Jesus and the Promises

At a glance

Relevant Scripture

“For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.”

2 Corinthians 1:20 KJV

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Chapter 20 of the LibriVox recording of According to Promise, streamed directly from the Internet Archive (public domain, CC0).

UECF.NET summary

The book's final chapter gathers every previous thread into a single center: Jesus Christ. Paul's declaration in 2 Corinthians 1:20 — that all God's promises are “yea” and “Amen” in Him — means that no promise stands as an isolated statement to be claimed on its own merits, but as one strand of a larger fabric secured entirely by Christ's person and finished work. Apart from Him, Spurgeon insists, the promises would have no sure foundation at all.

This reframes everything the book has argued about the certainty, reality, and value of God's promises: their ultimate ground is not merely God's general truthfulness in the abstract, but specifically His faithfulness demonstrated and guaranteed in the sending, death, and resurrection of His Son. Every promise a believer has traced through this book — of new birth, hope, provision, and inheritance — finds its “Amen,” its certain confirmation, in Christ alone.

Spurgeon's closing appeal is therefore not simply to trust promises in general, but to trust the Person in whom they are all fulfilled. A believer who has Christ has, in Him, the substance of everything else this book has described; and a believer who lacks confidence in a particular promise may look, most surely, not to the promise in isolation but to the Savior in whom every genuine promise of God is already, eternally, Yes and Amen.

Main theological themes

• 2 Corinthians 1:20's declaration that every promise of God finds its “yea and Amen” in Christ alone
• Christ as the unifying center and guarantee of every promise traced through the book, not merely one promise among many
• Trusting the Person of Christ, not isolated promises, as the surest ground of confidence before God

Key ideas

• No promise of God stands secure in isolation from Christ, in whom all the promises converge.
• God's faithfulness is demonstrated concretely in the sending, death, and resurrection of His Son, not only asserted abstractly.
• Every theme of the book — new birth, hope, provision, inheritance — is ultimately fulfilled in Christ.
• Confidence in a struggling promise is best restored by looking to the Savior who secures it, not the promise alone.

Important concepts

• Yea and Amen — Paul's phrase in 2 Corinthians 1:20 for the certain fulfillment of every promise of God in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
• Christ as center — The book's closing conviction that every promise this study has traced ultimately depends on, and is fulfilled in, Jesus Christ Himself.

Related Bible references

• Luke 24:44
• Romans 15:8
• Hebrews 13:8
• Revelation 22:20

Practical Christian application

• Where a particular promise feels uncertain, deliberately turn your attention to Christ Himself as its guarantee.
• Look back over this whole study and trace how each promise ultimately points to and rests on Jesus.
• Close your reading of this book by giving thanks specifically for Christ as the Amen of every promise you have considered.

Questions for study