The Promise Fulfilled for Time and Eternity.
I. The promise of God to Abraham did more than give civilisation to men: it opened to them the doors of heaven. Great as have been the temporal gifts bestowed by it, greater and better are its spiritual blessings. The best commentary that has ever been written on the promise made to Abraham is to be found in Heb. xi. St. Paul is never weary of pointing to the glorious character of this spiritual promise. "God," says St. Augustine, "is patient, for God is eternal," and so also the faith that trusts the promise of God partakes of the unchangeable calm of Him on whom it rests, the same yesterday, today, and for ever. Canaan, the heavenly Canaan, was ever before the ancient saints, though they knew that to reach it they must cross the dark valley. Clear before their eyes shone the reward of their labours, but they saw that it was set on the top of a cross.
II. We too are children of promise; but often we forget this, and flatter ourselves that some special object on which our desires are set will one day disclose to us the secret of abiding happiness. If we set our hearts on some earthly Canaan, we shall find that the only rest it will give us is the rest of the grave. Consistently with the splendour of the goal that is set before us and the feebleness of all human effort to reach it, God has decreed that our happiness on earth should consist rather in working than in enjoying, rather in using the means than in gaining the end. If from the last sleep there were no awakening, if the night of death were followed by no dawn, then, indeed, the outlook before us would be sad and gloomy. But to us it has been given to know Christ and the power of His resurrection. His risen body sheds the true light upon life and its work; it fulfils to us all the promise of good fortune, and adds to its fulfilment the glories of eternity.
D. Haig-Brown, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxvi., p. 257.
References: Galatians 4:28. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. iv., p. 89; C. J. Vaughan, Words of Hope,p. 149. Galatians 4:31. A. Barry, Cheltenham College Sermons,p. 190; Clergyman's Magazine,vol. vi., p. 144; Spurgeon, Morning by Morning,p. 263; Preacher's Monthly,vol. ii., p. 96. Galatians 5:1. H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit,vol. ii., p. 90; J. B. Brown, Ibid.,vol. xvi., p. 337; J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons,4th series, p. 22.Galatians 5:1-13. H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxiii., p. 330; F. W. Farrar, Ibid.,vol. xxix., p. 145.Galatians 5:3; Galatians 5:4. H. W. Beecher, Ibid.,vol. v., p. 75.Galatians 5:4. J. Irons, Thursday Penny Pulpit,vol. vii., p. 349. Galatians 5:5. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxi., No. 1228.