Israel, Land, and Messiah
An Outline
The Abrahamic Promise (Genesis 12:1-7; 13:14-15; 15:5-21; 17:1-8)
- Abraham’s descendants would become a great nation.
- Abraham’s descendants would inhabit a promised land as their inheritance.
- Abraham’s descendants would bless all peoples upon the earth.
The Land Promise
- It was given to Israel “forever” (עוֹלָ֔ם), see Genesis 13:15; Genesis 17:7.
- At the same time, the Levitical priesthood is also “forever” (עוֹלָ֔ם); see Exodus 29:9, 28.
- David also promised his dynasty would be forever (2 Samuel 7:12-16). Later passages say the promise depended on whether David’s descendants obeyed God (1 Chronicles 28:6-9; 1 Kings 9:4-9).
- The Hebrew Scriptures do not have a word for eternity (the Greeks do). The term refers to something permanent or perpetual (NRSV), that is, it is a long-term commitment or reality.
Israel In the Land
- Though the land was given to Israel “forever” or “perpetually,” Israel as a national entity lived in the land on condition of faithfulness (Deuteronomy 29; the curses included exile from the land in Deuteronomy 28:26—reversing the promises, Deuteronomy 28:62-65).
- Ultimately, Israel was exiled from the land but promised a return (Jeremiah 29:10; Daniel 9:1-2).
- Upon their return, they built a new temple, but did not reestablish the kingdom. Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E., and the Romans gave the name “Palestine” to the land after the Bar Kokhba revolt in 132-6 C.E. Jews were expelled from Judea and Jerusalem, but a small group migrated and continued to live in Galilee for centuries.
What does the Land Promise Mean in the Messianic Kingdom?
- The meek will inherit the earth (Matt 5:5; cf. Ps 37:9, 11, 22, 29, 34). Ps 37:29 – “The righteous shall inherit the land, and live in it forever” (לָעַד; perpetuity).
- Amos promises Israel that after the restoration of the “booth of David” (9:11), God would “never again” pluck them from the land “given them” (9:15). James quotes the promise of Amos in reference to the inclusion of the Gentiles in the church (Acts 15:14-18).
- The promise to Abraham included not only the inheritance of the land ancient Israel inhabited but the whole earth. Romans 4:13, “For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.” The Abrahamic promise is not limited to Israel but includes the nations (Gentiles) through faith in the Messiah (the “righteousness of faith”).
- This promise is partly fulfilled through the spread of renewed Israel throughout the world as lights in the darkness, a light to the nations. They fill the earth with the knowledge and glory of God. The messianic mission carries forward Israel’s mission (Isaiah 42:6; 49:6; Acts 13:47).
- The Abrahamic promise is fulfilled eschatologically when the Messiah’s people inherit the land in the new heaven and new earth. Revelation 21:1-7; verse 7: “Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children”.
- “I will be their God and they will be my children” (or people) is God’s covenantal goal for Israel (Gen 17:8; Ex 6:7; 29:45; Lev 26:11-13 [which Paul quotes in 2 Cor 6:16]; Jer 7:23; 24:7; Hos 2:23 [which Peter quotes in 1 Peter 2:10]), which here includes all people who overcome. The land—the new heaven and new earth—is inherited by God’s people, including Gentiles.
- The Abrahamic promise—a nation, a land, a blessing to all peoples—is ultimately fulfilled when renewed Israel (through faith in the Messiah) inhabits the new heaven and new earth as the inheritance of the people of God. Both Jew and Gentile are heirs of the promise because they are both children of Abraham by faith in the Messiah (Gal 3:23-29).
See my blog, “The Land as Our Inheritance,” https://johnmarkhicks.com/2009/10/21/the-land-as-our-inheritance/