Here are seven Bible verses or quotes that I hope you’ll love about the promises of God.
Second Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
Speaking for myself, I am so thankful that God was patient with me, giving me time, not wishing that I would perish, granting me time to have a repentant heart and time to be saved. The greatest promise of having our sins removed and the removal of the wrath that was due us is topped by His granting us eternal life (john 3:16) and that promise is absolutely unbreakable (John 10:28-29).
Second Corinthians 7:1 “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.”
The Apostle Paul begins 2nd Corinthians 7 by writing about “these promises” but what promises were these? Paul had just been writing in the previous chapter that just as “God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power” (1st Cor 6:14) because we “were bought with a price” (1st Cor 6:20a) so knowing this, we should be living lives of holiness and cleansing ourselves from ever evil “of body and spirit.”
Hebrews 10:23 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”
Some might confuse this verse by saying we have to “hold fast” or “hold onto” our salvation but it’s our confession of hope in Christ that we to hold fast too. We cling to our hope in Christ without wavering; not because we think we can “hold on” long enough but because it is God “who promised” who “is faithful,” always. He delivers what He promises. It just may not be in our timing.
Second Peter 1:3-4 “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”
If there are two words we can use about the promises of God, Peter nailed them; they are precious and very great. That’s about as much emphasis that Peter could put on it and so if it’s important enough for Peter to stress, then it should be brought to our attention. God’s promise of eternal life means we escape the coming judgment of God that is coming on all the unrepentant sinners but we have escaped the corruption and have received eternal through Christ (Acts 4:12).
Deuteronomy 11:25 “No one shall be able to stand against you. The Lord your God will lay the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you shall tread, as he promised you.”
This was expressly written to Israel but it’s such a powerful promise that I thought it should be included in encouraging quotes about God’s promises because this could be written to us; “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes” (Duet 11:18) and “shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Duet 11:19). I take that as memorizing it but in also displaying such a powerful reminder of God’s promise around the home (Duet 11:20). When we teach these things to our children, we remind them that God’s promises are nothing like human promises because He can bring every one of them to pass and that allows them to trust Him even more, from experience.
Acts 2:39 “For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
On the Day of Pentecost, in the Apostle Peter’s powerful sermon, he almost reminds me of Deuteronomy 11 which is brim-full of the promises of God. This promise is “for you and your children” so the blessings extend from today to generations to come. That doesn’t mean everyone in your family will be saved, but the principles of reminding our children of God’s promises make the soil more fertile for the reception of the seed or Word of God to penetrate and take root. This promise is also for those “who are far off,” extending into all parts of the world, to which nearly every disciple took the gospel (Matt 28:19-20; Acts 1:8).
Romans 4:20-21 “No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.”
We are reading an account of the life of Abraham in Romans 4. Paul referred to Abraham more than anyone in the Book of Romans. In fact, all of chapter 4 is about Abraham and the promises that God made to Him. Abraham, like Noah, believed God and God credited that as righteousness. It was because of God’s promise to Noah that “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith” (Heb 11:7) and by this same “faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going” (Heb 11:8).
Second Corinthians 1:20 says that “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” and perhaps the greatest promise is “the promise that he made to us—eternal life” (1st John 2:25). Joshua could write from experience that “Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass” (Josh 21:45) so let us also say of God “Blessed be the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant” (1st Kings 8:56).
Article by Pastor Jack Wellman