God's Promises

Introduction

A. ILL. “Promises: Keeping promises.” Do you realize the number of promises we make on a regular basis? There is the implied promise with our employer to work hard in exchange for pay. There is the promise to our spouse to be faithful every day. There is the promise made to our children to love them and protect them. There is the promise to God to honor him each day. These are promises made at some point and even if unstated are kept daily. Then there are those promises that we verbally make. “I’ll take out the trash; I’ll play with you we say to our children; after the game, we’ll get some ice cream.” These promises often fulfilled are made verbally and completed within a short period of time. Then we make those conditional promises. “If we can save enough money, we’ll go to Six Flags this summer; or if I can finish my work, we’ll go shoot some basketball; or as soon as I finish this project then we’ll start on your work.” We understand this promises to be conditional. Sometimes they are kept and sometimes they are not.

B. Have you ever considered the promises of God? We do speak of God keeping his promises, but there are times in the Bible in which we might miss some of God’s promises being fulfilled. From our text in 2 Kings 9, I want us to look at one of God’s promises and then quickly notice some of the other promises of God which he has kept.

2 Kings 9

A. Jehu has been anointed king over Israel. God sends him to Jezreel to deal with Jezebel. The Bible says she painted her eyes and arranged her hair. This has nothing to do with trying to be seductive. She has an inkling of what is to come. Notice what she says in verse 31. She calls Jehu Zimri. Turn to 1 Kings 16:9–18 and let’s quickly read about Zimri. What did Zimri do? (He destroyed the royal family.) How long was he king of Israel? (7 days.) Jezebel calls Jehu Zimri as both a warning and slap in the face. She sees him as one who has come to destroy the royal family, but one who will not last long.

B. Jehu wastes no time in completing the task he has come to perform. He calls on those who wish to be on his side to throw Jezebel out the window. Two or three pick her up and throw her out the window. As she hits the wall on the way down, she is cut and bruised. Some of her blood spills on the side of the building. Upon hitting the ground, Jehu’s horse tramples her to death. Jehu enters a building and has something to eat. Later in a pang of conscience he directs some of the men to retrieve Jezebel’s mangled body and bury it. But the dogs have beat them to it. They have eaten her body leaving only a remnant. Then verse 36 summarizes the point of the story.

God’s Promises

A. In 1 Kings 21 after the death of Naboth, God has some special words for Ahab and his family. God promises that Ahab’s descendants would die. And for Jezebel God says “Dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.” When was this promise made? Several years before the event actually happened. Do you think Jezebel lived in fear of that day or do you think that it eventually got to the point that she thought it would never happen? Do you think the day came that she quit thinking about what God had said? Maybe it was the very next day after the promise was made. She was after all a faithless person. It’s entirely possible that being an outsider she didn’t know about God’s promises. Maybe her husband had never helped her to see the truth of God’s words.

B. Maybe she didn’t remember a promise given to Abraham that his descendants would become a great nation.

i. Maybe she didn't remember the promise made to Joseph that the day would come when his bones would be carried out of Egypt into the promised land.

ii. Maybe she didn't remember the promise made to Abraham that after 400 years in captivity God would release his people into the very land Abraham was standing.

iii. Maybe she didn't remember God's promise to never destroy the earth again with water.

iv. Maybe she hadn't seen a rainbow in a long time reminding her of God's promise.

v. Maybe she didn't remember God's promise to Moses made before the plagues ever began that Pharaoh would let the people go and in the process would understand who was the one true God of this earth.

vi. Maybe she didn't remember that God promised not to allow the shoes or clothes of his people's to wear out while they wandered in the desert for forty years.

vii. Maybe she didn't remember God's promise not to send rain on the earth for three years.

viii. Maybe she had forgotten God's promise that the prophets of Baal would not stand against him on top of Mt. Carmel.

ix. Maybe she had forgotten her husband's death according to the promise of God.

x. Maybe she had forgotten God's promise that her body would be eaten by dogs. But with Jehu riding in his chariot maybe the memory of the promise returns. But now it is too late to alter the promise. Now is the time for the promise to be carried out.

C. Jezebel dies. Not because it was her time, but in fulfillment of God’s promise. God made a promise and he did not forget it. A new prophet arose after the promise was made, but God didn’t forget. New kings came and went, but God didn’t forget his promise. Time passed, events shaped the world, but God didn’t forget his promise. A promise made because injustice was done.

Lessons

A. God never forgets his promises. He made the promise because of an injustice done. God promise to us is that in his time he will right all the injustices. When you are going through a time of injustice, God’s promise is still real. The promise is not to right all injustices now although sometimes He does do that, but the promise is that at the last day all injustices will be taken care of. The one promise you can hold on to now and until your dying breath is that God will never leave you or forsake you. God will never leave you alone. In those times when he doesn’t feel near it is our emotions which present the possibility of being alone—which is directly opposed to the promise of God. Every promise God makes is carried out.

B. Because God never forgets his promises, we need to be people of faith. We may forget his promise, but God doesn’t. Faith trusts in the one who never forgets. Faith means trusting God in his time to fulfill what he has promised to complete. ILL. “Faith: God’s presence.” Faith means placing our head into the lap of Jesus and resting with great comfort there. The promise of God is that the day will come when he will return and claim us. Until that day let us live as people of faith—trusting him to fulfill his promise in his time.

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