The Time of the Promise

At a glance

Relevant Scripture

“But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,”

Acts 7:17 KJV

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Chapter 18 of the LibriVox recording of According to Promise, streamed directly from the Internet Archive (public domain, CC0).

UECF.NET summary

Spurgeon addresses one of the most common struggles believers face with any promise: the gap between its being given and its being fulfilled. Acts 7:17 notes that Israel's deliverance came precisely “when the time of the promise drew nigh” — centuries after it was first sworn to Abraham, yet exactly on schedule from God's own perspective, even though it must have felt impossibly delayed to generations who lived and died in Egyptian bondage.

The chapter argues that a promise's timing is itself part of what is promised, even when that timing is not disclosed in advance. God's delays, Spurgeon insists, are never evidence of forgetfulness or unfaithfulness; they are simply the outworking of a timetable set by perfect wisdom rather than by the anxious calculations of those waiting. What looks like silence or inactivity from the human side is, from God's side, purposeful preparation.

For readers currently waiting on an unfulfilled promise, the chapter offers not a formula for calculating when fulfillment will come, but a settled confidence that fulfillment will come at the right time, exactly as it did for Abraham's descendants. The appropriate response to delay, then, is neither despair nor forced action, but the same patient confidence Israel's later deliverance ultimately vindicated.

Main theological themes

• Acts 7:17's account of a promise fulfilled precisely at its appointed time, however long the wait had felt
• God's delays as purposeful preparation rather than evidence of forgetfulness or unfaithfulness
• Patient confidence, rather than despair or forced action, as the fitting response to an unfulfilled promise

Key ideas

• A promise sworn to Abraham took centuries to reach its appointed time, yet arrived exactly on schedule.
• Delay in fulfillment is not the same as failure of the promise.
• God's timetable is set by wisdom, not by the anxious calculations of those waiting.
• Patient confidence, not forced action, is the appropriate response to a promise not yet fulfilled.

Important concepts

• Time of the promise — Acts 7:17's phrase for God's own appointed moment of fulfillment, which may differ greatly from human expectation without indicating any failure of the promise itself.

Related Bible references

• Habakkuk 2:3
• Galatians 4:4
• 2 Peter 3:8–9
• Genesis 15:13–16

Practical Christian application

• Identify a promise you are currently waiting on, and consciously entrust its timing to God rather than to your own calculations.
• Resist the temptation toward forced action when a promise feels delayed, choosing patient confidence instead.
• Recall a past instance where God's timing, in hindsight, proved wiser than your own preferred schedule.

Questions for study