A Promise or a Gift?
August 21, 2008

What is the difference between a promise and a gift? My dictionary defines promise as “an assurance given that a specified action will or will not be taken”. The same dictionary tells me that a gift is “that which is given, a present”. Did God promise to give a Savior to his people? Yes. Matthew 1:21 says, “…..for he shall save his people from their sins”. Well, Jesus has come (being birthed through Mary) and lived on the earth and died on the cross at Calvary. Through his birth, life, death and resurrection Jesus has fulfilled everything that God ever promised to his people. So actually, we no longer have just a promise from God, but we have the actual Gift! This is not just for natural Jewish people. This is for all who believe. (Romans 10:13, John 1:12) Eph.2:19 says, “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God”. (KJV) I like that. The Bible tells me that I belong in God’s house. My wife and I and our children have a house in our city. We are all born again believers and so the Holy Ghost is here, in us and with us, but for natural clarification the members of this household are my wife and I and our two children. Everything that my wife, Virdeen, and I have in this house and in our lives belongs to our children. Let me give you this illustration. If we are somewhere and someone asks my eight year old, “Where is your car?” She will instantly point out our automobile as being her car. Why? She is in my household!

Let’s go on to Someone Greater than my wife and I and our natural household that we have with our children. I will ask you, what is in God’s house? What is in His Kingdom for us? Is there healing? Yes! See Isaiah 53:5, Psalm 107:20 and 1Peter 2:24. Is there supply for our needs to be met? Yes! See Psalm 23:1 and Psalm 55:22, and Psalm 37:24. Every need we have has already been provided in Christ Jesus! His promises have been fulfilled and so they are no longer promises. They have become gifts! A gift is given or delivered to you, but you really do not have it until you receive it. Allow me another illustration. A few months ago our next door neighbors went to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, a vacation resort. The company that my neighbor works for rewarded him and his wife with a vacation. It so happened that our neighbors were out of town when his employer sent a shipment of shirts to their house. She had left instructions for me to intercept the package and keep it in my house so it would not sit outside by their door. I called her to let her know the shirts had arrived and I had them in my house. She was relieved and excited. She said, “Oh, I was so worried that the shirts would not arrive in time, now we have them, I can relax.” What she really meant was, “Now, I can have peace.” And yet, she was not in possession of the shirts. She and her husband were miles from their home. The company had fulfilled their promise and my neighbors received the gift even though the package wasn’t in their hands. Are you getting this illustration of the Promises and Gifts of God? We must “know” that we have what we need from Him or else His promises are gifts “delivered”, but not “received”.

Read Romans 15:8-13 and 2Cor. 1:20. “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the Glory of God by us.”