Pre-Beginnings Promise
Pre-Beginnings Promise
Introduction
“Pre” is a prefix which means before,
while “beginning” is defined as the time when something starts, and promise is “telling
somebody what you will definitely (or surely) do or what you will not do and or
something that will definitely happen.”
Beginning in Hebrew word is “ראשׁית”, “rê'shı̂yth”
pronounced as “ray-sheeth'”, which
means the first in place, time, order or rank. In Greek word, it is “ἀρχή” which is “archē”, pronounced as ar-khay', this in Greek means commencement, chief,
principle, rule.
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From these definitions, the topic means, what
has been designed which will happen even before the start of something.
To explain this topic a little more, I
want to make some illustrations. Take an example of a person who has no plan of
how to spend $1:00 (one dollar), when this person receives this money such a
person would spend it wrongly. The person spends it wrongly because he does not
have a concrete plan for the money before it gets to his hands.
There was once a boy in a village who was sick
nigh death, but he was saved by some missionaries who visited his village who
after praying for him administer some drugs that resulted in his recovery.
After this performance on him, this boy as from that time decided that he would
also be like those people, he would become a healer in the future.
When he was growing, he had not mentor
academically because many of the people in his village are not learned, and he
was just going to school with strong determination to break the limitations on
his family and village.
When it was time for him to choose subjects,
he chooses Arts subjects and he did well in his final examinations. He entered
university after finishing from secondary school. He discovered on entering
university that the course which he has vowed to do is medicine, but he did not
have the qualifications for this course. He finished from the course and after
went and write ordinary level examinations again. This new result he used in
securing admission for the course he has desired to read, which is medicine.
A story of a boy who sees poverty rampant around
him promises himself on seeing people suffering that if God could bless him in
life, he would always be helping people, the needy who comes around him or
those he knows. About 50 years after making this decision within him, the story
of his life changed as he was rewarded for something on the internet, what he
won was million dollars. This changed his life, and his work and what he has in
mind since childhood that he will be doing when his life changes, he started
doing it.
From this we can see that even before the
lives of those people changed, they have had it in mind what they will do.
Assuming they did not have it in mind prior then, it is sure that they will
likely not know how to use the money they won and or would have thought well
they have achieved their aims after obtaining a University degree.
From the above illustrations, we would
have some insights into what this topic is about.
Exposition
For explaining this topic further, I will
want us to read from the letter of apostle Paul to Titus, chapter one and verse
two.
In the above words, we shall see the
followings:
1.
God’s Heart Before Creations:
Apostle Paul in unequivocal terms said in
his epistle to his spiritual son, that before the world began, before Genesis 1:1 which
says that, “in the
beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” God had some things in
his mind. What God has in mind would have remained there, would have been in
oblivion, unknown either to the heavenly beings or human beings, but this
becomes known to us, because God decides to say it out.
I want you to view what I am saying in
this light, what you have in your mind, the thought of your heart would remain
there except you say it out. No one on earth except God alone can know what is
in your heart that you have not uttered out.
Therefore, we talk about our ancient
fathers in this part of the world that they die with all the knowledge they
have because many of them do not trust anyone to reveal their minds to. Some of
them, who revealed some of the knowledge they had and what was in their hearts
to some people, those people could not tell it to their successors after them. Thus,
those knowledges and many secrets that would have been helpful to us in this part
of the world, yea the world at large, we do not have access to because those
who have the knowledge were unable to successfully pass it across to their
heirs, they died with all they know.
This isn’t so with the fore parents of the
westernized countries of the world, because they were able to pass their knowledges
to those coming behind.
We may say the fault is to a large extent
related to our inability to write and read in this part of the world. This God sees
and or foreknows and decides that such would not happen, thus he allowed for
means of writing through which messages could be passed between Hebrews, his
chosen nation. Before the world is formed at all, God has something in his
heart.
2.
God Unlocks The Doors of His Heart
We get to know what was in the mind of God
before creations because God did not keep the contents of his heart to himself,
God unlock the doors of his heart to the heavenly being by telling those things
in his heart. Except he did this, no spiritual being neither humans could have
had access to this room. Thoughts in his heart would have remained there.
3.
Why He Uttered Them
If he has not uttered them, and he is now
saying them after what happened in the garden of Eden had happened, angels and
other spiritual beings would have called it an afterthought, that he is gasping
for breath. They would have said it was when he discovered that Satan was
having an upper hand that he started reacting and started saying those, they
would not have seen him as omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscience. They would
not have believed that he says the end from the beginning.
“Remember the
former things of old: for I am
God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
“Declaring the
end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet
done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure”
(Isa. 46:9-10)
The effect of this on his person and his
rulership would have been worse (Matt. 27:64) than the earlier rebellion of the
morning star and his supporters. What more? This error would have spread wide
and far such that it would be near impossible if not totally impossible to
bring the hearts of men back to himself.
All these and more could not be said by
spiritual beings neither by anyone because he has before everything begins
uttered them out.
4.
Who He Uttered The Words To:
To avoid ambiguities, misconceptions,
misconstruing, Elohim after the creation of the cherubim and seraphim and other
celestial beings told them what was in his heart, and what was in his heart was
forming the world, after forming the world, he told them that he will give man that
he formed eternal life.
It is like a person who finds it hard
having a friend, but after trying a person and discovered that the person could
be relied on, he becomes friends with the person. After becoming a friend with
the person, he told him what was in his heart, his plan for the next ten years
if God spares their lives. If he has not divulged what was in his heart to him,
this person would not know though they are friends.
God equally told the being he had formed
what was in his heart and the things he told them which are in his heart are;
forming the world, creating man, making man the head of all he formed and above
all he would give him eternal life.
5.
Hearers disposition
As we know that when a man is talking to two
or more people, different things will be running in their hearts to what they
are hearing. The same I believe happened when God was talking to the celestial
beings of what he has in mind to do. Some supported God’s idea, while others
spearheaded by the morning star did not buy the idea. How could he do that? How
can he give man that he will create eternal life? The life he hasn’t given us,
he has in no way tell us that he will give us, celestial bodies, eternal life. He
wants to make us second fiddle, he wants to make us inferior to them.
“When I
consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which
thou hast ordained;
“What is man,
that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
“For thou hast
made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and
honour.
“Thou madest
him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
“All sheep and
oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
“The fowl of
the air, and the fish of the sea, and
whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.”
(Psa. 8:3-8)
He wants to make us their subjects, he
wants to make us a second fiddle, there is no way I will agree to that. I cannot
possibly sign off on this the devil said and his subjects agreed with him that
they would not allow what was in the mind of the Lord which he has divulged to
them to stand.
6.
He Knows There Would Be Antagonists
To what he told the celestial bodies he
knows there would be antagonists to it, he knows that there would be those who
will not want to allow what he said to come to pass among them.
“He that
planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?”
(Psa. 94:9)
You will recall that when Jesus was in the
earth, he says he knows the person who will betray him.
“For he knew
who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.”
(Joh. 13:11)
Despite understanding there would be antagonists
to what he has said, he yet said it to show his position to show that even if
the heavens and earth would pass his word would still be fulfilled.
7.
The Promise
Promise in Greek is “ἐπαγγέλλω”, called “epaggellō”, its phonetically called
“ep-ang-el'-lo” which means announcement (assent, pledge
especially a divine assurance of good), to assert something with respect to
oneself, to engage to do something.
In Numbers
14:34 the Hebrew word for promise there is “תּנוּאה”, which is “tenû'âh”, being pronounced as ten-oo-aw' and its meaning is alienation.
And another Hebrew
word use for promise in the old testament is “דּבר”, which is “dâbâr”, pronounced as daw-bawr' which
means a word, to speak. These could be found in the following books, 1 Kings
8:56; 2 Chro. 1:9; Neh. 5:12-13 and Psa. 105:42.
In Psalms 77:8
another Hebrew word use for promise is “אמר”, which is “'ômer”
pronounced as o'-mer. This also means speech, word.
The Hebrew word
for “dâbâr”, used for promise is being translated as logos in
the Greek word, which means speech. This shows the manifestations of the
thoughts of God on thing, the manifestation of thoughts of God to give Abraham a
child, the manifestation of God to give us someone who will save the world, who
will give the world, humans in the world eternal life is Jesus. This word
becomes flesh and dwells among us. The “dâbâr”,
or logos of God becomes flesh. The thoughts of God become manifested.
The English word
promise is from old French word “promesse” which means promise, assurance, guarantee.
This word promise in Latin is “promissum”. It is a past participle of “promittere”
which means send forth, beforehand, assure, let go, foretell”. It has the same
root as the word “pie”, “per” which means “forward”, thence it is infront of,
comes before. When this root word is added to the “mittere” whose meaning is “to
let go, to release, to send, to throw”. The summation of the words is the
future, something to be done in the future or what would not be done in the
future.
All the above
definitions of the word show that God was mindful of the future when he was
speaking to those angelic and celestial beings of what he has in mind to do for
man after creating the world and all in there.
8. Eternal
Eternal is
defined as something that does not have a beginning neither an ending.
The Greek word
used for eternal in this book of Titus is “αἰώνιος” which is aiōnios, phonetically spell as “ahee-o'-nee-os”. This word “aiōnios”
means perpetual (which also includes past time and future), forever.
However, one of
the Hebrew words used for eternal is “קדמה קדם”, which is “qedem qêdmâh”, and phonetically its spelling is “keh'-dem, kayd'-maw”. This means front, antiquity, before, anciently. This
is what the author of Deuteronomy 32:27 used, while the author of the book of Isaiah
used another word which is “עלם עולם”, which is “‛ôlâm ‛ôlâm”
which is pronounced as “o-lawm', o-lawm'”.
This means time out of mind, continuance, perpetual, lasting long, at any time.
These words
suggest that the word eternal means perpetual and as being defined by the English
dictionary it means what will not come to an end what will keep going, what
starts from “before, continues now and projecting into the future.”
9. Life
The life being
talked about by the apostle here is Greek word “ζωή”, which is “zōē”
phonetically pronounced as dzo-ay'. It means
life this life could better be understood when we note the root words from
which it comes which are zaō and
psuchē.
These two root words from which “zōē”
has been derived in Greek has the following meanings. The first word, “ζάω” in Greek which is zaō (dzah'-o in pronunciation) means to live, to be quick, and
the second word “ψυχή”, which is psuchē (pronounced
as psoo-khay') which means breath, implying spirit (this
essentially distinguish man from the trees and beasts because it consists of
rational and immortal soul).
This shows that
the promised life would be a quick and sharper one, a life that would be fully
lived, a life that would have the breath, the spirit of God which would
differentiate man from the beasts of the forests and the trees, the lower
beings as being known by the Biologists.
This is the
promised life that the Lord promised even before the world is formed and he
made this known unto the celestial beings that he will certainly do this.
This is the highest promise he has for mankind. The devil who does not want
this promise to get to man had to gather his hosts together and found a way to
enter the garden to ensure that the promise eludes man.
He entered the garden perhaps because he
was thinking that the tree of life in the garden is the source of life being
promised but unknown to him that his master plan, what would bring the eternal
life is not the tree, but God was using that as a template to show of a certainty
that what he said shall come to pass.
How we make mistakes sometimes when we
think that God’s way is limited to a section, and because we sometimes think
his way is restricted to a position, we would not be looking at other options
being shown us.
We again tend to lose faith sometimes when
what we know has been promised us did not come through the route which we
expect it would come, we then tend to misbehave or sometimes give in to the
devil to lure us away from Him. The first people were lied to, they were led
away from the will of God.
Even at that, God never forget his
promises that he is going to give his image eternal life, a life that is
perpetual.
We must know that whatsoever he promises,
he will surely do. He promised this and he did do it for all and sundry at the
nick of time, no time is lost in delivering this promise to mankind.
“In hope of
eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began”
(Tit. 1:2)
Have you been promised something by God? Are
you looking forwards to his promises? Are you expectant of the fulfilment of
his promises? If he can fulfill the promise of giving mankind eternal life,
life at its fullest, life that differs from that of beasts even before he
created the world and everything in it, you should be assured that he will
fulfill those promises he has for you.
Maybe you are the type who is not sure,
neither certain of God’s promises for you, you should know that since you are his
child having given your life to God through Jesus Christ, all those things in
the bible are promises meant for you, he is bound by his word to fulfill those
for you and he will surely fulfill them all. All you need to do is become acquainted
with the bible, to know his words and unhidden promises for you.
“For all the
promises of God in him are yea,
and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” (2 Cor. 1:20)
10.
These should be known to be true of this book of Titus 1:2
i) The world has been in the mind of God
for long,
ii) Creations have been in his mind before
the formation of the world,
iii) It is what he wants anyone to become
on earth that the person becomes,
iv) When he wants a person to be begotten,
to come into the world that is when the person will be given birth to,
v) Where a person would be begotten at was
where the delivery of the person will take place,
vi) When redemption would appear, he knows
vii) He knows there would be antagonism to
the promise, yet he spoke it, he made the promise without hesitation
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