We all depend on promises in our lives. Our job promises to give us a paycheck in return for faithful labor, our car mechanic promises to put clean oil back in the car after he drains the dirty oil, and our grocery store promises to sell us food that is healthy and accurate based on the labeling.
God made promises to us in the book of Genesis a least 6,500 years ago:
“And I [God] will put enmity
Between you [serpent] and the woman [Eve],
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel” (Gen 3:15, NASB)
This was God’s first time revealing (in a subtle way) how He would send a savior to deliver the people and offer them salvation. Theologians call this verse the protoevangelium (first gospel).[1]Here God announces a battle that will occur between Eve’s descendants and Satan’s descendants. God promises that one of Eve’s descendants will bruise Satan on the head which will be the death blow announcing victory.
God further clarified that promise to Eve’s descendant, Abraham, when God told Abraham,
“Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;
And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Gen 12:1-3, emphasis added)
God further clarified His message to Eve when He promised Abraham that through Abraham’s descendants all the nations of the earth would be blessed.
Then six hundred years later God gave the Law to the nation of Israel through Moses. The Law was God’s way to show Israel their sins and in the process show them their need for a savior (Jesus Christ). Jesus would be Abraham’s descendant and Jesus would bless everyone who places faith in Him.
With that background and those promises given to Israel, Paul told the believers in the region of Galatia,
“But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor” (Gal 3:23-25, NASB).
Paul is showing the Galatians how God kept His promise given to Eve, then clarified it to Abraham, and elaborated on it through Moses and the Law. God kept His promises to the nation of Israel in spite of their unfaithfulness to Him.
I know you have had people make promises to you but not keep them. Promises of, “I vow to love you till death do us part” might have turned into “I don’t love you anymore, I’m not happy, I want a divorce.” A promise of, “I’ll never drink alcohol again” turned into “Just one drink here and there won’t hurt.” A husband states, “I promise I won’t watch porn anymore” eventually becomes “I need it because. . .” A young potential spouse says, “I want kids when I am married” but eventually reveals “Kids bother me and I don’t want any.” The promise, “I’ll never touch drugs again” turns into “I don’t know where those family heirlooms went. . .”
God gave a promise to Eve, extended it to Abraham, elaborated on it to Moses through the Law, and it was still valid in A.D. 49 when Paul wrote his letter to the believers in the region of Galatia. And that promise continues to us today. While humans are not the best example of how to keep promises, God is.
[1] Warren Wiersbe, Be Basic (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 1998), 76.