Terumah
For the week of February 20, 1999 / 4 Adar 5759
Torah: Shemot / Exodus 25:1-27:19
Haftarah: I Kings 5:26-6:13 (English: 5:12 -6:13)

What God Says He will Do

The LORD gave Solomon wisdom,
just as he had promised him (1 Kings 5:12).

The Lord had promised to give Solomon wisdom. So he gave him wisdom. The Lord keeps his word. He does what he says he will do.

To have faith in the God of Israel is not just a life of hopes and wishes. The Bible is not simply a book of inspiration, an ancient "Chicken Soup for the Soul" giving us nice warm fuzzies to smooth out the rough edges of life. God is alive. God is real. God is practical. What he says is true and he does what he says he will do.

Over and over again throughout history God has made promises to people. He promised Abraham a baby. He told Moses that through him he would deliver Israel from Egypt. He told the shepherd boy David that he would become King. He promised Solomon wisdom. God did what he said he would do.

God promised to bring the people of Israel back to their land. Anyone familiar with the history of the Jewish people for the last two thousand years understands how incredible a promise that is. For most of that time there was little indication that God's word would be fulfilled.

What had been called Palestine was a virtual swamp, there had been little interest on the part of the Jewish people to return, and other nations didn't want them there. But God had other plans. He did what he said he would do.

God promised the coming of the Messiah. There are hundreds of direct and indirect references to this coming deliverer and what he would do. We are told where he would be born (Micah 5); the time of his coming (Daniel 9); the circumstances of his birth (Isaiah 7); and the details of his death and resurrection (Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53).

What God said he would do, he did. Yeshua is the embodiment of God's promises. He himself fulfills all of God's desires and purposes. He, more than anything, shows us the practical reality of the living God. "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are 'Yes' in the Messiah" (2 Corinthians 1:20).

For some the coming of the Messiah marks the end of all that God has done for us. They think that now that Yeshua has come, we are to be satisfied with that. But that wasn't God's intent - far from it! In fact Yeshua's coming is just the beginning:

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32).

The coming of the Messiah is proof positive that God will do what he says he will do. The deepest longing of his heart was to be in relationship with his people. Having provided the way to return to himself through the Messiah, we are now in the place to receive all that God has intended for us.

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