–continuing from part 3.
Here is a fourth, and most definitive basis for “spiritualizing” the land promise….
4) The connection between land and rest
To start, read these verses in Hebrews 4.
Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath,’They shall not enter my rest,” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.” Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice,do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. (Heb. 4:1-11)
The bolded section points out that the rest offered to the Israelites is experienced by us who believe. And the quote in that section, is taken from Ps. 95:
Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.” Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.” (Ps. 95:7b-11)
So again, it is clear, that the quote “They shall not enter my rest” is taken from Ps. 95 and quoted in Heb. 4. but now, notice Numbers 14. Keep in mind that even in Ps. 95 that phrase is in quotation marks. Ps. 95 is reminding us of what God said back in Numbers 14:
But truly, as I live… none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it…. “As I live, declares the LORD,… not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. (Num. 14:21a, 22-23, 28b, 30)
And a summary of this passage is mentioned in Deut. 1 where it is specified that God “swore” and in anger made this pronouncement:
And the LORD heard your words and was angered, and he swore, “Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him and to his children I will give the land on which he has trodden, because he has wholly followed the LORD!” (Deut. 1:34-35)
In the above two passages, I hope you see that God is saying these people won’t enter the land. Yet in Ps. 95 and Hebrews 4, it is quoted that God said they won’t enter His rest. There is an explicit connection between the land, and the concept of rest. See also this quote below:
…for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you. But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety,… (Deut 12:9-10)
Here again, the rest, the inheritance, is living in the land God gives to Israel. Entering the land, is entering rest.
Now since Heb. 3 and 4 clearly make the rest a spiritual reality, the land becomes spiritual too. Entering the rest is something believers have done, and the unbelieving Israelites did not do. If we are experiencing spiritual rest, a spiritual “Sabbath rest”, we are enjoying the spiritual reality the land pointed to. All believers, Gentile or Jew, experience the reality the land pointed to — namely, fellowship with God and enjoyment of His blessings.
Ultimately, Jew and Gentile will live with God on the New Earth, the New Promised Land. With this thought, let’s jump one step further.
Keeping the Promised Land in Perspective
The promised land of Canaan, has to be kept in perspective with other Biblical lands: namely the paradise that was lost, and the future paradise that’s coming. Eden was a place of fellowship with God and enjoyment of His many blessings. The New Earth, and the New Jerusalem, will be as well. In Eden, man was to obey God and fulfill a special calling, in Canaan, Israel was to do the same. Today, each believer enjoys special fellowship with the Holy Spirit and longs for the future fulfillment of all God’s promises in the New Paradise where communion with God and obedience to His calling will be eternally experienced.
Just as Canaan was to be entered by faith, the “Sabbath rest” experienced by believers must be entered by faith as well. And entrance into God’s future kingdom of eternal rest and joy in the New Earth is only entered by faith. The road to Canaan started with Passover and crossing the Red Sea. And interestingly, Passover is a clear parallel with Christ’s death and our salvation, and 1 Cor. 10:1-4 connects the crossing of the Red Sea with baptism. Then the wilderness wanderings required faith and endurance, and the many trials and tribulations that await believers require the same. Those same wanderings included a partaking of a miraculous food and drink, and again 1 Cor. 10-11 would indicate that the Lord’s Supper parallels that experience. Ultimately, the Jordan was crossed by faith, and God’s rest was entered. One day, we’ll cross the Jordan and enter Heaven’s bliss.
Do any old-time hymns sound appropriate right about now? Believers of old have long compared the Promised Land with Heaven, and there is adequate Scriptural basis for this comparison.
In the next (and final) post in this series, I hope to show some ramifications of understanding the promise of the land from this redemptive-historical perspective.
Nice post. I’m always pleased to read articles (blogs, whatever) who address redemptive history in an appropriate manner. You’ve done a nice job of explaining the importance of the land as it pertains to rest from a reformed perspective. ~CT
Thanks, CT. A Redemptive Historical approach is very important in my view as well. It illumines the word and helps the whole Bible to fit together wonderfully for you.
Blessings in Christ,
Bob
CT,
I notice you recommend Christ of the Covenants, and one of John Frame’s books. I’ve read Christ of the Covenants and recommend it highly, and I respect John Frame greatly.
Blessings again,
Bob
You continue to be very scriptural and analytical with this treatise, Bob! Great job!
As for the spiritual meaning of Israel crossing through (being baptized into) the Red Sea and the later generation having to cross through another body of water, the Jordan, being baptized anew, that makes for a very good subject in itself.
I believe, spiritually, that all who are partakers of the “first resurrection” (re-born by water and Spirit) have crossed the Jordan (“choose this day”) and are in Canaan now, warring against the enemies of their souls which reside in their sinful natures.
Granted, not everything is spiritual in it’s meaning, but I believe almost everything in the Old Testament has a spiritual meaning. After all, we are informed repeatedly that all that went before were mere shadows, which validates these as poor copies of things outside of this plane, and meant for our learning. (1 Corinth 10:6, 2 Corinth 3:7-11, Hebrews 11, etc.)
Again, great, thought provoking stuff!
Bob, I understand your point, and it makes sense, but unfortunately, it’s fiction. The rest in Hebrews 4 is a parallel with the rest that the Israelites experienced by entering the promised land. This is an admonition to believers in the church to continue in their faith (perseverence of the saints) as the faithful Israelites did. There is not explicit transfer of the land covenant becoming a spiritual land fulfilment. That is eisogesis. God did not promise spiritual land to Abraham. God couldn’t have made it more clear:
Genesis 13:14-15 And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: 15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
Abraham was not seeing heaven, a new Jerusalem or any of that. He was seeing real land in a real place in the middle east. If God didn’t mean what He said, either He lied, or He deceived Abraham.
Genesis 15:18 18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
That land is rightfully Israel’s and they have never had it. When Messiah comes back, He will give that land to national Israel during the Millenium.
BTW, could you recommend a good Covenant Theology book that I can read along with my others ? Thanks.
I’m going to put forth a couple more arguments in my next post, before wrapping up the series, Will.
I don’t see how you can get around Heb. 11:13-16. Abraham was looking for a heavenly city and would be rewarded with one. Yes God gave him the land, and promised it to him. But the land pointed beyond. Zion is the City of God, but that of course points to the Future “Heavenly Jerusalem” where God dwells with all His redeemed people forever.
Again, you say “they have never had it”, Joshua, Solomon, and Nehemiah said they did have it and God’s promises were fulfilled, not one of them was unkept. Whose better positioned to know what God meant by his promises? You, anyone today, or an inspired author of Scripture? How can “Not one of the good promises which th eLord had made to the house of Israel failed: all came to pass” be stretched to mean that it actually didn’t come to pass? I know that dispensationalists obsess about the borders of Israel and debate about how much of the promised land they actually go, but none of the Scriptural authors did. Joshua, Solomon, and Nehemiah all agree they got all the land, God fulfilled that promise you quoted.
Okay, I’ll save the rest for my next post.
Let me get back to you on a book. I’ve read a couple and I want to recommend the best one for you. Or at least an article or two.
Blessings in Christ,
Bob
We obsess about the borders because God did. He gave the exact border: The Nile river unto the Euphrates River. Israel has never owned that. Solomon’s prayer and the promises he referred to may be referring to something else…but I have to look at this more closely.
Let’s say that the land that God told Abraham about was obtained during Solomon’s rule….God promised it to his descendents forever and forever aint over yet and Israel isn’t in full ownership of that land right now. The heavenly city that Abraham looked forward to would definitely include the new Jerusalem but he expected to own the land that he saw from the North South East and West as God said.
What I am most against, is the idea that God has forsaken His Jewish people and replaced Israel with the church. Paul made it clear that that was not the case. He has not forsaken His people whom He foreknew. In fact, He wanted the Gentile Christians to understand this so they wouldn’t be haughty about their newly found privileged status. I look forward to reading and studying this more….you are iron sharpening my iron. God bless.
I’m back to add a few more thoughts to my last comment…
It could be possible that Solomon was referring to the Moahic Covenant and not the Abrahamic. The Covenant with Moses was conditional. If the people obey, then God will do _X_ if not then God will do _Y_. At that point, Israel had obeyed, and God had blessed according to all His promises given by Moses.
As for the reference in Hebrew, your hermeneutical approach is for the NT to redefine the OT. So that whatever God said in the OT about literal land in Israel becomes something altogether different in the NT. I have to disagree with your heremeneutical approach from the get go before we even apply exegesis….I look forward to you next posts, as I am studying this issue as well.
William,
Forgive me for asking, but when God said He would give the land to Abraham’s seed “forever” do you think that He meant only Israel? The reason I ask, is because Abraham was promised he would be the father of many nations; not just one or even two. Israel, as a nation was dispossessed and dispersed for centuries prior to 1947, so does that make God a liar?
When God said to David “I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.” (1 Kings 9:3, 2 Chron 7:16)) surely you read the IFs both prior to and after God’s promises? I mean, David nor Solomon’s houses for the Lord no longer exist, so how can God’s promise be still in force?
David understood God’s promise to be conditional and impressed that upon Solomon in 2 Chronicles 28:8-9. Ezra 9:12 also sets down the conditions for Israel to continue to have an inheritance in the land. Jeremiah writes that God said to Judah “And thou, even of thyself, shalt discontinue from thy heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger which shall burn for ever.” (Jeremiah 17:4 and see also v 27)
Forever is always a conditional thing in the Bible, it seems. God’s lovingkindness endures forever…alongside His righteous judgment. His wrath will not endure forever, except towards those who refuse Him finally.
I may be wrong about Israel, but I believe Paul only affirmed that God did not cut Israel off entirely, like he had the Gentiles prior to the gospel of Christ, but that a remnant of them would accept God’s new covenant which replaces the old one.
“Forgive me for asking, but when God said He would give the land to Abraham’s seed “forever†do you think that He meant only Israel? The reason I ask, is because Abraham was promised he would be the father of many nations; not just one or even two. Israel, as a nation was dispossessed and dispersed for centuries prior to 1947, so does that make God a liar?”
It’s OK to ask!
God promised him a national and an international fatherhood. The Abrahamic Covenant is divided in two parts and in two chapters in between many years of Abraham’s life. These covenants were unconditional.
The old Testament (Mosaic) covenant was conditional but it does not supercede the previous one. Each one builds apon another, they do not change the previous covenants, they do not annul them nor replace them.