C
charlesj
Guest
The Land promise made to Abraham and his seed, was it fulfilled, or did they fail? Some (premillennialists) think the land promise has NOT been fulfilled.
After reminding Israel of the promise that God had made unto Abraham, after he had led them over the Jordan River into the land of Canaan, Joshua said:
Joshua 21:43-45 43 So the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. 44 The LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the LORD handed all their enemies over to them. 45 Not one of all the LORD's good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.
The “not one of the Lord’s good promises†in this declaration refers to and includes all the Genesis passages where God had promised the land etc to Israel. To my premillennial friends, this INCLUDED the larger land also.
When Israel crossed the Jordan with Joshua and possessed Canaan, did they occupy the whole land of Canaan, the ‘larger land,†extending from the river Euphrates to the river of Egypt, or did they possess only a fractional part of it? Fortunately, Joshua answers this question. Joshua said they possessed “all the land†that God “swore unto their fathers†to give them. All that God ever promised them, Joshua said they possessed. They not only possessed it, but dwelt therein; and NOTHING failed. All came to pass.
Hear Nehemiah:
Nehemiah 9:7-8 7 "You are the LORD God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham. 8 You found his heart faithful to you, and you made a covenant with him to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Girgashites. You have kept your promise because you are righteous.
Here Nehemiah mentioned the borders of the whole land of Canaan recorded in Genesis 15 & 17, the tribes that dwelt there, referred to the fact that God promised all this land to Abraham and his seed.
God did the thing He promised, but the heathen nations were not driven out at the time Israel possessed the land. Their idolatrous altars were left standing. For that reason Israel lost control of a portion of the larger possession. David later recovered the land, as recorded in 2 Samuel 8, verse 3; and in first Kings 4:25. Israel possessed it, but later lost it to idolatrous tribes. David recovered the land at the borders mentioned in the survey, and Solomon, his son, reigned over the land.
David could not have “recovered†it if he had not once possessed it. And Solomon could not have reigned over it if they had not repossessed it.
Stephen’s inspired speech to the Jews in the city of Jerusalem, which cost him his life, also confirms when (time period) the “land promise†was fulfilled.
Acts 7:1-3 Then the high priest asked him, "Are these charges true?" 2 To this he replied: "Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. 3 'Leave your country and your people,' God said, 'and go to the land I will show you.'
Acts 7:5 5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child.
Acts 7:17 17 "As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased.
Here in Acts 7 is an “inspired†interpretation of the time for the fulfillment of the promised to Abraham by Stephen.
Was the land promise “conditional� In the prophetic warning of Moses to Israel was the “if you do†and “if you do not†condition to the promised blessings and the threatened curses. The entire twenty-ninth and thirtieth chapters of Deuteronomy abound in this policy of God’s dealing with Israel.
…Deuteronomy 29:1 These are the terms of the covenant the LORD commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb.
First God gives them “the terms of the covenant†(conditions)
Then in verse 9 (Deut 29:9)
Deuteronomy 29:9 9 carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you
If Israel failed to abide by the terms of the covenant, verse 24 to 28 says: Deuteronomy 29:24-29 24 All the nations will ask: "Why has the LORD done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?" 25 And the answer will be: "It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt. 26 They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them. 27 Therefore the LORD's anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book. 28 In furious anger and in great wrath the LORD uprooted them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now." 29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.
Later in the history of Israel, Jeremiah the prophet commented upon this very policy which God had established in dealing with Israel and used the parable of the potter and the clay.
Jeremiah 18:1-10 NIV Jeremiah 18:1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." 3 So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 6 "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10 and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.
Israel could be the kind that would be molded if she would, but if she did not, then the faulty clay would mar in the potter’s hand. Israel marred in the potter’s hand, and forfeited the inheritance.
This fact is clearly shown in the next chapter of Jeremiah’s prophecy. Standing before the elder of Israel in the city of Jerusalem, Jeremiah took an earthen vessel and broke it into some many pieces that it could not be mended. Casting that broken potter’s vessel at the feet of Israel’s elders, he said to them: in ominous words that their nation would be broken – broken – and could never be made whole again. (Jer 19:1-12.)
A little summary:
1. Moses told Israel plainly that they would perish. “as those nations perished before you, shall ye perish†(Deut 8:19,20) and perish “utterly†(Deut 4:26) â€ÂI denounce unto you this day that ye shall surely perish†(Deut 30:18.
2. Joshua told them plainly that they would lose their inheritance. “know for a certainly that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good aland which the Lord your God hadth given you.†(Josh 23:13)
3. Jeremiah told them plainly that they would be broken vessel – never to be made whole again.. The broken vessel could not be mended.
It pronounced doom of Israel -- the end of their nation.
So said Moses, so said Joshua and so said Jeremiah.
(For those who think Israel is a nation like it was under the Old Covenant, they are not! … and never will be)
your servant in Messiah,
charlesj
After reminding Israel of the promise that God had made unto Abraham, after he had led them over the Jordan River into the land of Canaan, Joshua said:
Joshua 21:43-45 43 So the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. 44 The LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the LORD handed all their enemies over to them. 45 Not one of all the LORD's good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.
The “not one of the Lord’s good promises†in this declaration refers to and includes all the Genesis passages where God had promised the land etc to Israel. To my premillennial friends, this INCLUDED the larger land also.
When Israel crossed the Jordan with Joshua and possessed Canaan, did they occupy the whole land of Canaan, the ‘larger land,†extending from the river Euphrates to the river of Egypt, or did they possess only a fractional part of it? Fortunately, Joshua answers this question. Joshua said they possessed “all the land†that God “swore unto their fathers†to give them. All that God ever promised them, Joshua said they possessed. They not only possessed it, but dwelt therein; and NOTHING failed. All came to pass.
Hear Nehemiah:
Nehemiah 9:7-8 7 "You are the LORD God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham. 8 You found his heart faithful to you, and you made a covenant with him to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Girgashites. You have kept your promise because you are righteous.
Here Nehemiah mentioned the borders of the whole land of Canaan recorded in Genesis 15 & 17, the tribes that dwelt there, referred to the fact that God promised all this land to Abraham and his seed.
God did the thing He promised, but the heathen nations were not driven out at the time Israel possessed the land. Their idolatrous altars were left standing. For that reason Israel lost control of a portion of the larger possession. David later recovered the land, as recorded in 2 Samuel 8, verse 3; and in first Kings 4:25. Israel possessed it, but later lost it to idolatrous tribes. David recovered the land at the borders mentioned in the survey, and Solomon, his son, reigned over the land.
David could not have “recovered†it if he had not once possessed it. And Solomon could not have reigned over it if they had not repossessed it.
Stephen’s inspired speech to the Jews in the city of Jerusalem, which cost him his life, also confirms when (time period) the “land promise†was fulfilled.
Acts 7:1-3 Then the high priest asked him, "Are these charges true?" 2 To this he replied: "Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. 3 'Leave your country and your people,' God said, 'and go to the land I will show you.'
Acts 7:5 5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child.
Acts 7:17 17 "As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased.
Here in Acts 7 is an “inspired†interpretation of the time for the fulfillment of the promised to Abraham by Stephen.
Was the land promise “conditional� In the prophetic warning of Moses to Israel was the “if you do†and “if you do not†condition to the promised blessings and the threatened curses. The entire twenty-ninth and thirtieth chapters of Deuteronomy abound in this policy of God’s dealing with Israel.
…Deuteronomy 29:1 These are the terms of the covenant the LORD commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb.
First God gives them “the terms of the covenant†(conditions)
Then in verse 9 (Deut 29:9)
Deuteronomy 29:9 9 carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you
If Israel failed to abide by the terms of the covenant, verse 24 to 28 says: Deuteronomy 29:24-29 24 All the nations will ask: "Why has the LORD done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?" 25 And the answer will be: "It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt. 26 They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them. 27 Therefore the LORD's anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book. 28 In furious anger and in great wrath the LORD uprooted them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now." 29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.
Later in the history of Israel, Jeremiah the prophet commented upon this very policy which God had established in dealing with Israel and used the parable of the potter and the clay.
Jeremiah 18:1-10 NIV Jeremiah 18:1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." 3 So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 6 "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10 and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.
Israel could be the kind that would be molded if she would, but if she did not, then the faulty clay would mar in the potter’s hand. Israel marred in the potter’s hand, and forfeited the inheritance.
This fact is clearly shown in the next chapter of Jeremiah’s prophecy. Standing before the elder of Israel in the city of Jerusalem, Jeremiah took an earthen vessel and broke it into some many pieces that it could not be mended. Casting that broken potter’s vessel at the feet of Israel’s elders, he said to them: in ominous words that their nation would be broken – broken – and could never be made whole again. (Jer 19:1-12.)
A little summary:
1. Moses told Israel plainly that they would perish. “as those nations perished before you, shall ye perish†(Deut 8:19,20) and perish “utterly†(Deut 4:26) â€ÂI denounce unto you this day that ye shall surely perish†(Deut 30:18.
2. Joshua told them plainly that they would lose their inheritance. “know for a certainly that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good aland which the Lord your God hadth given you.†(Josh 23:13)
3. Jeremiah told them plainly that they would be broken vessel – never to be made whole again.. The broken vessel could not be mended.
It pronounced doom of Israel -- the end of their nation.
So said Moses, so said Joshua and so said Jeremiah.
(For those who think Israel is a nation like it was under the Old Covenant, they are not! … and never will be)
your servant in Messiah,
charlesj
