Word of Encouragement (8/18/2020)

For this morning, I want to share with you what the authors share about the excellence and worth of the divine promises based on the eight things Andrew Gray, who was a Scottish pastor in the middle of 17th century, said about it. I found them to be so beautifully and concisely expressed that I just want to quote them for you:

“They are precious, first, because of the great price that was laid down for them, which was the blood of Christ. Second, they are precious because of the great things that are promised in them. Third, they are precious because of the great advantage afforded to a Christian who enjoys them. They are ‘the pencils that draw the… lineaments of the image of Christ upon the soul.’ Fourth, they are precious because of their close relationship with Jesus Christ, for what are the promises but streams and rivulets that flow from Him? As Gray asks, ‘Can this fountain that is sweet in itself, send forth any bitter waters?’

“Fifth, the promises are precious because they are the objects of faith, the precious mother of all graces. Sixth, the promises guide and lead us to Christ, for there is not a single promise that does not cry out to us in a loud voice, ‘O, come to Christ!’ and there is no access to Jesus but by a promise. Seventh, the saints of all ages have found great sweetness and unspeakable delight in the promises. Eighth, the saints have a high and matchless account of the promises and thereby commend them to us. How can we doubt the preciousness of God’s promises when these arguments surround us like a cloud of witnesses” (pp. 8-9)?

After all that is said and done, we see how Christ is at the center of God’s promises to His people. They are purchased by Christ, grounded in what Christ has done for our great salvation. They are found in the richness and beauty of Christ. They flow from the abundance of Christ and His love. They bring us back to Christ, who is “the fairest” of all—fairer and purer than the blooming garb of spring, brighter than the sunshine and purer than the moonlight (“Fairest Lord Jesus”). And we have the testimonies of God’s people throughout church history regarding the richness and sweetness of experiencing God’s promises fulfilled in their lives, though in various degrees. Oh, to think that we have these precious promises made known to us in Scriptures and available to us in Jesus Christ! How blessed we are and how we should pray that the Lord would increase our faith to know more the length, width, height, and depth of the surpassing value of God’s promises to us!

‍