4a Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises
The promises of God are assurances which God has given to His people in the Scriptures. We can trust God to bestow all His promises to us because He is faithful and able to fulfil all that He has promised. Hence, none of His promises will fail.
These promises are “exceeding great” because they come from an infinitely great God. The promises of the Bible are an expression of God’s greatness, all-sufficiency, omnipotence, omniscience, grace, mercy, love, etc. His great power to bring about all His plans and promises, makes all His promises to be exceedingly great. The prophet Jeremiah wrote, “Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee” (Jeremiah 32:17). Our Lord Jesus Himself said, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). As God is great, so are His promises.
All the promises of God are also referred to as “precious promises”. The word “precious” obviously means valuable, costly, honourable, etc. They are like a treasure storehouse of inexhaustible help from God to His people. They constitute also the best and most befitting help amidst all our challenges and trials of life. Furthermore, the promises of God give us the most earnest encouragement to face temptations and trials and come forth as triumphant Christians. Indeed, Christians can find their most assured help in God’s promises. When doubts and fears assail our hearts, God’s people can firmly stand upon the promises of God.
Every biblical promise from God is absolutely trustworthy because the One who promises is unchanging, faithful, ever true, all-powerful, and all-wise. When God has promised, He will perform because it is His word of truth and power. He performs all that He utters. The promises of God are given to believers for their inheritance. He will bestow them all upon them, just as He has promised. 2 Corinthians 1:20 declares unto us that “all the promises of God in him (i.e. in Christ) are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” Christ is the guarantee of all the promises of God unto us. So the apostle Paul asked rhetorically in Romans 8:32, “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”