Focus: The Promises (Pt.1)

Text: 2Pet.1:4

"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises…"

Peter makes bold to say that God has given us promises. God is a promise maker, a promise giver, and a promise keeper. God's promises are sure, inspiring and assuring. He is capable of making and fulfilling His promises. By God's promises we have hope. We are forward-looking believers in Christ because of the promises. 

Paul tells us that "all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us" (2Cor.1:20). God's promises can be relied upon because God has character and integrity. He keeps His word. He does what He says. Paul says, "In hope of eternal life, which God, that CANNOT LIE, promised before the world began" (Tit.1:2). God cannot lie. He does not fail to fulfill His promises.

Let me take you to the very first chapter of Genesis for you to see for yourself how God says a thing and does it accordingly. Chapter one and verse three says, "And God SAID, Let there be light: and there WAS light." God said it, and it happened. "There was light" as a result of the spoken word of God.

Verses six and seven say, "And God SAID, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters… And God MADE the firmament…" God speaks and acts. He turns His words into deeds.

Verses 14 and sixteen say, "And God SAID, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night… And God MADE two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also." 

God is always in the business of saying and doing. He does what He says, and matches His words with action.

He speaks, and then He goes to work to bring His word to pass.

Verses twenty four and twenty five say, "And God SAID, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God MADE the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind…" Verses twenty six and twenty seven say, "And God SAID, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness… SO God CREATED man in his own image, in the image of God CREATED he him; male and female CREATED he them." We can go on and on. God keeps His word and performs His promises. 

We read in Joshua 21:45, "There FAILED not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass." There is no failure in God. His word is His bond. We read in Kings, "Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not FAILED one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant" (1Kgs.8:56). We can absolutely bank on the promises of God. His promises are sure and solid. 

God's word comes to pass, regardless of who says it.

Moses spoke God's word, and it came to pass. Joshua and others spoke God's word, and it came to pass. 

God's word is God's word, and it is always effective, no matter who speaks it. God's word generates faith and inspires hope in the human heart. We hold on to the promises because of who made them - God Himself. On God's promises, we surely stand and confidently hope.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter