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The study behind the song
Built on Isaiah 51:5, John 11:25–26, John 11:25, and John 11:26.
Promises of God tells the story of Adoniram Judson, the missionary to Burma, and the two Scriptures that held him up. The opening recalls the death prison at Ava, iron fetters on his ankles, and his famous answer when asked about the prospects: they are as bright as the promises of God. The chorus drives that line home, insisting that even broken and buried bodies cannot cancel what God has said, and that Burma belongs to the King of Kings.
The first verse walks through six fruitless years of translation work, then war and prison, and lands on Isaiah 51:5, where the LORD says the islands will hope in Him and wait for His powerful arm. Within the album's picture of nations once handed over to lesser powers, that promise means the disinherited lands are not forgotten.
The second verse counts the cost: Ann and the children buried, decades of suffering, the whole Bible translated. Its anchor is John 11:25-26, Jesus' words at Lazarus's tomb: whoever believes in Him will live, even though he dies. Judson has no gravestone, but the Burmese Bible and church remain.
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Lyrics
Locked in the death prison of Ava... iron fetters on the ankles.
They ask if the prospects are bright.
They are as bright as the promises of God.
Adoniram Judson sailed to Burma's golden shore
An empire bound to pagan kings and ancient cosmic lore
For six long years he labored hard without a single soul to show
Translating the holy scriptures so the Burmese line could know
Then the war broke out, they threw him in a filthy prison cell
Bound in irons, hung upside down inside a literal hell
But through the stench and torture, his theological vision stood
He knew the disinherited land would taste the Savior's good
He remembered the promise written in the prophets long ago
The text that kept his sanity through every crushing blow:
"The islands will put their hope in Me" the sovereign LORD did say (Isaiah 51:5)
"And they will wait expectantly for My powerful arm" today! (Isaiah 51:5)
The prospects are as bright as the promises of God!
Though our bodies are broken and buried beneath the sod!
The Empire of Burma belongs to the King of Kings!
We are tearing down the high places under the shadow of His wings!
He buried his beloved Ann beneath the Hopea tree
He buried his little children where the wild winds blow free
Thirty-eight years of suffering, his lungs completely torn
But when he died, a living Burmese church had been reborn!
He translated every single word from Genesis to the end
Leaving a dictionary of grace for the native lines to amend
He held to the word of Christ that broke the power of the grave
The bedrock theological truth that empowers the bold and brave:
"I am the resurrection and the life," the Savior did declare (John 11:25)
"The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live" right there! (John 11:25)
"Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die" at all (John 11:26)
The territorial spirits of Ava shattered by the gospel call!
Buried at sea... no stone marks his grave.
But the Burmese Bible remains.
The legal titles have been transferred.
The King has taken the land.
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