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and among the special privileges that go with the membership of the Church which is His
Body, we read:
"That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His
promise in Christ by the gospel, whereof I was made a minister" (Eph. 3: 6, 7).
We have purposely refrained from digging too deeply into some of these passages,
Eph. 2: 6 being one, but have simply emphasized the fact that God keeps His promises,
that He is both able, and faithful and is worthy of our complete trust. These facts
practically include our third item "Performance", but we will give this a hearing also that
our joy may be complete.
Performance.
Jeremiah was staggered at the prospect of being a prophet unto the nations, and made
as an excuse the confession:
"I cannot speak, for I am a child" (Jer. 1: 6).
To encourage him, the Most High condescended to give Jeremiah a sign, and said to
him:
"What seest thou? And I [Jeremiah] said, I see a rod of an almond tree."
The answer of the Lord is not very evident on the surface, for He said:
"Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten My word to perform it" (Jer. 1: 11, 12).
In Jer. 31: 28, the word translated `hasten' in 1: 12 is translated "watched". The
almond is one of the first trees to blossom in Palestine, and was so called "the watcher",
and this would need no explanation to Jeremiah or any Hebrew living in his day. To
Abraham promises had been made which included a seed, and a land, and when Isaac
was distressed by famine, the Lord told him not to go down into Egypt but,
"Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and
unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware
unto Abraham thy father" (Gen. 26: 3).
As we have earlier quoted, Solomon speaks of the performance of God's promises of
I Kings 8: 20, 24:
"The Lord hath performed His word that He spake."
"Who hast kept with thy servant David my father that Thou promisedst him."
Without further quotations, which the reader can supplement to his lasting benefit, we
once again cite the Apostle's words from Phil. 1: 6:
"Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."