Understanding the Land Promise: Part 7

Continuing from part 6….

I hope this post concludes my arguments, responses, and all other considerations of the matter — warning: this is a lengthy post! 🙂 I plan to follow up with a concluding post which explains the ramifications for holding my position.

Conditionality of the Land (follow up)

Before I begin, let me share a passage which I should have listed under my “Conditionality of the Land” point.

Then the word of the LORD came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the LORD. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. (Jer. 18:5-10)

On top of the clear verses in Deuteronomy which teach the land is conditional, this passage teaches that in all God’s promises, conditionality is assumed. God reserves the right to pull out of an agreement based on the obedience or lack thereof of his people. This matches how covenants of that day work. The sovereign promises blessings conditioned on the loyalty/obedience of the subject. Of course, as mentioned last time, with salvation, God has accomplished the obedience Himself, through Jesus’ perfect life and death on our behalf. God will work in us through His Spirit to make us continue believing and being loyal to God. If we don’t continue that evidences we are not truly His children.

The Necessity of Faith

We’ve just been talking about how important faith is. And with the land and the promises of it, faith is still prominent. This passage from Hebrews teaches us much about how God’s promises and faith interact:

And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (Heb. 6:11-12, emphasis added)

Abraham and everyone else for whom God gave glorious promises, inherit them only by means of faith. The same goes for Israel and the land. This is made explicit in Ps. 37, where it doesn’t talk in general terms re: all Israel, but gets specific regarding which individuals will actually inherit the land:

For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land. In just a little while, the wicked will be no more… But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. For those blessed by the LORD shall inherit the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off. Turn away from evil and do good; so shall you dwell forever [in the land]. (Ps. 37:9-11, 22, 27)

Notice the wicked are going to be cut off from the land, but the faithful will inherit the land. There is no sure possession of the land for Israel if they do not remain faithful to God.

Incomplete Fulfillment

Earlier, I’ve made much of Joshua’s and Solomon’s statements that all of the promises concerning the land were fulfilled. God’s part of the bargain was complete. They viewed Israel’s occupation of the land as a fulfillment of that promise. Yet they didn’t dwell there forever. And they didn’t control all the land to the fullest extent possible. Does this mean the fulfillment is actually in the future? Yes and no.

God’s promises included a forever provision. They would have the land forever. But they didn’t. They had it and lost it. As God made His covenantal arrangements with Israel more fully known in Deuteronomy, he allowed for expulsion from the land as a covenantal curse if Israel did not obey their God. This does not negate the fact that Scripture sees Joshua’s conquest and Solomon’s reign as fulfillments of the Abrahamic promises: “not one good word from the Lord” failed.

Yet, the fulfillment was incomplete. They had a taste of long life and peace in the land, but didn’t experience everything God seemed to promise. In Abraham’s case, he never owned the land but lived like a pilgrim in it. Hebrews informs us that this caused Abraham, with the other patriarchs, to confess they were looking for a heavenly land (see Heb. 11). So Israel’s uneasy time in the land should have pointed them beyond it as well. Israel ultimately broke covenant with God and were driven out, but He did not desert them. God promised to return them to their land. And he did. But even this return (the return from the exile), fell short of the prophetic expectations of a glorious return. The Old Testament closed with promises seemingly unfulfilled. The glory of Israel had faded. Of course the story goes on, and God established the new covenant through Jesus death on the cross and gave spiritual Israel and all the saved Gentiles an inheritance unfathomable in its richness.

The Restoration Promised

Earlier some have pointed to strong promises in Ezekiel about God bringing Israel back to their land. How do we understand these promises? Are they to be literally fulfilled for a national Israel in the millennium period? Well, first off, we should note that these promises are part of a wider array of restoration promises all connected to each other. They all describe a glorious restoration of Israel. If we look at some of the parallel promises, we might be surprised at what we find.

Other Restoration Promises

Isaiah 19:19-24 tell of God blessing the land. However, it is not the land of Israel in view. Egypt and Assyria are claimed as God’s own land. And Israel will just be one with these lands. God will shed His favor on all of them. Other passages speak of Jerusalem as a city “without walls”, having Jehovah as a “wall of fire” around her (Zech. 2:1-5). And others mention the influx of all the nations coming into Jerusalem to worship.

In the wider spectrum of restoration promise, we see God promising a dramatic turn around. God will cause all the earth to worship Him. Jerusalem will be prominent, but God will relate with the formerly pagan nations, Egypt and Assyria as well. They will be lands of God’s covenant as well.

Ezekiel’s Promise of Restoration to the Land

Ezekiel does give specific promises concerning a return to the land. What’s often missed is the context of these promises.

I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God…. Thus says the Lord GOD: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. 34And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. And they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the LORD;I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it. (Ez. 36:24-28, 33-36)

Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD….Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms.They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God….They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore. (Ez. 37:11-14, 21-23, 25-28 )

The land promises are in dark green above. Notice a couple things however. See the orange lines? Those are new covenant promises. We’ll talk about those in a bit. See the maroon towards the end of each section? A return to the land (not just a return, but a forever, glorious possession by a forgiven people) is a sign to “the nations” around them. Now in the millennium, who are those nations? Don’t they already know the LORD? Hmmm, interesting.

Also notice the olive green section at the start of the second quote. These clear promises are tied directly to Ezekiel’s famous “dry bones” prophecy. The dead bones that will live obviously hearkens to a literal resurrection. Israel is like a dead land and will be revived. It’s interesting that this glorious return to the land is linked to a resurrection promise. This could point two ways. First, it could indicate the glorious land promises are fulfilled in Isaiah’s “new heavens and new earth” which John shows us in Revelation comes after the last judgment (in the eternal state). Second, it could point back to Ex. 36 and the new covenant promise of new life by the Spirit. In which case, Israel doesn’t get the land apart from the new covenant, and the gift of Spirit-life. The same Spirit which gives life to all the spiritual sons of Abraham.

The Restoration and the New Covenant

Again, looking up at our quote, we see explicitly that these land promises are tied into the “everlasting covenant” or the “covenant of peace”. Jeremiah calls it the “new covenant”. Jesus inaugurated this covenant by his death and shedding of blood (at the Last Supper, he said the cup is the “new covenant” in his blood). Hebrews says a covenant requires shedding of blood to enact it. Because of land promises like this and other considerations, dispensationalists like to say the new covenant is made specifically with Israel and points to the millennium alone. Such a conclusion contradicts the clear teaching of Scripture that the new covenant is now, and applies to God’s church (Jew and Gentile). See Hebrews 7-9, especially chapter 8 which quotes Jeremiah’s “new covenant” passage as applying to believers today.

With the explicit tie in to the new covenant, we should see how new covenant texts teach us to understand the land promise.

The World as the Land

We’ve repeatedly emphasized that the New Testament expands the boundaries and concept of the land. I can’t stress enough how important this observation is. Rom. 4:13 teaches that Abraham was promised the kosmos — i.e. the world. Not just “land”. And all the children of promise (Gentiles included) share in Abe’s inheritance. Eph. 6:1-3 stresses that Gentile children inherit the land promised to Israel. And “the meek” “inherit the earth”.

Typology of the Land

Hebrews is a very important book for understanding the Old Testament. It clearly teaches that the OT rituals and practices were shadows or types of things to come. It teaches that Christ is a better priest than the Levitical priesthood. Christ’s offering as “once for all” truly atoned for sin, unlike the continual animal sacrifices. The tabernacle and the Temple were “earthly” patterns with “heavenly” archetypes. (See Hebrews 8-9). These types pointed forward to the spiritual realities of the new covenant age of Christ.

While we could point to Gal. 4, which compares earthly Jerusalem with Heavenly Jerusalem, instead we will focus on another important passage in Hebrews. In chapter 12 we read:

For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken””that is, things that have been made””in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. (Heb. 12:18-29)

Here we are taught that believers today share in the “heavenly Jerusalem”. We “have come to Mount Zion”. We are participants of the new covenant. This mention in Hebrews is signficant. Hebrews contrasts the old covenant shadows with the new covenant spiritual realities. On this point, I’d like to quote O. Palmer Robertson from his book The Israel of God, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (P&R, 2000):

Just as the tabernacle was never intended to be a settled item in the plan of redemption but was to point to Christ’s tabernacling among his people (cf. John 1:14), and just as the sacrificial system could never atone for sins but could only foreshadow the offering of the Son of God (Heb. 9:23-26), so in a similar manner Abraham received the promise of the land but never experienced the blessing of its full possession. In this way, the patriarch learned to look forward to “the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10). Because of the promise that was set before them, the patriarchs never returned to the land of Ur, since “they were longing for a better country–a heavenly one” (Heb. 11:16). (pg. 13-14)

So just as the Temple pointed forward to Christ and the church (1 Pet. 2:5), and as the sacrifices pointed forward to Christ, so also the land pointed forward to spiritual fellowship enjoyed by the church now and forever. Remember, Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “The hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father… the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth…” (Jn. 4:21, 23). We share in the worship of heaven, as we come to the “heavenly Jerusalem” as we worship God today.

The “Forever” Factor

Finally we should mention that some will not be convinced by this presentation. They will hold on to phrases like “forever” and insist that the promise must literally apply only to Israel. Remember God interprets his own meaning best and clearly reveals that believers today inherit the land promise of Abraham (Rom. 4:13-16). The word “forever” in our mind must mean always, eternally. But there are various ways of understanding that term in Hebrew. David was promised a “forever” lineage on the throne of Israel. Dispensationalists are fine with Jesus ultimately fulfilling this literal promise through his eternal rule. Yet they must admit there have been thousands of years without a Davidic heir on the throne of Israel.

If such a fulfillment is possible for David, it is possible with the land promise. Joshua tells us that in Joshua’s day none of the promises had failed. Yet, full possession and “forever” possession did not happen. Why can’t we see an ultimate fulfillment in Christ’s rule in the eternal state, when the whole earth is recreated and restored? When the heavenly Jerusalem comes down to earth and God dwells with His people (Jew and Gentile) forever?

Beyond these considerations, something else must be reckoned with. Ps. 37:29 declares:

The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever.

Forever. The righteous have a promise of dwelling in the land forever! So a believing, righteous Jew who trusted God and this promise had a hope of eternal life! And eternity was the only way to experience the “forever” promise of dwelling in the land forever. This goes well with the Ezekiel dry bones idea of resurrection. Ultimately the land hearkens to our heavenly Beulah land where we will dwell with God forever.

God fulfills His promises in the way He intends. Such an all-encompassing spiritual fulfillment is by no means a let-down. In no way does this make God a liar. God gives Abraham not just a plot of land but the entire kosmos. God sets his favor not just on the “holy land” but all the earth. God pledges to redeem all creation, and He will.

I apologize for the length of this post but I wanted to bring our study to an end. In the last post, I’ll share some resources, recommended books, as well as discuss some ramifications that flow from this understanding.