Have you ever made a promise? Promises should not be taken lightly. Big or small, a promise is a promise. Whenever I promise to my sisters, we “sister promise” and lock pinkies. Sister promises are never, EVER to be broken!
In my Thesaurus, it says a promise is a person’s solemn declaration that he or she will do or not do something. Other words for a promise is oath, pledge, troth, vow, word, appointment, arrangement, commitment, engagement, agreement, exc. Whenever I promise, I try my hardest to keep it, and feel trusted when I do.
Lets talk about three different kinds of promises. (1) I will never promise,
(2) I will always promise, and (3) I promise the truth promise.
The Bible is packed full of God’s promises to His children. I chose four promises in bible to write about. At first glance, I probably would not have thought that some of them were promises, but there are.
The first is in Genesis 9:12-16.
“And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.
It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud;
and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.
The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”
God gave us the rainbow as a sign. Kind of like the locked pinkies for a sister promise. God promised Noah and his family that He will NEVER, again destroy all flesh with a flood. This is a example of the first, I will never promise.
Skipping over to the next book in the bible, Exodus 13:21-22, we read in this story about a promise that is declared in a different way.
“And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.
He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.”
Using a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire, God leads Moses and the children of Israel on there journey. Day and night, He is promising to to be with them and show them the way. Today, God promises us in the same way, maybe not a literal, but the promise is the same. To lead us and guide us both day and night. He is promising to ALWAYS be with us! This is a I will always promise.
1 Kings 18:26-38 tells a remarkable story proving that God is real.
“And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “LORD God of Abram, Issac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word.
Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to you again.
Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.”
Wow! God sent His fire for Elijah as proof that He is the LORD God of the entire universe! What a powerful God we serve! So, where is the promise in this story? Well, God is promising everyone there that day, and to everyone who reads this story in the bible, that He is powerful and almighty. He is the one TRUE God. Making this the I promise the truth promise.
The last promise from the bible I will write about is in Matthew 2:9-10.
“When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen from the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.
When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.”
This promise is a mixture of all three promise types. It is similar to the first rainbow promise in that it has a sign of the covenant, the star. It is also similar to the second pillar of cloud and fire promise because the wisemen followed the star like the children of Israel followed the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire. Last but not least, it is similar to Elijah’s offering promise because it is a I promise the truth promise. You might think that it doesn't sound like that type of promise, but this is they way I see it. God is promising the wiseman that by following the star, they will find baby Jesus, the TRUE King. The One that would die for our sins so that we can have everlasting life with Him. That is TRUE love!
As we study these four promises in the Bible, do you notice a pattern?
Yes, all of the promises came from the sky, the heavens. The rainbow in the sky, the pillars in the sky, the fire from the sky, and the star in the sky. Each one is a promise that God keeps and will never break.
You might be thinking to yourself that this was in the olden days, things like cloud pillars and fire coming down from heaven just don't happen nowadays. Or you might be thinking that nothing big or magnificent ever happens in the sky that shows us a promise from God.
But promises from heaven still do happen today! Everyday there is something magnificent in the sky! It’s called a sunrise and sunset. Blue, orange, yellow, red, purple, and pink colors light up the sky. Fluffy clouds of all shapes and sizes add to it’s beauty. It IS magnificent! It IS a promise!
Sunrises are a promise because each morning, when the sun comes up, God is promising to be with us today, and he is reminding us that he sent His only Sun to save sinners like you and I. God made the sun to give us sunlight each day just like Jesus gives us light spirituality. Jesus is the light of the world!
And sunsets are a promise because every night, when the sun goes down, God is promising that the Sun will come again quickly and He will take us to heaven to live forever with our Heavenly Father.
So, next time you see a sunrise or sunset, don’t just think of it as a start or finish of a long day. Think of it as your magnificent promise from heaven!
2 Peter 1:4
“… by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises…”
Revelation 22:12-13
“And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward [is] with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”
Have you ever witnessed a beautiful sunrise and sunset? How about a rainbow? What's one of your favorite promises in the Bible? I'd love to here what you thought of Promises from Heaven!
