Understanding the nature of the promise that we are dealing with will be of tremendous importance as we wait for the fulfillment. There are short-term promises. These are promises that mature within a little time frame. This actually could happen within a day or couple of days. Jesus once told a man, “thy son liveth”. On getting home, the man found that the son began to amend the very hour Jesus spoke to him. Hezekiah’s healing took place within three days, after the Lord had given him a promise through prophet Isaiah. The promise of rulership to Joseph belonged to a different category. God gave him a dream; and to all intent and purposes that dream was like a promise. It took an interval of 13 years for Joseph to make meaning of what God said to him. This kind of promise is long-term.
Understanding the nature of the promise that we are dealing with will be of tremendous importance as we wait for the fulfillment.
The second advent of Jesus will fall under what we term a long-term promise. Before He ascended, He promised to come back again. It has been 2,000 years and counting and we are still waiting. Unless we are able to differentiate between the promises, we might doubt God and grow weary in our faith. Hardly will a promise that will affect generations happen in a flash. The intervening period helps in developing character in the recipient. This agrees with God’s ultimate purpose of giving the promises to begin with, which is partaking of divine nature. If you find yourself dealing with a promise of a long-term nature, never forget that God’s concept of time is different from ours.
