Better Promises, Living Hope

David Wilkerson (1931-2011)

Under the Old Covenant, the promise to the Israelites that God would bless them if they obeyed was all they had. But today, under the New Covenant, we have a “better promise.” “[Christ] is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises” (Hebrews 8:6).

This “better promise” means we all shall know Him. We do not just have a high priest who goes into God’s presence. No — a veil was rent in two so we could all come into the very presence of God!

Consider all the Lord has promised us:

  • His law is written in our hearts. His Holy Spirit abides in us and Christ himself is with us always.
  • Reconciliation with God: healing, mercy and forgiveness through simple repentance and faith.
  • Power and authority to ask anything in Jesus’ name. Power over sin and Satan. No weapon will be able to prosper against us.
  • Access to the Father. He provides a throne where we can run to in the hour of need. He delivers us from overwhelming temptations. And we enjoy a continual manifestation of the presence of Jesus.
  • Rest by simply asking and trusting. Peace beyond all human understanding and freedom from fear all the days of our life.

He has promised all this to us! Yet still many Christians live in fear, doubt, confusion — always fretting. They do not believe him or appropriate his precious Word; in fact, they act as though he never made such promises.

The truth is, we have much less reason to doubt and fear than our forefathers did. Our enemies today are not physical armies; they are stress, fiery temptations of the flesh, weariness of body and mind, a violent and complex society, new and subtle evils that no other generation has faced. But God has promised that where sin abounds, we have more grace to do battle than any other generation in history.