THE PROMISES OF GOD
I count on the Lord’s help to say a word on the promises of God; something that God in His grace has entered into with us as taking account of the weakness of our condition and the danger of our being turned aside. God’s promises are so different from men’s. Men promise many things that they cannot fulfil; but God’s promises are related to what He purposed before the world began, before ever sin entered into the world. He has made known something of that to us in His promises, and the glory and authority of His Person enter into the promises He has made. You can hardly speak of the promises of God without speaking of Abraham, a man who was called out from an idolatrous world, and you may say when he had nothing God promised him everything. Abraham believed God, not only believed Him but he walked in the light of the promises. It strengthened him amidst all the forces that were against him. It seemed impossible for him to have a son, and yet God said all the promises would centre in his seed. So it says, “being fully persuaded that what he has promised he is able also to do; wherefore also it was reckoned to him as righteousness”, Rom 4: 21, 22.
I believe as we are helped by the Spirit to lay hold of the promises of God, it would stabilise our souls in the day of uncertainty that we are in.
In Hebrews 11 we have a list of persons who embraced the promises. That means they loved them and cherished them. In spite of what men were saying and doing they believed God. How much more so should we in our time, when we see that those promises are all secured in a glorious Man. Paul speaks of Him here, “the Son of God, Jesus Christ”, all God’s promises are yea and amen in Him. The whole purpose and counsels of divine love is opened up as this glorious Person comes onto our view. There was no other to preach, Paul says, “he who has been preached by us among you”, and there is no uncertainty in that preaching, as it says, “yea is in him”. He is the One in whom all the promises are brought to pass. As we see the glory of that Person, we can understand the whole counsels of divine love being worked out to God’s eternal glory and praise. So he says, “whatever promises of God there are, in him is the yea, and in him the amen”. We are brought onto more advantageous ground than Abraham, as we have a view of the Man who is able to bring them all to pass; One who has settled for ever the sin question and broken the bondage and power under which we lay; who has made way in the power of His blood for the new covenant; and in virtue of His work has brought us into the joy of reconciliation; so that we can see that there should be glory to God as we embrace those promises. All that God ever planned is centred in Him and His work, and from God’s point of view everything is secure in Him now. What an Object for our hearts, as He is for God’s heart.
As we lay hold of the certainty of these promises it helps us in the circumstances of life in which we are, so that there can be “glory to God by us”. Paul would have these Corinthians to be set up on this stable ground, that God has not delayed His promises. Peter speaks of them as “precious promises”, 2 Pet 1: 4. He was writing to these Jews who had lost so much of their earthly possessions, saying whatever losses you may have sustained God has promised us much more in the Person of His Son, the One who has opened the door, as it were, for us to come into these precious promises. You can see that there is very little glory to God in persons who are burdened or uncertain, constantly searching after one thing or another, but the promises fix our gaze upon Christ and bring us to walk in the light of the purpose of God. Paul is saying here that not only has God given us His promises as they are secured in Christ, but He would establish us in these promises. He says, “Now he that establishes us with you in Christ ... is God”. Think of God establishing us. I think He is doing it by presenting to us His promises. He directs our eye to heaven instead of to earth and gives us a sight of the glory instead of what man has done. God has taken in hand Himself to establish us. We can see how Abraham was established as the promises came into his heart. He would take nothing from the king of Sodom. He promised him many things on the line of worldly possessions, but Abraham said that the Most High God had blessed him. The promises of God were greater than all the king could propose. So he says, “establishes us with you in Christ”, the certainty of everything is in that glorious, blessed Person, who has glorified God in the work He has done, and made way for us to be established so as to withstand the various attacks of Hades’ gates.
It says too that He has anointed us. That means He has given us power and grace to do things. God has His pleasure in persons who embrace the promises. The anointing reminds us of David, and how he laid hold of the promises. Everything seemed in the hands of Saul. David was in a cave with a few men and yet there he was, God’s anointed, God’s king. Oh that we may find help and strength to lay hold in faith of these promises of God, that we may be strengthened to walk in another way. The anointing comes out in our movements and in our speaking. The difference between the way David did things and the way Saul did things was in the anointing. It refers to the Holy Spirit’s power with us. The certainty of the promises in our hearts gives the Spirit liberty to strengthen us to walk here in the enjoyment of our heavenly portion. Then it says, He has “sealed us”. It means that God has marked us out, put His mark upon us. Those persons in Hebrews 11 who embraced the promises, they were marked out. It says of them that God was not ashamed of them to be called their God and He prepared for them a city. It shows what a transformation it can make in our lives as we embrace God’s promises; that we are strengthened to go against the stream as seeing the certainty of what God has done in Christ.
I would like to speak of two particular promises that have shed their light on the dark day in which we are. One is what the Lord says, “I am coming again and shall receive you to myself”, precious promise that shines through this whole dispensation, that He has gone to prepare us a place in His Father’s house. What a token of His love is the way He speaks here, “Let not your heart be troubled”. What troubles come into our hearts in these days, but He says, “ye believe on God, believe also on me”. All the promises are yea and amen in Him. They can never break down. As He has gone into the Father’s house He has there made a place for us that is our home. Mr Darby says—
And can we call our home
Our Father’s house on high. (Hymn 64)
The hope and joy of that in our hearts gives a spring to our step in the day we are in. Christ has given us a place above that sin or our state can never change, “I go to prepare you a place”. Think of Christ going into heaven in the glory of His Person, the work that He came to do fully completed, being received up in glory, and as there He is engaged with the saints. What a place we have in His heart! That place is undeserved indeed, but the token of His love is that He has prepared us a place there, far greater than any place we could ever have here. Many families will be there in His Father’s house, it says, “there are many abodes”, but “I go to prepare you a place”. Oh the sense He would leave with those disciples of His love. Their love for Him, as ours, may ebb and flow, but His love for us remains unchanged. I believe He would leave a sense on our spirits today of His love for us, to establish our hearts in the fulness of His grace.
Then He makes this promise: “I am coming again and shall receive you to myself”. He is coming Himself! We have that in Thessalonians, the Lord Himself shall come. Again a precious token of His love, He is not sending an angel; it is not Michael or someone else that is coming; it is Himself. What a precious promise! Are we looking for Him? Are we embracing that promise as others did before us? How it changes everything here, “I am coming again”. He is no longer coming to settle the sin question, but coming as the One who has been glorified of the Father, to receive us to Himself. The Person is more than the place, glorious as the place will be. What will it be to dwell above, freed for ever from the burdens and the effects of sin? How glorious a place heaven will be, but the one who illuminates the whole scene is Christ Himself, “I am coming again and shall receive you to myself, that where I am ye also may be”. He is not to be there alone, “where I am ye also may be”. What a precious promise that we look for Him day by day. May the joy of it not wane in our affections because He does not delay His promise. He is ready to come. It is all in the Father’s timing. We are being tested today as to how much we are looking for Him. It takes our eye away from many other things that may engage us; it gives purpose to our walk and direction to our pathway, that we are waiting and looking for Him who is coming to receive us to Himself. The promises will all then be fully verified. No longer will it be a matter of promise but it will be face to face.
There only to adore,
Our souls their strength shall find; (Hymn 74)
It is very beautiful that it says, “where I am ye also may be”. He is there in the right and glory of His person. It says about Him, “whom heaven indeed must receive” (Acts 3: 21), but He is not to be there alone, He wants us to be there with Him.
He makes another precious promise in the next section, He says, “I will not leave you orphans, I am coming to you”. It is not only that He is coming for us but He is coming to us. The more we feel the orphan condition the more we will appreciate and realise the promise, “I am coming to you”. He is coming to those who feel His absence. When He comes for the saints every blood bought saint will be caught up to be with Him for ever, a glorious hope, but He comes now to those who feel His absence. Many of us may not feel His absence enough, and because of that we do not realise His presence as much as we might as He comes to us. As orphans we would feel we cannot go on without Him. I think He is more ready to come to us than we are to receive Him.
We can see that in Matthew’s gospel. The ship was there tossed by the waves. The Lord had His eye upon them there, as He has His eye upon us today in the circumstances in which we are. In the fourth watch of the night He went off to them. I do not know if they were looking for Him or not. They were maybe talking about the confusion and the breakdown and the waves and the storm and the wind. It says, “he went off to them, walking on the sea”. The Lord, as I said, is more ready to come than we are to receive Him. The waves were disturbing their spirits but Jesus comes walking on the sea. It brings out His love and His grace. What a change it makes as He comes on to view. It is testing for us. We may be engaged with these storms, the sea and the wind. The Lord shows that none of these things alter His promise, “I am coming to you”. They thought it was an apparition. We may get our eyes so filled with the confused state of things around us that we do not recognise the Lord, and it says that “they cried out through fear. But Jesus immediately spoke to them, saying, Take courage; it is I”. I believe He would say that to us today. It is not only a promise, it is an experience for most of our hearts, in the difficult times that we have known amidst all the wind and the waves Jesus has come saying, “it is I: be not afraid”.
He is greater than the waves; what a sight to see Him walking on them, treading all these problems under His feet, the Lord of glory, the One in whom all the promises are yea and amen. Here He is coming to them in the very circumstances in which they are. He did not wait until they got into calm waters. The problems and exercises of the day will not keep Him away, dear brethren. May we have an ear to hear His voice, “it is I”. May there be an echo in our hearts as it was in Peter’s, “Lord, if it be thou, command me to come to thee”, and it says, “Peter ... walked upon the waters to go to Jesus”. The Lord here did not make a great calm. He did not change the circumstances to make it easier for Peter to walk, but Peter had an Object for his heart that enabled him to walk superior to the circumstances. He walked upon the waters to go to Jesus. I believe the enemy of our souls is bringing many things to keep our eye off Christ and to fill our ears with many voices that would disturb our hearts, but His voice comes to Peter and to the disciples, “it is I be not afraid”. What a sight to see Peter and the Lord walking on the waters.
You may say, you can understand the Lord walking on the waters, but Peter walks on them too as his eye is upon Christ. What an Object for our hearts today, amidst all the confusion. Christ in whom all the promises of God are yea and amen. Peter then begins to see the wind strong and he becomes afraid. Oh what a picture of our hearts as we get our eye upon the difficulties instead of upon Christ. It says, “and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, Lord, save me”. How readily that cry was heard. There was no word of reproach till later. It says, “immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught hold of him”. How ready the Lord is to come in, as I say again, more ready to come in than we are to receive Him. These very problems are used to endear Him to our affections, to bring out the verity of what Paul says that all the promises are yea and amen in Him. May we have our eye more firmly fixed upon Him so that we too may be able to walk upon the waters. What a sight Peter and the Lord walking on the waters! What a tribute to the power of divine grace! When we may be deflected how ready His hand is to sustain us.
May we increasingly feel His absence so that our hearts, in the Spirit’s grace, may more readily embrace His promises. The addresses to the churches in Revelation all have a promise to the overcomer. However much breakdown may have come in, the promises of Christ remain. Think of His promising to one overcomer to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God, Rev 2: 7. In the presence of all that man has done and the breakdown of which we are part, the promises of God shine in all their wealth and beauty to draw our hearts to another country of which Christ is the glorious centre. May our eyes be more firmly fixed upon Christ, for His Name’s sake.
BAD ENDBACH
12th June 1993