On This Day: Patterns and Promises in Jesus’ Work

   So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:6-8)

   Two words of caution: first, that seeing patterns in Scripture is not authoritative. That is, unless God specifically teaches the pattern. What I mean is that it can be helpful to learn that there are patterns to the way God works, and we may sometimes see how a pattern in Scripture matches what we are going through, but we must not treat such observations as having the same authority as a specific revelation.

   For example, when I was going through John 4 about the Samaritan woman, I noticed a pattern. First Jesus would say something that looked like it was lifting her thoughts higher than she had experienced before, but then this was followed by a statement that made her look deeper inside herself at how she was doing. I have since seen this pattern in me and others many times, but it isn’t authoritative. No one else needs to see it. It isn’t binding. It may not always be the way God works. It is just something I found fascinating and sometimes it stands out that it appears God is still using that pattern as needed.

   On the other hand, when God clearly says in his word, “For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7), that is a pattern God himself says he always uses. Whenever God was going to do something, he first told someone about it so that person would be his spokesman to the target audience. This tells us to pay close attention to what is written in the Scriptures because that is still God doing something through the “secrets of the kingdom” he revealed through his servants.

   Second, along with the caution that our observation of patterns in God’s work is not authoritative (even though very helpful), it is also necessary to caution ourselves that not all promises of God are for all believers for every scene of history. Some promises were time-sensitive (belonging only to a particular time) and people-sensitive (belonging only to particular people, sometimes individuals).

   This is important because we must distinguish between the promises of God that apply to all believers throughout all the end times, and the promises that were given to certain people for certain events.

   When Jesus promised the disciples that they would “receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,” he was speaking of the unique event on the day of Pentecost ten days later. There are lessons and encouragements in this that can encourage us in our times and situations, but the promise was for those people at that time.

   On the other hand, the pattern and promise of God for the church throughout the end times is,

   And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:18-21)

   The parallel passage in Colossians reads,

   Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:16-17)

   Being filled with the Spirit and letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly are commands and promises for all believers throughout the whole end times no matter where we live. They correspond with, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16) and “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25).

   God told his old covenant people to “walk in all his ways” (Deuteronomy 10:12 and many others). John wrote about believers in Revelation with the expression,

   And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
“Great and amazing are your deeds,
    O Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
    O King of the nations! (Revelation 15:3)

   God does have ways of working, they sometimes show up in patterns, and they typically include promises. But we must reject any pendulum-extremes of too much or too little, while seeking to humbly and faithfully live “by every word that comes from the mouth of God” as recorded in Scriptures as “the word of Christ.”

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)