Promises as Sure as the Promise Giver
By Tom Gilbreath
The first rule of prophetic understanding is this. God keeps His promises. That’s the key to the things going on in the world right now. God is keeping His promises.
Romans 8 is a glorious chapter with an especially uplifting conclusion. Verse 35 asks, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” It gives a list of fearful things — “tribulation… distress… persecution… famine… peril…sword.” Then verses 37-39 (NKJV) wipe them away. “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
That’s the stuff 1 Peter 1:8 calls, “joy inexpressible and full of glory.”
After the Holy Spirit gave the Apostle Paul this amazing statement of faith, He gives the story a radical turn, from heights of ecstasy to deepest distress. Chapter 9 begins, “I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.”
When our joy in Christ reaches great heights of intensity, our burden for those who do not know Him becomes especially acute. That’s what happened here. Paul was thinking of fellow Jews who had not accepted Jesus. Verses 3-4 say, “For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites.”
Some Israelites had become followers of Christ. Paul could point to himself as an example. But, then as now, most of them rejected Jesus. Notice that even though they are not of the Church, they are still Israelites. At the time this letter was written, well into the first century AD, the Church had not replaced Israel. That was not the Church’s function then, and it still isn’t.
Verses 4-5 tells us about the Children of Israel. “…Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.”
Israel was a special nation, not because they were better than other people, but because God chose them for special purposes and gave them certain promises. We can see “the adoption” in Exodus 4:22 where God tells Moses to say to Pharoah, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Israel is My son.” The scripture gives many examples of “the glory” of the Lord appearing to the Children of Israel, including Exodus 16:10 and 24:17. God gave many “covenants” to Israel including several iterations of the first covenant with Abraham (see Genesis 15:18). Through Moses, God gave them His “law.” They were chosen to “serve” God, and He made many “promises” to them. For instance, He promised to give them a Son who would be “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
Starting in Genesis and reiterated many times in scripture, God made a promise to physical Israel that’s still in the news today. He gave them title deed to a piece of land on the western edge of the Mediterranean Sea — a land we call Israel. The promises to Israel are still in effect because the Promise Giver never fails. And so it is with His promises to you.
