The Promises of God
Jonathan Crowther. 2 Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God in him are yes, and in him Amen, to the glory of God by us. Note — I. THAT THEY ARE THE PROMISES OF GOD. Because they are His promises they are utterly incapable of any failure. "God is not a man that He should lie," etc. In our presumptuous readiness to liken the Almighty to ourselves, we may imagine instances in which Divine promises have failed to be accomplished. But — 1. There may have been an incorrect apprehension as to the subject of the promise; and in the error cherished thereupon, something has been imagined and expected which has not been promised. The Jews misapprehended the meaning of prophecies concerning the Messiah. 2. There may have been some mistake or negligence on our part as to the condition on which the promise was suspended, and the circumstances under which it became actually due. 3. The time for its accomplishment may not be fully come. For the promises of God, though sure, are not in every instance designed for immediate fulfilment. II. THE TRUTH AND FAITHFULNESS OF THESE PROMISES AS RESULTING FROM THEIR CONNECTION WITH CHRIST. They are "in Him yea, and in Him Amen," as He is the great foundation of the promises. God sees in Him, as our once suffering but now exalted Mediator, an unchangeable and everlasting reason why all His other promises should be fulfilled. III. THEY ARE "TO THE GLORY OF GOD BY US." 1. In the very circumstance of their original annunciation. 2. As they constitute a new and separate manifestation of His own character and attributes. 3. As in that very act of faith by which those promises are accepted and become available, God is glorified in that particular, in reference to which His glory was, in the first instance of man's sin, insulted and invaded. 4. In the accomplishment of the promises. 5. As furnishing, to all who may be interested in it, an additional encouragement to exercise that faith, by means of which the God of the promises is glorified, and the result of which must be the reiterated accomplishment of the same promise.Conclusion: Learn — 1. The true character of unbelief. It is — (1) Unreasonable. (2) Wicked. 2. The means by which alone the soul can rise to the exercise of that faith in the promises which is required as the condition of their accomplishment, and that it is only when, and in proportion as, we view them in their connection with Christ, that we can so believe them as to receive experimentally and savingly the benefit and comfort of them. (Jonathan Crowther.) Parallel Verses KJV: For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. WEB: For however many are the promises of God, in him is the "Yes." Therefore also through him is the "Amen," to the glory of God through us.