Promise Fulfilled For Us

We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. Acts 13: 32 – 33a

As Paul addresses a congregation of Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, note how he has been made a present, promoting and peculiar tree for Jesus. Like a fruit tree, laden with sweet, deliciously ripe and ready to eat fruit, which brings delight to many, so it is with Paul today. What Paul has declared, in the hearing of the people, fills hearts with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Will this powerful word do the same for you, as you listen to it? May the same Spirit who filled those listeners, fill you now also.  

You and I are children of the promise. God made a promise to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all our fathers of faith, that He will send the Messiah, Saviour of the world. He has promised our fathers that their children will be many, more numerous than the sand on the shore, and that they will be saved through Messiah, as long as they keep their faith and trust in Him. The Saviour has come in Jesus, but the world has crucified and buried Him.

All of this is true, says Paul, but today, I assure you of this Good News. God’s promise to our fathers has not gone sour. His promise to them is alive and well, for it has been fulfilled for us. The actual promise has been delivered, given, made to live and do all that it claims for us. How is this possible, when the promise has been killed by unbelievers? Paul, God’s illuminated tree, sheds brightly this Word of Light. God raised Jesus from the grave and He now lives freely and victoriously with us all. Here is even greater victory news. No death can keep Jesus down.

You live in a world where Jesus is being shot down, crucified, stamped out and ridiculed by many. You live in a world that has taken over the celebrations of Advent and made a crying mockery of it. We live at a time when secularism invites the church to share in its lights and illuminations. The church, not wanting to offend or seem different, graciously participates, thinking it can enjoy both worlds at the same time. You live in households, families and communities where Jesus is literally spoken against and faith in Him as Sovereign Lord and Saviour is totally denounced and shunned.

This is not always done openly, but the passive aggression, in stubbornness to be as Jesus says, thrives richly. You become very sad, afraid and totally helpless, as you see how the Name of Jesus is a mockery for believers and non- believers. Worse still, you see how many who call themselves Christians, are watering down the Gospel, trying to make it relevant and attractive to tastes, desires, and fancies of the human self. You despair at times and begin to even question your weak, powerless state.

But here is the word of illumination for you. Jesus was killed and left in hell, but only for a time. Yes, after three days, God’s promise to your fathers was removed from the grave. Jesus burst forth from the grave. He conquered all those who said He was not the Way, the Truth and the Life. Jesus spoke and showed that He is ALIVE. He proved to the world that He is of God and the Son of God. All this is fulfilled for every single person who believes in a Jesus, who is risen in him or her.

True, He was killed in you when you were living for a while with hidden doubts, empty claims and powerless hopes. Not today! Today, if you hear His voice, today, if you will receive His word of illumination and be lighted up from head to toe, then the promise of God to your fathers has been fulfilled in you. Even if your faith is not as your fathers’, it matters not, for God is a God to His Word and He has kept His promise to your fathers.

Do you know that you are reaping the promise of God to your fathers, in the coming of Jesus, His Son, who is with you?

Keep this light ever lit brightly in you.