The Name of the Promise Is Jesus
TCF Sermon
December 3, 2000
Isn’t it great to begin to hear some of the great Christmas music?
When you were a child, did you misunderstand some of the words of carols?
Then when you learned to read and saw the lyrics, you may have been surprised at what they really said
Fractured Christmas Carols
Deck the Halls with Buddy Holly
We three kings of porridge and tar
Noel. Noel, Barney’s the king of Israel.
With the jelly toast proclaim
Here in our seemingly never-ending election season, we’ve heard a lot of promises
- we’ve heard a lot about promises
Some of the promises we’ve heard from politicians can make us cynical, but
Now, as we begin the season of advent, in anticipation of Christmas, it’s very appropriate that we take time to look at promises as seen in scripture
and very specifically, to look at a promise that’s older than time:
the promise of the coming Savior
Matthew 1:21 it says, speaking of Mary,
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.
Note something important in this passage:
Matthew notes that his name will be Jesus…but why?
- because "he will save His people from their sins"
- you might ask:
What does that have to do with His name?
His name means The Lord saves
That’s why this morning’s message is titled:
The Name of the Promise Is Jesus
During this Christmas season, it’s appropriate to remember some key things about Jesus, whose birth we celebrate:
- just as Jesus was God in the flesh, the very embodiment of the Maker of the Universe
- Jesus was also the embodiment of all God promised His people
- of all God promised the world
in fact, He came to be called "the promised One"
Scripture shows us that Jesus is the promise
2 Corinthians 1:18-22
But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes" and "No." 19For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not "Yes" and "No," but in him it has always been "Yes." 20For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. 21Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
The Word of God, our Bible, is a book full of promises
In fact, by one count, the number of promises given in the Bible is 1,260
Singer Michael Card wrote a song called The Promise, and he wrote a little Christmas devotional on this theme:
He noted:
Christianity is founded on a promise. Faith involves waiting on a promise. Our hope is based on a promise.
Promises are made with words. … .that part of myself that goes with every promise is given to you through my words….
Our God is the great maker of promises… His word, our Bible, is a collection of the promises… most of these concern Jesus, who came to be known as "the Promised One"
Through all these promises, God was trying to give something of Himself to Adam, and to Israel, and finally to us. The Bible tells us that when the Promised One came, the Lord poured all of Himself into Him.
What a costly thing it can be to make a promise - it cost Jesus His life.
The fulfillment of this promise of God had a name, and His name is Jesus
We name some of our promises, too, don’t we:
- there’s the "Oath of Office" that public officials take
- there are "Wedding Vows"
- there are various pledges, such as the pledge of allegiance
- political parties have promises called platforms, that include not only promises, but the position which the parties take on various issues
One candidate, Dave Barry, not a serious candidate for president, and if you’ve ever read his column you’ll know that’s true,
made this promise about foreign policy:
I am sick and tired of watching the United States get pushed around by dirtbag nations such as Iraq. If I were president, and Saddam Hussein gave me any trouble, I would unleash the ultimate weapon on him. That’s right: I would have a bomber fly right over downtown Baghdad, open the bomb doors, and drop: lawyers. If that didn’t paralyze Iraq, I would drop more lawyers; and if THAT didn’t work, I would put parachutes on the lawyers.
With the role lawyers are playing in our national election today, it’s good to realize that they could serve some useful purpose
So, it’s not unusual to name promises, and Jesus, among the many titles given him in scripture and outside of scripture, was called The Promised One.
In this passage we just read from 2 Cor., he’s called God’s Yes, as well as God’s Amen
- He’s God’s Yes to the promise of redemption, and all the other, related promises
- and that is reiterated by noting He’s not just Yes, but Amen
Let’s take a closer look at this passage and a few other related passages to see what we can learn about the promises of God
The Message paraphrase of 2 Cor. 1:20 says:
"Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus."
The great commentator Matthew Henry noted about this passage:
1. these promises are the promises of the God of truth
2. they are made in Christ Jesus, the Amen, the true and faithful witness
3. They are confirmed by the Holy Spirit. He is in our hearts as a deposit… a deposit secures the promise, and is part of the payment. …
A look at the words Paul used in this passage is helpful
The original language of the word yes is a stronger affirmation than we would normally think of:
In other words, yes really means yes, probably with an exclamation point
it implies---
even so, surely
adding amen to it only strengthens its force:
The Greek word amen is of Hebrew origin
- figuratively, it means surely, or so be it, or trustworthy
- more literally, it means firm
In Hebrew, it means sure, and its root word means to render (or be) firm or faithful, to trust or believe, to be permanent
"Amen" functioned as a positive affirmation at the end of a prayer, just as it does today
and Jesus became the amen and yes to all the biblical promises of a truly faithful God
Jesus is a firm Yes, not a definite Maybe
Jesus is also referred to as the Amen in:
Rev. 3:14
"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.
Another passage of scripture looks at the double affirmation, the double assurance of God’s promises as well:
In many ways, this is almost a parallel passage to the verse in 2 Cor. that we read earlier:
Hebrews 6:12-19
We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. 13When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, 14saying, "I will surely bless you and give you many descendants." 15And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.
16Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. 17Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. 19We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.
In 2 Cor., our assurance of God’s fulfillment of His promises was made doubly sure by noting that Jesus is not only the Yes but also the Amen to God’s promises
In Hebrews 6, it’s seen in verse 18: the two "unchangeable things"
- first there’s the promise itself, which considering who’s making it, should be enough
- but as if that’s not enough, it’s affirmed with an oath
Think of the significance of this -
God accommodated Himself to the human custom of taking an oath
- this only added to the assurance of the validity of the promise
- in this passage in Hebrews, this is displayed as the incentive Abraham had to believe, and it’s applied to us as well
Another interesting note is the verse that begins this passage in Hebrews:
"We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised."
The appeal to perseverance is given added incentive by assuring us of the absolute validity of these divine promises
It’s as if the writer of Hebrews was saying - you can count on this promise, no matter how long you have to wait
- then reminding us of Abraham, and how long he waited to see the initial fulfillment of God’s promise to him
- so, to provide a parallel between these two passages, we might say this:
- God’s Yes is the promise itself, the Word made flesh
- God’s Amen is His oath - the additional confirmation of His sure intention to fulfill what He has promised
So, the two unchangeable things?
- The yes and the promise itself
- the amen and the oath to fulfill that promise
Said by God, the Amen means "it shall be so"
said by us, it means, "so let it be"
One Bible Dictionary looked at the word promise in scripture like this:
"God’s announcement of His plan of salvation and blessing to His people"
- and one of the unifying themes integrating the message and the deeds of the Old and New Testaments.
One great truth about God’s promise is that it embraces both the declaration and the deed
- that is, God’s promise is so sure that it encompasses, it includes, both the words of the promise as well as its fulfillment
God’s promises are referred to in a larger sense as His covenant
Old Testament tells of covenants among Humans
In biblical language, people "cut" a covenant with another person or group of people
It’s important to note that Sacrifices accompanied the covenant making
- that’s because the Hebrew word for covenant referred literally to the cutting of the pieces of flesh of the sacrifice
Each covenant had special conditions effecting the power in authority, and the one becoming a vassal, or imposing demands on each partner of a covenant between equals.
Breaking covenant conditions meant treason and extreme punishment
It’s important to understand this because it seems God modeled His covenants with His people on the kinds of covenants people make with each other
God’s grace in relating to His people by initiating covenants with them is a major theme of the Bible
The Old Testament story can be related as the story of God making covenants with His people and responding to them out of that covenant relationship.
The New Testament can be described as the fulfillment of the Old Testament covenant hope, in the establishment of God’s new covenant in Jesus Christ.
Jesus used the last supper as an opportunity to interpret His ministry, and particularly His death, as fulfillment of Jeremiah’s new covenant prophecy.
His death represented the shedding of the blood of the new covenant.
People who repeated the rites of the last supper, the communion table at which we shared last week drank the blood of the new covenant, remembering His death as the sacrifice for sins
Another thing we cannot forget is that a promise costs something
- something of ourselves
- when you promise to love for richer or poor or better or worse, you’re not always going to have the better to live with
- if you have the worse, some of the time or all of the time, does that affect your promise?
- when you promise to be somewhere with your children and something else comes up, it costs something to keep that promise
- when you promise anything, there’s always a cost involved
Why do you think Jesus said:
Luke 14:28
"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? "
I note all this to reinforce the importance that God places on promises
- for three reasons:
1. because God has proven Himself trustworthy and faithful in all His promises - we need to know that and remember it
2. because of that, we can trust Him to fulfill His still unfulfilled promise of coming again, and the ongoing fulfillment of other promises - such as "I will never leave you or forsake you"
3. this all gives us reason to take our own promises more seriously
All God’s promises depend on two things:
1. God’s faithfulness
2. His power to fulfill His promises.
If I promised Barry Suderman that I would go to work for him (so he could have some time off) at his shop or on a jobsite helping with a remodeling project, my promise would be worthless
Barry knows that I couldn’t follow through on that promise, because I’m about the least handy man on earth
Essentially, that would make me guilty of lying to him.
What we have to ask ourselves about God’s promises:
1. Is God faithful? or Does He always tell the truth?
2. Is God able? or Does He have enough power to keep His promise?
These passages of scripture this morning, and this season of celebrating God’s kept promise in sending His Son to redeem us
answer both of these questions with an unequivocal yes and amen
because the name of the promise is Jesus
- and as we noted from Rev. 3:14 - Jesus is the great Amen
Hebrews 10:23
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
Jeremiah 32:17
"Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you."
We could cite dozens of additional scripture to show that God is absolutely faithful to fulfill His promises
- and absolutely able to do what it takes to fulfill them
Perhaps one reason we sometimes struggle with this is that
We live in an era of unkept promises
1. Nations sign important treaties and then break them at will
2. many couples show little regard for their wedding vows
3. public officials swear oaths to uphold laws and then abuse their power to protect themselves when they’re caught breaking this oath
we could cite other examples
In this kind of society, we who are God’s people should be known for keeping our promises
Writer C. S. Lewis took that truth seriously
He was determined to pay what he had vowed. His biography tells of the suffering he endured because he kept a promise he had made to a buddy during World War I. This friend was worried about the care of his wife and small daughter if he should be killed in battle, so Lewis assured him that if that happened he would look after them. As the war dragged on, the man was killed.
True to his word, Lewis took care of his friend’s family. Yet no matter how helpful he tried to be, the woman was ungrateful, rude, arrogant, and domineering. Through it all, Lewis kept forgiving her. He refused to let her actions become an excuse to renege on his promise
How often do we allow someone else’s bad behavior,
- someone else’s bad actions
- someone else’s inability to keep a promise
to impact what we do?
- we rely on the idea that
I’ll keep my promise if you keep yours
Aren’t we glad God isn’t that kind of promise keeper?
Or maybe more appropriately, promise-breaker?
Aren’t we glad that though His chosen people consistently failed Him
failed to live up to their end of the bargain
failed to follow God with their whole hearts
- in fact, many times rejected Him and His love
God still kept His promise of redemption
and that the name of the promise, and of its fulfillment, is Jesus?
I’ve had many instances in the past few years to challenge people with this idea, and it has proven to be God’s challenge to me, as well:
- we must do the right thing, the Godly thing, the loving thing - and I’m not speaking of mushy sentimental love, but agape love:
- regardless of how someone else acts
- regardless of how someone else responds
- regardless of their appreciation or lack thereof
- regardless of whether or not they’re right or wrong
Why?
One answer might be because we are in Christ
and the name of the promise is Jesus
Our Lord and Savior Jesus is living proof of God’s faithfulness - of God’s promise keeping
Again, we read from this passage in 2 Corinthians:
20For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. 21Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
We hear guarantees all the time
Here’s a guarantee we can count on
A promise from God is a statement we can depend on with absolute confidence
God’s presence -- "I will never leave you" (Hebrews 13:5) - we can count on it, because the name of the promise is Jesus
God’s protection -- "I am your shield" (Gen. 15:1) - we can rely on it, because the name of the promise is Jesus
God’s rest -- "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28) - we can depend on this, because the name of the promise is Jesus
God’s cleansing -- "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9) - we can know this is true, because the name of the promise is Jesus
God’s goodness -- "No good thing will He withhold from those whose walk is blameless (Psalm 84:11) - we can be assured it’s true, because the name of the promise is Jesus
God’s wise plan -- "All things work together for good to them that love God" (Rom. 8:28)
this Christmas season we celebrate again the ultimate keeping of His promise
pray
