The Value Of A Promise

What if someone who has a reputation of being unfaithful and untrue, gives you a promise? How much value would you give to that promise? Not much. What if someone who has a reputation of being faithful and true, gives you a promise? How much value would you give to that promise? Great value. The value of a promise depends upon the reputation or character of the one giving the promise.

Throughout all eternity, God the creator of heaven and earth and all things good, is the only one who is faithful and true. God is never unfaithful. God is never untrue. God is perfect in every way. Let us read Genesis 12:2 where God speaks to Abram and gives him a promise.

Genesis 12:2 “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. God's promise to Abram was not just 1, not just 2, not 3, 4, 5, 6...but 7 promises. God’s promise to Abram was so great it was for all eternity. In verse 2 of Genesis 12 we read 4 of the 7 promises to Abram.

Promise number 1: God will make a great nation through Abram and his descendants.

Promise number 2: God will give Abram a special blessing.

Promise number 3: God will grow Abram's reputation and name.

Promise number 4: God will give Abram the power to be a blessing to others.

At the time God gave these eternal promises to Abram, both Abram and his wife could not have children. They were without a descendant, their bodies long past the years of being able to have children. Without a child, God's promises would not be fulfilled. Yet Abram believed God, because Abram knew the value of a promise depends upon the reputation or character of the one giving the promise.

Abram knew God is faithful and true, the creator of heaven and earth and all things good. Abram knew the value of God's promise, because Abram knew God.

Many, many years later, after God gave the promise to Abram, the Apostle Paul testifies of how God fulfilled His promise to Abram.

The Apostle Paul said of Abram in Romans 4:17-22 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

The Apostle Paul knew God is faithful and true, the creator of heaven and earth and all things good. The Apostle Paul knew the value of God's promise, because the Apostle Paul knew God.

Promise number 1: God will make a great nation through Abram and his descendants. God changed Abram's name to Abraham (which means father of many) and from the seed of Abraham came a great nation, a great King from the smallest of tribes. God said this King was a man after God's own heart. His name was David. God fulfilled promise number 1.

Promise number 2: God will give Abram a special blessing. God out of His great love gave Abraham a special blessing, revealing His eternal plan of how God Himself will become the saviour of the world. God gave Abraham a special blessing of being honoured by God. God gave Abraham a special blessing of knowing God intimately, in a time before the saviour had come. God gave Abraham a special part in God's eternal plan, of God Himself becoming the saviour of the world. God fulfilled promise number 2.

Promise number 3: God will grow Abram's reputation and name. To this day, in fact today we talk about Abraham, his great faith and trust in God, because he knew God and became the father of many nations. God fulfilled promise number 3.

Promise number 4: God will give Abram the power to be a blessing to others. Through the fulfilment of the promise given to Abraham, generation to generation are blessed. It is through Abraham's descendants, the tribe of King David that God chose to bring His eternal blessing of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, the saviour of the world, God Himself will be with us. God fulfilled promise number 4.