Promises in John's Gospel

Intro: There are so many promises given directly by Jesus in John's gospel – promises we believe for ourselves and KNOW they are true. John writes at the very end of His gospel:
"This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true." John 21:24  
As we begin to take God at His word and believe what the Bible says and put His promises into action in our own lives, we will discover for ourselves God's faithfulness and how much He desires to bless us and keep us safe in His love. Faith will increase, and we will grow in our Christian lives and in our love for Him and for each other.
                 (All scripture quotes are from the New King James version unless otherwise stated.)

Promises of Eternal Life

What is eternal life? Remember that Jesus Himself answered that question when He was praying in John 17:3  
"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."
Eternal life means knowing the Lord personally and being close to Him forever. It means inheriting all the blessings and the authority and power of His Kingdom of love. It means being a precious child of your Father in Heaven – forever and ever!

John 3:13-16 Anyone who believes in Jesus will never perish but receive eternal life.
John 3:36  John the Baptist testifies of Jesus that whoever believes in Him has eternal life.
John 4:14  Jesus tells the woman at the well that whoever drinks of the living water which He gives                will never thirst and the water will be like a well springing up into eternal life.
John 5:24 Anyone who hears Jesus' words and believes in God who sent Him has eternal life.
John 6:27 Jesus tells the people not to work for perishable food, but for the food which endures to                  eternal life, which is given by the Father through His Son.
John 6:40 It is the Father's will that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him should have                    eternal life – and Jesus promises He Himself will raise them up on the last day.
John 6:47 Everyone who believes has eternal life.
John 6:51, 58  Jesus is the living bread – all who eat of this Bread will live forever.
John 6:54  Jesus says that whoever eats of His flesh and drinks His blood has eternal life.
John 6:63 The words that Jesus speaks are spirit and LIFE.
John 8:51 Jesus says those who keep His word will never see death.
John 10:27,28  Jesus promises that His sheep will hear His voice, they will follow Him and they                   have eternal life. No-one is able to snatch them from His hand or from His Father's hand.
John 11:25,26  He who believes in Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life, will live and never die.
John 12:25   Anyone who hates his life in this world (ie: chooses to live for Jesus FIRST) keeps his                  life forever – to eternal life.
John 12:50  The Father's commandment is eternal life!
John 20:31  This gospel is written so that we may believe and have eternal life in Jesus' name.

Promises of the Holy Spirit
John the Baptist speaks of Jesus Christ that "He is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit." John 1:33. Jesus Himself repeatedly assures His disciples that after He is gone and ascended to His Father, the Holy Spirit will come.

John 14:16-17 The Father will give the Holy Spirit to be with us forever – Helper, Comforter,
                          Spirit of truth to live in us.
John 14:26       Father will send the Holy Spirit – Helper, Teacher, and reminder of all Jesus' words.
John 15:26       The Spirit of Truth will come from the Father and bear witness of Jesus.
John 16:7         When Jesus leaves, He will send His  Holy Spirit – the Helper, Strengthener,                              Standby.
John 16:13       The Holy Spirit, will come to be our Guide, speaking what He hears from Father                            and revealing His truth and things to come.
Prayer Promises
Prayer is talking to your Father – coming as His child, bringing your love and praise to Him and your requests for yourself and for others. There are many wonderful verses about prayer in the Bible. It is not long words or flowery language – it is simply talking to the Lord! And you can ask the Holy Spirit to help you. I have printed the complete verses, as it is important to notice the conditions that we should believe and that we are depending fully on Jesus and in HIS name – His character of grace and truth. Start learning to bring your cares to Jesus. 

John 14:13
"And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

John 14:14
"If you ask anything in My name, I will do it."

John 15:7
"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

John 15:16
"You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

John 16:23
"And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.

John 16:24
"Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

Promises of Peace and Joy

John 14:27
"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

John 16:33
"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

John 20:19
Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, "Peace be with you."

John 20:21
So Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."

John 20:26
And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace to you!"

John 15:11
"These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.

John 16:20
"Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.

John 16:22
"Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.

John 16:24
"Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

John 17:13
"But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.

John 4:35-36
"Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!
And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.

Other Promises

It is important when we look at the promises God gives in His Word, that we look at the conditions for receiving what He longs to give each one – and here in John's gospel the conditions are usually to BELIEVE in Jesus, to abide in or hold on to His Word, to receive what He teaches and to obey Him, which usually comes back to believing Him and loving Him! Then all that follows here is true for us! I have only put the verse references, followed by a brief summary, so you can study further.

John 1:12,13 Become the sons of God.
John 1:16,17  Receive His fullness and grace and truth through Jesus.
John 3:18  No condemnation.
John 3:21  Come into the light.
John 6:20  Set free from fear.
John 6:35  Never hunger or thirst again.
John 6:37  Will never be rejected by the Father.
John 6:45  Taught by God.
John 6:63   His words spirit and life to us.
John 7:38   Life-giving rivers of water to flow out from our hearts.
John 8:12   Shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life.
John 8:31   Are the disciples of Jesus.
John 8:32   We shall know the truth.
John 8:36   And we shall be free.
John 8:47   Will hear God.
John 10:3   The sheep hear His voice. He calls us by name and leads us.
John 10:4    Jesus goes before and the sheep follow.
John 10:5    His sheep will discern false voices and flee from them.
John 10:9    Enter by the door of Jesus and be saved. Go in and out and find good pasture.
John 10:10  Life in abundance, to the full and overflowing.
John 10:11   The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
John 10:16   He will bring in other sheep and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
John 10:27   His sheep hear His voice. He knows us intimately and we follow Him.
John 10:29   Our Father is greater than all and no-one is able to snatch us out of His hand.
John 11:40   Believe and you will see the glory of God – ie: wonders and miracles, new life.
John 12:26   Together with Jesus and honoured by our Father.
John 12:32    Jesus, lifted-up, will draw all peoples to Himself.
John 12:45    See Jesus, see the Father.
John 12:46   No longer to live in darkness
John 14:7     Know the Father and see Him
John 14:6     Jesus is the way to the Father.
John 14:12   Will do the works of Jesus and greater works, because of the Holy Spirit.
John 14:18   Will not be left alone as orphans.
John 14:19   Will see Jesus and live because He lives.
John 14:21   Will be loved by the Father. And Jesus will love us and show Himself to us.
John 14:23   Loved by Father, and Jesus and Father will make their home in us.
John 15:3     Clean through His Word.
John 15:5      Without Jesus, we can do nothing – but much fruit when abide in Him.
John 15:10    We will abide in His love.
John 15:14    We are His friends.
John 15:16    Chosen, appointed to bear lasting fruit for Jesus.
John 16:1     Will not be made to stumble.
John 16:27  The Father Himself loves us.
John 16:33   Jesus has overcome the world – so that we may have peace in all the tests that come.
John 17:15    Jesus prays that we should be kept safe from the evil one.
John 17:17    Sanctified through the truth of the Word.
John 17:21   One in the Father and the Son, that the world might believe.
John 17:24    Jesus desire is for us to be with Him, to behold His glory.


One with the Father and the Son:

Jesus prayed that those who believe in Him may be one with Him and the Father. This "vital union" with the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit, will bring acceptance, wonderful peace and joy, security, protection and strength. Colossians 3:3 puts it: "Our life is hidden with Christ in God"! This leads on into loving one another with His love, so that the world will believe. John 17:21. Remember also what Jesus says in John 13:34-35:
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

Unity, because we know and abide in Jesus, will bring about those greater works promised in John 14:12. This verse is in the context of the Holy Spirit being sent to live in us, and our oneness with the Father and with Jesus, and so with each other. We will never do greater works than Jesus did in the sense of the sheer amazing-ness of His power over the storm and over disease and demons and death. Jesus was and is God's Son – but at that time was living as one Man with a small band of followers, in one small country. Now through the power of the Holy Spirit in us, His promise is true, and as we are one in Him, and love Him and one another, His life and His same power will flow through the body of believers throughout the earth, bringing freedom and salvation and healing in mighty ways to the world!

The same John who wrote this Gospel, wrote in his first letter:
"Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.                                                                                                                              God showed how much He loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him.  This is real love—not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.                                     
Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in Him and He in us."
I Jn 4:7-13 (New Living Translation)


 Scriptures fulfilled

John chooses several times, especially during his relating of the crucifixion of Jesus, to remind his readers that this is fulfilment of prophecy. These are but a few of all the many prophecies about Jesus' birth and life, death and resurrection which can be found in the Old Testament. See what Jesus says to the two disciples when he meets them on the road to Emmaus after He is risen:
 Luke 24:25-27 "Then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?" And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself."

John 1:23
He said: "I am 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Make straight the way of the Lord," 'as the prophet Isaiah said."  Isaiah 40:3

John 2:16-17
And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"  Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up." Psalm 69:9  Jeremiah 7:11 Isaiah 56:7

John 2:19-22
Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"  But He was speaking of the temple of His body.
Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said. Psalm 16:10

John 6:45
"It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. Isaiah 54:13

John 7:38-39
"He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."  But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.  Isaiah 44:3,  55:1,  58:11

 John 12:14-16
Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:
"Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt."
His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him …"   Zechariah 9:9

John 12:37-41
But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: "Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" Isaiah 53:1
Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them." These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him. Isaiah 6:9,10

John 13:18
"I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, 'He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.'  Psalm 41:9

 John 15:24-25
"If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.
"But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.'  Psalm 35:19  Psalm 69:4

John 17:12
"While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled." Psalm 41:9, John 6:70

John 18:9 
 "…that the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, "Of those whom You gave Me I have lost none." John 6:39, 17:12

John 19:23-24 
Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece.
They said therefore among themselves, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be," that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: "They divided My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots." Therefore the soldiers did these things.  Psalm 22:18

John 19:28  After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst!"  Psalm 69:21

John 19:36  For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, "Not one of His bones shall be broken."  Exodus 12:46, Numbers 9:12 – the Passover signifying Christ's sacrifice for us. Psalm 34:20

John 19:37
And again another Scripture says, "They shall look on Him whom they pierced."  Zech 12:10


FINALLY ……..    God's Word is TRUE

The apostle John wrote 4 other books in the New Testament, all found at the end of the Bible. He wrote 3 letters to churches and individual Christians, and then the very last book of the Bible – His amazing revelation of Jesus in glory and His message to the churches, and prophecy of the end times and Jesus' coming.

Throughout his first letter, John speaks of knowing and being certain and having assurance of the truth of eternal life and of God's love for us. All that we have learned as we have read through John's Gospel will become more and more of a true certainty in our lives as we keep on in God's Word and close to Him and His people.is people.H


I Jn 5:19-21
We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.


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