SermonStudio

Sometimes the sweep and power of God’s promises in the Bible almost overwhelm me. Just stop and think about some of them.


First there’s the rainbow. 'This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth,' God tells Noah in Genesis 9:17.


When we look at the rainbow, we are to know that God is God, and God is faithful.


From there the promise goes to Abraham and his descendants, then to Jacob at Bethel, then to Joseph in Egypt, and then to Moses and his people in the Exodus.


'But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,' says the Lord in Jeremiah: 'I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.'


Before that, God had dealt faithfully and truly with Joshua, David, Hosea, Amos, Micah, and many others. And after that, God told his people through Isaiah, 'For you shall go out in joy, and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth in singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.'


We grieve today, and there’s no doubt we grieve. But we grieve in the face of the promise of a faithful, loving God.


One time I heard a person say, 'To forgive, first you have to be hurt.' What he was saying is that forgiveness is not easy. Until you’re hurt and hurt deeply, you don’t have anything to forgive.


And that’s the way it is with death. To claim the promise of the loving Savior, first we have to know the pain death brings.


It’s not easy to have to say good-bye, even for a little while, and when we talk about the power of a loving God, we’re not saying we shouldn’t hurt.


Instead, we’re saying, 'You can trust in God. God keeps his promises, and that’s the message of the Bible.'


We can’t fully understand. Of course, we can’t. 'For my thoughts are not your thoughts,' God told the people through Isaiah, 'Neither are my ways your ways.'


But even when it doesn’t seem like it, God is faithful and he does what he says he will do. 'For as the rain and the snow came down from the heaven ...' to water plants which bring food to the people, 'so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it,' says the living Lord.


God keeps his promises, not just to people like David and Isaiah, but to us as well.


'For Christ has entered, not into a sanctuary made with hands, a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf,' says Hebrews.


God’s promises did not end in the Old Testament. Because of Jesus, we no longer have to send a priest into the Holy Place to make sacrifices and to intercede for us. God has done that for us in his Son.


'There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,' Paul says in Romans 8. 'For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death.'


God has done for us what we can’t do for ourselves. God has sent his Son to turn the world upside down and bring salvation.


'For the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him,' Peter tells the people at Pentecost (Acts 2:39). He has just called them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and he has just told them that God’s promise comes to all who do so.


No longer is the promise of God seen only in a rainbow, or even only in the Passover, in which the Angel of Death passed over the houses of a selected few.


Now Isaiah’s words, 'for you shall go out in joy, and be led forth in peace,' have a new meaning, a meaning which applies not just to Israel, but to Jesus and, through Jesus, to all of us.


So we grieve today. And in the face of death, we have all kinds of feelings. Let’s not forget that one of them is hope.


God’s promise in the Bible is overwhelming. From the rainbow to the Christ, God has been faithful, and God’s will has been to bring us salvation.


Remember that. As we say good-bye to our good friend, an imperfect person, as we all are, but a good and faithful Christian, we should hear God’s words through Isaiah:


'For you shall go out in joy, and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth in singing and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.'

Let Us Pray


Almighty Savior, we thank you for the way you keep your promises, and now we rest our love for ** in you.


You and you alone are God, and you and you alone can bring true peace and true salvation. As we leave this place, help us to walk with you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.



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