Now it is just the same with the Bible Promises. They are Promises
according to Law. They are based upon the widest generalization and
hence lead to the highest specialization through the combined action of
the Law and the Word--Jachin and Boaz, the Two Pillars of the Universe.
These Promises comprise all sorts of desirable things: health of body,
peace of mind, earthly prosperity, prolongation of life, and, finally,
even the conquest of death itself; but always on one condition: perfect
"Confidence in the power of the All-Originating Spirit in response to
our reliance on the Word." This is what the Bible calls Faith; and it is
perfectly logical when we understand the principle of it, for every
Thought of doubt is, in effect, the utterance of a Word which produces
negative results by the very same law by which the Word of Faith
produces positive ones. This is the only condition which the Bible
imposes for the fulfilment of its Promises, and this is because it is
inherent in the nature of the Law by which their fulfilment is to be
brought about.
A few texts will suffice as examples of the Bible Promises, and no doubt
most of my readers are familiar with many others; but it would be worth
while to read the Bible through, marking all such texts, and classifying
them according to the sort of promises they contain.
Read, for instance, Job xxii, 21, etc. This is a most remarkable passage
containing among other things the promise of earthly wealth; or again
Job v, 19, etc., where we find promises of protection in time of danger,
power over material nature, and prolonged life. While in Job xxxiii, 23,
etc., there is promise of return to youth, a promise which is repeated
in Psalm ciii, 5. Again in Isaiah lxi, 20, etc., there is the promise of
immensely extended physical life, death at the age of one hundred being
counted so premature as to resemble that of an infant, and the normal
standard of age being compared to a tree which lives for centuries; and
the same passage also promises immediate answer to prayers. The Psalms
are full of such promises, and they are scattered throughout the Bible.
Now there is an unfortunate tendency among people who read their Bible
with reverence, to what they call "spiritualize" such passages as these,
which means that they do not believe them. They say such things are
impossible; and therefore they must have some other meaning, and
accordingly they interpret the words metaphorically, as referring to
something to be experienced in another life, but quite impossible in
this one.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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