THE Promise of Promises

So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. John 19:30

God always finishes what He begins (Phil. 1:6). God never speaks a word without ensuring that it comes to pass (Isa. 55:11). Christ is both the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end (Rev. 1:8, 17). Christ is as much at the end of His work as He is at its beginning. Jesus was given an enormous mandate. He was to live a sinless life, remaining absolutely obedient to His Father. Even the manner of His death was to fulfill numerous prophecies that had been foretold in Scripture (Matt. 26:24, 31, 54, 56; 27:9, 35, 46; John 19:28, 36–37). Yet, despite the extremely complex assignment Jesus received from His Father, He could shout triumphantly from the cross, “It is finished!” Christ now resides within each believer. His assignment today is to complete God's will in each Christian. He is just as determined to do this in us as He was to complete God's will for Himself. You will have to resist Christ in order to remain out of the will of God. What is it God wants to do in you? Have you allowed Him to complete what He has begun? He will not force you to receive all that He has for your life. If God's work has not been brought to fruition in you, it is not that Christ has not been diligently working toward that end. Rather, you may need to release areas of your life to Him and be as determined to see God 's work in you completed as Christ is. Review the things God has said to you over this last year. Are there promises God has made to you that you have refused to allow Him to complete? If so, commit to yield your will to God today.

There are many thousands of fulfilled prophecies in the Bible.  Still hundreds yet to be, but are coming true each year.  Still also true are the promises of God. 

Consider Blackaby's opening remarks.  

God always finishes what He begins. 

Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega. 

Jesus is who He said He was. 

So what does that mean for you?  It means that if you are on the fence today about whether or not to believe all that 'Jesus stuff' consider it well that your doubts in this end of the year are what WILL determine if you spend eternity in Heaven or in the Lake of Fire.  

The choice indeed is yours to make. But wisdom isn't far away when deciding.  We can choose to ignore problems or situations or we can choose to do something about them.   

Jesus is at the door of your heart pleading to you to let Him in.  

Read well this from Spurgeon:

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.” John 7:37 NKJV 

Patience had her perfect work in the Lord Jesus, and until the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles He pleaded with the Jews—just as, on this last day of the year, He pleads with us and waits to be gracious to us. The longsuffering of the Savior in bearing with some of us year after year, in spite of our provocation, rebellion, and resistance to His Holy Spirit is indeed admirable. Wonder of wonders that we are still in the land of mercy! Pity expressed itself most plainly, for Jesus cried out, which implies not only the loudness of His voice but the tenderness of His tone. He pleads with us to be reconciled. “We implore you,” the apostle Paul said, “as though God were making his appeal through us” (2 Corinthians 5:20). What earnest, compassionate terms these are! How deep the love that makes the Lord weep over sinners, like a mother wooing His children to His embrace! Surely, at the call of a cry like that, our hearts should come willingly. Provision is made in abundance—everything a person would need to quench his or her soul’s thirst is given. To the human conscience, Jesus’s atonement brings peace; to the understanding, the gospel brings the richest instruction; to the heart, the person of Jesus is the noblest object of affection; to the whole person, the truth as it is found in Jesus supplies the purest nourishment. Thirst is terrible, but Jesus can remove it. Even if the soul were utterly famished, Jesus could restore it. Proclamation is made freely, so that every thirsty person is welcome. No distinction other than thirst is made. Whether it is the thirst of avarice, ambition, pleasure, knowledge, or rest, the one who suffers is invited. The thirst itself may be a bad thing, utterly lacking in grace—a mark of inordinate sin longing to be gratified with deeper drafts of lust. But it is not goodness in the creature that brings the invitation—the Lord Jesus sends it freely, without respect of persons. Personality is declared most fully. Sinners must come to Jesus—not to their own works, or to rules or doctrines, but to a personal Redeemer who “himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). The bleeding, dying, rising Savior is the only star of hope to a sinner. Oh, for the grace to come and drink now, before the sun sets on the year’s last day! There is no hint of waiting or preparation in this verse. Drinking is an activity for which no special ability is required. A fool, a thief, a prostitute can drink; so sinfulness of character is no hindrance to this invitation to believe in Jesus. We don’t need a golden cup or jewel-encrusted chalice to carry this water to the thirsty—needy people are welcome to stoop down and gulp the flowing flood. Blistered, leprous, filthy lips are allowed to touch the stream of divine love—they cannot pollute it, but will themselves be purified. Jesus is the fountain of hope. Dear reader, hear the dear Redeemer’s loving voice as He cries out to each of us: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.”

We are indeed the most stubborn of all His Creation.  

Adam and Eve had perfect bodies.  Perfect brains.  Yet still decided to listen to the doubts implanted by Satan.  

We all crave something that we cannot put a finger on describing.  It's there, gnawing at the back of our minds.  We often spend a lifetime trying to find a name for it.  We often spend a lifetime trying everything to quench it.  Quench?  Hmmm.  Is that hitting close to your answer?

We try everything to be happy.  People in power try to regulate it for their gain.  But we all try to find that certain kind of happiness that fulfills that thirst.  Thirst?

Quench...thirst?  

"There’s a natural spring that rises on the east side of the city of Jerusalem. In ancient times it was the city’s only water supply and was located outside the walls. Thus it was the point of Jerusalem’s greatest vulnerability. The exposed spring meant that the city, otherwise impenetrable, could be forced to surrender if an attacker were to divert or dam the spring.

King Hezekiah addressed this weakness by driving a tunnel through 1,750 feet of solid rock from the spring into the city where it flowed into the “Lower Pool” (see 2 Kings 20:20; 2 Chronicles 32:2–4). But in all of this, Hezekiah “did not look to the One who made it, or have regard for the One who planned it long ago” (Isaiah 22:11). Planned what?

God Himself “planned” the city of Jerusalem in such a way that its water supply was unprotected. The spring outside the wall was a constant reminder that the inhabitants of the city must depend solely on Him for their salvation.

Can it be that our deficiencies exist for our good? Indeed, the apostle Paul said that he would “boast” in his limitations, because it was through weakness that the beauty and power of Jesus was seen in him (2 Corinthians 12:9–10). Can we then regard each limitation as a gift that reveals God as our strength?" Our Daily Bread for December 31st 2019

There are promises of God.  Some may regard them as unfair.  Or even limiting our choices.  No...consider how you decide what is truth.  You are not trying to consider if you are not sifting the information in front of you.  God has said He has indeed put information in front of all mankind.  Including the tribed on this world that have never seen technology or any advanced form of civilization.  They will see it in their own way.  In your life it's the same.  God WILL show you truth, but as Scripture says it, it's up to you to accept it.  

Believing people are indeed everywhere.  Unfortunately like Scripture points out even Demons believe, and shudder.  They have the fortitude to at least shudder at the power and magnitude of God.  Humans, not so much.  Believing doesn't get you very far.  Trusting is necessary.  Believing and trusting is like water.  You can see it. You can't taste it, but you know it's there. You know it can quench your thirst.  Here we are again with quench and thirst. 

God has something in mind for many people with today's blog. It doesn't even seem to flow even to me.  But as a man once shared about another man who had been resisting coming to Christ, sometimes it's only a missing piece that is needed to say yes to Jesus and open the door. 

We all have limits in our lives.  Not one person who has ever lived has had a perfect life.  Not even Jesus?  Do you consider a life where Satan is actively trying to kill you a perfect life?  Do you consider how much evil was trying to beat Him into submission a sign of a perfect life?  Being God and man, He knew the heart of every man and woman He met. How perfect do you think it was to know that much about every single person you would encounter?

His death was hardly a sign of a perfect life.  His Resurrection certainly was though.  

You will never find perfection in this life. We live in a sin cursed world.  There is no climate change happening.  There is preparations being made for one event. 

The return of Christ. 

The world, though sin cursed, obeys Jesus.  It's making itself ready for the events in Revelation, Ezekiel, Daniel and other parts of the Bible.  

The promise of His coming is the most important of promises.  Because it applies to both believers and unbelievers.  Both will immediately know He kept it. 

Those in rebellion throughout the book of Revelation KNOW.  Yet they choose their path. 

You're hungering and thirsting. We all are.  Putting your finger on the what is the problem. 

What are you hungering and thirsting for? 

Jesus spoke of a perfect peace. Not as the world sees it but as He offers it. The woman at the well understood it after meeting with Jesus.  You too can understand it if only you would open the door of your heart and let Jesus in. 

Quit searching for things in this world to fill that thirst.  Joy is found in this life but often is short lived. Joy in Jesus is for eternity.  It promises never to run out. 

Think today on this last day of 2019.  After midnight this year will be no more. After this moment of reading this, that moment will be no more.  

God brought you to reading this blog because He knew you needed to read it.

Jesus loves you. He doesn't want a life separate from you. It's you who chooses a life separate from Him.  

Come to Christ today.  Open your heart today.  Quench your thirst today.