Great and Precious Promises
September 2, 2010

"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Peter 1:4)

Scripture is full of promises, more than 2,800 in the Old Testament and more than 1,000 in the New. The first of these exceeding great and precious promises was the Protevangel ('first gospel') of Genesis 3:15. Immediately after the Fall of Adam and Eve through the temptation of Satan, that old serpent, God promised the coming Seed of the woman, the Saviour: "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; [He] shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

The first New Testament promise, significantly, is this same primeval promise, now made far more specific: "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21).

The last promise of the Old Testament speaks of a second coming of "Elijah the prophet," who will "turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers" (Malachi 4:5-6). Then, the final promise of the Bible is the wonderful assurance of Christ concerning His glorious second coming: "Surely I come quickly" (Revelation 22:20).

Sandwiched between these great and precious promises are over 3,800 other promises. Some of these are in the form of promised warnings to the sinner, but promises nonetheless. Most promises, however, are to the obedient follower of God, and we know that "he is faithful that promised" (Hebrews 10:23). "For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us" (2 Corinthians 1:20). HMM

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