Inheriting The Promises

In Hebrews chapter six the writer uses Abraham as the example of faith and patience that we are to follow so we too can obtain the promises the same as Abraham. We all have a race to run and by faith and patience we can hold firm to the end and cross the goal.Hebrews 6:12-15 KJV12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.Hebrews 12:1-2 KJV1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,2 looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Abraham received personally from God a promise that tarried more than 20 years. Abraham anchored his soul to God's Word of promise in hope, faith, and patient endurance. Abraham had to leave behind his country and his home. He had to fully give himself to God's instruction and be prepared to sacrifice all. When God made promise to Abraham, He swore an oath saying, "Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee." In Hebrew, the repetition of a verb is meant to give force to what is said. So when Abraham heard God say, "Blessing I will bless" would have awakened his ears and stirred his heart with faith and hope that God's promise was something exceptional and would surely happen. The second half of the sentence shows what the blessing was to be, "Multiplying I will multiply thee." God was bestowing a great honor and privilege to Abraham. God was making Him a fount of blessing to the whole world. Through Abraham's natural seed, Jesus the promised Seed would, in the fullness of time, be born and in Jesus we are made complete and heirs of the promise. The fullness of God's blessing set before us today was by the promise given to Abraham and now belongs to us through Jesus Who is the Seed in which the promise was fulfilled.Galatians 3:16 KJV16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.Galatians 3:29 KJV29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Still today, the blessing God gave to Abraham comes in divine power as it continues to multiply and bless all and any who will come to God and receive Jesus as Savior, Redeemer, and Lord. The blessing God gave to Abraham and fulfilled in Jesus takes us far beyond simply being forgiven. It takes us into the fullness of redemption. Every promise of God is received by the same means. Everything begins with God's Word, everything ends with God's Word. The Word is the seed that is sown in our hearts and the Word then becomes the harvest we reap. The Word of God is our assurance of what we are to anticipate in hope. To receive God's promises, faith and hope must endure until the promises are fulfilled. It is by patience [perseverance] that hope and faith endure and by our diligence we build and maintain the full assurance of our hope. Patience is not passive resignation weighed down with deferred hope or unbelief. By choice and determination, Bible patience persistently holds firm to faith until the promises are realized. Each day our faith and hope, our diligence and perseverance must be maintained if we expect to receive God's promises. First, we turn our attention to what God has promised. This gives us the hope, the picture, the blueprint, of what is possible. We then must maintain the disposition of patient endurance which allows God's promise to work itself out in our lives through faith. The deeper our insight into the certainty and the fullness of God's Word, the more our hearts will be assured to believe and to persevere. God's promises are ours by inheritance but to experience them we must do so by faith and patience. All that will live by God's Word and follow Abraham's example of faith and patience will not only be heirs of the promises by inheritance, but will personally take possession of the promises by experience. The way to obtain God's promises is by feeding our faith on the promises of God until faith grows strong enough to receive the promises. God's promises cannot be earned by what we do but all are received by faith and patience. We must guard against the many distractions of this world, nor allow sloth or indifference to rob us of any of God's exceeding great and precious promises. To obtain the full measure of what God intends for His children to experience by inheriting the promises, we must never allow our faith to become faint or feeble for it is by faith and patience that we receive the promises of God. Let God speak to you personally through His written Word and then follow where He leads, obey what He commands, and live by every Word of God. He will bring you to the place of blessing, the place of the revelation of Himself. In this earth life, it is possible to be an heir and not an inheritor of the promises and this will not happen if we follow Abraham's example who through faith and patience inherited the promises.