Does God keep His promises and commitments even when humans fail to abide
by theirs? God's character and values never change. Therefore He could
never have abandoned His promises to ancient Israel. Through the mouth
of one of His prophets He exclaimed to Israel: "For I am the LORD, I do
not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. Yet
from the days of your fathers you have gone away from My ordinances and
have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you..." (Malachi 3:6-7).
Through the prophet Jeremiah, God promised that Israel as a nation would
continue to exist as long as the sun, moon and stars continued to shine
(Jeremiah 31:35-36). He promises to protect and guide the destiny of all the
descendants of ancient Israel until they-including those known as
Jews and those among the lost 10 tribes-are restored as one nation at
Christ's return.
God has made wonderful promises-some to individuals, some to nations
and some to all of mankind. If He ever abandoned any promise and commitment
to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants, the Israelites, how could
we ever believe He would keep His promises to us?
Our faith rests on the premise that God means what He says. It is because
He is faithful to all of His commitments that we have a solid
basis for trusting Him to keep His promises.
We see, then, that God's promises to ancient Israel are vitally important to
us personally. The truthfulness of the Bible itself would collapse if God
failed to fulfill His commitments to those exiled people. This is another
reason for studying this subject. Either these so-called lost tribes still
exist or God was not faithful to His promises.
