Thursday-Promises

Chet Gladkowski
Jun 8
4 min read

These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.

2 Peter 2:17,18

We all like promises. And for most of us, we assume that a promise always brings good news. It’s nice that in this uncertain world someone’s looking after us. That something’s coming to make things better. To solve a problem. To bring us together.

Writers and marketing people have known this from the beginning. Commercials are all about promises. Fixing what’s wrong. Making us more attractive. Healthier. Better smelling. The commercial, “Promise her anything, but give her Arpège [1]” is a great example of this.

Sometimes it’s a hard sell. The message is that you stink and your life also stinks. But the good news is that they’re the only ones that have the one and only answer. Sometimes it’s a soft sell. There’s a good-feeling story about finding love or being part of a community and they are what makes it all possible. In either case, they want you to think of them the next time you make a decision. Especially when that decision involves spending money.

But Peter’s description of these false teachers, these false prophets, goes to another level altogether. He says that they’re making promises that are more than not true. It’s worse than that. Their teachings and promises will lead to problems in this life and in the life to come. There will be destruction in their lives today, and death in the life to come.

Think about the villains in Pinocchio who talk about Pleasure Island [2] to all sorts of unsuspecting people. It’s going to be great. You’re going to have lots of fun. Each and every desire you can imagine will be there for the taking. It won’t cost you anything. No one’s going to tell you what to do. There are no rules. You just walk in and enjoy yourself.

But there’s a lie hidden beneath the surface. Yes, it looks good. Yes, it should add something missing in my life. Yes, it will let me see and experience new things. It will make me a better person. But just like the serpent’s lie to Eve[3], there are terrible consequences[4].

Peter then goes to a lot of effort to describe what these false prophets and teachers are really like inside. On the outside, there’s not a hair out of place. There’s not a wrinkle in their clothes. But on the inside, it’s all together different. They are full of dead men’s bones, and all filthiness[5]. Look at these terrible descriptions.

Moisture. They make promises of renewing and refreshing everything but only deliver a dry and lifeless life. It’s like they suck all the happiness and joy out of life, leaving behind a life that’s not worth living. They describe a life that’s all happiness and deliver nothing but death and destruction.
Mouths. They do a lot of speaking, but their words take people away from their loving Heavenly Father and point only at themselves. They can do anything and everything. There’s no giving to others in their lives, only taking and stuffing it in their own pockets.

Part of what these liars are saying is that you can have it all. Right here and now, there’s nothing that you can’t enjoy. Nothing that you don’t deserve. All you have to do is whatever they say and everything will just fall down and fill your lives with pleasure and happiness.

And there is a small kernel of truth to what they say. You might start receiving the stuff that you think you deserve. That is, for a while. But then, life will go downhill. And fast. The will “enjoy the passing pleasures of sin[6], but they are just that. Passing. Temporary. Here today, gone tomorrow.

There are very few absolute promises about this life. But you can bet your bottom dollar that God sees and hears everything that false prophets and teachers say and do. He sees all the destruction to all the lives that they devastate. But more than see, God will one day bring a horrible judgement and punishment on them.

Most of the people reading this aren’t all that interested in judgement and punishment. That’s because the pain and destruction happened to someone else. But just watch what they say and do when it hits them or their family personally.

Yes, there is forgiveness through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Yes, his blood can make the foulest clean[7], but there can be painful consequences that are best left up to God. We’re all guilty and deserving of God’s anger[8], so there’s no room for pride or condemning others. We are all unworthy of God’s promises.

Noodling Questions