“I’ll be back!”  Most of us think of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character in the 1984 apocalyptic classic, The Terminator.   But the phrase did not original with Schwarzenegger.   In 1942 General Douglas MacArthur vowed, “I will return!”  Forced by the Japanese to leave the Philippines, MacArthur’s retreat left islands in the hands of a brutal occupation and condemned 90,000 allied soldiers to what would later be called the Bataan Death March. 

MacArthur loved the Philippines.  The islands were his adopted home.  His father had been military governor there during the early years of the 20^th Century.  And Douglas, himself, had served the islands with distinction as a military officer and adviser from the early 1920s until his retirement in 1937.  The day after Pearl Harbor, Japan launched an invasion of the Philippines.  After struggling to defend his adopted home, MacArthur was forced in March 1942 to abandon the island fortress of Corregidor under orders from President Franklin Roosevelt.

After his evacuation, he learned there were no plans to reoccupy the Philippines or rescue the forces trapped there. Deeply perplexed, he issued a statement to the press in which he promised his men and the people of the Philippines, “I shall return.”  This promise became his mantra during the next two and a half years, and he repeated it often in public appearances.

And true to his word, on October 1944, after advancing island by island across the Pacific Ocean, General Douglas MacArthur waded ashore onto the Philippine island of Leyte, fulfilling his promise.  Like many men of my father’s generation, my father admired MacArthur’s grit and determination.   Against insurmountable odds, he kept his promise.   He fought not only against the Japanese, but often against his own military strategists and war-time politicians.  But he let nothing deter him from keeping his promise to deliver his people and his men.   When a man keeps his promise it makes a deep impression.

But it is not always easy to keep our promises.  Despite our best intentions our own limitations, unavoidable circumstances, and limited knowledge often make us promise breakers rather than promise keepers.   Solomon expresses it well in Proverbs 20:6. “Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find?”  

The opening genealogy in Matthew’s gospel exposes this conundrum.   God has promised good to his people.  The genealogy begins with Abraham.  God promised that all nations would be blessed through him.   Yet, the unfolding generations of his family added exclamation points to the inability of mere men to bring these promises to pass.  Neither patriarchs, kings, nor unsung heroes are able to escape the gravity of their own sinful frailty to bring about God’s promises for “peace and good will to men on earth.”

Yet God is not thwarted.  He is never contingent.  He continues through every generation to do exactly what he promised in his time, in his way, and through the one he promised from before The Fall.   God promised to return.  To be “God with Us.”  And he kept all his promises.   As Paul would note.

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you… was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. 

2 Corinthians 1:19-20

Matthew’s gospel is a story of promises kept.   Time and time again every window into the earthly life and ministry of our Savior is framed with “as it is written.”   The story of Joseph’s perplexity and obedience in Matthew 1:18-25 has many contours, but all these are part of the greater picture of the faithfulness of God who keeps his promise to save us and abide with us in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Not one of God’s good promises every fails.  Not one of his words falls to the ground.  His love for you is steadfast and pushes through every obstacle, adversity, and circumstance to come to you in grace.   Do you feel abandoned or disappointed by God?   Does it seem that God’s promises to deliver and dwell with you have failed?  That the good news is for others, but not for you?  Join us as we examine Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth from Matthew 1:18-25 and consider promises kept.

We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship. Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.