PROMISES THAT FLOW FROM GOD'S GIFT OF HIS SON

Part One

The Name of Promise





But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." (Matt 1:20-21)


The Bible is more than a book. It is God's Word, His message to all mankind. The words of Scripture communicate theological
truth. They tell us who God is and what He is like. But the Bible does not stop there. God's message to the crowning point of
His creation is a message of promise. Beginning with God's first recorded conversation with human beings, to His parting words
at the close of the book of Revelation the theme of promise intertwines every story, every prophecy, every line of poetry,
every word.


This does not mean that every line of Scripture contains a distinctive promise that we can write down and claim as our own.
No, it means much more. The message of promise is the beginning and end of everything that is included in the Bible. It
undergirds every word, sometimes openly, sometimes subtly, but it is always there. God's promises are the common thread that
unites the Old and New Testaments, the core that makes sixty-six books into one.


All of the promises of God can be summarized in just one word, one name—the name that is above every name. Every
promise is somehow connected to this name, for the One who bears it came both to fulfill them all and to offer them to all of
mankind. Without Him none of the other promises means anything. To reject Him is to reject every promise in the Book. But to
those who receive Him, He gives the unique privilege of becoming a child of God, a child of promise.


The One who embodies all of the promises of God bears many names. Scripture calls Him Immanuel, the Word, Son of Man,
Son of God, Lion of Judah, Bread of Life, and many more. We know Him best by one name. The name of promise. The name
Jesus.


When God instructed Mary and Joseph through His angel to name their Son Jesus, He gave a name not at all unique or
uncommon. Many Jewish boys in the first century were named Jesus, or, more familiar to us, Joshua. It was a name of honor, a
name enriched by the man who led the children of Israel's conquest of Canaan. The name is a form of the Hebrew word that
means salvation. When the Lord placed this name upon His Son, He proclaimed to all the world that the Savior had arrived. The
child born in a barn in Bethlehem was and is the one hope of all mankind. This Joshua—Jesus—was the One who would "save His
people from their sins."

(from Names of God's Promises © 1998 by Mark A. Tabb. All rights reserved.)