Category: Promises

God Promises – Fear Not


Isaiah 43:1-4 NIV

Israel’s Only Savior

1  But now, this is what the Lord says—
    he who created you, Jacob,
    he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
    I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
    I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
    they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
    you will not be burned;
    the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
    Cush[a] and Seba in your stead.
Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
    and because I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you,
    nations in exchange for your life.

Isaiah 43:10-12 NIV

10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,
    “and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me
    and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
    nor will there be one after me.
11 I, even I, am the Lord,
    and apart from me there is no savior.
12 I have revealed and saved and proclaimed—
    I, and not some foreign god among you.
You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “that I am God.

God’s Promises Fear Not (NOTES)

Isaiah 42:7, 23-25 New International Version

7 to open eyes that are blind,    to free captives from prison    and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

23 Which of you will listen to this

    or pay close attention in time to come?

24 Who handed Jacob over to become loot,

    and Israel to the plunderers?

Was it not the Lord,

    against whom we have sinned?

For they would not follow his ways;

    they did not obey his law.

25 So he poured out on them his burning anger,

    the violence of war.

It enveloped them in flames, yet they did not understand;

    it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.

Isaiah 42 New International Version

The Servant of the Lord

1 “Here is my servant, whom I uphold,    my chosen one in whom I delight I will put my Spirit on him,    and he will bring justice to the nations.

2 He will not shout or cry out,    or raise his voice in the streets.

3 A bruised reed he will not break,    and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;

4     he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth.    In his teaching the islands will put their hope.”

5 This is what God the Lord says—the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out,    who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it,    who gives breath to its people,    and life to those who walk on it:

6 “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness;    I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you    to be a covenant for the people    and a light for the Gentiles,

7 to open eyes that are blind,    to free captives from prison    and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

8 “I am the Lord; that is my name!    I will not yield my glory to another

    or my praise to idols.

9 See, the former things have taken place,    and new things I declare;

before they spring into being    I announce them to you.”

Song of Praise to the Lord

10 Sing to the Lord a new song,    his praise from the ends of the earth,

you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it,    you islands, and all who live in them.

11 Let the wilderness and its towns raise their voices;    let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice. Let the people of Sela sing for joy;    let them shout from the mountaintops.

12 Let them give glory to the Lord    and proclaim his praise in the islands.

13 The Lord will march out like a champion,    like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry    and will triumph over his enemies.

14 “For a long time I have kept silent,    I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth,    I cry out, I gasp and pant.

15 I will lay waste the mountains and hills    and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn rivers into islands    and dry up the pools.

16 I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,    along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them    and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do;    I will not forsake them.

17 But those who trust in idols,    who say to images, ‘You are our gods,’    will be turned back in utter shame.

Israel Blind and Deaf

18 “Hear, you deaf;    look, you blind, and see!

19 Who is blind but my servant,    and deaf like the messenger I send?

Who is blind like the one in covenant with me,    blind like the servant of the Lord?

20 You have seen many things, but you pay no attention;    your ears are open, but you do not listen.”

21 It pleased the Lord    for the sake of his righteousness    to make his law great and glorious.

22 But this is a people plundered and looted,    all of them trapped in pits    or hidden away in prisons. They have become plunder,    with no one to rescue them; they have been made loot,    with no one to say, “Send them back.”

23 Which of you will listen to this    or pay close attention in time to come?

24 Who handed Jacob over to become loot,    and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the Lord,    against whom we have sinned? For they would not follow his ways;   they did not obey his law.

25 So he poured out on them his burning anger,    the violence of war.

It enveloped them in flames, yet they did not understand;    it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.

1 Corinthians 13:5 New International Version

5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

1 Peter 4:8 New International Version

8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

2 Kings 23:13 New International Version

13 The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption—the ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the people of Ammon.

Ezekiel 20:32 New International Version

32 “‘You say, “We want to be like the nations, like the peoples of the world, who serve wood and stone.” But what you have in mind will never happen.

Promises and Consequences – God’s Promises


2 Chronicles 7:12-22 NIV

12 the Lord appeared to him at night and said:

“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.

13 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 

15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.

17 “As for you, if you walk before me faithfully as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws, 18 I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to rule over Israel.’

19 “But if you[a] turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you[b] and go off to serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. 

21 This temple will become a heap of rubble. All[c] who pass by will be appalled and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ 22 People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why he brought all this disaster on them.’”

Promises and Consequences (NOTES)

2 Kings 25:1-8 New International Version

25 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. He encamped outside the city and built siege works all around it. 2 The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

3 By the ninth day of the fourth[a] month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat. 4 Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled at night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Babylonians[b] were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah,[c] 5 but the Babylonian[d] army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered, 6 and he was captured.

He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where sentence was pronounced on him. 7 They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.

8 On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

2 Chronicles 36:11-14 New International Version

Zedekiah King of Judah

11 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. 12 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke the word of the Lord. 13 He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him take an oath in God’s name. He became stiff-necked and hardened his heart and would not turn to the Lord, the God of Israel. 14 Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful, following all the detestable practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the Lord, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

2 Chronicles 1:3-13 New International Version

3 and Solomon and the whole assembly went to the high place at Gibeon, for God’s tent of meeting was there, which Moses the Lord’s servant had made in the wilderness. 4 Now David had brought up the ark of God from Kiriath Jearim to the place he had prepared for it, because he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem. 5 But the bronze altar that Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made was in Gibeon in front of the tabernacle of the Lord; so Solomon and the assembly inquired of him there. 6 Solomon went up to the bronze altar before the Lord in the tent of meeting and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it.

7 That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

8 Solomon answered God, “You have shown great kindness to David my father and have made me king in his place. 9 Now, Lord God, let your promise to my father David be confirmed, for you have made me king over a people who are as numerous as the dust of the earth. 10 Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

11 God said to Solomon, “Since this is your heart’s desire and you have not asked for wealth, possessions or honor, nor for the death of your enemies, and since you have not asked for a long life but for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people over whom I have made you king, 12 therefore wisdom and knowledge will be given you. And I will also give you wealth, possessions and honor, such as no king who was before you ever had and none after you will have.”

13 Then Solomon went to Jerusalem from the high place at Gibeon, from before the tent of meeting. And he reigned over Israel.

2 Chronicles 7:1-10 New International Version

The Dedication of the Temple

7 When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2 The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it. 3 When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying,

“He is good;

    his love endures forever.”

4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. 5 And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the people dedicated the temple of God. 6 The priests took their positions, as did the Levites with the Lord’s musical instruments, which King David had made for praising the Lord and which were used when he gave thanks, saying, “His love endures forever.” Opposite the Levites, the priests blew their trumpets, and all the Israelites were standing.

7 Solomon consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the Lord, and there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar he had made could not hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat portions.

8 So Solomon observed the festival at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him—a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. 9 On the eighth day they held an assembly, for they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and the festival for seven days more. 10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people to their homes, joyful and glad in heart for the good things the Lord had done for David and Solomon and for his people Israel.

Unbroken Promises – God Calls Abraham’s Family

Genesis 12:1-5, 7 NIV

The Call of Abram

12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

“I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.[a]
I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.”[b]

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring[a] I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

Genesis 15:1-7 NIV

The Lord’s Covenant With Abram

15 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:

“Do not be afraid, Abram.
    I am your shield,[a]
    your very great reward.[b]

But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit[c] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring[d] be.”

Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”

Unbroken Promises (NOTES)

Joshua 21:45 New International Version

45 Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.

Joshua 23:14 New International Version

14 “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.

Philippians 1:6 New International Version

6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Numbers 23:19 King James Version

19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

Jeremiah 29:11 King James Version

11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Genesis 3:15 King James Version

15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Genesis 6:6 King James Version

6 And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

Genesis 15:7 New International Version

7 He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”

Nehemiah 9:7 New International Version

7 “You are the Lord God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham.

1 John 2:15 King James Version

15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Genesis 12:10 New International Version

Abram in Egypt

10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.

Genesis 12:14 New International Version

14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman.

Genesis 12:1-3 New International Version

The Call of Abram

12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.[a]

3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;

and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”[b]

Romans 4:3 New International Version

3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”[a]

Galatians 3:6 New International Version

6 So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”[a]

James 2:23 New International Version

23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”[a] and he was called God’s friend

Genesis 15:8-21 New International Version

8 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”

9 So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”

10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.

14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”

17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi[a] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”