PROPHETIC PROMISES (4)

"By which have been given to us exceedingly great and PRECIOUS PROMISES..." – 2 Peter 1:4a

GOD’S PROPHETIC PROMISES form a large proportion of the many thousands of promises in the Bible: "By which have been given to us exceedingly great and PRECIOUS PROMISES, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Pet.1:4). Dotted throughout the Bible are thousands of explicit “exceeding great and precious promises.” All the prophecies and covenants are promises; and almost every one of the 2,461 verses in the Psalms and the 915 making up the Proverbs, is a potential promise – precious pearls and gems of inestimable value in God’s cabinet of spiritual jewels, constantly reminding believers of our true, abiding riches, meant to be written on the tablets of our hearts.

The Old Testament is a record of God’s promises to patriarchs, kings, prophets, Israel, saints, and the world at large: “Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His GOOD PROMISE, which He promised through His servant Moses” (1 Kgs.8:56). His Word is His Promise: “He remembered His Holy Promise” (Psa.105:42a).

Complementing the Preciousness and Substance of God’s Promises, are their Simplicity and Surety:  

The Simplicity: God’s promises are stated in clear, simple, intelligible terms; never wordy or couched in complex, mystifying language, for “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (I Jh.1:5). They are not expressed in general or ambiguous terms, but with utmost clarity (2 Cor.1:12; 11:3). It is not His will to leave us in uncertainty concerning His gracious intentions. Rich in His promises, He never multiplied them unnecessarily. He does not cloth His promises with needless adornment. What He has promised in terms so concise, He surely performs.

The Surety: “God is not a man, that He should lie; nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Num. 23:19); “And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent” (I Sam. 15:29). God’s deeds match His declarations. The worth and excellency of His promises are enhanced by the evidences that every one of them can be realized. Behind every promise is the Word and oath of Him who cannot lie, that by these promises, we might have consolation. Christ is made our Surety, not only of all God’s promises, which He ratified by His own blood (Heb.7:22), but of all the promises concerning His blood-washed children. He will always act in harmony with His Nature – the Truth (Jh.14:6).

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for HE who PROMISED is FAITHFUL” (Heb.10:23). “God is Faithful” (1Cor.10:13). God’s faithfulness is our special ground of encouragement as we appropriate His Promises.