Stoned-Campbell Disciple

All God’s Promises are Yes

“For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not ‘Yes and No’; but in him it is always ‘Yes.’ For in him every one of God’s promises is a ‘Yes.” (2 Cor 1.20)

Did Paul really mean this?

I think he did. Peter speaks of God’s “precious and very great promises” (2 Pt 1.4). The promises are from the Hebrew Bible, the Jewish Messiah in his faithfulness to the task has received them all … and “in” Messiah we too share in all those precious and great promises for they are “Yes.”

Revelation is fittingly the end of the canon of Scripture. It is a radically Jewish book filled with all God’s promises. The final two chapters not only conclude the Apocalypse but also the canonical story where we find the promises present in the New Earth. The ending is the “fulfillment” (bringing to fullness) of all God’s promises in 21-22 …

God’s covenant promises to Noah are in the new creation – a new heaven and new earth after judgment.

God’s covenant promises to Abraham are present as all nations are blessed in God’s new creation.

God’s covenant promises to Moses are there both in the song of Moses we sing for eternity but also in the covenant language “the dwelling of God is with humanity and he will live with them.”

God’s covenant promises to David is there in the new Jerusalem and Jesus as the Lion of the tribe of Judah and eternal son of David.

And the re/new covenant in the blood of Jesus is also there because “all this” is brought about by the death and resurrection of the Messiah.

“For I tell you that Christ [i.e. the King] has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed” (Romans 15.8).

All that “Old Testament” stuff will be with us “forever” in the new earth. We might even have a harp or two (Rev 5.8-10; 14.2-3; 15.2-3)

Related Articles

The Gospel According to Paul: God Has Kept His Promises in the Messiah (King)

The Promise(s): The New Testament Gospel is the “Old Testament” Promises … I Will be Your God, You Will be My People, I Will Dwell with You

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 30th, 2024 at 9:45 am and is filed under Christian hope, eschatology, Jesus, Jewish Backgrounds, Romans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.