So said Donald Trump on 20th July 2024 at one of his campaign rallies, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He went on to win the presidency, yes; but months on from his inauguration, despite countless phone calls and meetings with both sides, the Russia/Ukraine war rumbles on. His promise has fallen flat on its face.
All through history men and women have made grand promises, often in a bid to get rich or become famous. Yet no one can tell the future. Great promises soon become great disappointments.
God, on the other hand, does tell the future. In detail.
He is the all-knowing, eternal God who keeps every promise He makes. His word emphasises this: “when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken” (Deuteronomy 18:22). But we will know that God has spoken when His promises come true.
As we read through the Bible, we find that many of His promises have already been kept. Time after time, promises made centuries earlier came to be fulfilled in astonishing detail.
The first promise recorded in the Bible was given to Satan just after he had successfully tempted Eve to rebel against her Creator and take the forbidden fruit. God promised:
“I will put enmity between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15).
God was promising that a day would come when a child born into Eve’s family would defeat Satan yet would suffer in doing so. Isn’t this what happened at the cross when the Lord Jesus died? Interestingly it would not be accomplished by the “Seed” of the man, but by the “Seed” of the woman – the first promise of the virgin birth of the coming Saviour. It was bad news for God’s archenemy, but it is good news for us.
As we read though the Bible we discover further promises about this child, which make clearer who He is and what He will do. It’s as though God is giving a detailed “checklist” by which we can confirm the promised Victor’s identity when He comes. I will give you a few of the highlights.
The prophet Micah, writing 700 years before Jesus Christ’s birth, foretold not only where He would be born, but also that He would be the eternal One: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2).
Further to this, His many miracles, His rejection by his own people, and His death by crucifixion along with its significance, were all specified centuries before His birth. “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief . . . He was wounded for our transgressions . . . When You make His soul an offering for sin” (Isaiah 53:3,5,10).
King David recorded an astoundingly accurate account of Christ’s sufferings on the cross around 1000BC: “They pierced My hands and My feet . . . They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots” (Psalm 22:16,18). Even the coming Saviour’s resurrection from the dead and his ascension to heaven were promised: “you will not . . . allow your holy one to rot in the grave” (Psalm 16:10 NLT). Instead, “The LORD said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool’” (Psalm 110:1). There would be a delay before His enemies are finally judged and made to bow before Him.
You would expect that such a long list of promises, given over hundreds of years, could not all come to be fulfilled in one individual. Yet they, and many others, are fulfilled perfectly in Jesus Christ. How could so many details be accurately predicted hundreds of years before He came? Men have a terrible track record when it comes to predicting the future. Only the all-knowing God could keep such promises. We can therefore conclude that Jesus is the promised Messiah, and the Bible is the Word of the living God. Our Creator has spoken, and we need to listen.
He wants us to know that we have rebelled against Him (Colossians 1:21). We deserve His righteous, eternal judgement. Yet Jesus Christ has made God’s salvation available to us, through His death for sin and His resurrection from the dead. He currently sits exalted at God’s right hand and will come again to reign as King when the time is right. All who turn from their sins to Him, placing their trust in Him alone for salvation, will receive eternal life (John 3:16) and the blessing of peace with God (Romans 5:1). God’s promise is that “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36). Will you trust Him?
