28 “You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”

I see that as very problematic too. But not all dispensationalists hold to a return to animal sacrifice. I think that follows naturally from their positions and beliefs, however.

Nancy,

Glad you are enjoying the series. One day, we won’t need surveyors and land/title policies anymore!

Blessings in Christ to all,

Bob Hayton

I appreciate the back and forth here. Like you, this is helping me as I study out the topic.

1) The land promise is for the physical offspring of Abraham

How are you justified in saying that? Where does it specify “physical”? The promise is for Abraham’s offspring, which according to Gal. 3:29, Heb. 2:15, and other places, Gentile Christians are.

Furthermore, once again please note the logic in what Rom. 4 is expressly saying….

…the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith….in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to ALL his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. (Rom. 4:13-16 emphasis added)

2) They haven’t been occupying it because they broke the covenant with God, but because He is faithful, He will still keep His promise to Abraham and when Israel believes in the correct Messiah at the end of the Tribulation, the land promise will finally be fulfilled….

Is the promise “forever” occupation or not? Is it unconditional or not? We’ll explore more about this in a future post.

3) “No one is replaced, but national Israel is cast aside.” That’s replacement!

No it isn’t!

The new covenant has been ushered in through Christ, we won’t return to an old covenant. The new covenant focuses on spiritual Israel, which the Gentile Church has been joined to. Again, there is no blessing for national Israel apart from uniting with Christ by faith. Any future millennium or future blessings will only be for spiritual Israel, which the Gentile church has been grafted into. The promised return of “all Israel” (whatever that phrase means) specifically states that national Israel, were they to repent, could be grafted back in to the one tree that the Gentiles are now a part of. This is clear, any future hope for national Israel requires repentance and unity by faith with Christ. That means there is no future for national Israel as national Israel, but only by becoming part of the spiritual Israel, of which the Gentiles now form a part (see Rom. 11 and Eph. 2).

The rest of your comment sees you building a point on some unstated assumed analogy between the Old and New testaments. The same kind of thing, I am trying to do. Just because there are six Jewish feasts means that each one must directly tie in to some element such as Christ’s death, resurrection, Pentecost, return, millennium, etc. That is using the same methodology against me. There are no controls here. Why wasn’t Jesus’ ascension one of the points a feast referred to? By the way, I’m pretty sure firstfruits = Pentecost. Pentecost was the firstfruits feast. The Passover happened just prior to the feast of unleavened bread, and 7 weeks later we had firstfruits.

Again, stay tuned for more (I just posted today, and hope to post once or twice more this week.)

Blessings brother,

Bob

Stick around and I’ll get to that. Probably part 6 will deal with that. I would like to point out, however, that the promise is a new covenant promise. And Hebrews makes clear, along with Jesus himself at the institution of the Lord’s Supper, that the new covenant is in effect now.

How does that jive, by the way, with Eph. 6:1-3, where the Gentile believing children are promised long life in the land?

Blessings in Christ,

Bob

I got to give it to you one this one: “how is it a “forever” occupation, when the millennium will come to an end?”

Since I don’t even include the millenium in my train of thought, this is a “big” point on your side of the argument!

I won’t repeat my own objections to the idea that “forever” always means “forever and ever” in God’s Word. All promises to Israel were conditional. Where do people think the term “lost tribes of Israel” came from? Israel was cut off long before Judah when God gave her a divorce. God was willing to take Israel back, but they remained divorced from God through the end of the Old Covenant period, did they not?

I am not an expert on Israel, but I can see no purpose in God nullifying the work of Jesus Christ for a future return to animal sacrifices. That is my biggest objection to this whole idea of a restored Israel and temple worship.

Thanks for the continued exposition of this topic!

The land promise is for the physical offspring of Abrham.

“Now who is that according to the New Testament?”

You’re forcing me to erase the distinction. Spiritual Israel is made up of all believers in Christ. So, I’m in! Praise the Lord.

“2) The promises as delineated in Genesis seem to be unconditional and seem to be saying Israel will forever occupy that land.”

Seem? No, they are unconditional. You are interpreting backwards…from NT back into OT. Revelation is progressive, we start at the beginning and move our way forward. If I interpret backwards, I will agree with you on all this.

“However, the Old Testament itself declares that the promises concerning the land were fulfilled. Who is in a better position to understand the nature of those promises, us or the inspired authors of Scripture?”

Like I said in the last post, Solomon might be referring to the Mosaic Covenant. They fulfilled their obligation to God up to that point, and God fulfilled His. The last guy who posted that promise in Ezekiel made an important point. That prophecy was written after the so called fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant in I Kings.

“Furthermore, Israel, according to your view, has never fully occupied the land yet. So how is that promise true? How have they been forever occupying it?And even more so, how is it a “forever” occupation, when the millennium will come to an end?”

They havn’t been occupying it because they broke the covenant with God, but because He is faithful, He will still keep His promise to Abraham and when Israel believes in the correct Messiah at the end of the Tribulation, the land promise will finally be fulifilled. After the Millennium, there is still a New Jerusalem…all things are made new…that’s the forever part I guess.

“No one is replaced, but national Israel is cast aside.”

That’s replacement! There are divine appointments that God has made with Israel and all His people that are on the Jewish calendar that are still to be fulfilled. Jesus fulfilled the feast of Passover by dying as the passover lamb, he fulfilled the firstfruits offering three days later by raising from the dead on the day of firstfruits as the firstfruits of the resurrection, he fulfilled the feast of Pentecost by coming in the person of the Holy Spirit on day of Pentacost but the feasts of trumpets, Yom Kippur, and Tabernacles are his future appointments that are still unfulfilled: rapture, second coming, millennial reign. This is all from a Jewish standpoint which could not have been known by the original Covenant Theolgians who made this stuff up.

22″Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 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. 26And 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. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. 30 I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. 31Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. 32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord GOD; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.

33″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. 35And 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.’ 36Then 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.