Today, we’re learning about the nature of God’s promises. A promise is a declaration that someone makes that they will either do something or not do something. For the recipient of the promise, it’s a reason to have expectation; a reason for hope!
Romans 8:24
Hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?
The unique thing about God’s promises compared to a promise that you or I would make is that God exists outside of time and space in eternity. From God’s perspective, everything simultaneously has happened already, is happening now, and has yet to happen.
We get a unique peek at this reality when Jesus is transfigured in front of Peter, James and John and they see and recognize Elijah and Moses. It is possible, not for certain, but possible that this is simultaneously when Moses is hidden in a cleft at Mount Horeb in Exodus 33 and Elijah is hidden in a cave in Mount Horeb in 1 Kings 19 where they both see the Lord. IF this was the case, these three events were separated by centuries, yet occurring at the same time to Jesus.
Either way, we do get a peek into what eternity will be like in that we’ll know everyone; even those we’ve never met before. Peter, James, and John somehow recognized and knew Moses and Elijah though it was impossible for them to have met before.
As Paul states in 1 Corinthians 13, now we know in part, but then we will know fully. In Jesus is fullness of truth and revelation of all things. Nothing is hidden that will not be revealed!
We also know that Jesus fulfilled all of the law, represented by Moses, and the prophets, represented by Elijah, as during the transfiguration, the Father tells Peter, James, and John to listen to Jesus. Anyways, now back to God’s promises!
Also, unlike us, God’s names are literally Faithful and True. God cannot lie. When He makes a promise, it will not be broken like so many promises that we have both made and received have been broken. As the prophet Balaam told Balak, the king of Moab:
Numbers 23:19
God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
Also, as the angel Gabriel told Mary:
Luke 1:37
No word from God will ever fail.
And as God, Himself, told Isaiah:
Isaiah 55:10-11
10 As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
We can be assured that:
2 Corinthians 1:20-22
20 No matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. 21 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
The really awesome thing is that since God is constant, the same yesterday, today, and forever, His promises are constant as well. What He promised thousands of years ago to someone else, we can grab hold of and see it fulfilled in our own lives as well. God’s word and His promises are eternal and prophetic in nature.
Jesus and the early church would frequently quote the Old Testament and apply it to what they were experiencing in the present time. Holy Spirit, whom inspired the writers of the scriptures, authored the Bible as a living book. God’s word is alive and active able to bring forth life just as it did in the very beginning.
Not only the prophetic words and prophetic books, but also the songs and prayers and wisdom books and even the historical records are prophetic testimony of what God has done. What God has done before, He will do again. It will not likely be in exactly the same way, but He will do it again.
God’s word reveals His nature, His character, His Kingdom, and more. John even described the birth of Jesus as the word wrapping Himself in flesh and dwelling among us. God’s word is God’s promise and of it, we can be certain! We can place our hope firmly within it and it will serve as an anchor for us as we navigate through this life full of so many uncertainties!
Hope in God’s promises serve as a placeholder in our lives until they are fulfilled. This hope placeholder keeps doubt and worry and anxiety and addiction and anything else that the devil sends to steal, kill, and destroy us out of that place. When we choose to intentionally walk by faith and not by sight, we are blessed in so many ways for it!
One such example of a person who walked by faith in God’s promise and what resulted from it is Caleb.
Joshua 14:6-13
6 Caleb said to Joshua, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh Barnea about you and me. 7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, 8 but my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear. I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly. 9 So on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly.’
10 “Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! 11 I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. 12 Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.”
13 Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance.
Caleb saw the promise with his own eyes, but then had to wait 45 years and watch everyone else in his generation literally pass away before receiving it. This didn’t discourage or dishearten him! Rather, he was just as strong and vigorous and faith-filled as he was when the promise was made to him decades before. Because of His whole-hearted commitment to follow the Lord, Caleb received the promise!
Speaking of Joshua, he is a great example of a leader whom also trusted in God and His promises beyond what he saw and the natural world. He was with Caleb in spying out the promised land and was the only other one to agree with him. Joshua would remain in God’s Presence long after Moses would leave the tent of meeting. He lead God’s people into their literal promised land after succeeding Moses.
He was now about to pass away. Knowing that his death was nearing, he called all of the leaders and overseers of Israel together and told them:
Joshua 23:14-16
14 “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed. 15 But just as all the good things the Lord your God has promised you have come to you, so he will bring on you all the evil things he has threatened, until the Lord your God has destroyed you from this good land he has given you. 16 If you violate the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you.”
Covenant.
A covenant is different from a contract. In a contract between two parties, there are areas of agreement and responsibilities and conditions and penalties if either side fails to uphold their responsibilities and conditions as well as ways to terminate the contract. Contracts also are typically for a set period of time and the goal is that both parties mutually benefit from the contract in some way.
In a Biblical covenant, there is a promise made and the only way out of fulfilling that promise is death. A covenant is sacrificial and permanent in nature and very one-sided. One party makes a promise and the other party chooses to enter into that covenant and receive that promise.
So long as God’s people remained within God’s covenant, all that He promised was theirs. If they were to choose to walk away from that covenant, they would also have removed from them all that was promised.
Covenants are not created with the intent of ending it at any point. In fact, the ancient practice was for the two parties to walk between sacrificed animals cut in half to symbolize their entry into the covenant together such as we see in Genesis 15. Covenants were sealed by blood and sacrifice.
God has made a covenant we call salvation and invites everyone to enter into it. He will save us from all of our sin if we put our faith in Jesus and live by that faith. The covenant is everlasting sealed by the blood shed by Jesus. God will always uphold it and it will never end. The only conditional part is us and whether we choose to remain covered by that covenant.
God has also made a covenant with us and every living thing. This covenant, unlike the covenant of salvation, gives us absolutely no choice whether or not to enter into it. It is an unconditional covenant.
Genesis 9:8-17
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you – the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you – every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”
17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”
Although the rainbow exists as a sign and as a reminder of this specific covenant to never destroy all life on earth with a flood again, it also serves as a good reminder of God’s promises in general.
God’s covenants bring His promises. They are certain on His part. He always upholds and fulfills His word. I have to admit that it usually isn’t when and how we want them to be fulfilled, but they will be fulfilled. The conditional part is always on our part. We are always the variable in the equation with God.
As long as there is light, there is evidence and a reminder of God’s promises! As long as the light of God exists, which is forever, God’s promises exist as well. They are always present, although we don’t always perceive them or see them. However, His promises are always right there waiting to be revealed!
* Rainbow illustration *
The timing of the fulfillment of God’s promises is typically what we struggle with the most. We believe and trust God and His word. We have fullness of faith that God can and will do what He promised. We praise Him while we’re waiting.
However, as time goes on, the eager expectation can begin to fade. Doubt can erode away at our hope.
Proverbs 13:12
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
Abraham and Sarah waited 25 years for God’s promise to be fulfilled.
Romans 4:18-24
18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead – since he was about a hundred years old – and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” 23 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness – for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
Time spent in waiting for God’s promise to be fulfilled can erode our hope.
When it becomes impossible by our own means, it can eradicate our hope.
OR
It can build and strengthen our hope as it did for Abraham!
It can harden our resolve that God absolutely has the power to do what He promised!
It means that it will be God alone who fulfills His promise and nothing that we do on our own other than believing that He will do it!
Abraham and Sarah waited 25 years for God’s promise to be fulfilled. David had to pass along God’s promise to his son.
1 Chronicles 22:6-10
6 David called for his son Solomon and charged him to build a house for the Lord, the God of Israel. 7 David said to Solomon: “My son, I had it in my heart to build a house for the Name of the Lord my God. 8 But this word of the Lord came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not to build a house for my Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight. 9 But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon, and I will grant Israel peace and quiet during his reign. 10 He is the one who will build a house for my Name. He will be my son, and I will be his father. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’
God later told Solomon:
1 Kings 6:12
As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father.
How did David respond to hope deferred? He gathered together all of the supplies and workers that would be needed to build the temple. Even though God’s promise would not be fulfilled through David, David did everything that he could to see that the promise was fulfilled through Solomon. God’s promise was fulfilled, but an entire generation later.
After being torn away from our homes and friends and family, we would want God’s promise for deliverance to happen as soon as possible. It would be terrible being forced to live in a foreign land among people who live contradictory to God’s ways. This is what God said to His own people when this happened, though:
Jeremiah 29:4-14
4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” 8 Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. 9 They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.
10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
We all love verse 11 and quote it often. “For I know the plans I have for you…” Verse 10? Waiting for seventy years? No exactly what we want to hear…
However, even in the waiting season, even while enduring the consequences for our own sin, we can grow and prosper and live a full life! God’s people can blossom wherever they are planted. Yes, there certainly was coming a time when they would be transplanted and moved back home. However, God did not want them to stop living while they awaited the fulfillment of His promise.
Even when God exiled them and allowed their enemies to overtake them because of their sin, it was God’s will and desire to bless His people. All that He wanted was their hearts! All that He wanted was for them to seek Him with all their hearts – to ignore the lies and believe His truth and His promises.
Elizabeth told Mary:
Luke 1:45
Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her!
Even as Mary was blessed, so we will also be blessed if we simply believe that the Lord will fulfill His promise to us! It doesn’t matter how much time has passed between when He made the promise and now. It doesn’t matter how impossible it is to happen now. God is able! He who promised is faithful! There is nothing too hard for our God! Let’s dare to hope and believe and trust again!