SOUNDING OUT:
God Promised (Part 1 of 3)
It is a wonderful thing that our heavenly Father, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, would make promises to His children. After all, it says in Psalm 115:3 that “our God is in the heavens: "He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased.” Therefore it must have pleased Him to declare His Word and Will. Before He pledged His Word He was free to do as it pleased Him; but after He has made a promise, His truth and honor bind Him to do as He has said. However, this is never a source of agitation or aggravation to Him, because His promise is always the declaration of His sovereign will and good pleasure. It is ever His delight to act according to His Word.
One of the great promises recorded in God’s Word was made to Abraham. References to it can be found throughout the Bible. Let’s read the one in Hebrews.
Hebrews 6:13:
For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by Himself,
There was no one greater than He to whom He could appeal, so He pledged His own eternal power to fulfill the promise.
Hebrews 6:14,15:
Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.
15 And so, after he [Abraham] had patiently endured, he [Abraham] obtained the promise.
There’s an important key. Abraham patiently endured. Remember Hebrews 10:36 says, “for ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.”
Hebrews 6:16:
For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. [That settles it!]
The “greater” refers to “one of greater authority who can enforce the oath and punish any failure to keep it.
Hebrews 6:17,18:
Wherein God, willing [deliberately purposing] more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise [God didn’t do it just for Abraham, but also for the heirs.] the immutability [unchangeableness] of his counsel [will], confirmed it by an oath:
18 That by two immutable [unalterable] things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation [comfort, paraklésis] ....
The two immutable things are the promise and the oath. It was impossible for God to lie when He made the promise, and it was impossible for God to lie when He swore the oath. God also established the promise by making it twice.
Who are the heirs of promise? We want to read Galatians 3:29, but let’s get a running start in verse six.
Galatians 3:6-9,14,16,22,26-29:
Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations [not just Israel] be blessed.
9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
God has promised, and on the faithfulness of those promises we can be absolutely sure and certain. God deliberately purposed more abundantly to show us the immutability of His will.
These promises were not only spoken but written. Men say they like to have an agreement in black and white, and so we have it. “In the volume of the book it is written.” In the pages of God’s Word we have that which is given by inspiration of God. The record stands. We believe our Bibles, and we rely upon the promises contained therein.
Numbers 23:19:
God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
God never stoops to a lie. Why should He be false? What is there about Him that could cause Him to break His Word? It would be contrary to His nature. How could He be God and not be just and true? He cannot therefore violate His promise through any lack of faithfulness or ability to perform. That God would speak of His Word as a PROMISE shows how heartfelt it is to Him. He not only said it, but He promised it. He pledged Himself to do as He said He would. That’s why it’s immutable. God said it, and He cannot lie! (Titus 1:2)
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