Thus the LORD gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. 44 And the LORD gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the LORD had given all their enemies into their hands. 45 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 21:43 ESV)
In the Hebrew text of these three verses, the word “all” appears no less than six times. This passage comes as the final word in a detailed list of all the different land allocations that were given to the children of Israel after they had conquered the promised land of Canaan. Every major city and its surrounding villages, every regional boundary bordering the numerous brooks and streams that ran through Israel, every bit of pastureland belonging to all the different tribes was accounted for. Nothing was left out. Not because Israel had done a marvelous job in the conquest! In fact, they had failed to obey God’s commands fully in some cases, allowing some of the Canaanites to remain in the land.
But the reason that they received their inheritance is because God ALWAYS keeps his promises. They received the land because God swore to give the land to their ancestors and so he did (21:43). They had peace from their enemies because the LORD gave it to them (21:44). No giant Anakim soldier or fortified city could resist them because the Lord had “handed over all their enemies to them” (21:44). Every single promise—down to the last one—was accomplished.
What assurance this gives to us as believers in an ever-changing world! How much spiritual bedrock this gives to us to build our entire lives on! Are we not painfully aware of how many in this world (us included) make promises that are not or cannot be kept?
How many grooms have gazed into the eyes of their beautiful brides on their wedding day declaring their steadfast love yet left them for some mistress a few years later? How many fathers have made promises to their little girls to return home safely from war only to have a military commander salute their spouse at the door with a folded flag and a letter of condolences? How many businessmen have promised their employees the investment opportunity of a lifetime with their novel product only to have been reduced to rags and bankruptcy by a downturn of the stock market or a change in public tastes?
Christian, are you staggered by our God who always keeps his promises? When we are deserted or betrayed by our closest friends, we will never truly be alone because our Lord has promised to never leave us or forsake us (Deut 31:6). When we sin against our God despite our adamant promises to never do so again and turn to him in humility and repentance, we will never hear him say, “You have sinned too much! The blood of the cross is no longer good for you!” God will never throw us out in exasperation for he is faithful and just to cleanse us from all righteousness (1 John 1:9).
Christian, let us never take for granted the incredible promises of God! Let us weep for joy that the fountain of grace will never run dry because we serve a God who never goes back on his Word! As surely as the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return there, neither does God’s Word ever return empty. The heavens and the earth will be burnt up with a roar, but our Lord’s words will never pass away. The friend we once ate bread with might turn against us (Ps 41:9), but Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8). Because our God does not change, the children of Jacob were not consumed (Mal 3:6) and neither are we.
All praise and glory be to our God whose promises never fail!
Written by: Samuel Chua
