Promises

We all lean on promises.  They fuel our hope.  Without the promises we embrace, we would be lost, void of hope and aimlessly wandering. Consider the promise of a raise or promotion at work or the promise of a potential marriage.  These give encouragement, a path to a vision, a provider of hope. Without promises, we would have no encouragement or anchor to give assurance of our path.  Consider this promise of God:   “Never will I desert you, nor will I ever forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).  Who among us would consider this not a fundamental but critical promise in our lives? Of course, the legitimacy of the promise is dependent on the integrity of the promise maker.  We lose hope if the promise we are depending does not come to fruition.   And consequently, lose trust in the one making the promise. Consider:  “The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29) and: “For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself” (Hebrews 6:13). Some of His promises, like the one to Abraham (Genesis 12) are non-conditional, meaning God promises without requirement or expectation. Others are conditional, meaning receiving the promise is dependent upon our obedience to a specific command, usually identified with the promise. Others are to the nation of Israel, others to His church or His individual believers.  Some are to be realized in the temporal, others not until eternity.  In any event, the purposes of the promises are to provide hope, to increase our faith and develop godliness.  “For by these He has granted to...

Who is the Watchman?

“For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures” (Romans 1:21-23). “A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and with them they do harm. The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts” (Revelation 9:18-21). Even after seeing all these things and the results of their hands, they did not repent!  Nor did they did not honor God in their foolishness.  We do not know why.  Could it be that they did not understand the warning and hope that is offered by Jesus Christ in the gospel? “He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have...