2 Corinthians 1:20

He states plainly that his preaching, and that of his companions, had none of the wavering or conflict common to the schools of human opinion. The reason is that all truth finds its proof in Christ's Person. It has become yes in Him... Here all is sure, unclouded and settled. The gospel, as Paul preached it, allows no doubtful answer, and no double dealing. That is because it is revealed in the Second man. He has set aside the first man, with his darkness and doubt, as well as his guilt and corruption.

Man is fickle. With him it is often yes one time and no the next. What is more, man is contradictory when it is a question of God and His will. Again and again he breaks down, and so cancels all that God desires for him. His reply to God's will is always "No." Christ is the opposite, for "in Him was yes." He said "Yes" to every purpose and desire of God.

God had made promises, whether to Abraham unconditionally, or to Israel at Sinai on the condition of obedience. But in Christ there were not promises, but the Amen to God's promises, their truth and realisation. Whatever promises there had been on God's part, the Yes was in Him, and the Amen in Him. God has established — deposited, so to speak — the fulfilment of all His promises in the Person of Christ. Life, glory, righteousness, pardon, the gift of the Spirit, all is in Him; it is in Him that all is Yes and Amen. We cannot have the effect of any promise whatsoever outside of Him.

So that, God acting in the way of promise, all the promises find their centre in Christ. "Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, 'And to offsprings,' referring to many, but referring to one, 'And to your offspring,' who is Christ" (Galatians 3:16)... So Christ is the Heir, the Seed, to whom the promise was made.

Not only was the Yes found in Him, but the Amen also. He does not only agree to all the will of God expressed in His promises. He goes on to carry it all out, and bring it all to full and final completion. In Him the thing is done, and shall be done, until a great Amen can be put to all God's pleasure, so that God is glorified... What glorious stability and security is here!

Note the power and blessing of these two little words, "by us." Could anyone say this of us unless we had the Holy Spirit, giving us the blessed knowledge and awareness of our place? He has planted us in Christ. He has anointed us. He has sealed us for the day of redemption, and given the guarantee of it in our hearts.

He is Himself the end and chief object of all promise. In His glory as Mediator He has become the channel of supply to all who receive the grace of God in truth. He is also the means of their answering praise. These promises are made certain in the Person of the Son and declared to the faith of God's chosen ones. To them the church now sets the seal of her Amen. In worship she says back, to the glory of God the Father, what the lips of Jesus have first spoken to her heart.

Christ tells it out in our hearts that in Him is the Yes and Amen to all the promises. That thought gives immense strength in a cloudy day like the present, when the world clouds and troubles us on every side. But turn to Him, and all in Him is "Yes and Amen." He makes good all the promises.