The promises of God
美佳之窗 His Window 93（ Jan - Mar 2021 ）
Text by Rev. Phan Wu Chung
Translated by Jacob Lee
The word Promise used in the Bible has denotation that it relates to the words of God. This is commonly seen in the Old Testament when God speaks directly. When God commits to someone, He is making the so called ‘Promises’.
We are most familiar with the promises God made to Abraham in the Old Testament (Gen 12:2, 13:14-17, 17: 4-8), and these promises come with blessings. In fact, before this, God made the Rainbow covenant with Noah (Gen 9:1-17). If we wish to track further, after Adam and Eve sinned, God had already promised that the descendants of the woman would rise and triumph over the descendants of the serpent (Gen 3:15). Thus, the author of the New Testament mentioned, “For all the promises of God in him are yea. “. (2Cor 1: 20a). And therefore, when we study the New Testament, we need to know what are the Old Testament promises and we must understand the Old Testament promises from the New Testament’s perspective.
Besides God’s promises to individuals, we see in the book of Exodus that when God commanded Moses to bring the Israelites out from Egypt and after their arrival at Mount Sinai, God made a covenant with the people as a group. And thus, from Exodus chapter 19 onwards, it is a dividing point, from chapter 19 to 40, it deals with the subject of God’s given laws and ordinances to His people. From Exodus chapter 19-23, Moses
went up to the mountain four times : for the first time, it was recorded in Exodus 19:3-8a, Moses reminded the Israelites to be obedient to God and to observe the covenant with God (this was the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20: 1-20 ), the second time recorded in Exodus 19:8b-15, Moses instructed the people to be holy, on Moses third ascend to the mountain, Moses experienced God’s total holiness and glory: and on the fourth time which was recorded in Exodus 20 : 21-23 : 33, a more comprehensive account of the application of God’s laws and ordinances.
Perhaps we might find it strange, why did God pause at Mount Sinai, showed Himself to the people and decreed the laws here? Why didn’t He bring the people direct to the promise land, and only gave them the laws after they settled down? God did this for a few reasons:
1. Egypt is an idol worshipping nation, and the Israelites who live there for so many years are naturally influenced by the aliens’ religion. In addition, the Canaan land and its neighboring nations and cities also practice idol worship. Therefore God must first initiate the cleansing work and teach them the principles of Holiness.
2. Before and after the Exodus, up until Mount Sinai, the people have more than once experienced God and they have also repeatedly complained. God chose a solemn appearance to the people, so that they could see and hear God in a spectacular manner and experience God’s abiding presence, this will spur their admiration, gratitude and fear of God.
3. Holiness is the theme for the whole incident, it shows that God is Holy, and the people of God must also live a holy life, they should not continue in their sinful lifestyle.
4. These people will become a great nation and a model regime, God’s given laws and ordinances show that He is the king of the kingdom.
We all love God’s promises and know that He is faithful and trustworthy, God’s promises will come true one day. And thus, we often hear people teach us to list down all the scripture texts that contain God’s promises, and by faith ask God for them. It may not be wrong to do so, but do we understand the meanings of these promises? More importantly, are we seriously concerned about our relationship with Him? As mentioned above, the purpose God gives us these promises is so that we will be totally - heart, mind and soul belong to Him, revere Him, carefully obey His words, serve Him and worship Him alone. However, very sadly, we are only keen to receive God’s promises and His blessings, we show no interests to His words and will. If we do not understand God’s words, and not follow His way, how can we possibly live in His promises? What’s the use of God’s promises?
We believe in Jesus, not just for His promises and getting to heaven. We should however trust and obey God in our lives. I trust that if we strive to live our lives pleasing God, His promises and blessings shall work in us!