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Throughout the course of this year, my monthly contributions to Tabletalk’s weekend devotional have focused in one way or another on promises that God makes in the Bible. This month’s article is not so much a promise as it is a statement about promises that God makes: “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him” (2 Cor. 1:20).
It is always deeply troubling to be judged unfairly, particularly when it is professing Christians who are doing it. Evidently, Paul’s itinerary, which involved visits to Corinth, did not go according to plan, and some in the church were accusing him of speaking out of both sides of his mouth, “ready to say ‘Yes, yes’ and ‘No, no’ at the same time” (2 Cor. 1:17). His detractors were using this incident to say, “He is not someone we can trust!” But Paul insists that his preaching at Corinth was not “Yes” and “No.” It was always “Yes” (v. 19). Paul proclaimed words that God gave to him, words from Jesus about Jesus. Paul’s change of travel plans was a matter of his listening to and obeying Christ’s guidance. This led Paul to make the more important statement that “all the promises of God find their Yes in him,” adding, “it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory” (v. 20).
What exactly does Paul mean by this statement? Simply this: that Jesus is the guarantee that every promise God has ever made is reliable and trustworthy, because in the end, every promise that God makes points to Jesus. Jesus is the reliable fulfillment of every promise that God makes.
Speaking to Israel’s leadership, Jesus made this very point about Himself:
“The Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” (John 5:37–40)
They had the Scriptures, but they could not see the Christ about whom the Scriptures spoke.
A relatively simple problem of a change in Paul’s travel plans brought out the worst in some of the Corinthians, but the Apostle used it to suggest a way of making them look to Christ. This is the cure for every unnecessary argument. Early in my ministry, as I complained about some difficulties I was experiencing in the church, an elderly woman told me, “See no one in the picture but Jesus!” At the time, I found it somewhat sentimental, but hardly a week has gone by since when I have not thought about those words. How can I trust God? The answer is simple—Jesus. All the promises of God find their Yes in Him.