THE LORD’S PROMISES

Kevin J Walkinshaw

Matthew 18: 20

John 16: 7

Matthew 28: 20 (from “And …”)

         Following on from our brother’s thought in the gospel yesterday as to the promises of God, I thought about some of the things the Lord Jesus said to His own when He was here, that I think we can also call promises.  I am sure there are many that I could have read, but these three are the ones that have been laid upon me to speak about. 

         We also were encouraged at a recent meeting by this thought of the Lord being in the midst; so again I felt led to read this first verse: “where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them”.  How encouraging that is, is it not, dear friends?  How encouraging all these scriptures are; but how encouraging that verse is.  We have gone through times of limitation, and our brethren on the Continent have felt it more perhaps than we have, but this is always an encouragement.  What the Lord said He would do, He does in faithfulness.  My grandfather used to say that if God says He will do something, or promises something, it is as if it has already happened.  And that, dear friends, is the character of what the Lord said to His own: “there am I in the midst of them”.  It does not even say, ‘there will I be in the midst’, it says, “there am I in the midst of them”.  How many times we have proved that, even in our households, even when there are just a few of us in this room, or when we are away visiting localities that are very small in number; it says, “where two or three are gathered together unto my name”.  If we gather unto His Name, if we come together having affection and love for our Lord Jesus, He will be there.  What a promise; how encouraging to our hearts!  If we do gather in that way, no matter how large the company, or how small the company, the Lord Jesus will be faithful to this promise, and He will be in the midst.  What joy, what peace we find when the Lord is in the midst.  Again, and this is what we were encouraged with, the Lord would say, “Peace be unto you”, Luke 24: 36.  That is what the Lord would say to us, as He is in the midst; as He is our Object, the Lord would bring peace and joy.  And He would be the Object of our hearts.

         I read next in John’s gospel, and this also came into the gospel yesterday, but again, what a promise.  He says, “if I go I will send him to you”: what a promise of the Lord Jesus to His own.  The Lord knew what His own would feel.  The Lord knew the sorrow and grief and the confusion that would come in.  I do not think His own really would have understood this at this time, I do not think I would have understood this if I had been there and the Lord had said these words, “It is profitable for you that I go away”.  How strange that would have sounded, but I think it emphasises the greatness of the One who was sent.  It emphasises the greatness of the gift of the Holy Spirit.  It emphasises the greatness of this promise; “if I go I will send him to you”.  And again, as I said, it was as if it had already happened.  It was a sure thing.  There could be no doubt when the Lord said that, that this would happen, “if I go I will send him to you”.  And we know it happened, we know that happened, that the Holy Spirit was sent to these lovers of the Lord Jesus.  And many of us, all of us I think, would pray to know this for ourselves that the Lord Jesus has been faithful to this promise, “if I go I will send him to you”.  It is available to all, as we heard in the gospel yesterday.  But what a promise from the Lord Jesus: “if I go I will send him to you”.  We rejoice that we know that He has done that.  We have spoken of the Father sending the Holy Spirit, “he will give you another Comforter” (John 14: 16), but here it is the Lord Jesus saying Himself, “I will send him to you”, and He is faithful to that promise.

         I read finally in the end of Matthew’s gospel, and what a word this is to the disciples.  The Lord told them what to do, “make disciples of all the nations …” (Matt 28: 19); but what a word this is at the end: “I am with you all the days, until the completion of the age”.  And we prove that, how the Lord Jesus is with us.  How faithful He is in every way.  We can prove this collectively as we come together.  We can prove that the Lord Jesus is with us until He comes again.  I had that in mind as well and we will touch on that in this section.  “I am with you all the days until the completion of the age”.  There is a time coming that the Lord said of Himself that He is coming again.  He speaks of His leaving, but He speaks of His coming again.  What a promise that is, that the Lord Jesus is coming again.  He will come again; we can have no doubt about that.  He is faithful to His word, and He will come again.  We have sung about our home above.  You think of that scripture, “I go to prepare you a place; and if I go and shall prepare you a place, I am coming again”, John 14: 2, 3.  You think of that, the Lord Jesus in His own words, “that where I am ye also may be”.  What a promise that is, what a joy, what an encouragement to our hearts, to think about all that the Lord Jesus has promised for us.  All that He has prepared for us, yes, but all these things He has promised that He has already fulfilled and will also fulfil, like, “I am coming again”.  May we be looking for that time, when the Lord will fulfil that promise.  But until that time, as it says here, “am with you all the days until the completion of the age”.  May we take courage following on from the gospel yesterday as to God’s promises, thinking as to what the Lord has promised for us.

         May we be encouraged, for His Name’s sake.

In a meeting for ministry at Sunbury

10th January 2022