For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call. (Acts 2:39)

God’s Promise

Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost was a stirring appeal for the devout Jews to consider Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of God, the Christ. Three thousand people heard the preaching of the twelve and obeyed the gospel. In response to the preaching, the crowd asked what they had to do to be saved. Peter told them to change their hearts and wash away their sins in the waters of baptism. If they obeyed these words, they would receive the remission of their sins. Entering into a covenant with God, they would also receive the gift of the Holy Spirit as a guarantee.

Two powerful promises were made that day. First, the remission of sins. God would wash away all of the sins. He would forgive them of every evil. A remission is a dismissal or a release. All the sins that corrupted the heart would be completely taken away. Peter outlined the conditions of repentance and immersion in water to receive forgiveness. God would not weigh the balance and take seventy percent of sins away. He would remove one hundred percent of every sin as far as the east is from the west and to the depths of the deepest sin. That was a promise.

The second promise was the gift of the Holy Spirit. There was nothing miraculous about this gift, but it was an incredible divine gift. God promised all those who obeyed the gospel would receive the blessing of the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of salvation. Paul would later describe this promise as the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. The Spirit of God would dwell in the newly washed heart, cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Paul explained the Holy Spirit would help with the weaknesses of the heart.

Forgiveness or remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit are promises that have continued for two thousand years. What happened on the Day of Pentecost was not an isolated case. Luke tells the story of the early church, where the promise was carried out multiple times with individuals, families, and multitudes. The word of God was preached, and people repented of their sins and washed their sins away in the waters of baptism. When they came up out of the water, the Father granted both promises. Two hundred years later, in a hamlet in another land, people received the promise when they obeyed the gospel. In 1492, people were washed in the blood of Jesus Christ and rose to receive the promise. This promise has been granted for two millennia.

God made a promise that has been kept faithfully because God is faithful. What Peter said is still true today for all those who believe Jesus is the Son of God and obey the gospel. When the crowd wanted to know what to do to be saved, Peter told them to repent and be baptized for the remission of their sins. The promise was given to three thousand souls that day. When someone repents and is washed in the waters of baptism, their sins are washed away (promise one), and they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (promise two). Time will not change that promise. What a wonderful God we serve who keeps His promise.