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God Makes Some Promises that He Doesn’t Keep

Because there is free will, many of God’s promises to Israel are conditional. The following Scripture lists promises God made that were not fulfilled because Israel did not do what God told them to do.

Ex 33:2 And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.

God said He would drive them out. That’s a promise. But He did not drive them out for the people He promised. This is shown to be true when He did not keep His promise in Josh 3:10. God changed His mind because of their disobedience.

Ex 34:11 Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.

Ex 34:24 For I will cast out the nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither will any man covet your land when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year.

Josh 1:4-5 From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. 5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you.

Josh 3:10 And Joshua said, By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will [b]without fail[/b] drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites.

Here is a litany of promises not kept. But it is not God’s fault. God is able to change His mind because of Israel’s unfaithfulness. Notice, especially, [b]Judges 2:3,20,21 and 22.[/b]

Josh 15:63 As for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.

Josh 16:10 And they did not drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites to this day and have become forced laborers.

Jud 2:1-3 Then the Angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and I said, I will never break My covenant with you. 2 And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this? 3 Therefore I also said, I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.

Jud 2:19-22 And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other gods, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way. 20 Then the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and He said, Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not heeded My voice, 21 I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, 22 so [b]that through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the LORD, to walk in them as their fathers kept them, or not.[/b]

Jud 3:1-6 Now these are the nations which the LORD left, that He might test Israel by them, that is, all who had not known any of the wars in Canaan 2 (this was only so that the generations of the children of Israel might be taught to know war, at least those who had not formerly known it), 3 namely, five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who dwelt in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath. 4 And they were left, [b]that He might test Israel by them, to know whether they would obey the commandments of the LORD,[/b] which He had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. 5 Thus the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 6 And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons; and they served their gods.

In the same way, some prophecy was not fulfilled and never can be fulfilled.

Ezek 26-30 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, Aha! She is broken who was the gateway of the peoples; now she is turned over to me; I shall be filled; she is laid waste. 3 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up. 4 And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers; I will also [b]scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. 5 It shall be a place for spreading nets in the midst of the sea,[/b] for I have spoken, says the Lord GOD; it shall become plunder for the nations. 6 Also her daughter villages which are in the fields shall be slain by the sword. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.

[b]This passage in Ezek 26:7 is the most important. God said He was going to bring Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon against Tyre and totally destroy it. But it did not happen. Thirteen years later in 29:18-21 we see that Nebuchadnezzar couldn’t do it. Why? We don’t know, but it wasn’t because God was unable-He is able. It was because He changed His mind. Maybe the king of Tyre repented like the king of Nineveh when Jonah prophesied “Forty days Nineveh will be destroyed.”[/b]

7 For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, [b]I will bring against Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,[/b] king of kings, with horses, with chariots, and with horsemen, and an army with many people. 8 He will slay with the sword your daughter villages in the fields; [b]he will heap up a siege mound against you, build a wall against you, and raise a defense against you. 9 He will direct his battering rams against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers.[/b] 10 Because of the abundance of his horses, their dust will cover you; your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen, the wagons, and the chariots, when he enters your gates, as men enter a city that has been breached. 11 With the hooves of his horses he will trample all your streets; he will slay your people by the sword, and your strong pillars will fall to the ground. 12 They will plunder your riches and pillage your merchandise; they will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses; they will lay your stones, your timber, and your soil in the midst of the water. 13 I will put an end to the sound of your songs, and the sound of your harps shall be heard no more. 14 I will make you like the top of a rock; you shall be a place for spreading nets, and you shall never be rebuilt, for I the LORD have spoken, says the Lord GOD. 15 Thus says the Lord GOD to Tyre: Will the coastlands not shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded cry, when slaughter is made in the midst of you? 16 Then all the princes of the sea will come down from their thrones, lay aside their robes, and take off their embroidered garments; they will clothe themselves with trembling; they will sit on the ground, tremble every moment, and be astonished at you. 17 And they will take up a lamentation for you, and say to you: How you have perished, O one inhabited by seafaring men, O renowned city, Who was strong at sea, She and her inhabitants, Who caused their terror to be on all her inhabitants! 18 Now the coastlands tremble on the day of your fall; Yes, the coastlands by the sea are troubled at your departure. 19 For thus says the Lord GOD: When I make you a desolate city, like cities that are not inhabited, when I bring the deep upon you, and great waters cover you, 20 then I will bring you down with those who descend into the Pit, to the people of old, and I will make you dwell in the lowest part of the earth, in places desolate from antiquity, with those who go down to the Pit, so that you may never be inhabited; and I shall establish glory in the land of the living. 21 I will make you a terror, and you shall be no more; though you are sought for, you will never be found again, says the Lord GOD.

27:1 The word of the LORD came again to me, saying, 2 Now, son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyre, 3 and say to Tyre, You who are situated at the entrance of the sea, merchant of the peoples on many coastlands, thus says the Lord GOD: O Tyre, you have said, I am perfect in beauty. 4 Your borders are in the midst of the seas. Your builders have perfected your beauty. . . 27 Your riches, wares, and merchandise, Your mariners and pilots, Your caulkers and merchandisers, All your men of war who are in you, And the entire company which is in your midst, Will fall into the midst of the seas on the day of your ruin. 28 The common-land will shake at the sound of the cry of your pilots. 29 All who handle the oar, The mariners, All the pilots of the sea Will come down from their ships and stand on the shore. . . 32 In their wailing for you They will take up a lamentation, And lament for you: What city is like Tyre, Destroyed in the midst of the sea?. . . 34 But you are broken by the seas in the depths of the waters; Your merchandise and the entire company will fall in your midst . . . .29:1 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt. 3 Speak, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster who lies in the midst of his rivers, Who has said, My River is my own; I have made it for myself. 4 But I will put hooks in your jaws, And cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your scales; I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers, And all the fish in your rivers will stick to your scales. 5 I will leave you in the wilderness, You and all the fish of your rivers; You shall fall on the open field; You shall not be picked up or gathered. I have given you as food To the beasts of the field And to the birds of the heavens. 6 Then all the inhabitants of Egypt Shall know that I am the LORD, Because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. 7 When they took hold of you with the hand, You broke and tore all their shoulders; When they leaned on you, You broke and made all their backs quiver. 8 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Surely I will bring a sword upon you and cut off from you man and beast. 9 And the land of Egypt shall become desolate and waste; then they will know that I am the LORD, because he said, The River is mine, and I have made it. 10 Indeed, therefore, I am against you and against your rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Ethiopia. 11 Neither foot of man shall pass through it nor foot of beast pass through it, and it shall be uninhabited forty years. 12 I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate; and among the cities that are laid waste, her cities shall be desolate forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. 13 Yet, thus says the Lord GOD: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered. 14 I will bring back the captives of Egypt and cause them to return to the land of Pathros, to the land of their origin, and there they shall be a lowly kingdom. 15 It shall be the lowliest of kingdoms; it shall never again exalt itself above the nations, for I will diminish them so that they will not rule over the nations anymore. 16 No longer shall it be the confidence of the house of Israel, but will remind them of their iniquity when they turned to follow them. Then they shall know that I am the Lord GOD. 17 And it came to pass in the [b]twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 18 Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to labor strenuously against Tyre; every head was made bald, and every shoulder rubbed raw; yet neither he nor his army received wages from Tyre, for the labor which they expended on it. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Surely I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon;[/b] he shall take away her wealth, carry off her spoil, and remove her pillage; and that will be the wages for his army. 20 I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor, because they worked for Me, says the Lord GOD. 21 In that day I will cause the horn of the house of Israel to spring forth, and I will open your mouth to speak in their midst. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.

30:1 The word of the LORD came to me again, saying, 2 Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Wail, Woe to the day! 3 For the day is near, Even the day of the LORD is near; It will be a day of clouds, the time of the Gentiles. 4 The sword shall come upon Egypt, And great anguish shall be in Ethiopia, When the slain fall in Egypt, And they take away her wealth, And her foundations are broken down. 5 Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia, all the mingled people, Chub, and the men of the lands who are allied, shall fall with them by the sword. 6 Thus says the LORD: Those who uphold Egypt shall fall, And the pride of her power shall come down. From Migdol to Syene Those within her shall fall by the sword, Says the Lord GOD. 7 They shall be desolate in the midst of the desolate countries, And her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are laid waste. 8 Then they will know that I am the LORD, When I have set a fire in Egypt And all her helpers are destroyed. 9 On that day messengers shall go forth from Me in ships To make the careless Ethiopians afraid, And great anguish shall come upon them, As on the day of Egypt; For indeed it is coming! 10 Thus says the Lord GOD: [b]I will also make a multitude of Egypt to cease By the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 11 He and his people with him, the most terrible of the nations, Shall be brought to destroy the land; They shall draw their swords against Egypt, And fill the land with the slain. 12 I will make the rivers dry, And sell the land into the hand of the wicked; I will make the land waste, and all that is in it, By the hand of aliens. I, the LORD, have spoken. . . . .

But this did not happen either-maybe for the same reason.[/b]

[b]We can also hinder God’s will by our disobedience.[/b]

1 Ti 2:4 says God desires [wills] all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Yet all men are not saved. Even Christians reject the will of God. Everyone of us have. 1 Th 4:3-7 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. 7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Lk 7:30 But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.

Untold millions have rejected His counsel for them since that time. Though man does reject Gods counsel for himself and does resist His will, no one can resist His counsel as it pertains to His purpose. Rom 9:19 You will say to me then, Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?

John 12:32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all to Myself.

[b]God wants the elect to make his own election sure by doing the things listed in the first nine verses of 2 Pe 1.[/b]

2 Pe 1:10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble. We’ve already seen 1 Ti 2:4 says God desires [wills] all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. But did you know that 2 Pet 3:9 says, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. [mh boulomeno" tina apolesqai, alla panta ei" metanoian cwresai]