God Keeps His Promises
God Keeps His Promises
John 3:16
December 8, 1999
Have you ever wondered how anyone could know for sure that God keeps his promises? Is there a way to find out? The only way to know God and his actions is to consider the biblical record that bears witness to Him. We know, for example that The Old Testament was a time of prophets and promise. It was the time of waiting, and anticipating what was to come. Peter speaks of this when he says, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.” (1 Pet 1:10-12).
The word picture is just a bit comical, as we see prophet and angel trying to peek over the fence of time that obstructs their view of things to come. But, then it happened. God fulfilled those Old Testament prophecies by sending “his one and only Son.” The importance of the incarnation of God in human flesh cannot be overemphasized as we consider that we now have the fulfillment at hand. The New Testament celebrates the fulfilled promise. But did you notice in that reading from Peter that these things are only known through the revelation of God’s Holy Spirit. Apart from that Spirit of God there is no proper knowledge of God. And apart from God’s revealed Word there is no Holy Spirit. God’s Word and Spirit are connected by God, for our benefit, our salvation, our justification, our redemption, our glorification.
In Advent we are invited to enter into the Old Testament experience, to yearn and hope and wait. Just as the promise of the coming Messiah was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, so also His coming again is a promise of God that will be kept. But, like the prophets of old, our view of these future things is obstructed by time and human limitation. We know not the day or the hour of His return. We just know it’s going to happen just as God said it would.
Wait for the Surprise
That sense of surprise and wonder brings to us the pain and frustration Old Testament people must have experienced. And that’s okay because we can better rejoice at the fulfillment, when it comes.
Sometimes all we have in life is the promise of God. How frustrating for the Old Testament prophets who didn’t know what to expect, yet heralded the message of promise. They knew from God’s Word that the Messiah would be “a righteous Branch” sprung from the stump of David’s house (Jer 23:5). They knew from God’s Word, “’The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel’” (Jer 33:14).
They knew he would “[exercise] kindness, justice and righteousness on earth” (Jer 9:24). But how could they know for sure that it would be a righteousness rooted in the forgiveness of sins, and procured on a cross, and not a royal throne. How could they anticipate with certainty that it would be for all people and for all eternity? It was only by faith and trust in the promise. It is the same way for us, and we just wait in the certain hope that God will fulfill His every Word. The surprise will happen.
Waiting Hurts
It’s hard for us to wait isn’t it? Surely we can relate to to the psalmist who cries, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; O Lord, hear my voice. … I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope” (Ps 130:1, 5). Sometimes all we have in life is the promise, and it seems to hurt, not bringing the comfort and assurance we want and expect. Consider how it was for many of God’s faithful people of old. Hebrews records the following: “What more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sward; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us wold they be made perfect. (complete). (Hebrews 11:32-40).
Can you think of times in your life when all you had was the promise? Do you remember times when you were “in the depths” and cried to the Lord, and all you could do was wait? Do you recall the loneliness? The frustration? The anger? The doubt? The pain? Maybe you even felt guilty that you had those feelings. One of the most difficult times in my life was right here among you. Stripped of every respect and trust, I could do nothing else than to wait for the Lord to work His good. The only assurance I felt for a long time was that given me by promise in baptism, the Holy Spirit. I belonged to God. That was enough. That’s all there was.
Maybe you are going through a painful experience now. The Christmas season can bring to the surface many of the frustrations, fears, and losses we experience in life. And no matter how much “good cheer,” we try to hide behind, we only feel pain and hurt and frustration. How ironic that Christmas is the time of greatest depression, loneliness, and suicide in our society? How very sad, because there is the promise given to all, that God will fulfill. Although he bring you pain and sadness, he will also at the right time, lift you up as on the wings of eagles.
God Sends His Son
The promise is all those Old Testament people had as they suffered some of the worst atrocities of human history. Sometimes all we have in life is the promise, and the God who fulfills his promises. This is what we celebrate in Advent, the fulfillment of God’s promise. “When the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman,” born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons,” Paul wrote (Gal 4:4).
There is a “fullness of time” also in your life. Think back! Remember those times of pain and frustration and doubt? As you look back you recognize the presence of the good Lord, who saw you through and brought you out—“in the fullness of time.” When it was right, he raised you up as he did his Son, Jesus.
That’s the story of our life in God. It’s a life of trust. It’s a freedom of knowing he’s in charge. It’s a confidence that he will act and do what is right for all his beloved children. That’s why Paul can say with such confidence: “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” … and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.” Being an heir of God’s promise is a life of waiting on him. It’s trusting him—his love, his life, his will, his goodness. And that trust is confirmed in us by the urgings of the Holy Spirit who keeps faith living and active in us through the Word of promise. Amen.