Where In The Bible Will I Find:
At What Point Is A Promise
Fulfllled?
Promises are made and
they remain a promise until fulfilled. God made a land promise to Abraham that
was not fulfilled during the life of that great patriarch but was fulfilled
during the reign of Joshua as the first judge of Israel: "And the Lord gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give
unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein ... There failed
not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel;
and came to pass" (Joshua 21:43-45).
This promise was
conditional, they had to fight for it, they had to overcome the inhabitants of
the land and possess it before they could dwell therein. After rendering
obedience to the Lord's command, the promise was fulfilled, and each tribe of
the children of Israel was given a portion of the land. God promised the city
of Jericho to Joshua - but conditionally, Joshua's army had to compass
the city once each day for six days and then on the seventh day they were to
compass the city seven times. On Joshua's obedience to God's command, "...the wall fell down flat, so that
the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took
the city" (Joshua 6:1-20).
When was this promise
fulfilled? Not when the army compassed the city the first day, nor was it when
they compassed the city for six days, not even after they had compassed the
city six times on the seventh day, but as specified by the Lord “seven times on the seventh day,” the wall
fell and Joshua took the city. When the condition was met the promise was
fulfilled.
Naaman, captain of the
host of the king of Syria was a leper. He heard about a prophet in Samaria that would recover him of his leprosy. When he arrived in Samaria, the prophet,
“…Elisha sent a messenger unto
him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again
to thee, and thou shalt be clean " (2 Kings 5:10).
Here too, this promise
was conditional - Naaman was not cleansed when he met the prophet, nor
when he dipped one time, not even after he dipped six times, but on dipping the
seventh time, meeting the condition, his leprosy was cleansed, thus the
fulfillment of this promise.
God, through his Son
Jesus, has made a promise to all the world, "...
Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved... " (Mark 16:15, 16). Here
again, the promise was conditional - when man meets the conditions of
this promise he will be saved. Not just when he believes, but on hearing the Gospel which
produces faith (Rom. 10:17), and then when this faith is put into action it
will meet the command to repent (Luke
13:3), confess (Acts 8:37), and then be immersed in water for the remission of
sins (Acts 2:38; 8:38; 10:48; 22:16). The promise is then fulfilled.
--I.D.
Byars
