GOD’S FOREVER PROMISE---Galatians 3:15.16

GOD PROMISED “A SEED “TO ABRAHAM

What God promises He will accomplish. God’s covenant promises cannot be set aside, even though the Mosaic era intervenes. In our passage Paul the Apostle urges from the lesser to the greater, by using a human illustration to explain divine reality. He speaks of a human contract, which no one can change by adding later conditions to it. How much firmer are God’s covenants? When God promised “a Seed “to Abraham, He was referring specifically to Christ in the singular rather than to descendants in the plural. However, this is not to deny the  promises concerning Abraham descendants, but here Christ specifically is the promised One through whom all the families of the earth shall be blessed. No later dispensation can invalidate this covenant promise.  How can it be otherwise? God, who enters into covenant relationship and makes promise, is immutable. With Him there is no variation or shifting shadow.  Indeed, our gracious God and Savior “is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb.13:8), and all His promises are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us (2Cor. 1:20).

WHAT IS PROMISE THEN?

Promise is simply a pledge of the future or a covenant.

WHAT ARE THE MAJOR PROMISES?

1.    God promised Abraham as a father of many nations; Now the Lord had said to Abraham: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen 12:1-3).

2.    God promised a scepter to come from Judah; “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between feet, Until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people (Gen. 49:10).

3.    God promised a Star to come from Jacob; “I see Him but not now;  I behold Him, but not near, A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and batter the brow of Moab, and destroy all the sons of tumult (Num. 24:17).

4.    God promised the Children of Israel to raise for them a prophet like Moses; “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, and I will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him” (Deut.18:15, 17).

5.    God promised King David to establish his throne forever; “Your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever”’” (2 Sam. 7:16).

6.    A promise of the virgin birth; “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Emmanuel” (Isa. 7:14).

7.    A promise of the coming Prince of Peace; “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6).

In this triumphant song Isaiah rejoices as though the promised Child of the house of David has already been born. This is the real force of Hebrew, and Emphasizes the historical nature of the birth. The Child’s birthright involves authority and rule, while His character is depicted in a typically oriental fashion by the use of names. As “Counselor,” He represents the sum of wisdom and knowledge (cf. Col. 2:3), while His divinity is established clearly by the title “Mighty God.”  The fatherhood of the Messiah is eternal, which again demonstrates His identity with God (John 10:30),”I and My Father are One,” and His care for His people ( John 10:11) “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives Himself for the sheep.” Finally as the “Prince of Peace” (or better, “Peaceful Prince”) He seeks peace and brings it into the world by His atoning death on the cross, paying the price of human sin and reconciling us to God. The line of David will be the means by which these blessings will come upon humanity, but the revealed character of the Son of David will guarantee their permanence.

8.    A promise of the suffering servant of God; “Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were our faces from Him; He was despised and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has born our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, everyone to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before His shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgression of My people He was stricken. And they made His cross with the wicked- But with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief, When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isa. 53:1-12).

O Lord, My God and My Father; All these sufferings and afflictions, You bared so that I may be redeemed from all my iniquities and behold Thy promises in my life; Righteous Father, there is no any payment that equals the suffering You went through for my sake; I therefore give You my whole heart, soul, body and mind as a sacrifice of Praise to You, and may my worship be unto You; A sweet, soothing, smelling aroma. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit forever and ever Amen.

GOD’S ATTITUDE TO HIS PROMISES

1.       He gives us many promises:  “By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises,, that through these we may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Pet. 1:4).

2.       God remembers His promises: “For He remembered His holy promise and Abraham His servant” (Ps. 105:42).

3.       God’s promises never fails: “Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There has never failed one word of all His good promises, which He promised through His servant Moses” (1Kgs. 8:56).

4.       God fulfills all His promises in Christ Jesus: “As God is faithful, our word to you was not Yes and No. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ  who was preached among you by us- by me, Silvanus, and Timothy- was not Yes and No, but in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us” (2 Cor. 1:18-20).

5.       God is faithful to His promises: “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it”; “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (1 Thes. 5:24; Heb. 10:23).

6.       God keeps His promises be it good or bad according to how we value Him;” Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things have come upon you which the Lord your God promised you, so the Lord will bring upon you all harmful things until He has destroyed you from this good land which the Lord your God has given you.”; And this is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing which He has spoken.; From this man’s seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior- Jesus-“; “ And we declare to you glad tidings- that promise which was made to the fathers. God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He raised up Jesus.”  As it is also written in the Second Psalms: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.” The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”(Josh.23:15; Isa.38:7; Acts 13:23, 32-33; 2 Pet. 3:9).

7.       God confirms His promises by an oath: (Heb. 6:13-20) “ Not only had the Lord promised a seed to Abraham but He underscored it by swearing by Himself, for no one could be greater than God. Thus the writer encourages the faith of believers who may be sluggish in their endeavors for Christ and His Kingdom. He calls believers to imitate those who “through faith and patience inherit the promises” (v. 12). A look at Abraham, who was ordered to sacrifice his only son Isaac, provides the ultimate example of faith in God’s covenant promises. All Abraham had was the word of promise and some thirty or forty years of trusting God’s Word. The covenant Lord had consistently proved Himself faithful to His promises. And now Abraham was also ready to believe that Isaac would be raised from the dead because of God’s promise. Then the Lord strengthened His original promise by swearing an oath by Himself.

What a ministry of affirmation! How could it be otherwise, since the Lord our God is so gracious and faithful, so that the word of promise always can be trusted? And the preacher added,” the fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe!” (Prov.29:25).

N/B; Beloved, please create time to read Isaiah 43. Thank you!

“Grace to you and Favor from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, Amen, and Amen and Amen.”