On Hope

Today's point is very simple: "it is impossible for God to lie" (Hebrews 6:18b). I love the first verse of chapter 6. The writer of Hebrews says, "ok, we've covered the basics, lets get into some deeper stuff. You all know about saving faith, but let's talk about what kind of faith comes after that" (I'm paraphrasing, of course). He (or she, who knows?) then talks about the promise God made to Abraham that he would be the father of multitudes and that through him all generations would be blessed. Check back in Genesis 22 and you'll see that God really, really meant what He said when He made this promise. He meant it so much that He swore an oath. Now when we swear oaths, say, in court, we swear on the Bible, a.k.a. God's Word. When God swore an oath to Abraham, He swore on the only thing powerful enough to back up His word - Himself. Does that blow your mind a little?

So in a nutshell, what God says goes and the way we know that is 1) when He promised Christ to the world (the biggest, most important promise He made), He swore an oath in his own name, which the writer of Hebrews points out in the first part of verse 18, made the promise twice as secure, and 2) God can not lie.

But what does that mean for us? We know about Christ's saving atonement for our sins, so we know that God kept this particular promise. But what about other promises He made? He promised that we'll never be without Him (Hebrews 13:5). He promised to make a way for us to escape temptation (1 Corinthian 10:13). He promised that one day, we will reign with Him in a perfect world, free from all of the things that make us sad, angry, anxious, fearful, frustrated, and all those other negative emotions we experience day in and day out (2 Timothy 2:12). Will He keep those promises? 2 Corinthians 1:20 has the unbelievably amazing answer: "For 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." Amen!!!