Day 36: When God says ‘yes’

Do you know the full extent of your inheritance in Christ? It is no less than all the promises of God. The key verse that unfolds this is found in 2 Corinthians 1:20. Now there are various different ways of translating this verse because the original language in the Greek of the New Testament is so condensed that it's hard to translate it. We will read two translations. First of all, the King James Version which says this:

“For all the promises of God in him [that's Jesus Christ] are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” (KJV)

Now we will read the New International Version which is also a very powerful translation of this particular verse:

“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God.” (NIV)

Whichever translation we follow, and both of them are good, there are certain very important points that emerge, and I'll just simply explain them to you.

First of all, it's all the promises. All God's promises are available to us. Not some of them, but all of them. The inheritance is all the promises of God.

Secondly, it's in the present tense. All the promises of God are YES and AMEN. It's not in the past. It's not in the future.

Some people have an unfortunate way of interpreting the Scripture that robs us in this present age of practically everything that's worth having. Miracles were for the past. Prosperity's for the millennium. In the meanwhile, we're just left hanging on to a bare crust that just barely sustains life. That's not what this Scripture says. It doesn't say they were. It doesn't say they will be. It says they are now. This is our inheritance right now. It's all the promises of God. And then it says they are yes, in Christ.

I've pointed out earlier there is only one source, that's God. There is only one channel, that's Jesus. There is no other way that these things can come to us but from God, through Jesus. They are yes. That's very emphatic! God doesn't make promises and then change His mind. He doesn't say, "I'll do this" and then, when you go to Him for it, He says, "Well, as a matter of fact, I'm not sure I will do it after all." But this is one of the most emphatic and positive verses in the whole Bible. All the promises are yes. Just a plain, simple, clear, emphatic yes. God says, "I promised it and I meant it, and I'll stand behind what I promised."