Downloads
Think about the promises you hear in a normal week. "I'll pay you back tomorrow." "Unlimited data, no hidden fees." "I'll pick you up at 3:30." Some of those you would trust completely. Others, not so much. Why the difference?
A promise is only as good as the person who makes it. This term we look at the biggest promises ever made, the ones God makes in the Bible, and we ask one question: can the one who made them be trusted?
What you'll learn
- The Bible's big story in six parts, and what holds it all together
- Why the Bible says God's promises can always be trusted
- What a covenant is, and how it is different from an ordinary promise or a contract
What makes a promise worth trusting?
When you decide whether to trust a promise, you are really asking two questions about the person who made it:
- Character: Are they honest? Do they actually mean it?
- Power: Are they able to do what they said?
A friend might mean every word when they promise to pay you back, but if they have no money, the promise fails. A company might have the power to give you a good deal, but if they are not honest, the promise fails. A promise needs both.
The big story in six parts
If you studied Bible in Year 7, you learnt the plot of the Bible. Here it is again in six parts:
| Part | What happens |
|---|---|
| Creation | God makes a good world and makes people in his image to know him. |
| The Fall | People turn away from God, and sin breaks everything. |
| Israel | God chooses a people, makes promises, gives his law and sends prophets. |
| Jesus | God's Son lives, dies and rises again to rescue his people. |
| The Church | The Holy Spirit gathers God's people to tell the world about Jesus. |
| New Creation | Jesus returns to put everything right and make all things new. |
Last year the question was, "What happens?" This year the question is, "What holds it all together?" The Bible's answer is a God who makes promises and keeps them.
A God who keeps his word
In the book of Numbers, the people of Israel are travelling through the wilderness. Balak, the king of Moab, is scared of them. So he pays a prophet called Balaam to put a curse on them. Balaam tries three times. Every time he opens his mouth, a blessing comes out instead of a curse. In the middle of all this, Balaam says:
"God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?" (Numbers 23:19)
Notice what this verse says God is not like. People lie. People change their minds. People promise things and then don't follow through. God doesn't. The two questions at the end of the verse expect a clear answer: of course God acts on what he says, and of course he keeps what he promises.
That is why Balak's plan was never going to work. Hundreds of years earlier, God had promised to bless Abraham's family (Genesis 12:3). No amount of money could change God's mind.
So God passes both tests. He has perfect character (he does not lie) and perfect power (he does what he says).
More than a thousand years later, the apostle Paul wrote this:
"For all the promises of God are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through Him, our ‘Amen’ is spoken to the glory of God." (2 Corinthians 1:20)
Paul is saying that Jesus is God's great "Yes" to every promise he ever made. And "Amen" means "it is true" or "so be it". When Christians say "Amen" at the end of a prayer, they are agreeing that God keeps his word.
What is a covenant?
The Bible has a special word for God's biggest promises: covenant. A covenant is a serious, binding promise that God makes to bring people into a relationship with him. God commits himself to his people, and they belong to him.
Here is how a covenant compares with things you already know:
| Ordinary promise | Contract | Covenant | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Example | "I'll text you later." | A phone plan | Marriage; God's covenants |
| What it is about | A task | A deal | A relationship |
| If one side breaks it | Trust is damaged | The deal is off, or there's a penalty | The faithful side keeps loving and works to restore it |
| How long | Usually short | Fixed term | Often lifelong or forever |
God's covenants often come with a sign, like a rainbow or a cup at a meal, to help people remember.
The promise chain
This term you will follow God's covenant promises through the Bible, one link at a time, like a chain stretching from Genesis to Revelation:
| Lesson | Who | The promise in brief |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Adam and Eve | A child of the woman will crush the serpent. |
| 3 | Noah | Never again a flood to destroy the earth. |
| 4 | Abraham | A people, a land and a blessing for the world. |
| 5 | Moses and Israel | I will be your God; you will be my people. |
| 6 | David | A king from your family will reign forever. |
| 7 | Jeremiah, then Jesus | A new covenant: new hearts and forgiveness. |
| 8 | Everyone who trusts Jesus | Every promise is "Yes" in Jesus. |
The anchor for the whole chain is today's verse: God keeps his word (Numbers 23:19).
Key words
- Promise: saying you will definitely do something.
- Covenant: a serious, binding promise God makes to bring people into a relationship with him.
- Sign: an object or event that reminds people of a covenant.
- Amen: "it is true" or "so be it".
How this points to Jesus
Every promise God makes in the Old Testament is like an arrow pointing forward. Paul says they all land on Jesus: he is God's "Yes" to every one of them. As you follow the promise chain this term, watch how each link leads to him.
Think about it
Why do people break promises, and which of those reasons could never apply to God?Show answer
People break promises because they lie, forget, change their minds or aren't able to do what they said. Numbers 23:19 says God doesn't lie or change his mind, and he has the power to do everything he says.
How is a covenant different from a contract like a phone plan?Show answer
A contract is a deal about goods and money that ends if someone breaks it. A covenant is about a relationship, and when one side breaks it, the faithful side keeps loving and works to put it right.
If God always keeps his word, why does it sometimes feel like he is slow?Show answer
God's timing is often different from ours. Later this term you'll see that Abraham waited 25 years for the son God promised, but the promise still came true.
Take it further
This week, notice the promises people make around you, and the ones you make. Which ones are kept? Then ask yourself: what difference would it make to my week if I really believed God keeps his promises? Your worksheet helps you retell the big story and start your own promise chain.
If you'd like to, you could pray:
God, thank you that you are not like us. You don't lie and you don't change your mind. Help me to trust your promises, and to see how they all come true in Jesus. Amen.