Si Dios lo Prometió Ayer, ¿Está Usted Seguro de que Aplica Hoy?

• Compartir en Facebook
• Correo Electrónico

Elimine la Inseguridad Analizando Sus Promesas con 3 Preguntas

Years ago, I had a friend who often quoted a verse in the Bible saying, “All of the promises of God are yea and amen.” This was a loose paraphrase of 2 Corinthians 2:20. When he quoted it, people would respond enthusiastically, lifting their hands to God, praising and shouting. We all like the idea that every promise in God’s Word can be counted on and applied to us. But is that true? Can we be confident in every promise in God’s Word?

Don’t let me scare you away. Don’t think I am going to dispel everyone’s faith in God’s Word! I am not. But I am going to share a method I learned for analyzing every promise of God to see if it applies to us. Using this method, we can be confident that many of God’s promises from yesterday are applicable to us today. But if our analysis establishes that the verse does not apply to us today, we can study it further to glean a biblical principle from the promise.

What is a promise? It is “a declaration or assurance that one will do a particular thing or that a particular thing will happen.” (Google Dictionary, accessed June 24, 2021, promise definition – Google Search.) Cuando leemos la Biblia y encontramos a Dios declarando que hará algo o que algún evento sucederá, eso es una promesa de Dios. Encontramos tales promesas a lo largo del Antiguo y del Nuevo testamento. Algunas de ellas son promesas maravillosas, y otras son promesas aterradoras, pero son promesas igualmente.

Ask 3 Questions to Analyze the Application of God’s Promises to You

Let’s start with the three questions and then use a silly example. Then we will analyze a more complex example of a promise many people cling to in difficult times in their lives. Again, I am not going to strip you of your faith in this precious promise. Instead, I am going to help you gain confidence in applying it to your life. I will do so by comparing it to a contrasting verse.

Aquí están las tres preguntas:

1. ¿La promesa es universal o individual?
2. ¿Es la promesa para el presente?
3. ¿Es la promesa condicional o incondicional?

La promesa que utilizaremos para nuestro ejemplo absurdo aparece en Lucas 1:31 y 35. En el versículo 31, el ángel Gabriel anuncia a una virgen llamada María que concebirá un hijo y le pondrá el nombre de Jesús. En el versículo 35, Gabriel explica que quedará embarazada por la venida del Espíritu Santo sobre ella. Estas son promesas porque alguien está proclamando lo que sucederá en el futuro.

Why is this a silly example? Because no woman in her right mind today would claim a promise that she would become pregnant by the Holy Ghost. Why not? Let’s look at the three questions to find out.

1. ¿La promesa es universal o individual? Esta promesa es obviamente para un solo individuo, María.
2. ¿Es la promesa para el presente? No. Según Gálatas 4:4, Dios envió a su Hijo cuando llegó la plenitud de los tiempos. Era un punto único en el tiempo que Dios había preparado para este gran evento. La promesa no está destinada a aplicarse a nosotros hoy.
3. ¿Es la promesa condicional o incondicional? This promise was conditional and Mary had already met all of the conditions before the promise was made – she was a virgin who was favored by God.

Esta promesa claramente no se aplica a nosotros hoy. Aunque nunca he oído a nadie reclamar seriamente como propia esta promesa de un nacimiento virginal milagroso, la utilizo hoy sólo como un ejemplo obvio de cómo funciona este análisis y de que podemos aplicarlo a cada promesa que encontramos en la Biblia.

Analizando Dos Promesas Contrastadas

Many of us when going through difficult times in our lives, cling to God’s promise in Jeremiah 29:11. The most popular version of this verse, which often appears in greeting cards and on plaques, is the New International Version: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

We like this promise of prosperity and hope, don’t we?  We often encourage ourselves and others with these words. But do they apply to us today? Answering the three questions will help us find out.

1. ¿La promesa es universal o individual?  According to Jeremiah 29:4, God, speaking through the Prophet Jeremiah, is speaking to “all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon.” This is not a universal promise.  It is spoken to a specific group of people. 
2. ¿Es la promesa para el presente? Jeremías 29:10 explica que ocurrirá después de 70 años de cautiverio en Babilonia. No es para nuestro tiempo.
3. ¿Es la promesa condicional o incondicional? Jeremías 29:12-13 proporciona las condiciones: clamar a Dios, buscarlo y buscarlo con todo el corazón. Es una promesa condicional.

At the risk of absolutely discouraging you from claiming this promise for yourself, this promise is not for us, for today, or without conditions.  But don’t be disheartened yet.  Remember, even if a promise is not specifically for us, we can glean from the principle established by the promise. We can glean a principle established by this promise by contrasting it with another message given to the Jews by Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 44:27, 29 reads, “Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them . . .And this shall be a sign unto you, saith the Lord, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil[.]”

This is not a promise people claim for themselves. Why?  Because it is not encouraging, it is spoken to a specific group of people at a specific time and it is the result of the people’s behavior.  No one wants to apply this promise to their own or a loved one’s life. But we can contrast this with the Jeremiah 29:11 promise and glean a biblical principle to apply to our own lives.

Like Jeremiah 29:11, this promise was given to a specific group of people.  God, through the Prophet Jeremiah, was speaking to the Jews that were dwelling in the land of Egypt (Jeremiah 44:1).  The promised action would occur at a specific time, which is after God gave the king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies (Jeremiah 44:30).  The condition, or the behavior that would cause this to happen, is that the Jews would continue burning incense to other gods in Egypt (Jeremiah 44:8). 

Esta promesa era una advertencia para los judíos de que Dios los castigaría poniendo su rostro contra ellos y serían consumidos por la espada y el hambre y se convertirían en una execración (cosa detestable), un espanto, una maldición y un oprobio (Jeremías 44:11-14).

It is important to note how the Jews responded to Jeremiah, and I paraphrase: “We are not going to listen to you.  We will do whatever we want, burning incense to the queen of heaven, pouring out drink offerings to her, making her cakes and worshipping her.”  (Jeremiah 44:16-19.)

Because the Jews did not hearken to God’s warning and insisted they would continue worshipping other gods, God promised them He would watch over them for evil, and not for good, and that they would be consumed by the sword and the famine (Jeremiah 44:26-27).

Estas dos promesas son casi exactamente opuestas. A un grupo de judíos (los que involuntariamente fueron al cautiverio en Babilonia), Dios les prometió pensamientos de paz, y no de maldad, y darles esperanza y un futuro. Al otro grupo de judíos (los que regresaron voluntariamente a Egipto), Dios prometió vigilarlos para mal, y no para bien, y acabar con ellos.

We can glean a biblical principle by contrasting the reactions of the people. The Babylonian captives met the conditions for the Promise. They cried out to God, sought Him, and searched for Him with all of their heart. The Jews in Egypt, even after being warned through a prophet, boldly declared they would not listen to him and would continue doing as they wanted.  The boldly declared to a man of God that they did not care about what he had to say. 

Lest we think this is an Old Testament principle only, let’s consider Peter’s teaching in 2 Peter 2. Peter explained there were people in the church who were denying the Lord’s work (2 Peter 2:1). They were active in the church, yet walking after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, despising authority, being self-willed and not afraid to speak evil of the godly authorities God had placed over them and the godly teachings (2 Peter 2:10). They spoke evil of the things they didn’t understand and Peter promised they would perish in their own corruption (2 Peter 2:12). They would be paid back with harm for the harm they had done. Doesn’t this sound like the Jews in Egypt that boldly declared they would not listen to the man of God and would continue doing as they wanted?

Aplicando un Principio Bíblico

I am not sharing this to discourage you from applying the beautiful promise in Jeremiah 29:11 to your life.  We generally claim this promise when we are going through very difficult times or are struggling with major life decisions. But we need to apply it not as a promise to us, but as a biblical principle.

There are conditions for applying this promise. When we reach for this promise, we must first ask ourselves if we are crying out to God, seeking Him, and searching for Him with all of our hearts.  If so, we may claim the principle that God has plans to prosper us, not harm us, and give us hope and a future.

Por otro lado, si escudriñamos nuestros corazones y descubrimos que, aunque caminamos en medio de Su Iglesia, también andamos según la carne, codiciamos cosas impías, despreciamos la autoridad, actuamos según nuestra propia voluntad y hablamos en contra de las autoridades piadosas que Dios ha puesto sobre nosotros, entonces Jeremías 29:11 no se aplica a nosotros. Por el contrario, debemos reconocer la advertencia de Jeremías 44:27 y 29: Dios velará por el mal, no por el bien, permitiendo que nos consuman nuestras propias lujurias malvadas y nuestra conducta impía, y finalmente seremos castigados en consecuencia.

If you find you relate more to the Jews who voluntarily returned to Egypt or the people Peter spoke of in 2 Peter 2, I encourage you to cry out to God, repent, seek Him, search for Him with all of your heart. God is faithful to forgive you.  He will forgive and will restore you to the promises of God.

We can confidently apply God’s promises and principles to our lives. We can have confidence in His promises, especially when we take the time to analyze them to determine if they apply to the Church universally, for all time, and without conditions. If we determine otherwise, we can still have confidence in the biblical principles the promises establish.