photo taken by Ian Britton
For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. (Hebrews 13-15)
In the year of 1876, a young man and his newlywed wife would set out to Leipzig, Germany to undertake a new life together. The man would pursue theological studies at a German university, which came as a surprise to his friends given his known distaste for New Testament Greek. It was while the two were hiking in the mountains that a tragedy would forever change the lives of this young couple. The young lady, Annie Pierce Kinkead, during a harsh thunderstorm would suffer from trauma to her nervous system that would leave her bedridden, an invalid, for the rest of her life. Her husband, Benjamin Warfield, would go on to become one of Princeton Theological Seminary’s last great theologians. Warfield would be remembered fondly by his students as constantly at the bedside of his beloved wife until her death in 1915. If anything, his vigilance in tending to her needs would forever mark him as a man graced by God. Profound in theological insight and refined by the trials of suffering, such a man’s tragedy and his perseverance stands as a challenge to our time.
“Do you promise?” We find this kind of question best illustrated at the foot of the altar, in the midst of loved ones and friends and before that special person whom we envision spending the rest of our lives with. We exchange the vows, share the first kiss and take that first step forward into the future as husband and wife. If we could end at this point like all children’s tales spoken in younger years with, “And they lived happily ever after”, we would have to say that it was a fairy tale indeed. It seems that in our time, a promise has lost its power to bind and “till death do us part,” only meant until our feelings were otherwise. We have come to expect that a word need never be kept. Our vows, like the frail paper upon which they were written, only age and tear with time; finally diminished and lost, leaving no record or remembrance.
I want to suggest that this lost sense of “a promise kept” has contributed to many Christians failure to trust in God. “Will He keep His promises?” It is a honest question that seems to be begged when our experiences seemed overwhelmed by heartbreak and disappointment. It is the very question asked by Abraham when God promised to bless him:
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.” (Genesis 15:18-21)
Could you imagine it? An old man, bent over his walking staff and his hair white with age. He didn’t step with the same vigor that accompanied him in his youth and his sight had all, but dimmed to the land that stretched out before him. Another interesting thing was that he claimed nothing, but his old age; he was a nomad. For God to promise all this land would have been symbolic of a man of wealth at that time, but Abraham had no claim to it. In fact God would say that this promise be would fulfilled long after death would bring Abraham to the grave. What a strange promise. It would seem that God in His wisdom understood the disbelief that would come in the light of such a promise and willed that even the great Patriarch’s doubts would remains recorded for every generation. “Will He Keep His promises?”:
And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” (Genesis 17:15-17)
The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?”
Even Abraham and his wife who are distinguished in the book of Hebrews (11:8-12) as examples of faith had their doubts. But the miracle would their son, Issac. Notice that God never said that he promised Abraham land in his lifetime, but only to his offspring. God promised something even greater, the continuation of Abraham’s family line (the promise within a promise). He provided the miracle of birth in old age as the sign and seal of His promise. The first promise wasn’t the land, but the son.
On this side of the cross, we Christians face a strenuous journey. Like Abraham we can make no claims upon this life for it is passing on. Is it not fascinating that the story of Abraham would be one of the most important stories handed down to us. If we but pause for the moment will we find to our surprise that a man wandering in the desert is, although separated by an age, but a reflection of every Christian in our time. Have we not been promised those heavenly lands and treasures untold?
History it seems has saw it fit to repeat itself. So as God promised us a new heaven and a new earth and to Abraham in his day the waters of Egypt up the fruitful lands of the Jebusites, so too has he promised us His Son and Abraham his Issac. Our first promise was Christ before God ever assured us of the promise of heaven. If I may argue from the lesser to the greater then it would seem right that as Abraham took possession of the land that God promised through his son Issac and his offspring then so too will every Christian have the hope of heaven through God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
“Will He keep His promises?” I wish to encourage every Christian who finds their faith torn in two by life to look to the cross and remember. Remember that it was God’s love for us that destined that He would work to salvation on our behalf. Remember that it was His Son (our promise from God), “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,” (Philippians 2:6) but rather “came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10) Remember that Christ promised His Spirit would come in mercy and grace to bring to remembrance all that He had said. Let the cry of our hearts be that if we have but Christ then we possess all things!
And so it is, when we come to that last passage in life; the final step that will bring us home, may we come to know, by a greater light, His faithfulness. That God which our hearts always longed for. . . the Man of His Word.
