8,810 Promises

Dr. Everek R. Storms of Ontario spent a vast amount of time studying the promises of Scripture. Writing in Contact Magazine, he said: “The Holy Scriptures contain a grand total of 8,810 promises.

How do I know? I counted them. “All my life I have seen various figures quoted as to the number of promises in the Bible. The one most generally given is 30,000.

Since this is a round number with four zeroes in it, I have always been a little suspicious about it. Furthermore, since there are only 31,101 verses in the Bible, it would mean that there would be practically one promise in every verse. I do not guarantee my count to be perfect, but it is the most accurate I know of.’ Dr.

Storms goes on to classify the promises found in Scripture into eight kinds: • There are 7,487 promises from God to man (about 85 percent of all the Bible’s promises). • There are 991 instances of one person making a promise to another person. • There are 290 promises from man to God. • There are promises made by the angels, most of them found in Luke. • There are nine promises made by “that old liar, the devil!’ (For example, his promise to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world ifhe would fall down and worship him.) • Two promises are made by an evil spirit. • Two are made by God the Father to God the Son.

Dr. Storms additionally found that one book of the Bible contains no promise at all-Titus. Ephesians has only six promises. On the other hand, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel have over 1,000 promises each.

What section of Scripture most impressed Dr. Storms? He wrote, “The most outstanding chapter as far as promises are concerned in Psalm 37.

Practically every verse is a most wonderful promise.”1 1 Everek R. Storms, Standing on the Promises, Contact, March 1978, 13-14. i ]. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press, 1973), 103.