One sad reality of this world is that few people keep their word. A person may promise you great things, but seldom keeps the promise. We live in a world full of broken promises! A parent, wife, or child may not keep their end of a bargain and it leaves us devastated! What is truly sad is when we are honest with ourselves; we recognize that we are no different than they are. Each of us have broken our word; each of us have devastated someone that we love through broken promises. When we look to God, He has a perfect track-record of keeping His promises. If He speaks, it happens as He says it will (Ezek. 12:24-28). In this article, I would like to examine three promises God has spoken and we can know that He has/will keep them.
When sin entered the world, God promised a Seed from woman (Offspring) who would defeat the seed of Satan (Gen. 3:15). Do not think the seed of Satan is a person, for His seed (offspring) is the world. When Jesus spoke to the Pharisees and told them their father was the devil, it was because they were of the world and not of God (John 8:42-46). The temptations that Satan uses against mankind are the same the world offers (1 Jn. 2:15-16). The world and Satan are connected because the world serves Satan (Eph. 2:1-3; 2 Cor. 4:4). In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees and Sadducees who put Christ on the cross were from the seed of Satan. Since the days after Christ’s death there have been others of the world who have also been from Satan’s seed (1 Jn. 2:18). Anyone against God and Christ is from the devil’s seed (1 Jn. 2:22-23). Satan’s seed (the world) thought they had ended Christ by placing Him on the cross, but they had only bruised His heel (Gen. 3:15). The Seed (Christ) bruised Satan’s head by raising from the dead; giving hope to those who obeyed Jesus Christ (Heb. 2:14-18). God promised a Seed and Jesus was the fulfillment of that promise (Is. 7:14; Matt. 1:18-25). Thanks be to God for keeping His promise!
As the Jews looked for a King, God promised them one (1 Sam. 8). Saul was the first king of Israel, but he was not worthy of the honor (1 Sam. 15:26-35). David was the next king. Though he was a man after God’s own heart; he was not able to live forever and the kingship passed on to his sons (Acts 13:22). During the life of David, God promised a King who would establish a kingdom forever (2 Sam. 7:12-16). Some will claim that this passage was fulfilled by Solomon, who became king of Israel after David’s death. Did the kingdom Solomon reigned over last forever? Did Solomon ever receive discipline from the rod of men or stripes of the sons of men for iniquities (2 Sam. 7:14)? Christ never sinned; but He bore the iniquities of the world and received stripes from men so we could be healed (Is. 53:4-5). Furthermore, Paul tells us who the King was that God had in mind to come from the line of David (Acts 13:22-38). Christ is the King of His kingdom (the Church); thanks be to God and Christ that our King reigns and we are a part of His kingdom (Eph. 1:22-23)!
Man has always desired to know what will happen after our lives are over. “The great unknown” as many have described the hereafter. Those who are God’s know what will happen when their lives come to an end. He has promised His children a life after death if they have made Christ their Lord (1 Cor. 15:12-28). There is no other means of obtaining salvation except through Jesus (John 14:6). If one wishes to live after death, they must live for Christ in this life; which is a simple concept to grasp (a life for life)! The promise of eternal life is there for the taking, will you abide in the Son and the Father or spurn God’s promise? (1 Jn. 2:24-25)
-Brandon Foresha
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