Why is it so hard for people to keep their promises? Governments break promises, politicians break promises, husbands and wives break promises to each other, parents break promises to their children, friends break promises to each other, leaders break promises to their followers, businesses break promises to their customers, employers break promises to their employees… the list goes on. We end up disillusioned at best, and very hurt and even scarred at worst by the promises people make and then break. Who can we trust to keep their promises? We can trust in God to keep his promises. Not only because we can rely on his character – he is holy, perfect, reliable, sinless, honest, and so on. But we can rely on his track record of faithfully keeping his promises in the past. Matthew’s Gospel was written to a largely Jewish audience. For them, it mattered a lot that Jesus was the promised Messiah, and that many prophecies were fulfilled at his birth, his ministry, and his suffering/death/resurrection. Most of the prophecies fulfilled in the New Testament are mentioned in Matthew’s gospel, often his alone. He also quotes from the Old Testament sixty-eight times, often with a phrase similar to “it is written…” or “All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: …”. As we draw closer towards Christmas, the prophecies around Jesus’ birth are especially relevant. Here are the three groupings of some of the prophecies or fulfilments of Scripture through Jesus: God kept his promises at Jesus’ birth God kept his promises in Jesus’ ministry God kept his promises at Jesus’ suffering/death/resurrection God kept his promises – he will keep his promises: God has kept his promises in the past. We can rely on him to keep his promises in the future. We can confidently trust, in faith, that God will keep his promises. If we have known the forgiveness of sins that comes through faith in Jesus (John 3:16, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 3:21-22), we can confidently look forward for God to keep his promises of a glorious future ahead: I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:3–5, NLT)