Dispensationalists emphasize that we need to take Scripture at face value. As I pointed out previously, this is impossible to do consistently.
With this in mind, though, let’s look at a face-value look at the land promise God made to Abraham.
The land promise was made to Abraham while still in Ur of Chaldees (see: Acts 7:2-3; Genesis 12:1-3). The land promise was repeated several times to Abraham (see: Genesis 12:7; 13:12-17; 17:1-9; 21:12; 22:16-18). And the land promise was confirmed to Isaac, and later to Jacob (see: Genesis 26:3; 28:13).
The land borders were to extend from the river of Egypt (the Brook of Egypt, or Wadi el Arish) (see: Numbers 34:5; Joshua 15:4) to the Euphrates River (see: Genesis 15:18).
This promise refers to the land of Canaan, later known as Palestine
Most premillennialists believe the promise is yet to be fulfilled, and some say that it was never fulfilled, but others say it was fulfilled, but that the land was to be Israel’s:
- “forever” – Genesis 13:15
- “as an everlasting possession” – Genesis 17:8
Thus their belief that Israel needs to be restored to the land today.
When and how shall the land promises be fulfilled?
“For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9; Habakkuk 2:14).
I contend the land promise was fulfilled
As stated by Joshua:
- God gave the land – Joshua 1:2-4; 21:43-45; 23:14-16
- Israel possessed the land – Joshua 21:43-45; Nehemiah 9:7-8, 24-25; 1 Kings 4:20-21; 8:56
- Israel lived in the land – Joshua 21:43-44; 1 Kings 4:20-21
- “not a word failed…all came to pass” – Joshua 21:45; cf. 23:14
As implied by the cities of refuge:
- Six cities were promised, 3 on each side of the Jordan – Numbers 35:9-15
- Three were given in the trans-Jordan, three more promised if God kept His promise to give Israel all the land promised to their fathers – Deuteronomy 19:7-10
- Six cities were given; so God must have kept His promise! – Joshua 20:7-9
As experienced during the reign of Solomon:
- The extent of the land promised described to Abram – Genesis 15:8
- The extent of the land ruled over by Solomon – 1 Kings 4:20-21, 8:56; 2 Chronicles 9:26
- God’s promise regarding the land had been fulfilled!
As praised by the Levites upon their return from Babylonian captivity:
- God made a covenant with Abraham concerning the land – Nehemiah 9:7
- God performed His words – Nehemiah 9:8,23-25
As praised by the Psalmist:
- God remembered His promise to Abraham – Psalms 105:42
- He gave His descendants the land – Psalms 105:43-45
Was the Land Promise Unconditional…?
- The promise to receive the land was unconditional – cf. Deuteronomy 9:5; Joshua 23:3-5
- But the promise to retain the land was conditional – cf. Joshua 23:11-16 (cf. Deuteronomy 28:1-2, 8, 15, 21, 58-64; 30:15-18)
- Captivity and return to the land was foretold – Deuteronomy 4:25-27; 28:15-68; 30:1-1
The Old Testament describes the history of Israel’s captivity and restoration
NOTE: 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. ~Jeremiah 18:5-10
This reveals the built-in, conditionality, in God’s covenantal dealings with man
Genesis 12 starts out with a condition. “Go… and I will make of you a great nation….” (Genesis 12:1-2). This sets the stage that God’s relationship with Abraham, while sovereignly initiated and full of grace, nevertheless demands obedience from Abraham. We see this again when God adds a sign to his covenant with Abraham in chapter 17. Abraham must circumcise his sons (Genesis 17:9-14), and he must also “walk before [God], and be blameless” (Genesis 17:1b). Later, God points out that Abraham’s continued obedience is the reason God will surely keep his promise and establish his covenant with Abraham. In chapter 22 we read, “…because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you…. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
All this conditionality should not make us think Abraham is working for his salvation. God goes out of his way to indicate Abraham’s faith, is the cause of his being counted righteous (Genesis 15:6). And God further illustrates how He will enable Abraham to obey so that God can give Abraham the promised blessings: “For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” (Genesis 18:19)
Was the Land Promise to be Forever and Everlasting…?
It was indeed promised “forever”, “as an everlasting possession” – Genesis 13:15; 17:8. However, the Hebrew word translated ‘forever’ and ‘everlasting’ is olam:
- Meaning “a very long time”
- may cover a person’s lifetime (Exodus 21:6; 1 Samuel 1:22)
- a period of many generations (Joshua 24:2)
- the time of the present created order (Psalms 73:12)
“The term ‘forever,’ for a perpetual possession, means as long as the order of things to which it belongs lasts.” – Barnes
“…to the end of the present dispensation” – Clarke
If ‘everlasting’ always meant lasting forever, then we should still be observing:
- Circumcision – Genesis 17:10-13
- The Passover – Exodus 12:14
- The Feast of Unleavened Bread – Exodus 12:17
- The priesthood of Aaron – Exodus 29:9
- The Sabbath – Exodus 31:16-17
- The sacrifices, with their portions for the priests – Leviticus 6:18; 7:34-36; 10:15
- Fasting and animal sacrifices on the Day of Atonement – Leviticus 16:29-34
- The Feast of Tabernacles – Leviticus 23:39-42
- They were fleshly ordinances, imposed until a time of reformation – Hebrews 9:6-10
- Circumcision is clearly no longer binding – Galatians 5:1-6
- Even Sabbath days are no longer bound – Colossians 2:14-17
…and many other elements of the Law described as ‘everlasting ordinances’
Better Translated:
then take an awl and push it through his ear lobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your maidservant. (NIV)
Jeremiah 25:8-11 – Israel would be a “perpetual desolation.” – “perpetual” from Hebrew word olam – Jeremiah 29:10 and Daniel 9:2 demonstrate that this “perpetual desolation” was going to last 70 years. The promises to Abraham (Genesis 17:7-8, 13), were “forever” in the sense of “age-lasting” or “until the end of a given age.”
Yet the New Testament teaches such ordinances were not permanent
Thus the promise of the land was to last only as long as it fulfilled God’s purpose
Those who understand the permanence of the promise to mandate a renewed future possession of these boundaries by the nation of Israel have the same fundamental problem that they criticize in the interpretation which considers the physical aspect of the promise to be done away with upon its fulfillment under Solomon: namely, that this geographical possession will one day end; the one interpretation is no more consistent with an eternal fulfillment than the other. The old earth will one day melt with a fervent heat to make way for the new (II Pet. 3:10); and as soon as this dissolution of the old earth takes place, (including the geographical regions promised to Abraham), a literal fulfillment of the land promise becomes impossible. The nature of the promise made to Abraham is such that, any fulfillment which is not eternal does not do it justice.
God’s promise to Abraham must extend to him and his seed for all eternity, including that portion of eternity in which the land of Palestine no longer exists. There must be a time, therefore, when the physical land promise is done away with, and only that aspect of the promise which was eternal remains. Whether this transition is placed immediately subsequent to the height of Israel’s glory or immediately prior to the dissolution of the earth has no bearing on the reality that what was promised to be for Abraham’s seed forever is actually not forever. The Abrahamic promise, then, could never be eternal unless something other than the physical land of Palestine is fundamentally intended by the promise. And if something other than the physical land is intended by the promise, then it would be vastly beneficial for us to ascertain the nature of this original intention, together with the ramifications that it has for our understanding of God’s unfolding plan of redemption. ~ Nathan Pitchford (see Land, Seed, and Blessing in the Abrahamic Covenant
Summing up so far
God fulfilled His promise for Israel to receive the land just as Joshua, the Psalmist, and the Levites say. At the very least Solomon ruled over the entire land described to Abraham, but Israel’s retention of the land was always conditional.
Moses and Joshua warned Israel that it was conditional – If retention of the land was unconditional, why “warn” of its possible loss?
The Assyrian and Babylonian captivity illustrates how Israel lost the land
The Restoration described in Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai and Zechariah illustrates how Israel regained the land
We must remember Jesus was both the Lord and Servant of his covenants. As God over us he covenants (because He is the covenant-keeping God) and as man for us he fulfills the covenants. In other words, Jesus fulfills the land promise. Scripture painstakingly demonstrates Jesus is the True Israelite who fulfills everything Israel could not or would not fulfill. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, and we who believe in Jesus inherit the earth – both ethnic Israelite and Gentile. This is not replacement theology. This is expansion theology. It includes BOTH Jew and Gentile. Always has, always will.