God’s Perfect ‘Yes’ – 7 May 2020

“For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was preached among you by Silas, Timothy, and myself, is not one who is ‘Yes’ and ‘No.’ On the contrary, he is God’s ‘Yes’; for it is he who is the ‘Yes’ to all of God’s promises. This is why through Jesus Christ our ‘Amen’ is said to the glory of God.” 2 Corinthians 1:19-20 GNT

We’ve all known the disappointment, even pain, that ‘no’ can hold, but isn’t it wonderful to hear ‘yes’ when the answer you’re waiting for is to an important question, like, ’Will you marry me?’ or ‘Will I recover?’’ or “Will God forgive me?” Even babies learn their value early in life, loving ‘yes’, baulking against ‘no’. This doesn’t change as we mature; somehow we always have a list of requests that need that tiny ‘yes’ word.

Both ‘yes’ and ‘no’ are inherently powerful words that have life-changing potential, and nobody likes, or benefits, from the confusion of inconsistency.

Paul, writing to the Corinthian Believers, says an amazing thing: Jesus doesn’t just answer ‘yes’, Jesus is “God’s ‘Yes’ ” in His fulfilment of all of His promises; He makes all things possible. Paul assures them that there is no inconstancy in Jesus: His words are trustworthy, faithful and unchanging and “will never pass away.” (Matthew 24:35). In looking at Him, we can believe all of God’s promises because Jesus was the supreme fulfilment of them. He is ‘Yes’ to us in them all and can be trusted into eternity.

He is ‘Yes’ because He became the perfect sacrifice to satisfy God’s righteous judgement to save the world from sin; He is ‘Yes’ because He makes possible eternal life (John 3:16) and He is ‘Yes’ as our High Priest and defence. Living with unconfessed sin is like being engulfed by swirling, treacherous waves that threaten to overwhelm us and destroy us (2 Samuel 22:5-6) but His death and resurrection has the power to conquer the sin that destroys us, because “if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One (1 John 2:1), if we believe in Him.

He is the ‘Yes’ of our salvation because He did for us what we could not do for ourselves; He died to transform the ‘no’ of our sinful lives into His perfect purity, cleansing us and making us fit for eternal life with Him “ … because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”  (Hebrews 10:14) And the ‘yes’ is ours when “We know that we have come to know him (because) we obey his commands.” (1 John 2:3)

The ‘Yes’ in Christ enables us to be confident “that he who began a good work in (us) will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6) when we will receive His ‘yes’ to live with Him eternally.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You that You are the resounding ‘Yes’ that makes us “more than conquerors” in any hardships we experience. Thank You that nothing can separate us from Your love. Amen