Through the precious and exceedingly great promises we, the believers in Christ, who is our God and Savior, have become partakers of His divine nature in an organic union with Him, into which we have entered through faith and baptism (John 3:15; Gal. 3:27; Matt. 28:19). The virtue (energy of life) of this divine nature carries us into His glory (godliness becoming the full expression of the Triune God).
Based upon the glory and virtue to which we have been called by God, He gives us promises. He promises us that He will be responsible to work out this glory and virtue. As we have seen, glory as the expression is the goal, and virtue is the energy of life. Virtue is the excellent attributes of God becoming to us the energy of life. This means that we have the energy and strength to reach glory. By God’s promises we have the energy to express His glory.
God has called us to His own glory and virtue. This goal is great, vast, and profound. Who is able to reach God’s own glory and virtue? None of us is able to arrive at this goal. Therefore, there is the need of God’s word of promise to assure us, encourage us, strengthen us, and speed us on our way toward this goal. Knowing our need for assurance, encouragement, and strength, God has given us precious and exceedingly great promises.
We cannot reach the high goal of God’s glory and virtue by ourselves. For this, we need the Lord. Because we do not know what lies ahead of us, God has given us precious promises. One of these great promises is in Matthew 28:20: “Behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age.” No doubt, this promise was an encouragement to all the disciples.
The Lord’s promises encouraged Peter and the other disciples on their way toward the goal of God’s glory and virtue. When Peter and the eleven stood up to preach on the day of Pentecost, God’s glory and virtue were with them. The disciples manifested divine virtues, not natural human virtues. In Acts 3 a lame man looked to Peter and John for a gift of money. Peter said to him, “Silver and gold I do not possess, but what I have, this I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene rise up and walk” (v. 6). Then Peter took him by the hand and lifted him up, and immediately the lame man was healed. “Leaping up and about, he stood and began to walk, and he entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God” (v. 8). On that occasion, they manifested God’s virtue and glory. This was carried out by the promise of the Lord that He would be with them all the days until the completion of this age. By means of the Lord’s promises the early disciples were encouraged to press on to reach God’s glory and attain the divine virtues.
The New Testament is filled with promises. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12 that he had a thorn in his flesh that caused him to suffer. He prayed three times to the Lord that the thorn might depart from him. But the Lord said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness” (vv. 7-9). This shows us that the Lord’s grace and power were sufficient to sustain and supply Paul and to bring him through these sufferings and difficulties. Therefore, Paul said that he would rather boast in his weaknesses so that the power of Christ might tabernacle over him. The original meaning of the word tabernacle here is “to fix a tent or a habitation upon something.” This portrays the power of Christ, which is Christ Himself, being like a tent tabernacling over us, overshadowing our weaknesses.
Every time we feel heavily burdened, we need to listen to the Lord’s voice saying, “My grace is sufficient for you. My power is perfected in weakness.” If we consider ourselves to be strong, then we will not be able to enjoy the Lord’s power. Therefore, our weakness is precious. It is due to our weaknesses that the Lord’s power has the ground to manifest itself, and we are able to enjoy His power. God’s sufficient grace will work within us day by day so that we may enjoy the divine nature.
The promises in 2 Peter 1:4 are mainly related to our spiritual life. These are promises for the inner life and the outward expression of life. One such promise is in Ephesians 3:20, which says, “To Him who is able to do superabundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power which operates in us.” This promise to do above all that we ask or think does not concern the material things of the present life but the spiritual things for the church life. The Lord will do superabundantly above all that we ask or think for the church life, according to the inner working power that operates in us.
In the New Testament there are great promises, which clearly indicate that our experience of God involves our enjoyment of the divine nature within us in order that His divine nature would become our enjoyment. For example, 1 Thessalonians 5:23 says, “The God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This verse contains a great promise that God would sanctify us wholly, that is, our spirit, soul, and body. By this promise we may enjoy the holy divine nature which we have within us. We may be careless concerning holiness because although we have received the divine nature, we may not enjoy it. Yet when we read the great promise in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, we are helped, encouraged, and strengthened to live a holy life. Upon reading this verse, we are assured by the promise that God will sanctify us both in our daily walk and in our tripartite being—our spirit, soul, and body. Consequently, we would be careful in the details of our daily walk in order to live a holy life. This is our experience of the enjoyment of the divine nature on the basis of a great promise given to us by God.
Another great promise of God is found in 2 Corinthians 6:16 through 7:1, which says, “What agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, even as God said, ‘I will dwell among them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people.’ Therefore ‘come out from their midst and be separated, says the Lord, and do not touch what is unclean; and I will welcome you’; ‘and I will be a Father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to Me, says the Lord Almighty.’ Therefore since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and of spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” Holiness is separation unto God from all things other than Him (Rom. 1:1-2; Eph. 1:4). To perfect holiness is to make this separation full and perfect, to have our entire being—spirit, soul, and body—fully and perfectly separated, sanctified, unto God (1 Thes. 5:23). A believer who loves the Lord and reads this portion of the Word may be helped, encouraged, and strengthened to live a holy life that matches God’s holy nature. On the basis of the great promise in this passage, he would certainly enjoy the holy divine nature that is in him.
Second Corinthians 9:6-10 also contains great promises of God. Here Paul says, “Take note of this: He who sows sparingly shall also sparingly reap; and he who sows with blessings shall also with blessings reap; each one as he has purposed in his heart, not out of sorrow or out of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound unto you, that, in everything always having all sufficiency, you may abound unto every good work; even as it is written, ‘He has scattered abroad; he has given to the poor; his righteousness abides forever.’ Now He who bountifully supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and cause the fruits of your righteousness to increase.” In this passage we see at least two great promises. On the one hand, if we sow with blessings, we will reap with blessings, for God will bountifully supply seed to us. On the other hand, if we sow sparingly, we will reap sparingly. Consequently, we will be unable to enjoy the generous divine nature within us and to see God’s blessing in His generosity. Based upon these promises, may we learn to be the partakers of the divine nature, those who enjoy the divine nature always, not occasionally.
When we spend time reading this portion of the Word prayerfully, we will be stirred up to give according to the generous divine nature of God. God is full of generosity and liberality; generosity is a characteristic of God’s divine nature. When we dwell on this passage, we will be encouraged and reminded to give generously according to the divine nature within us. As a result, we will begin to practice generosity, thereby enjoying the generous divine nature.
To partake of the divine nature is to enjoy the divine nature, and to enjoy the divine nature is to enjoy God Himself, that is, to enjoy all that God is. The entire New Testament is a book of precious and exceedingly great promises. Every portion of the New Testament is a promise that the Triune God will do everything for us to enjoy Himself as the divine nature.
The precious promises are embodied in the divine Word. By pray-reading the promises, we partake of and enjoy the divine nature, and by partaking of the divine nature we develop in the divine life. The more we pray-read the promises, the more we enjoy the divine nature, and the more we enjoy the divine nature, the more we grow and develop in the divine life.