The Name Of The Promise Is Jesus

With the role lawyers are playing in our national election today, it’s good to realize that they could serve some useful purpose

So, it’s not unusual to name promises, and Jesus, among the many titles given him in scripture and outside of scripture, was called The Promised One.

In this passage we just read from 2 Cor., he’s called God’s Yes, as well as God’s Amen

- He’s God’s Yes to the promise of redemption, and all the other, related promises

- and that is reiterated by noting He’s not just Yes, but Amen

Let’s take a closer look at this passage and a few other related passages to see what we can learn about the promises of God

The Message paraphrase of 2 Cor. 1:20 says:

"Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus."

The great commentator Matthew Henry noted about this passage:

1. these promises are the promises of the God of truth

2. they are made in Christ Jesus, the Amen, the true and faithful witness

3. They are confirmed by the Holy Spirit. He is in our hearts as a deposit… a deposit secures the promise, and is part of the payment. …

A look at the words Paul used in this passage is helpful

The original language of the word yes is a stronger affirmation than we would normally think of:

In other words, yes really means yes, probably with an exclamation point

it implies---

even so, surely

adding amen to it only strengthens its force:

The Greek word amen is of Hebrew origin

- figuratively, it means surely, or so be it, or trustworthy

- more literally, it means firm

In Hebrew, it means sure, and its root word means to render (or be) firm or faithful, to trust or believe, to be permanent

"Amen" functioned as a positive affirmation at the end of a prayer, just as it does today

and Jesus became the amen and yes to all the biblical promises of a truly faithful God

Jesus is a firm Yes, not a definite Maybe

Jesus is also referred to as the Amen in:

Rev. 3:14

"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.

Another passage of scripture looks at the double affirmation, the double assurance of God’s promises as well:

In many ways, this is almost a parallel passage to the verse in 2 Cor. that we read earlier:

Hebrews 6:12-19

We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. 13When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, 14saying, "I will surely bless you and give you many descendants." 15And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.

16Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. 17Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. 19We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.