But as God is faithful, our word to you was not Yes and No. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me, Silvanus, and Timothy—was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes. For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. 2 Corinthians 1: 18-20, NKJV.
Father in heaven, we come before you today, to study Your Word. Please speak to our hearts we pray. In the Holy name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
I just finished a Week of Prayer at our church. This was one of the texts that people clung to in a special way. I cling to it myself. Based on verse 20, we concluded that we should be seeing more answers to our prayers, since all of God’s promises in Christ are “Yes!” After taking a closer look at the context of this verse, I felt compelled to ask the question, Are there exceptions to the rule? Or, Were we reading into the text something that was not intended? For the next few minutes let us allow the Holy Spirit to make plain to us, what God wants us to understand in these verses.
Let us begin by considering the context of these verses. Paul had promised the members of the church at Corinth, that on his way to and from Macedonia, he would have stopped and visited them. On his way, however, he met with problems that made this visit impossible. Because he was unable to fulfill his promise, the sincerity of his word was questioned. Following are excerpts of his explanation to those who questioned the sincerity of his intentions:
“For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. . . For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you. For we are not writing any other things to you than what you read or understand. Now I trust you will understand, even to the end . . . And in this confidence I intended to come to you before, that you might have a second benefit— to pass by way of you to Macedonia, to come again from Macedonia to you, and be helped by you on my way to Judea. Therefore, when I was planning this, did I do it lightly? Or the things I plan, do I plan according to the flesh, that with me there should be Yes, Yes, and No, No? But as God is faithful, our word to you was not Yes and No” (8, 12, 13, 15-18).
This is the situation that preceded our Scripture for today. My promise to come by and see you was not made lightly, with no real intentions of keeping my word. I sincerely intended to come, but I met with difficulties. It is not just a case of saying “Yes” and meaning “No.” My “Yes” is “Yes.” God knows that we were not saying “Yes,” while meaning “No.” (My paraphrased summary of Paul’s defense). Proving his integrity was so important to Paul that he actually used God’s integrity to witness to the sincerity of his promise, “as God is faithful” (18)!
To add credibility to his defense, he then goes on to explain that his promise and his preaching were equally sincere. Just as we who preached Jesus Christ, the Son of God to you, did not preach Him with uncertainty – “Yes” and “No,” but in Him it was always “Yes.” Because every promise that God made concerning Jesus Christ is “Yes,” and “So let it be,” that God might be glorified through our faithful preaching of the gospel (My paraphrased summary of verses 19, 20).
So are there exceptions to the rule? Or, are we talking about two different things. The certainty of “Yes” is regarding the promises God made to us in Jesus Christ. We can read these promises back to God and remind Him that He made these promises to us, and that the promises in His Son, are always “Yes!” Are our prayers according to God’s promises, in His Son Jesus Christ? Then if they are, you can take them to the bank! There are no rubber promises in Jesus Christ!