I want to start by establishing what and where the promised land actually is. To do that, we need to revisit God’s promise to Abraham.
Now the Lord said to Abram,
“Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;
And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who [c]curses you I will [d]curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan. Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants [“seed”] I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.
And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants[**] after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.
Genesis 17:7 NKJV
And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed[**] after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
Genesis 17:7 KJV
Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.
Galatians 3:15 NKJV
To be clear, God made the promises to:
- Abraham and his seed (Gen 15, 17, 22)
- Isaac (Abraham and Sarah’s son) and his seed (26:3-5, 26:24)
- Jacob (Isaac’s son) and his seed (Gen 27, 28)
Galatians clarifies that the seed is Christ. With this in mind, it’s through Jesus that all nations will be blessed. The promise also revolves around the land of Canaan, which includes modern-day Israel. HOWEVER, these promises are not yet fulfilled. First reason, the promise is everlasting– not only for Christ, but for Abraham as well. Abraham can’t inherit the land as an everlasting promise unless he’s able to actually live in it forever. That will come at the resurrection when Jesus Christ returns. The second reason as we are about to see, is that the land boundaries set by God reveals to us that the entire promised land has yet to be fully obtained. It’s through the fulfillment of these promises that all nations will truly be blessed.
The Land Boundaries
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying,
“To your [t]descendants I have given this land,
From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:
19 the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite 20 and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim 21 and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”
The river of Egypt is the Nile River, and the river Euphrates is in Iraq.
From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory.
Joshua 1:4 ESV
From Lebanon to the Nile River and the Red Sea, and toward the Euphrates.
There are a few different perspectives on what the promised land looks like, but they all seem to agree at the very least that Israel today has nowhere near the amount of land allotted by God in his promise to Abraham.
Map of Promised land considering the borders God defined in the Bible.
God also promised that He would restore the land to them in the last days
(Psalms 105:1-11; Jeremiah 16:5-17:1; Zechariah 14; Acts 1:6-7; Romans 11)
The Promised Land was an inheritance for the descendants of Abraham, who remained faithful to God, as we are about to see. those that have trusted Christ are adopted as children of both God and Abraham and they become heirs of the promises made to Abraham (Galatians 3:1-9, 19-29; Hebrews 11:8-19).
Throughout the articles in this series we will also see that this promise extends beyond the boundaries of the land, because all of creation will also be blessed through this promise which is everlasting.
‘ I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.’
Psalms 2:7-8
Also see: Ephesians 1:1-14; Hebrews 11:15; 1 Peter 1:3-5; 1 John 5:9-13; Revelation 21-22
Conditions: Obedience and Clearing the Land
Joshua 1 After Moses died, God spoke to Joshua and told him to lead the people of Israel across the Jordan river and into the promised land. God tells him the boundaries of the territory, and reaffirms that He will help them accomplish what he has asked them to do: clear the nations out of the land. God also tells them that they are to observe carefully the Mosaic Law they were given. God tells them that this is how they will flourish and succeed in the land. The people agreed and gave a commitment to do as they were commanded, and started the process of getting into the land.
Joshua chapter 2 reminds us that God is paving the way for them. Their job was to obey the law they were given, and remain faithful to God alone. Trust in God’s promises, followed by obedience, just like Abraham displayed when he put everything on the line with Isaac in Genesis 22. Their promise came with a task to do, but God said He would be with them and even fight on their behalf (Exodus 14:14, Deuteronomy 1:30, 3:22, Joshua 23:3)
‘And they said to Joshua, “Truly the Lord has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are fainthearted because of us.”’
Joshua 2:24
Deuteronomy 7 Again we see here that God will clear out the nations in the land. Even if the nations in the land of Canaan are stronger than the people of Israel, having God on their side will always be the winning team. God tells them to utterly destroy 7 nations (7:1): no entering into a covenant or agreement with them, show no favor toward any of them, don’t intermarry (7:2-3). If they don’t follow these commands, they will turn Israel toward idolatry and worshiping other gods; this will result in God destroying Israel. They are to tear down their altars (7:4-5). This was God giving his people a land to live in, and at the same time using them to carry out a judgment on some truly wicked nations that currently inhabited the land. This wasn’t a situation where God was carelessly and recklessly evicting the land’s current inhabitants. God waited over 400 years for “the sin of the amorites to be complete“.
God set Israel apart, not out of their own merit. God loved them and was keeping his oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments; but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face. Therefore, you shall keep the commandment and the statutes and the judgments which I am commanding you today, to do them. (7:9-11)
Remember that the covenant with Abraham was unconditional and everlasting (God made this clear after Abraham didn’t withhold Isaac). The covenant with the children of Israel, which are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’s descendants (but not the promised seed), was conditional in that they were only allowed to remain in the land while being faithful to God. In fact, without trust, they weren’t even able to enter the land in the first place! (read Deuteronomy 1-4).
They were also reminded in the following chapter that God wasn’t playing favorites.
‘Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. As the nations which the Lord destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God.’
Deuteronomy 8:19-20
As we read on in the Old Testament, Israel’s disobedience, wicked deeds and turning aside to other gods resulted in them getting overtaken by other nations on a few occasions. The Old Testament book of Judges really shows this back and forth between Israel and God.
The central point in this article is to point out that the inheritance of the literal land, here on earth is an important aspect of God’s everlasting covenant with Abraham. The reason I’m also pointing out God’s dealings with the people of Israel in light of the Mosaic covenant is so we can see that the greater goal was always the unconditional Abrahamic covenant and therefore the arrival of Christ to make it possible.
God’s original covenant, which was to Abraham, was everlasting, The children of Israel needed to obey the commands God gave them through the Mosaic Law in order to stay there– but God would always preserve a faithful remnant regardless of Israel’s wickedness (as a whole) in order to remain true to His promise to Abraham. This is so the promised seed would be preserved, so the true eternal inheritance could come to fruition.
And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
Isaiah 65:9 KJV
‘For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, A remnant of them will return; The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness. And it shall come to pass in that day That the remnant of Israel, And such as have escaped of the house of Jacob, Will never again depend on him who defeated them, But will depend on the Lord , the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, To the Mighty God. For the Lord God of hosts Will make a determined end In the midst of all the land.’
Isaiah 10:20-23 NKJV
‘Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, The remnant will be saved. For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, Because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.” And as Isaiah said before: “Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, We would have become like Sodom, And we would have been made like Gomorrah.”’
Romans 9:27-29 NKJV
‘And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the Lord has said, Among the remnant whom the Lord calls.’
Joel 2:32 NKJV
‘Unless the Lord of hosts Had left to us a very small remnant, We would have become like Sodom, We would have been made like Gomorrah.’
Isaiah 1:9 NKJV
‘I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew*. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, “ Lord , they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”? But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. ‘
Romans 11:1-5
*This is NOT predestination as defined by those that hold to Calvinism. The Greek word in use here simply means God knew them before. God has a history with the people of Israel! Whoever calls on the Lord will be saved (Joel 2:32). He doesn’t want anyone to perish.
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!
Matthew 23:37 NKJV
So fast forwarding to the New Testament, did Abraham get his promise?
And Stephen said:
“Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child.
Acts 7:2-5 ESV
By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants as the stars of heaven in number , and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore . All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.
Hebrews 11:8-16 NASB
I mentioned earlier that Jesus was going to be the one to bring that promise to fruition. He is the inheritor of the promise, but it also included Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers.
Romans 15:8 NASB
In the next article we’ll put more pieces of the puzzle together, and see how Jesus is the anointed KING from the Davidic line.
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Free Resource: When a Jew Rules the World, by Joel Richardson (PDF edition)