We have hope because God keeps His promises
By Shafer Parker
Faith Beyond Belief’s 2020 emphasis on hope focuses this month on the joy that arises when the Christian remembers God keeps all His promises. We need this kind of hope. In a world that is visibly falling apart before our eyes, the proven fact that not one of God’s promises has ever failed may at times be the only thing that keeps us going.
Arguably God’s greatest promises relate to the coming of the Messiah, the Son of God who by His suffering would redeem the world. There is no greater proof of God’s love, His faithfulness, or His readiness to go the ultimate distance to love sinful human beings. But consider how many Messianic promises God made before they were all fulfilled. First, he promised Adam and Eve (and all their descendants) that the seed of the woman would someday crush the head of the serpent who tempted them to eat from the forbidden tree (Gen. 3:1-15). In Psalm 2 God revealed that the Messiah would be His Son, His King over the world, the One Who should be worshipped as God, and the Righteous Judge of the world. David knew the Messiah as his personal shepherd and Saviour (Ps. 23), and Isaiah presented the Messiah as the suffering servant, the Lamb of God whose sufferings would take away the sin of the world (Isaiah 53:4-12).
“Because these are God’s promises He gets to fulfill them in whatever way He thinks best.”
I could fill pages listing the dozens and dozens of Messianic promises/prophecies given to us in God’s Word but let me point out some things about the nature of God’s promises based only upon the handful mentioned in the last paragraph. First, these are God’s promises, made freely on His part and not based upon anything owed to us. Second, because these are God’s promises He gets to fulfill them in whatever way He thinks best. Even given the strange wording of Gen. 3:15 (“her seed”), who could have predicted God was hinting at a literal virgin birth? Nor should we forget that although God’s Messianic promise was sure from the moment it was first issued, who could have guessed that humankind would have to wait 4,000 years for its fulfillment? Another thing, like all of God’s promises, the Messianic promises contain words of woe for those who refuse to worship Him. Ps. 2 seems especially abrupt. Certainly, God promised blessedness for “all who take refuge in Him” (Ps. 2:12b), but He also promised “soon kindled wrath” and “perishing” for those who refuse to believe (Ps. 2:12a). It is important to remember that God keeps all His promises, not just the ones we like. But blessing is found even the negative. Aren’t you glad that God will someday put a complete stop to all sin and rebellion?
When you are fearful or frustrated with life, and you are tempted to be upset with God, remember what the Bible teaches us about the nature of God’s promises. They are dependent upon His timing, not ours, and in the end, His timing is always perfect. Moreover, God’s understanding is so great, and ours so limited that many times He fulfills His promises without our realizing it. I will never forget reading about a missionary working in a remote part of inland China more than a hundred years ago. Support from the mission agency was always slow to reach her, but this time no support came for weeks and eventually she ran out of money altogether—just as she became ill. She was stuck at home, with no way to buy good food or see a doctor. For a week she was bedridden, reduced to eating the only food left in the house, oatmeal with no sugar or milk. After a week of complaining to God her illness subsided and her strength returned, and at about the same time her money arrived, brought to her by a mission doctor come to check on her. She told him about her illness and asked what he would have prescribed had he been there. “You didn’t need any medicine,” he said. “I would have prescribed rest and a bland diet, something like oatmeal.” It is easy to believe that God keeps His promises so long as we are prepared to let Him keep them in His time and in His own way.
God’s promises are so rich, that sometimes it is hard to believe He was being serious when He made them. Think of Jesus’ promise to bless His disciples with houses and lands.
“Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.”
Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life (Mark 10:28-30).
There is a mindset in some Christians that sets them up for disappointment with God. When they fail to receive the blessings (houses, family, lands, etc.) they react as if our Lord has failed to keep His promise. What they cannot seem to see is that Jesus’ promises are surrounded by conditions, in this case, the need to leave all behind for Jesus’ sake and for the sake of the gospel (Notice it’s the same list, houses, family, lands), accompanied by a willingness to undergo persecution. The hundredfold blessings only come to those willing to meet the Lord’s conditions.
I cannot think of a single promise from God that does not have one or more conditions attached. Consider Heb. 11:6, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Is this not the universal condition attached to all God’s promises? To get God’s rewards it is necessary to (1) believe in Him, and (2) seek Him. But sometimes I fear we miss the subtlety in the simplicity of what God is telling us. Real faith is not mere assent to the idea of God, but a hunger for God that drives us to seek Him—His presence, His Spirit, His mind, His heart, His cross, His sacrificial nature—until we know that we have found Him. Quite frankly, by His grace, and with His help, we need to get into a mindset whereby we seek Him with the same selflessness He displayed when He sought us. Just as Jesus left everything to become one of us, we must be willing to leave everything to become one with Him (compare Phil 2:5-12 with Phil. 3:7-16). This is the key to activating God’s promises; we accept the conditions and God responds with the accompanying blessings.
“When we understand the key to unlocking God’s promises, we find they are almost unlimited in number and scope.”
When we understand the key to unlocking God’s promises, we find they are almost unlimited in number and scope. But this blog is long enough already, so rest assured I will not list a Bible’s worth of promises here. But I will link you with a very special website called Precious Bible Promises. This is where you will find a fairly exhaustive list of God’s promises, compiled by a minister who lived a long time ago called Samuel Clarke (1684-1759). When you click on the page you’ll find some biographical material, but if you scroll down you’ll find a rich reward, hundreds and hundreds of Scripture promises arranged by dozens of topics and sub-topics that cover almost every Divine promise a believer might ever need. Clarke’s language is archaic, which is no surprise seeing that he was working from the King James Version. But all you have to do is look up the same verses in your favourite modern version, and you’ll have no trouble understanding everything. Just remember, every promise has a condition, if not in the same verse, then in the near context, either the verse just before, or just after. And think of this, in grace, God is always guiding us to seek His promises in order to drive us to meet the attached conditions, and thereby be more and more conformed to Christ’s image (Rom. 8:28-29). Did you see what I did there? 😊
Join us in our interactive online classroom. We will be running the condensed version of the Identity Project in our next Apologetics @ Home sessions. The Identity Project is designed to be a safe space to talk about topics such as sexuality, gender and pornography. The curriculum is designed to appeal to all ages, from pre-teens to seniors. The theme of the individual’s identity in Christ is foundational to the Christian faith. You will be glad you took the time.