The Surety of God’s Promise – Hebrews 6:13-15

No promise of God shall ever fail, or be of none effect. We may fail, or come short of the promise by our unbelief, but the promises themselves shall never fail. There have been great seasons of trial in many ages, wherein the faith of believers hath been exercised to the utmost about the accomplishment of the promises; but the faithfulness of God in them all hath hitherto been ever victorious,—and it will be so for ever. And this trial hath arisen partly from difficulties and oppositions, with all improbabilities of their accomplishment on rational accounts, or with respect unto visible means; partly from a misunderstanding of the nature of the promises, or of the season of their accomplishment. Thus, in the first great promise given unto our parents after the fall, how soon was their faith exercised about it! When they had but two sons, the one of them slew the other, and the survivor was rejected and cursed of God. From whom should now the promised Seed be expected to proceed and spring? Is it not probable that they were ofttimes ready to say, “Where is the promise of his coming?” And yet indeed this, which seemed to overthrow and disannul the promise, was only a means of its further confirmation; for the death of Abel, upon his offering his acceptable sacrifice, was a type of Christ and his suffering in his mystical body. – John Owen