FULFILLED PROMISES

In Genesis 15, God made a promise to Abram that Abram would have a son of his own body to be heir of all that God was promising him by an unbreakable covenant. This was the same context where God promises the land we know as Israel and more to Abram and his descendants.

Time was passing and Sarah had been barren their whole marriage. This promise of God of a son seemed like it was not going to happen. It was customary for children to be raised up for the clan through a servant woman, a maid to the wife of the chief. At this time, Sarai was around 76 years of age and Abram was around 86. What God had promised seemed an impossibility to them. It did not seem like even a remote possibility. The evidence that they really did not trust what God had specifically said showed itself in impatience and trying to humanly to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise of a son. Sarai’s and Abram’s unbelief resulted in Abram being convinced to have sexual intimacy with Sarai’s maid-servant, Hagar, resulting in Ishmael being born, not the son of promise, but of a human attempt to fulfill God's promise.

What the Word of God teaches us in this real-life drama is that we can never by any human means ever fulfill a promise of God. God’s promise was not hindered or modified. He had promised that Abram would be the father of many nations when Abram was 75. Twenty-five years of waiting for God to do what He had said He would do would put a strain on any saint. 

Remember, Israel was 400 years in slavery before God sent His deliverer in Moses. It was 400 years from the last Prophet in the Old Testament until the Incarnation, the Word of God made flesh, the Lamb of God, the ultimate Deliverer for all humanity. Waiting can be hard, but, if you read Hebrews chapter 11, you find many who believed having never seen the fulfillment of the things they hoped for in faith.

When it was an utter impossibility for human intervention, God made 90-year-old Sarah and 100- year-old Abraham come together so that the conception of Issac, the son of promise, was the result. In the face of an unheard of, utter impossibility, God caused a Hebrew virgin teen-ager named Mary to become pregnant by the Holy Spirit, the result being the Son of Promise, the Messiah. Over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament pointing to this One who had been hoped for (for 400 year) were completely fulfilled by God in ways no human being could have ever imagined.

God has promised, that having begun a good work in those who believe Him, He will bring that work to competition. That is a fixed promise that remains intact in our day-to-day struggles in this broken world. The promise is unshakable in our battle against the flesh, that residue of our old sinful nature that the Hoy Spirit cut off. Sometimes it feels like, “Will it ever get better? Will I even be consistent in my obedience to the One who loves me and gave Himself for me?” Our confidence is not in our ability to fulfill God’s promises in us by human effort, but in the One who has called us out of death into Life eternal.

Follower of Jesus Christ, you are His workmanship, His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works that He has prepared for us to live into. There is purpose and destiny for each of us, remembering that our ways are not like His ways and our thoughts are not like His thoughts. This new life we have been given is NOT something we innately know how to live. It is a New Life! We are new creations in Him. We are utterly dependent upon Him. He is Life within us. He is the Vine and we are His branches. The Life flowing in us and through produces the fruit of the Spirit…not the fruit of human ingenuity or effort.

God’s timing, His working out His salvation in us, enabling us to cooperate and walk in the Spirit has us living in Holy Mystery where He is the One writing the story of our lives. My understanding of this present moment is never the measure of His never-ending, never giving up, always present Love and Compassion revealing His commitment to transform our lives to look like Jesus, Himself.

For ALL of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ Jesus with a resounding “YES!” Because of that, through Jesus Christ, our “AMEN!” ascends to God’s for His glory, even when we don’t understand…yet. 2 Corinthians 1:20