The Promise in Christ Jesus: God’s Promises Fulfilled

Summary

The promise in Christ Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s Old Testament promises through Jesus Christ. It includes salvation, forgiveness, righteousness, the Holy Spirit, resurrection, an eternal kingdom, and blessing for all nations. Jesus fulfills God’s promises of a Savior, atonement, covenant renewal, and eternal life. Those who receive these promises by faith find hope, transformation, endurance, and an everlasting home with God.

The Promise Shared by All Believers

On August 9, 2026, Gus Burghdorf preached from Ephesians in my home church. One of the verses he read jumped off the page at me. “Gentile believers together with Jewish believers compose one body and are sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 3:6, NIV). What exactly is the promise in Christ Jesus that Jewish and Gentile believers share?

The Whole Gospel Inheritance

The promise in Christ Jesus is the whole gospel inheritance God pledged beforehand: salvation through the Messiah, covenant forgiveness, Spirit-given life, resurrection hope, and the inclusion of all nations in one redeemed people.

The Gospel Promised Beforehand

The Apostle Paul called this “the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures” (Romans 1:2, NIV). The shared promise, then, is rooted in the Old Testament. The gospel was not a New Testament invention detached from God’s earlier dealings with His people.

The Gospel’s Old Testament Roots

The gospel in the New Testament draws attention like a mighty oak in an otherwise treeless landscape. We cannot miss it because it is spotlighted on center stage, but its roots sink into Old Testament Scriptures.

One Promise Unfolding Across Scripture

The Old Testament gospel has multiple aspects, but they belong together as one promise unfolding across Scripture: a Savior, a kingdom, atonement, resurrection, covenant renewal, the Spirit, and blessing for the nations.

The Hope of a Victorious Savior

That promise first takes shape in the hope of a victorious Savior and worldwide blessing.

The Savior Promised in Genesis

In Genesis, God promises a Savior who would crush the devil’s head (Genesis 3:15). He promised Abraham that his descendant would bless all the peoples on earth  (Genesis 12:3).

The Promise of an Eternal Kingdom

It then narrows through David into the promise of an eternal kingdom ruled by the Messiah.

The Messiah Who Reigns Forever

God promised David that He would establish his offspring’s kingdom. It would endure forever, referring to the Messiah’s eternal reign (2 Samuel 7:16).

Atonement and Victory over Death

The promise also includes atonement for sin and victory over death.

The Messiah Would Suffer and Rise

The promised Messiah would suffer for people’s sins. Isaiah described the Messiah’s suffering with striking accuracy about 700 years before the crucifixion (Isaiah 53:5). About 300 years earlier, David pointed ahead to the Messiah’s resurrection (Psalm 16:10).

The Promise of a Renewed Covenant

It further includes a renewed covenant in which God forgives sin and changes His people from within.

God’s Law Written on the Heart

Jeremiah prophesied a new agreement between God and the Jewish people (Jeremiah 31:31) about 600 years before Jesus announced the new covenant in his blood (Luke 22:20). Jeremiah wrote that in the future, God would write his law on the hearts of His people, forgive them, and not remember their sins (Jeremiah 31:34).

Abraham’s Example of Living Faith

Abraham showed living faith when he was willing to offer Isaac at God’s command (Genesis 22:12). Paul later wrote that Abraham’s trust in God was credited to him as righteousness (Romans 4:3).

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

The promise culminates in the gift of the Spirit and the extension of salvation beyond Israel to the nations.

Joel’s Prophecy Fulfilled at Pentecost

Joel prophesied that God would send His Spirit to His believing servants on some future day (Joel 2:28). On the Day of Pentecost, Peter announced that Joel’s prophecy had been fulfilled as evidenced by supernatural signs (Acts 2:17).

Salvation Extended to All Nations

The promise also included the expansion of salvation to the ends of the earth to embrace those who were not Jews (Isaiah 49:6).

Jesus Fulfills God’s Promises

Jesus fulfills all these Old Testament promises (2 Corinthians 1:20). He is the promised Savior (Luke 2:11), Abraham’s seed who blesses the nations (Galatians 3:19), and David’s greater Son who reigns forever (Matthew 1:1; Luke 1:33).

Righteousness Through Faith in Christ

Jesus suffered, the just for the unjust, so God could forgive sinners righteously (1 Peter 3:18). Through faith, Jesus’s righteousness is credited to the unrighteous by grace (Romans 3:22).

The Risen Christ Gives His Spirit

Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, never to die again (Acts 10:41). He sent His Spirit to dwell in believers (John 15:26).

The Gospel Goes to the World

Jesus commissioned His followers to go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19).

God Never Forgets His Promises

God never forgets His promises (Psalm 105:8). They are trustworthy (Psalm 145:13), His hand is strong to fulfill them (2 Chronicles 6:15), and no unforeseen circumstance can void them because He does not lie or change His mind (1 Samuel 15:29).

Standing in God’s Fulfilled Promise

To share in the promise in Christ Jesus is to stand in the fulfillment of God’s Old Testament hope and the fullness of His New Testament gospel. That promise calls for repentance and faith (Mark 1:15) and produces worship, endurance, holiness, and mission.

What God Promises His People

God promises to save His people, free them from the world’s corruption, transform them into Christlike holiness, preserve them for His kingdom, bring Christ again, judge evil, raise His people to eternal life, and give them an everlasting home in a new creation where righteousness dwells (2 Peter 1:4).

Believing God’s Promises Produces Praise

People who believe God’s promises sing his praise (Psalm 106:12) and are blessed (Luke 1:45).

God’s Promises Give Hope

Those promises sustain them and give them hope (Psalm 119:116).

The Tragedy of Unbelief

Those who don’t believe God’s promises despise what He offers (Psalm 106:24), have no part in the covenants of the promise, and are without hope or God in the world (Ephesians 2:12).

Receiving and Living the Promise

The promise in Christ Jesus is not merely an idea to admire but a reality to receive, trust, proclaim, and obey.

How do you demonstrate that you believe the promise?

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