2 Peter 1:4-5

EXCEEDING GREAT AND PRECIOUS PROMISES

‘Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.’

2 Peter 1:4

Why are these promises so great and precious?

I. Because of the source from which they come.—These promises flow from the highest source, they flow from Him Who is the fountain of supply to all His people. They are great because they are bestowed upon us by a great God. Let us have great thoughts of God. We often dishonour Him by expecting so little from Him.

II. Because of their intrinsic character.—How can they be described?

(a) They are free. ‘Whereby are given unto us.’ They are not earned, still less can they be deserved, but they are freely bestowed—free as the sunshine, free as the air. These great announcements of the mercy of God are offered without money and without price, they are within the reach of the humblest and feeblest believer, and since they are so there is no excuse for any man remaining destitute of them. He has but to put in his claim to enjoy them, and they are his.

(b) Further, these promises are not only free, but they are full, they are wonderfully complete.

III. Because of the purpose for which they are given.

(a) The negative side. Why are they given? To furnish a way of escape from sin. ‘Having escaped the corruption which is in the world through lust.’ And where is lust or evil desire? Not in the outward, material world. Sinful lusts are found in human hearts. This verse is a promise of deliverance from the corruption of the heart. ‘Having escaped.’ A wonderful escape indeed to be set free from the workings of that corrupt heart that has so often brought us into danger and difficulty. There is no real evil but sin. Sorrows, troubles, and trials are not necessarily evils after all—the only real evil is sin. It is sin that darkens our souls and covers us with shame; it is sin that separates men from God.

(b) The positive side. ‘That ye might be partakers of the Divine nature.’ Does some one ask, ‘What is the Divine nature?’ The answer is, ‘God is love.’ With that nature you can achieve the impossible—you can love your enemies. Are you aware that that is a Christian command? Have you ever thought it possible? Or do you think that Christ is like the Roman Emperor Caligula, who wrote his statutes so high up that the people could not read them, and then punished them for disobedience to them. No, ‘His commandments are not grievous.’ You say, ‘I cannot do it.’ I know you cannot, but—Christ in you can. Christ loved His enemies when He was upon earth, and prayed, ‘Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.’ What we want is the indwelling of God. There is no other remedy for the sins and miseries of men.

—Rev. E. W. Moore.

Illustrations

(1) ‘When Alexander the Great, distributing the spoils of war, allotted to one of his generals a valuable prize, some one standing by remarked, “Those cities are too great a gift for Parmenio to receive.” “They may be too great for him to receive,” replied the king, “but they are not too great for Alexander to give.” Alexander was a great king and he gave according to his greatness. He gave “according to the estate of the king” (Esther 2:18). If so, what may we not expect from the King of kings?’

(2) ‘Shall we not lean our weight upon the promises of God, yea upon Him Himself? Dr. John Paton, of the New Hebrides, in his wonderful missionary story, gives us a striking definition of faith. The natives had no word for faith; when they wished to say they did not believe a report, they said they did not hear it, by which they meant that though they heard it they gave no heed to it. That, however, was not a sufficient definition of faith. Many passages, such as “Faith cometh by hearing,” would be impossible of translation by such means, and the good missionary prayed and pondered, asking God to “supply the missing link.” One day as he was anxiously weighing the matter over at home an intelligent native entered and the missionary thought he would make another trial. “He sat upon an ordinary chair, his feet resting on the floor,” and he asked the native, “What am I doing now?” The native replied, “Koikœ ana, missi”—“You are sitting down, missionary.” “And what am I doing now?” said Dr. Paton, taking his feet off the floor and leaning back in the easy-chair with both feet on the lower rail. Immediately the man replied, “Fakarongrongo, missi,” meaning, “you are leaning wholly or all your weight, missionary.” “That’s it,” shouted the missionary, with an exultant cry. His prayer was answered. Yes. To trust is to lean all your weight.’

(SECOND OUTLINE)

A GREAT INHERITANCE

How do these promises come to us? They are all of God; they have their source in His unchanging and eternal love. ‘I have loved Thee with an everlasting love.’ There is the fountain from which they flow, the great heart of God beating with an eternal love. And they flow down to us through Christ. All the promises circle round Him. They stand to Christ as the light to the sun, the stream to the fountain, the branch to the tree, fragrance to the flower. No Christ, no promise. We can truly say, ‘All to Christ we owe.’ They are all ‘in Him.’

I. They are described as ‘exceeding great and precious.’

(a) Great in number. As well attempt to enumerate all the stars which hang out like beautiful lamps in the sky when night falls upon the earth as endeavour to reckon up the promises of God. Promises for the family of God in duty, in temptation, in trouble, in bereavement, in sickness, and in death; for the penitent—outside the inner circle of the children are those who border on the kingdom, but do not enter—there are promises to encourage these: ‘The Son of Man has come to seek and to save,’ etc.; for sinners—we might have thought that God would have passed these by, but no; He says, ‘Let the wicked forsake his way,’ etc. He would win them by promises of mercy and forgiveness.

(b) Great in breadth. They give to the true child of God all things needful for the earthly life; all things necessary for the spiritual life—pardon, purity, peace; and all things pertaining to the future life, culminating in that wonderful word, ‘We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.’

(c) Precious because of their value in supporting us while on earth and unfolding to us a grand future. They tell of pardon for all sin, strength against all temptation, comfort in every trial, a glorious resurrection and a happy immortality. Without the promises how dark, with them how bright, the future! As the aurora borealis shines on the cold and frosty sky, tinging it with light, flashing across it bright rays, cheering men, so the promises of God sparkle in the dark night of gloom and trouble, throwing brightness around the grave and illuminating all the future, making glad the children of God.

II. How they operate.—‘That by these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature.’ They are means to holiness. In Hebrews 12:10 we are told that chastisements are sent by God ‘that we might be partakers of His holiness.’ Both work for the same end—likeness to Christ, and, as a consequence, to God. We are not to be partakers of the Divine essence, nor are we to be absorbed into the Divine nature, but we are ‘to be holy as He is holy’; we become one with Him in the moral nature; and this oneness will increase more and more for ever, until in heaven, in a sense much higher than can be true on earth, we become ‘partakers of the Divine nature.’ The work of sanctification is gradual, and it may necessarily be so. The greatest things in nature take the longest time to mature. God gives us the promises to accelerate our progress in escaping the corruption that is in the world through lust. Men may be very slow to develop the blossoms of holiness, but let us have hope in God. Let us sometimes think of men in the light of that land where they shall be cleansed and purified through the sanctifying love of God in Christ Jesus; when, free from all temptation, purified from all alloy, they are ennobled and glorified, seated in heavenly places as ‘partakers of the Divine nature.’

III. How they are obtained.—‘Given unto us.’ They are given freely, but we must grasp them by faith. ‘Who through faith have obtained promises.’ Therefore, though free, they may be said to be conditional. Most of them have this condition attached to them: ‘For these things will I be inquired of by the house of Israel to do them for them.’ There are promises which need only the outstretched hand of faith to accept them: ‘Ask,’ etc.; others require importunate prayer: ‘Seek,’ etc.; others, importunate prayer combined with earnest effort: ‘Knock,’ etc. Some are like grapes in the winepress—only tread them and the juice will flow; others are like fruit-bearing trees from which the fruit does not readily drop—you must shake again and again before you obtain it. But whatever the condition may be, remember to fulfil it. Moses knew that God had given a promise to Israel—‘I will make thee a great nation,’ etc.—but he felt that in order to obtain it he and others must work and toil and practise self-denial; so he ‘refuses to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,’ etc., and led the nation on to inherit the promise.

These exceeding great and precious promises are our common heritage. No Church has a monopoly of them; they belong to one and all who will accept them. Seek for those that are applicable to your case.