by sending His Son to live and die and rise again for sinners; those who believe in Him will enter into the inheritance.

Through Jesus Christ God the Father has made us sons and daughters of God; the children of God have been promised an inheritance in heaven. They enter into it today by faith; they will enter into it later by sight after death.

The inheritance we receive is shared equally among all those who are sanctified by faith in Christ; I receive all of the inheritance, but so do all the sanctified. We will all enjoy fully 100% of God’s blessings and His own eternal life. To receive the inheritance, it is expected that the heirs must be holy as God is holy; they will all have the DNA of God. The death and resurrection of Christ has earned for us forgiveness of all sins; thus God declares us holy, or sanctified. The Holy Spirit applies holiness to our hearts through the Gospel, and we are truly and rightly and eternally sanctified by faith.

The sanctification is real; the inheritance is real. When you heard the gospel you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit; this Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it. [Ephesians 1:13-14]. Thus this promise is valuable and enjoyable in the present and in the future.

Promise of Jesus 156: Receive Forgiveness of Sins

156. Forgiveness of sins

 Acts 26:18d That they may receive forgiveness of sins….

 The fourth promise of the preaching of the Gospel is the forgiveness of sins given to those who will receive it. Forgiveness of sins is available to every person in the world; forgiveness of sins is earned by Jesus Christ since He paid the full price for all sins. However, forgiveness of sins is not actuated and effective until it is received; forgiveness of sins is not received until it is proclaimed, announced or spoken to a person.

The promise is for all, but the promise is not received unless it is believed. The promise cannot be believed unless it is heard; it cannot be heard unless it is preached; and finally, it will not be preached unless someone is sent. (In this context, Jesus sent Paul.) God Himself is the originator of forgiveness and salvation, and He is the finisher; He begins the chain (sending) and ends the chain (saves). God does the Gospel, all of it, from the idea germinating in the heart of God to the actuation in the heart of the believer.The person forgiven and saved by the Gospel has nothing to do; we do not do the Gospel; we receive it.

We receive the forgiveness of sins; we believe the Gospel; and it is the Holy Spirit who gives the desire and ability to believe and receive. We do not do the Gospel; we do not forgive ourselves. Repentance and forgiveness of sins is preached to all nations, and with the preaching God saves. God makes forgiveness effective and active.

By the way, all who receive forgiveness also give it out. Humans, without divine help, have a hard time forgiving, but receivers more easily turn into givers. Forgiveness of one another is the grease and oil that smoothens relationships and keeps social and family relationships operating. But that does not happen until the promise of forgiveness is received, then given and shared. This promise undergirds human life.

Promise of Jesus 155: From the Power of Satan to God

155. From Power of Satan to God

 Acts 26:18c And from the power of Satan unto God….

The third promise of Paul’s commission to preach the Gospel to Gentiles is that they will be turned from the power of Satan unto God. The word for power is actually the Greek word for “authority;” authority = the right to rule. All people were once (and still are, if unbelievers) under the legal authority of Satan because he has the authority over every sinner. Satan has the right to rule the lives of sinners, for sin surrenders authority to him. God cannot legally take that authority away from Satan as it is his right as long as we sin.

However, the sin is taken away by the death of Christ on the cross, and because of Christ Satan no longer a right to rule the lives of those whose sin is forgiven. He will lie and shout that he has a right to ruin our lives, but the Gospel says, “No!” The Gospel says we are liberated and are now under the authority of God. God has the authority over our lives: when He says, “I forgive you, you are free,” it is true and indisputable.

Living under the authority of God is obviously far better than being under the authority of Satan. Satan is all evil and has only hurt and harm in intention; God is all good and does everything for our good and our benefit. Jesus has wrested authority from Satan and gave the authority of our lives to God. This is Good News, for the Good Lord only has our interest and welfare in mind. When we believe in Jesus we willingly submit to the authority of God. The more the Holy Spirit convinces us to submit everything to God the more our life will go well. We can embrace the authority of God and enjoy His benevolent rule.

Promise of Jesus 154: Turn from Darkness to Light

154. Turn from Darkness to Light

 Acts 26:18b And to turn them from darkness to light….

Paul is sent to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. The second promise contained in the commission is that they will be turned from darkness to light. Human beings since the Fall into Sin are plunged into darkness; the darkness is spiritual darkness, meaning they cannot see God or come to Him because they can only grope their way and cannot come to Him. The darkness of sin means they are spiritually stupid and cannot by their own reason or strength believe in Christ or come to Him. The best we can do is grope, but we cannot find.

God Himself must break into the darkness with the Light. Jesus is the Light and when He comes on the preaching of the Gospel He brings the Light to those who will receive Him. The light penetrates the darkness in the soul and shines on every corner of our lives, rooting out sin and replacing it with God’s love and life. The shining of light into the darkness is an ongoing activity; once we are turned to the light it continues to shine and brighten our lives.

The Gospel reveals both the darkness and the light. We do not naturally see the darkness because it is dark; in other words, we cannot by ourselves see, recognize or admit the sin and darkness. And we do not naturally see light unless the Holy Spirit reveals it through the Gospel. The Gospel brings the light, and we see. We continually stay in the light by repentance and faith in the Gospel. Truth is revealed and believed, and now we know the truth and walk in the light. It is vital to our life to “walk in the light as he is in the light;” In the light of the Gospel the “blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”

We continue to sin and fail and we try walk back into the darkness when we sin, but the blood of Jesus is always available to cleanse us and so bring us back into the light. In the light we see and understand what is really going on. We bask in the light of God’s warm love; we know we are right; we are comfortable being on the right side, the side of God the Eternal Creator. “In Thy light we see light.”

Promise of Jesus 153: Open Eyes

153. Open Eyes

 Acts 26:18a To open their eyes….

 Jesus speaks to Saul at his conversion experience; He calls him and sends him to open the eyes of the Gentiles. This is the first result of the preached Gospel. The first thing the Gospel does is “open their eyes. ”Paul is to be a servant and a witness to what he has seen and heard; Paul saw and heard Jesus; witnessing who Jesus is and what He did.

The Gospel has great power to open eyes by revealing sin and forgiveness. First, the Gospel convicts the world of sin and the need for God. Without this opening people will not see sin and guilt along with the wrath and punishment of God. Second, the Gospel convicts the world of forgiveness of sin and the restoration of the life of God to the sinner who repents and believes.

Opening eyes implies that the person is blind: he cannot see his sin and he cannot see the love of God that gives the Son to die for sin and bring forgiveness and salvation to the individual. He cannot see Jesus, who unites the person to the eternal God and eternal life. Because he is blind the Holy Spirit uses the Gospel to open the eyes to see. The HS does it all through the Gospel. Without the Gospel the person remains blind; with the Gospel he sees sin and repents; with the Gospel he sees love and believes forgiveness.

There is no hope and no salvation without the Gospel because we cannot see. There is no possible way we can save ourselves, but upon hearing the Gospel the eyes are opened and we see and believe and are saved. Once the eyes are opened there are so many more promises and blessings that come from a loving and faithful God that we begin to see and enjoy.

We need to take this promise as our own promise regularly; otherwise we don’t even see our blindness, and the Enemy still seeks to cloud our newly found vision. One word from God opens the eyes to see the continued mercy and goodness of God. Psalm 119:18: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” Pray to see clearly Love and Truth in Jesus.

Promise of Jesus 152: Blessed

152. Blessed

Acts 20:35 Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

 This promise of blessing needs to be believed because it runs contrary to logic and experience. It is natural to believe that it is better to receive than to give. Mathematically, receiving is adding and giving is subtracting. Jesus says, No, giving is adding blessing and receiving would be subtracting blessing. How do we explain this? We don’t; we believe it.

A giving spirit expands and grows one’s spirit and a large heart blesses others and one’s self. A large heart has a growing capacity to hold more of God than a shrinking, centered on self, spirit. The person who receives and never gives shrinks, stagnates, becomes foul and useless. He becomes like the Dead Sea, in which there is only income and no outlet; nothing is fresh or alive. The Sea of Galilee is fresh and alive and teeming with fish because it flows. A selfish spirit is dead and small. A giving spirit is alive and growing larger. It is easy to see which is a blessing.

Blessings will redound to the giver in material ways, but material blessings are very minor and insignificant compared with the spiritual, emotional, and relational blessings that are poured upon the one who gives. The promise is given to us not so that we will now be good people and get into a spirit of giving; the promise is rather given to us so that we may know that when I give I do not lose but actually gain. The fact is that we will be givers because the Lord is a giver and He lives in us, and He uses us to bless others. The saying is more of permission to give than a motivation to give. The believer says, “I want to give.” Jesus says, “Go ahead, you will be blessed.”