Many were aware of promises but never saw them fulfilled. Often this was because of unbelief: imagine a man sitting down in pain, knowing he is going to die from snakebite somewhere near the border of Edom in an inhospitable wilderness. He left Egypt enroute to the promised land but never got to see it.
But there were many faithful who never saw promises fulfilled. Abraham (Heb. 11:8-13) saw Isaac but not the nation that was promised him. Nor did he inherit the promised land (Acts 7:5), though it was promised to him. What about the three generations who lived all their life in Egyptian slavery and never saw Canaan? All their life they were slaves and yet they were the nation of God. Yet without them there would have been no Moses. Did they give up on the promises of God?
With the promise of Gen. 3:15, every mother’s son becomes the possible seed of promise, for Eve was the mother of all living. With Cain and Abel, the Devil found Cain a fertile field because of his self-will that resulted in his rejection by God. With that, it was a simple matter of envy, anger and murder and he had gotten rid of Abel, the righteous threat. But that one event was the start of another legacy that would lead to the flood.
Angels looked into what God was up to (1 Pet. 1:10), and so did the Devil. But God chose to reveal His plan little by little, and line by line, and the Devil was always playing catch-up. As the population grows the number of male descendants of Eve through Seth grows, but through bad marriages the Devil almost manages to destroy any possibility of any of them being his conqueror, the One that would bruise his head. He actually manages to prompt God Himself to wipe out most of the world, and were it not for Noah, the Devil would have won – all the people who ever lived on the face of the earth would have perished in a lost condition, being Satan’s forever. But Noah was saved from the water and by the water, and so preserved life on earth and the seedline of Christ.
As time went on the time arrived for the promised seed to be born. When the angels announced His birth, Jesus came into a world which was so much different from the world Adam and Eve had come into. Palestine was once a land “spied out” by God for Israel (Ezek. 20) that flowed with milk and honey – not so much any more because of the ravages of sin. And it was a land full of people, all sinners, and so into a paradigm of evil He came, not an Eden. The Devil had already been working hard in the life of Herod and he was ripe for the cause (envy) to launch a persecution to get Him. When John announced His identity at His baptism, immediately the Spirit organized a prize fight by driving Him into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. The gloves were off and God’s confidence was such that he would put His Man in harm’s way. (even as Job – was there a conversation between God and Satan that preceded Jesus’ 40 day fast in the wilderness? – the Bible doesn’t say, but there would certainly be nothing to preclude such a conversation as far as I can see – Jesus certainly wasn’t being punished because He was evil). Imagine the faith the Father had in the Son. Imagine the risk the Son took in exposing Himself to all manner of temptations? What if Jesus had sinned? He took a position of inferiority (John 14:28 – voluntary submission – cf. John 10:20), yet was not lifted up with pride as was the Devil. He submitted to the Father’s will.
Satan still didn’t know how the battle would be fought, but at least he now knew his opponent. He tried to kill Him on occasions, and Jesus would die, but only when He was ready. God stayed ahead of the Devil by not revealing the place of the last supper to Judas, Jesus wanting that time with His disciples to prepare them for the event. And when the Devil finally succeeded in getting his greatest wish, he discovered he had shot himself, not in the foot, but in the head (Heb. 2:14,15). No wonder he was angry (Rev. 12:12); thousands of years of scheming and planning had been undone by his last scheme and when he was so close too – lost by a knockout in the 15th round! So Jesus was crowned undisputed heavyweight King of the universe. The faithful could be saved and so Satan’s anger and attention is directed against the church. Christ cannot be tempted anymore, so Satan’s only hope to gain more disciples is to tempt people to reject Christ or fall away from Him. Tempting them to sin is only a prelude to getting them to leave Christ. Christ’s sacrifice can take care of sin. So he wants us to be captivated by sin so that we will love it more than Christ and walk in darkness, not light. Or that we will be driven to despair over our sin (2 Cor. 2:7-11) and thus leave Christ. Shouldn’t Satan be satisfied with the millions that are his? Pride won’t let him rest. His only consolation in eternity in the Hell God has prepared for him will be that misery loves company. God has fulfilled His promises concerning a Saviour, and that victory was over the greatest opponent. So we trust God in the future because He has been trustworthy in the past.
We have seen promises fulfilled, but yet there remain unfulfilled promises (eg. Heaven). But it is a fait accompli. God calls those things which are not as if they are (Rom. 4:17-21). In Joshua 6:2 God said He had given the city of Jericho into the hands of Joshua, BEFORE the battle had been fought. A case in point was telling Abraham he would be the father of many nations. It was not then a fact but Abraham believed it and went ahead on that basis. He believed God was able to perform that which He had promised. This is one of the key ingredients of faith, because everyone who has lived in faith has lived with this component to the faith (Heb. 11:6). Everyone has had their eye on the future – everyone has trusted God to perform something in the future – including something personal for them. We have our eyes on the future. Abraham had not always done so well – maybe he had been content to wait, but he listened to his wife (like Adam) and fathered a child through Hagar – wanting to speed things up; wanting to help God out; wanting to make sure the promise was fulfilled!
Until the end of time it will be this way. There will always be promises yet unfulfilled. If they were all fulfilled there would be nothing to look forward to. Yet it is a double-edged sword since we can be impatient – ‘even so come Lord Jesus’. We can fear the future, yet the key to God’s control of the future is His demonstration of the past.
What promises has God made to us? Some are evident by their fulfillment. For example the promise of no more global floods (Gen. 9:11) and the continuing seasons (Gen. 8:22). What about the three-fold promise to Abraham that he would father a great nation which would inherit the land of Canaan and the Saviour would come from his progeny to bless the world. Then there is the Davidic promise of an everlasting dynasty (didn’t always appear a solid promise {Ps. 89:38ff} but was fulfilled {Acts 2:30-32}). We could go on, but what promises remain? There are great and precious promises (2 Pet. 1:3,4). Such as? I have a father (Eph. 3:14; Matt.6:9) who looks after me (Heb. 13:5; Phil.4:6,7; 19 (so far so good – cf Ps. 37:25). I have a family (Eph.3:15; 1 John 3:1; Matt. 19:29) and I have forgiveness (Eph. 1:7). The least sin is a sin unto death unless forgiven, and yet, because of Christ, the greatest of sins, if forgiven, become harmless as if they had never been. How great is God’s forgiveness? Jesus said that even if a brother sins against us seven times in a day we should forgive him. Have you ever had someone sin against you seven times in a day? Jesus also said we should forgive seventy times seven.
Perhaps a question that relates to this is the question of God and His forgiveness. How often can I sin against God and be forgiven? Does God forgive me seventy times seven? Surely, God can’t ask us to do something that he will not do Himself!? Will he forgive us if we sin against Him seven times in a day? Did not the servant who owed the huge debt receive complete forgiveness? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
The doctrine of the assurance in Christ is a wonderful one, but often not easily accepted. One thing we can note is that God does not ask us to do things not done by Himself. We are to be followers of God. So then, if we are to be forgiven, what does that say about God? He must forgive till seventy times seven.
Finally there is a promise of a future that knows no end (2 Tim. 4:8; John 14:1ff). He is coming back (2 Pet. 3). Are we wasting our time? He came the first time and did all that was said of Him and we confidently affirm that he will keep His promises on His return (1 Thess. 4:14-17).