Yes, God always keeps his promises. The very first promise God made to mankind can be found in Genesis 3:15: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” God said this to Satan, and the offspring of the woman refers to Jesus Christ, who has come to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). This promise has come true! Jesus defeated Satan when he died on the cross (Hebrews 2:14).
Promises to Abraham
God also gave promises to Abraham (Genesis 12:2-3). He promised that Abraham would become the father of a great nation. But at that time, Abraham was already 75 years old and still had no children. He had to wait another 25 years till the promised baby came, when he was 100 years old and his wife Sarah 90. The book of Hebrews explains that Sarah could have a baby because of her faith in a faithful God: “And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise” (Hebrews 11:11). This example shows that God sometimes decides to wait to keep his promise, but He never forgets about it.
Promises to the people of Israel
God promised the people of Israel that He would bring them into the Promised Land. The promise was first made to Abraham (Genesis 15:18-21) and later repeated to Isaac and Jacob (Genesis 28:13). God was true to his promise, because years later He delivered the offspring of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob from the Egyptians and led them into the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 1:8).
There are many verses in the Psalms and other Bible books that testify to God’s faithfulness (Psalm 98:3, 108:4, 145:13 and many others). For example, Psalm 108:4: “For your steadfast love is great above the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.”
Promises for today
God has promises for the people of today as well. He promises that every person who believes in Jesus, will be saved from hell: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). This is a wonderful promise and we can trust God fully that He will keep this promise! This well-known verse in John also shows us how we should respond to God’s promise: we need to believe, to put our trust in God’s promises.
Warning against unbelief
In the book of Hebrews, a warning is issued against unbelief (Hebrews 3:7,8). A whole generation of Israelites could not enter the Promised Land because they did not trust God to give it to them. They had to wander in the desert till they died and the Land was given to their children (Hebrews 3:16-19). God promises eternal rest in Jesus Christ; let us respond in faith and put our trust in him (Hebrews 3:14)!