God Keeps His Promises

GOD KEEPS HIS PROMISES Spring Valley Mennonite; May 21, 2023; Isaiah 60 In 1990 a movement was begun by Bill McCartney who had enjoyed a successful career as the football coach of the University of Colorado. The movement was called "Promise Keepers." It was aimed at men, teaching and encouraging them to be men of God and faithful husbands and fathers. Tens of thousands of men gathered in conferences, usually in football stadiums. Perhaps some of you attended Promise Keeper events in the mid-90's as did I. I read recently that there has been a relaunch of the Promise Keepers movement. We hear much about promises, especially from politicians; most people take such promises with a grain of salt, for most of such promises are forgotten or prove unrealistic once an elected office is attained. Before we become too cynical about broken promises, we need to look within ourselves. When we do so, we find that breaking promises is endemic to human nature. God is different from us. That is the definition of understatement! God always keeps His promises. He has never broken one, and He never will. He is the promise-keeping God. His word is truth. In the Old Testament, the nation of Israel is the object of His promises. Now, there are many Christians today who say that when the Jews rejected their Messiah and crucified Jesus, they forfeited all the promises God had made to them. They would say that God has no further interest in Israel. Yet I would ask such one, "Does God keep His promises or not?" For many of those Old Testament promises were without any conditions attached, and had the word "forever" attached. Another word for promise in the Bible is "Covenant." Today, we would call it a contract. If I enter into a contractual agreement with you regarding Real Estate, say to sell you some land, we would both sign it, and that contract would be binding upon both parties. There would be penalties if we failed to fulfill the provisions of the contract. The contract states that in exchange for a certain amount of money I will transfer the ownership of the land to you. The conditions and obligations are written in the contract. But imagine that because of our close relationship and my affection for you, I would obligate myself to give you my land on a certain date. There are no obligations on your part, no strings attached, and nothing you can do to change the contract. This would be like God's unconditional covenants with Israel. As we continue through the last chapters of Isaiah, we find many passages in which God elaborates upon the fulfillment of these unconditional covenants He made with Israel. One such passage is found in the 60th chapter. I would point out that such passages are found throughout the Book of Isaiah, words of encouragement that although their sin would have the consequence of judgment, those eternal promises would still be fulfilled. Though they would be exiled to Babylon, God still had plans for the nation. He was not finished with them. Turn to Isaiah 60; We will begin at verse 1 (through v. 9, then 15-16, 19-22) I. A TIMELINE OF ISRAEL IN BIBLICAL HISTORY In Genesis 12 we find recorded God's selection of an individual named Abram. It was through this single man that God began to initiate His plan of the salvation of mankind, the restoration of a fallen creation. Abram was living in a city named Ur, located somewhere in the Eastern part of modern-day Iraq. Listen to God's first promise to Abram, found in Genesis 12: "Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father's house, to a land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." Abram's task was simply to obey and leave his home. As he obeyed, God led him to Canaan, and after he arrived, God made another promise. Genesis 12:7: And the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." These promises constitute what is called the Abrahamic covenant. Abram is promised two things: He would make Abram a great nation through which the whole world would be blessed and second, to give his descendants the land of Canaan. In Genesis 17, God restated the Covenant, changed Abram's name to Abraham, and significantly, twice used the term "everlasting" in its description. Abraham means a "Father of Nations," but be a father means having children, and Abraham and his wife Sarah waited 25 years before this happened and Isaac was born. The covenant was passed on Isaac, then to his son Jacob, and on to Jacob's 12 sons. These covenant promises were never rescinded. I would point out that God's promises, though sure, are not always immediately fulfilled. Many years later, a famine forced Jacob's family, about 75 in number, to Egypt. God had sovereignly placed one of Jacob's sons in Egypt, a man named Joseph. Joseph had become second in command in Egypt, in charge of all the food distribution during the famine. Jacob settled his family in Egypt, where his family of 75 grew to a nation numbered in the millions. After Joseph's death, the Egyptians made the Israelites slaves. Through Moses, God rescued His chosen people and led them back to the land which God had promised to them (the Promised Land). On the way to Canaan, at the Mountain of Sinai, God gave the nation His Covenant of Law, which specified what was pleasing to God and what was not. This covenant was different from the previous Abrahamic Covenant in that the blessings were dependent upon the obedience of the people, and the consequences or curses would be the results of disobedience. This covenant was Conditional as well as Temporary rather than eternal. It was destined to be replaced by something better and permanent. Part of this Law was the provision of blood sacrifices to atone for violations of the Law. This temporary covenant was fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ, God's Lamp. After arriving in Canaan, God enabled Israel to mostly drive out the inhabitants, and the land was settled. They lived in the land of promise. As long as the people kept the Law, God blessed them in the land. When they disobeyed, God allowed the surrounding nations to oppress them. The high point of this period in the land was during the reign of King David. It was to David that God made another Covenant: a second unconditional promise that a Son of David would reign in Jerusalem forever. David's son Solomon inherited the throne and built the great Temple which David planned. But Solomon's son Rehoboam was a fool, and civil war split the nation in two. Judah was the southern Kingdom and Israel was the northern kingdom. The northern kingdom, shut off from the Temple, the priesthood, and worship of YHWH fell into idolatry and fell to the Assyrians. About 100 years later the southern kingdom of Judah fell to Babylon, which brings us to the prophesies of Isaiah, about 700 years before the birth of Jesus. II. THE PROMISE OF MESSIAH These two unconditional covenants, Abrahamic and Davidic, were explained and amplified through the writings of the Hebrew prophets. The prophet Isaiah was perhaps the most concise in explaining how the blessings of these two covenants would be "fleshed out." In Isaiah we find detailed descriptions of the Jewish Messiah through whom the blessing to Israel would come. He would be a man, born of a virgin; His name would be Immanuel, which means "God with us." He would live in Galilee and would be a great deliverer "Breaking the yoke and the rod of their oppressors." He would be the King who would reign over the world from the throne of David. Isaiah 9:6-7: "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace. On the throne of David and over His kingdom, to establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this." But in seeming contrast, Isaiah also gives a picture of the suffering Messiah in chapter 53: this Messiah would be the Lamb of God Who would die for the sins of the whole world; that He would be despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He would be "Pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, and by His scourging we are healed." Because of the suffering and death of the Messiah, God's justice and wrath toward sin would be satisfied. Salvation for both the Jew and Gentile would be made available. Most Jews were expecting the triumphant Messiah, the World Political Leader described in Isaiah 9; a suffering Messiah was contradictory to their pre-conceived notions. They saw only a single advent of Messiah, and even Jesus' disciples expected an immediate political kingdom and the defeat of the Roman oppressors. But we know "the rest of the story!" In Isaiah 60, as well as many other prophetic passages, the future Kingdom of Messiah is described. Messiah Jesus will return to earth to establish this earthly Kingdom where all the promises made to Israel will be fulfilled. Look with me at this description of Jesus' future earthly Kingdom. III. SOME SPECIFICS OF ISRAEL'S COMING GLORY UNDER THE MESSIAH This chapter contains predictions of great blessings to come upon Israel. Verse 1 and 2 tell that the light will arise following a time of great darkness, like the dawning of the sun. The Babylonians were conquered by the Persians, and under the Persian king Artaxerxes the Jews were allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple and city walls. But only a small number of Jews actually returned, the majority remaining in Babylon. After the Persians, the struggling remnant in Israel came under the power of the Greeks under Alexander the Great. The Greeks empire fell to the Romans, and at the height of Roman power, Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea. A half-Jew who went under the title of "Herod the Great" ruled by permission of Rome. Approximately 40 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Jews rebelled against Rome and the city of Jerusalem was totally destroyed. The period of darkness spoken of in verse 2, begun under the Babylonians grew even darker. But the promise remains of a new day which will dawn upon the nation. As verse 2 tells us, all nations will in the future be drawn to this light, and they will bring their wealth willingly to Jerusalem. There will be great abundance and rejoicing in Jerusalem in that day. The nations will bring fellowship offerings to a new Temple which will stand in Jerusalem. It will be a time of great peace and prosperity. There looms over this prediction one great central question: WHEN WILL THESE THINGS BE? It is clear as we consider the details of this prophecy, as well as the wealth of parallel passages, that this time is yet to come. God speaks of a future time of great blessing to come upon Israel. IV. THE TIME OF FULFILLMENT The plain sense of scripture and a literal interpretation of God's promises demand that the Messiah, Jesus Christ, will literally reign on earth from the throne of David in Jerusalem. During this time of reign, all the blessings promised through the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenants will be totally realized. It will be a time of unparalled prosperity and joy in Israel. When will this happen? When will the light arise upon Israel following a time of great darkness, as Isaiah stated in chapter 60? Allow me to resume our timeline of God's plan for the ages as it relates to Israel. After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by the Romans, the siege which began immediately after Passover, trapping over an estimated one million Jews in the city, Judaism changed. No longer having the Temple and the priesthood, Rabbinic Judaism developed. The Jews survived in small communities across the Roman Empire. They had no homeland until the nation of Israel was created in 1948, an incredible development with implications for the return of the Lord Jesus. At Jesus' first Advent, He fulfilled the temporary covenant of the Law, being the final sacrifice for the sins of the world. He replaced the Old Covenant with a New Covenant. Under this New Covenant, the shed blood of Jesus covered all sin, and as anyone, Jew or Gentile, expresses faith by believing Jesus came as God in the flesh, died for our sin, and rose from the dead-the Gospel-and as one personally accepts this payment for their sins, they receive new life. Rather than laws being written on tablets of stone, God writes His law upon our hearts. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in our hearts. The Old Covenant of the Law, being completely fulfilled, passed away. You ask, "How does Israel figure into all this?" Well, as a nation Israel rejected Jesus as Messiah. God TEMPORARILY set them aside during this present age, which began at Pentecost and is called "The Age of Grace." God is presently working through the Church, composed of believing Gentiles and Jews, but primarily Gentiles. Pastor and Theologian Harry Ironside, who pastored the great Moody Church in Chicago from 1929 to 1948 used the illustration of a train regarding Israel. God's plan for the ages is like a train rolling down a long stretch of railroad track. God and man began this journey on a train named Israel. This was the only salvation train available, and salvation was through the Jew. But when Israel rejected their promised Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Israel train was shunted off to another track. That Israel train is still running, but down a sidetrack, parallel to the main track. When that train left the main track, another train pulled on, a train called the Church. God and man continued the journey on a new train. In this age of Grace, God's purposes of salvation are accomplished through the church. This is the new train to glory. Turn to Romans 11, beginning at verse 25 (Read through v. 29). God will keep His promises. He has never "uncalled" Israel. They are still His "chosen people." For at the end of this age, the church train's occupants, all true believers alive, will suddenly disappear! This is the Rapture of the Church. Then God brings the Israel train back on the track, and once again He resumes working through the nation of Israel. This train will experience some terribly difficult times, a period called by the Jewish prophets as "Jacob's Trouble" or "The Great Day of the Lord." This is the Great Tribulation which is described in detail in the Book of Revelation. After the seven-year Tribulation, the Israel Train will arrive, in a sense, at its final destination. Yet in another sense, it will keep rolling along. Revelation 20 speaks of the length of this time as being 1000 years-we know it as the Millennium. At the beginning of this time, Israel will be completely regathered from all over the world, and Jesus will reign on the Throne of David in Jerusalem. All the blessings of prosperity and blessing described throughout the Old Testament-all the promises made to Israel-will be fulfilled. Great prosperity and blessing will be over all the earth, and Israel will be the source of this blessing as Jesus reigns. I believe the Millennium is just the beginning of the Glory of God expressed through His chosen people, as God's promises are described as everlasting. God keeps His promises! V. WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE US? As we close this survey of the Ages, we need to draw some conclusions regarding how these things personally affect us. First, we can be encouraged that God keeps all His promises, both to Israel and to the Church, as well as to each believer. His promises are based on His unchanging character. He has fulfilled the promise to bless the whole world through Abraham's descendant Jesus Christ. He will continue to use Israel to bless the whole world in the coming Millennial Kingdom, and beyond. Secondly, we need feel no jealousy toward Israel, for we believers of this age of Grace hold an exalted position as part of the Church, the Bride of Christ. When Jesus reigns as King over the earth, we will be at His side, for, as scripture tells us, we will ever be with Him. The Marriage of the Lamb will have taken place, and throughout eternity we will reign with Him. That is His promise to us, which He will never break. The exact details of that glorious time are yet to be revealed, but we can count on it being incredibly fabulous! Our hearts should be filled with great joy and anticipation as we look forward to an eternity with a new resurrected body, completely freed from any connection to our old fleshly nature and living in a renewed and recreated world cleansed from any taint of sin. This is our glorious future, based upon the unchanging promises of God. 2