The Promised Land

The Promised Land I. The doctrine of the promised land is best understood through the teachings/writings of the N.T. A. The apostles of Jesus Christ under the Holy Ghost’s direction are the final judges of truth. 1JO 4:6. B. The O.T. prophecy must be understood through their word of prophecy. 1PE 1:10-12; 2PE 1:19-21. C. One does not need to choose between the O.T. prophets and the N.T. apostles, but one does need to choose between the N.T. apostles and any teaching contrary to theirs. II. It is common among modern Christians to assume that the geography of the modern State of Israel is theirs by divine grant as their promised land. Major pillars of this assumption are: A. The promised land was meant for all the descendants of Abraham without qualification. B. The modern State of Israel is the fulfillment of the many promises in the O.T. of a return to the land. C. O.T. Israel never completely inherited the land of Canaan as God promised them; therefore the re-establishing of the Israelite state was necessary to complete the promise. III. The promised land was of the Abrahamic Covenant, the covenant of promise. A. God swore this to Abraham 430 years before the Law was given on Mt. Sinai. GEN 12:1-3, 6-7; 13:12-17; 15:18-21 c/w GAL 3:17. B. The Abrahamic Covenant of promise included unique relationship to God. GEN 17:7-8. C. This Covenant was restated in Isaac and Jacob. GEN 26:3-4; 28:13-15. D. Neither Abraham, Isaac or Jacob received any geographical inheritance in Canaan. ACT 7:2-7; HEB 11:8-9. E. God cannot lie (TIT 1:2); therefore the promised land was not limited to earthly inheritance, and the fathers knew this. HEB 11:10-16. 1. stranger: One who belongs to another country, a foreigner; chiefly (now exclusively), one who resides in or comes to a country to which he is a foreigner; an alien. 2. pilgrim: One who travels from place to place; a person on a journey; a wayfarer, a traveller; a wanderer; a sojourner. (Now poet. or rhet. in general sense.) 3. sojourn: intr. To make a temporary stay in a place; to remain or reside for a time. 4. Even when the Jews were well established as a nation in Canaan, the spiritually- minded deemed themselves as strangers, pilgrims, sojourners. 1CH 29:15; PSA 119:19, 54. 5. When Israel was to enter and possess Canaan, God advised them of their place and that the land was His. LEV 25:23 c/w 2CH 7:20. 6. No place on earth is the real promised land to the spiritual man. 1PE 2:11; HEB 13:14. IV. The Abrahamic covenant of promise was to Abraham and his Seed, Jesus Christ. GAL 3:16. A. If God had intended “seeds” instead of “seed,” this would have included all the natural posterity of Abraham, including Ishmael, the sons of Keturah, and Esau. GEN 17:18-19; 25:1-2; MAL 1:1-3. B. The spiritual posterity of Abraham only were/are the children of the promise and counted for the seed. ROM 9:6-8; GAL 3:29; GAL 4:28-29. C. Earthly Canaan was/is Immanuel’s land. ISA 8:8. D. Those who were only the natural posterity of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob were/are The Promised Land 12-9-23 Page 1 of 2  NOT the children of the promise although they were along for the ride. The true and rightful possessors of the promised land are Jesus Christ and all in Him. V. The descendants of Abraham by Moses and Joshua did eventually enter and possess the land of promise under the later Law Covenant from Sinai. EXO 6:7-8. A. They got everything God had promised. JOS 11:23; 21:43-45 c/w NEH 9:7-8. B. Therefore it is wrong to assume that God had to, thousands of years later, re-establish the Jews in Palestine to fully inherit it. C. Modern Israel in Palestine has many geopolitical implications that are fraught with potential for great strife and is curiously there with the support of Christians. D. Israel’s former possession of the land was conditioned upon compliance with the terms of the Sinaitic covenant which has become the Old Covenant/Testament. 1. If Israel broke the Sinaitic covenant, they would be cursed and ultimately dispossessed of their land and scattered. LEV 26:14-15, 31-35. 2. This happened first to the ten tribes by the hand of the Assyrians, then to Judah (and Benjamin) by the Babylonians. 3. As long as the Sinaitic Covenant was in force, there was a chance of return to the land by repentance. LEV 26:40-46. 4. There is a large difference between a restoration to the land by humble confession of sin, repentance, etc. and being financially and politically shoehorned back into the land in spite of repentance. VI. The divine promises of a certain return to the land are virtually all speaking of the return from the Babylonian captivity. A. Ezekiel and Jeremiah were prophets at the time of the Babylonian captivity who both spoke of such return but Jeremiah was prolific about it. JER 16:14-15; JER 23:3; JER 24:5-6; JER 29:10-14; JER 30:3; JER 30:10; JER 30:18; JER 31:8-10; JER 32:37; JER 33:7; JER 46:27; JER 50:18-19. B. The return from the 70-year captivity fulfilled Jeremiah’s words. JER 29:10; EZR 1:1-3. C. Of that momentous season and the rebuilding of the land, city and temple in the days of Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, etc., the Lord also declared that He had returned (ZEC 1:16; ZEC 8:2-3). This was no minor return! D. Mind that their return was to be “...as at the first...” (JER 33:7, 11), according to the bless v. curse order of the Sinaitic covenant. They could lose the land again, and did. E. There is a curious lacking of “return” promises after the return from Babylon. VII. Jeremiah singularly declared a coming new covenant with Israel and Judah. JER 31:31-34. A. The New Covenant/Testament was made and ratified by Jesus Christ. MAT 26:28. B. The Old Covenant/Testament was by this made of no effect. HEB 9:15-17. C. Israel and Judah have only one Covenant by which they can relate to God: the New Covenant which is devoid of promises of return to and repossession of Canaan. D. The New Testament terminated that vain hope in favor of a better hope: Jesus Christ as king over a superior nation, a holy nation: the spiritual house which is His church (1PE 2:5-9), and a lively hope of heaven by His resurrection. 1PE 1:3-4. E. The pathway to this hope is not a return to the land but to the LORD by repentance, faith and baptism. 2CO 3:14-16 c/w ACT 2:36-41. VIII. The true promised land is heavenly Jerusalem, heavenly Zion. GAL 4:26; HEB 12:22-24. The Promised Land 12-9-23 Page 2 of 2