Our chapel service just ended a while ago. Interestingly, the chaplain used the same text that our guest speaker preached last Tuesday. It is Isaiah 9 verses 6 and 7, a popular biblical text during Christmas. I find it interesting because he spoke in the same text, but he proposed to see Christmas from the perspective of promise-keeping.
In order to provide the basis for his talk, he utilized two parallel passages, one from the Old Testament and the other from the New Testament. The Old Testament text is taken from the book of Numbers; it is 23:19. The New Testament, on the other hand, is part of the apostle Paul's letter to the church in the city of Corinth; it is 2 Corinthians 1:20.
Though the specific historical contexts of the three passages are different, they share a common theme, and that is the faithfulness of God.
Here is the exact verse in Numbers 23:19:
God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
From a plain reading of the narrative beginning chapters 22 to 25, we understand that the above text is the exact word given by God to Balaam, a prophet summoned by Balak, king of Moab. The king was so afraid of Israel at that time, and so he summoned Balaam to curse Israel. However, instead of cursing, Balaam blessed Israel three times. The king, thinking that Balaam would change the blessing into a curse, invited the prophet to a different place. Nevertheless, to the king's dismay, Balaam remained consistent with his prophecy to bless Israel.
The text tells us that God's words and actions cannot be separated. God cannot speak blessings to a people and then pour out a curse on that people in actuality. This means that God's speech and actions are one. This insight is very relevant to our times where promises are made but unfulfilled.
We hear a lot of promises from the politicians' mouths during campaigns, but when in power, they forget them.
The same thing with business contracts. Words are written on papers, but lawyers interpret them differently; that can only be resolved when the courts make the final decision.
In this age where marriage is in crisis, we also witness widespread infidelity, of which both genders accuse the opposite sex. We see a lot of this on TikTok as if there is an ongoing gender war between masculine women and feminine men. The masculine men are speaking out loud about the widespread abuses committed by masculine women against feminine men. The manly women hate the masculine men for exposing the prevalent double standard and hypocrisy in the name of women's rights. They have been doing this for decades, and the courts, especially in the West, make sure that the women will win this fight. Consequently, men are now withdrawing from dating, marriage, and long-term relationships, for they now realize that the risk is far greater than the reward.
How about in the crypto space? How do advocates of cryptocurrency break their promise? Though the space boasts about finding the solution to the trust problem in finance, unfortunately, many break this value proposition by way of rug pulls and by undermining decentralization.
I should end here, for this is getting too long. I need more time to expand the implication of the parallel text taken from the New Testament.