Christmas Songs (4)

The Promise

The Lord has a habit of making a promise before bringing it to pass. He could choose not to first make a promise to Zacharias and Mary, yet still bring the whole enterprise to fruition. But there is something about making a promise. If I constantly make promises yet fail to fulfil them I would be perceived as someone who cannot be trusted.  But if I always make good my promises then not only would I be recognized as trustworthy, those whom I make promises to would also draw close to me. We have somehow formed a close bond.  I believe the Lord must at least partly have this in mind when He made and fulfilled promises. Even in our lives.

Failing to conceive after trying for some time my wife and I began to get anxious. We were in our mid-thirties then. Needless to say, we prayed a lot. If there was a storehouse in heaven stocking up babies we were banging at its door every day. Many people prayed for us too. One Sunday about two years after our marriage the Lord gave my wife and I a promise through a man of God. The guest pastor from Thailand prophesied and prayed with great conviction and fervency. In a nutshell this is what I received from the Lord: you will have a baby three years after your marriage. True enough it really materialized, but I only found out my wife was pregnant four days before our fourth wedding anniversary! God is never late! Through this and many other such experiences I have learned that the Lord can be trusted and they drew me closer to Him. My friend, we should always look out for promises from God. It makes our lives exciting and our relationship with the Lord fresh and real. What’s more, He fulfilled them to our good! They need not be dramatic experiences like what I had. More often than not it’s a simple word from the Bible. Take it, man!

There are many prophecies concerning the Messiah in the Old Testament, but none I think is as stunning and outrageous as this one promise from Isaiah: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel (Isa 7:14, NKJV). The virgin birth was a spectacular feat, but the great promise is found in the later portion of the verse: and shall call His name Immanuel. Translated, the Hebrew word Immanuel literally means “God with us”. Matthew found the words so profound he quoted them, and explained the meaning of the word “Immanuel” (Matthew 1:23). God is ever with us, that is the promise, and it started with the birth of Jesus. In a sense, God was always there even before Jesus’ birth, but it was not possible for Him to be present in His people’s lives in the intimate way that’s possible now after Jesus’ coming. The birth of the Son of God in human flesh was the beginning of His work of grace which He completed thirty-three years later on the cross, making it possible for Him to be with us at all time. In fact, not only with us, but also in us.  After the cross the word Immanuel took on an even more real and tangible meaning for us. This is God’s ultimate desire. He just longs to have an intimate relationship with us. Imagine, God is with us! Can you visualize Him sitting next to you right now?

Israel was waiting for their Messiah, but when He showed up they couldn’t recognize Him. They were really only waiting for someone to deliver them from the oppression of their enemies the foreign powers. Indeed “God with us” not only points to His presence, but also to His stand together with His people against their enemies, as Isaiah gave us further meaning of “God with us” in Isaiah 8:9-10. However, Israel’s perception and expectation of their Messiah’s work was much too limited. They couldn’t see that salvation is for all the peoples including the Gentiles, and the concern of the Saviour is to save all the peoples from the enemies of their souls – sin and all the effects it brings and the devil (these are the true “you peoples” in Isa 8:9, NKJV). This is what Simeon prophesied about Jesus and the salvation He brings: For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel (Lk 2:30-32).  It’s going to bring eternal good to all peoples of all time, not only physical Israel. In the words of a song (The Promise) by Michael Card, the Promise showed their wildest dreams had simply not been wild enough.

When it comes to His promise to you, is your dream wild enough?

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Scripture Reference Link: BibleGateway.com