April 25

Promises and Prophecies

Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. — Matt 5:18

Christ referred here primarily to the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament. There are thousands of blossoms on the trees in the spring-time that never become fruits; but there are no lost blossoms on the Old Testament tree. The exact fulfillment of prophecy is an irrefutable evidence of Christianity. But the assurance of these words refers also to every promise of the Scripture. Not the smallest of these shall ever fail any one who trusts them. “No word He hath spoken shall ever be broken.” Every pledge God has made He will surely keep. Whenever we find a divine word we may lay hold of it with perfect confidence, and know that we are clinging to a rock that never can be shaken. “For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.”

This is true also of the divine threatenings against sin. Not one of these shall fail to be accomplished upon those who reject God’s words of grace and mercy. Christ said, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life;” and that word will prove true to every one who receives it. But He said also in the same sentence, “He that beieveth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him;” and this word shall just as surely be fulfilled a the other.

In these days, when so many people hold loose views of God’s Word, it is well that we fix it deeply in our minds that whatever God says in the Holy Scriptures He says with authority, that His promises are sure as His own eternity, and that every sentence of His is absolutely irrepealable. “Only words,” we sometimes say, as if words were unreal and unsubstantial; but the words of God are more real and substantial than even earth’s great mountains.