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Recently, we have highlighted William Swan Plumer’s 1872 book on The Promises of God (here and here). Today we highlight an 1868 volume with the same title by Enoch Cobb Wines.
His introductory comments on the proposition that Christ is the fountain of all gospel promises are very much worth meditating upon.
THE original and spring of all gospel promises is the Lord Jesus Christ. This precious truth is taught by Peter in the following passage: "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises,” 2 Pet. i. 3, 4. The word "whereby,” in verse fourth, refers to the divine power and glorious excellence of Jesus Christ; that is, to Jesus Christ himself. Without any unnatural or forced construction, therefore, the passage might be rendered: "By, through, or in Christ Jesus, are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises.” Thus construed, it distinctly teaches the doctrine enunciated as the theme of the present chapter.
The same glorious and cheering truth is still more clearly taught by Paul in 2 Cor. i. 20, where he affirms that “all the promises of God in him (that is, in Jesus Christ, as the contest shows) are yea, and in him, Amen.”
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Christ may be said to be the rise and spring of the promises, inasmuch as they were all purchased and. procured for us by the shedding of his most precious blood.
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Christ is the fountain of the promises, inasmuch as it is to him, as our Head and Surety, that they are all originally made. The promises are primarily to Christ; and they are made to us only as we are in him. Through him alone are they made over to us. His blessed mediation is the only channel through which their divine benefits can flow into our souls.
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Christ is the fountain of the promises, inasmuch as it is in and by him that we have a right to them and to whatever is included in them. "He that hath the Son hath life.” A great principle is embodied in these words. Christ being ours, all things are ours; Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life, death, things present, things to come, all are ours; much more then the exceeding great and precious promises of the gospel. "There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” Now, freedom from condemnation implies a title to life, and a title to life of necessity implies a right to all the promises which assure eternal life to the believer. But the promises belong only to those who are in union with Christ. If once a soul close with Christ in the covenant of promise, there is not one promise in the Scripture but he may write this superscription upon it, "This is mine.” Yes, dear reader, it is even so. If you have closed with Christ, you may write your own name upon every promise in the Bible regarding it as addressed to yourself personally, as much as if there was not another individual of the race who could become a partaker of its benefits. The promises of the gospel are for all those who want them. The suggestion that they are not, come from whatever quarter it may, is a lie of the devil. It is of the very essence of faith to embrace the promises in the firm trust that Christ will do all he has said.Christ is the spring of the promises, inasmuch as it is his grace that prepares and qualifies us for the fulfilment of them.
It is through grace received from Christ that we are enabled to believe the promises. It is through strength imparted by Christ that we are enabled to perform the conditions annexed to the promises.
It is through faith, which is the gift of Christ, that we are enabled to appropriate all the precious benefits of the promises. If Christ did not help us, we should never believe a single promise. If Christ did not help us, we should never obey the precept on which the promise is conditioned. If Christ did not help us, we should never receive the comfort and refreshment of an appropriating faith in the promise.
So that in reference to the divine promises, as in reference to every other benefit and blessing of the new and everlasting covenant, “CHRIST IS ALL IN ALL.”
Read the rest of Wines on The Promises of God here. It is a sweet, gospel-themed read by a fascinating 19th century American Presbyterian minister with a particular interest in the reform of civil society along Biblical principles.
