God's Promises

 

God, the giving: always gives promises that are

full of giving. We can see that from the beginning of

Genesis Book till Revelation Book. And now we will try

to show some of them to see how the Lord is

kindhearted and very generous in His promises…

􀂙 The first promise that God gave was to our

first parents Adam and Eve.

"Then God blessed them, and God said to them,

"Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it;

have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds

of the air, and over every living thing that moves on

the earth." (Gn 1:28).

And so God gave them the blessing, the

multiplicity and the power. And the human became

God's representative on His Earth to rule and govern

it… And this promise is still valid until now… It is the

power over nature. So, the mighty lion which is the

king of beasts, can be taken by the human and placed

in a cage so that people watch it.

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􀂙 The second promise that we mention was to

our father Abraham when He said to him:

"I will make you a great nation; I will bless you

And make your name great; And you shall be a

blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will

curse him who curses you; And in you all the families

of the earth shall be blessed" (Gn 12:2, 3). As He also

promised him that his decedents will be like stars in

the heaven non-countable (Gn 15:5, 6).

It is a promise of blessing. And God's promises of

blessings have been repeated many times in the Holy

Bible. But he adds here the sentence "And you shall

be a blessing". And so were all God's children: as

Joseph was a blessing in Potiphar's house and all

Egypt. And as was Elijah a blessing in the house of

the widow of Zarephath, in the region of Sidon… And

many were blessings in the world, we get blessings

from their places and remains…

God wants us to have a blessing, so we keep this.

􀂙 The beautiful also in God's promise to Abraham is

His saying: "I will bless those who bless you, And I

will curse him who curses you". So are not the one to

answer back him who curses you, God curses him. So

be assured.

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􀂙 There is also God's promise to our father

Jacob while he was running away from his

brother Esau:

God said: "I am with you and will keep you

wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land"

(Gn 28:14, 15). It is a promise of keeping.

And the promise of keeping exists across

generations "The LORD shall preserve you from all

evil; He shall preserve your soul. The LORD shall

preserve your going out and your coming in" (Ps 121:

3-8).

God kept people, kept nations, kept the church

until this day and the children's keeper is God (Ps

116:6). The Lord kept the three young men in the

fiery furnace, saved Daniel in the den of lions and

saved Jonah in the fish's belly and the chanter says:

"though I walk through the valley of the shadow of

death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me;" (Ps

23).

It is a keeping that provides comfort and inner

peace. And sometimes it is a direct keeping through

God and some other times through His angels and

saints.

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􀂙 Another promise that God said to Joshua son

of Nun after Moses death.

Joshua was afraid but God promised him saying:

"No man shall be able to stand before you all the days

of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with

you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong

and of good courage" (Js 1:5, 6).

Of course, God is always with the weak or those

who feel their weakness, to encourage them with His

promises so that they do not get afraid. And here we

note the statement "No man shall be able to stand

before you all the days of your life". And some may

wonder for many enemies stood before righteous

people! But the interpretation of this is that they

might stand before them but they never prevailed

against them. As the Lord said to prophet Jeremiah:

"They will fight against you, But they shall not prevail

against you. For I am with you," says the LORD, "to

deliver you."" (Jr 1:19).

The righteous person, the strong from inside,

does not feel afraid even if the whole world stood

against him. It was said to St. Athanasious the

Apostolic, in his struggle against the Arians: "The

whole world is against you Athanasious". And he

answered in power "And I am against the world",

therefore he was called Contra Mondom.

The psalm says: "The kings of the earth set

themselves, And the rulers take counsel together,

Against the LORD and against His Anointed" and the

answer was: "He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;

The LORD shall hold them in derision" (Ps 2:2, 4).

Yes, God's promises give the person strength and

peace. So we have to save in our memories these

encouraging promises and use them whenever

necessary…

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But we should not depend on God's promises

when take a wrongful path. For the Lord as promised

Joshua also said to him: "This Book of the Law shall

not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in

it day and night, that you may observe to do

according to all that is written in it. For then you will

make your way prosperous, and then you will have

good success" (Js 1:7, 8).

So, for the Lord to be with you, you should also

be with him.

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􀂙 Another promise that the Lord gave to St.

Paul the apostle in Corinth which is:

"Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep

silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you

to hurt you" (Ac 18:9, 10).

And indeed, St. Paul the apostle spoke and no

one hurt him there.

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􀂙 What are left are the Lord's promises in the

Revelation Chapter. And they are many for

those who overcome.

I remember of them the Lord's saying: "To him

who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My

throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My

Father on His throne." (Rev 3:21).

This is a promise that is so dignified and great,

but who can reach it other than those who overcome,

those who overcame themselves, overcame desires

and material, and overcame the world and Satan… it

is only then, that they deserve to sit down with the

Lord on His throne…

Let's then cover some of God's promises to the

angels of the churches:

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􀂙 The Lord said to the angel of the church in

Smyrna, and its name is taken from Myrrh, and this

church was suffering tough persecutions… He said to

Him:

"Do not fear any of those things which you

are about to suffer…" (Rev 2:10). He did not tell

him: I will stop the pain from hurting you, but do not

fear any of those things which you are about to

suffer… that is because pain is a blessing. And the

bible said "For to you it has been granted on behalf of

Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer

for His sake" (Phil 1:29).

So do not fear he pain, "but be faithful until

death, and I will give you the crown of life" and the

crown of life is another promise that is the dream of

everyone…

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􀂙 One of the most beautiful promises too is what

the Lord said to the angel of the church in

Philadelphia:

"I have set before you an open door, and no

one can shut it" (Rev 3:7, 8).

He reminds us of what our old grandmothers used

to say: "Go my son, May God opens it for you"… truly

when God opens a door before someone, nobody can

shut it… So, all you need to do is to pray so that the

Lord opens before you. And say this prayer whenever

you intend to start a project or start in a plan.

It is possible that a door you open to yourself, or

others open it for you.

This is all different than the door that God opens

before you and nobody can shut.

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And the strange thing is what the Lord saying to

the angel of the church in Philadelphia about his

enemies…

"Indeed I will make them come and worship

before your feet, and to know that I have loved

you" (Rev 3:9).

This worshipping is not the worshipping of

adoration, God forbids, but it is the worshipping of

solemnity and fear.

There is also worshipping for respect. I hope

some pay attention to this differentiation especially

our brothers from other sects, for this is a biblical

teaching that came from the mouth of the Lord

Himself.

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God's promises are many as I told you, from the

Genesis book till the Revelation book, across all the

ages… And God does not take back any of His

promises ever.

May God be with all of you and may His promises be

achieved in you.