Like most any American evangelical, how the Bible views the modern state of Israel is a topic that interests me. I’ve grown in my understanding of this issue, even as I’ve evaluated competing theological systems such as dispensationalism and covenant theology. For me, the Bible is most important, as I don’t feel compelled to be loyal to any particular theological system.
Perhaps that is why O. Palmer Robertson’s writings have been so helpful to me. I greatly appreciated his Biblical treatment of the various covenants of Scripture in The Christ of the Covenants (see my review). In The Israel of God: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Robertson far exceeded my expectations.
Robertson doesn’t have to convince anyone that interpretations concerning the Bible’s view of Israel are varied and extremely influential. In his book, though, he manages to bring the focus to where it should be: on what Scripture actually says concerning the topic.
And this is where he excels. He doesn’t settle for a few proof texts. Rather he carefully traces out a Biblical theology of the land, the people Israel, their worship and lifestyle, and the Kingdom as it relates to Israel. He offers a careful exposition of Galatians 6:16, Hebrews 7, and Romans 11. All the while, he examines Scripture’s entire testimony on these subjects letting all of Scripture weigh in on this issue.
The book shows how the essence of the land promise was spiritual fellowship with God. This is enjoyed by the church today (Matt. 5:5, Rom. 4:13, Eph. 6:3). It argues that the worship and lifestyle of Israel is radically altered with Christ’s provision of a better covenant (Heb. 7). It goes on to examine how Scripture defines the people of Israel, and it details how Gentile believers in the church are Abraham’s children and heirs, true Jews, yes, even the Israel of God (Gal. 3:26-29, 6:16; Rom. 2:28-29, 4:11-12; Eph. 2:14, 19).
One may well disagree with Robertson’s conclusions. But anyone who cares about Scripture will appreciate his emphasis on letting Scripture speak for itself. I would hope those differing with Robertson would at least give his Biblical presentation fair consideration. His exposition of Romans 11 in particular has the potential of changing the mind of many on this subject. Not because it is novel, but because he shows how clearly the chapter as a whole argues for a present-day focus in Paul’s concern.
I won’t explain all of Robertson’s arguments for you. I encourage you to pick up a copy of the book yourself. Its a fairly quick read (196 pages), which will definitely keep your interest. I’m sure you’ll be glad you gave this book a hearing.
At last, this series is coming to a close. We’ve explored an understanding of the land promise informed by NT Scripture itself. All believers are Abraham’s heirs, and they inherit the promise that he would be heir of the world (Rom. 4:13-16). Gentile believers can expect to “live long in the land” (Eph. 6:3), even as the meek “inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5). Just like in Ps. 37, it is only the righteous who inherit the earth and dwell in it forever, not anyone who claims the name of Christ. While Israel did possess the land for a time, and all of God’s promises were proven true (Josh. 21:43-45, 1 Kings 8:56) and fulfilled, the actual experience of Israel in the land fell short of the prophetic expectation. Ultimately the spiritual seed of Abraham will inherit a new heaven and a new earth, and all the believing children of Abraham from all time, will enjoy the eternal kingdom of the new earth in resurrected bodies. The new earth will center on the heavenly Jerusalem, where God’s presence will dwell eternally with His people. The church was God’s temple on earth, and in the eternal state there will be no temple, as we enjoy God’s presence forever. Indeed, even now, we share in the worship of the heavenly company of the redeemed who are in the heavenly Jerusalem, of which old Jerusalem was just a picture.
How this Understanding Matters
At this point, I’d like to emphasize why this matters. Many readers have probably skipped over these posts as irrelevant. “This is just a theological squabble over semantics”, they might say. I contend this understanding, which invariably leads to a reordering of or even a wholesale rejection of dispensationalism, has profound implications. I’d like to discuss four broad categories directly influenced by this understanding of the land.
How You Read the Bible, and the Unity of God’s People
When you really grasp this idea of how the NT Church experiences the land blessing now, and even more so later, you comprehend what Eph. 2, Gal. 3, 1 Pet. 2 and Rom. 4 overwhelmingly proclaim — that the Church in the NT and believing Israel in the OT are together to be understood as God’s people. Sure there are some important differences, but we are unified as one people of God. When reading the NT we constantly are reminded that just like the saints of old had to trust in God by faith, so we do today. They looked forward to Christ’s day and we look back, but we all prize Christ.
This in turn revolutionizes how you read the Bible. You no longer read certain sections as if they don’t apply to you at all. instead you see everything through the lens of faith. You understand how the Israelites’ plight in Judges parallels our plight in our fight for faith today. You also start to see how the NT ties in to the OT in profound ways.
As an example, consider baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism is not a totally distinct, new thing in our age. Moses and the Israelites were in a sense baptized in the Red Sea (1 Cor. 10), and the word baptism is used of ritualistic washings in the OT (see the use of the Greek words relating to baptism in Hebrews). Of course the New Testament makes clear that baptism symbolizes cleansing from sin (Acts 22:16), and OT Israel had many ordinances and ceremonies which symbolized the same thing with water. This should help us see that baptism, while definitely illustrating our solidarity with Christ in his death and burial, still most basically symbolizes that Christ has washed us from our sins. Without this full fledged understanding of Scripture’s unity, numerous baptism services totally ignore the most fundamental and basic meaning of the symbol of water baptism.
The Lord’s Supper, likewise connects with the Passover. It was first instituted at an observance of Passover. Indeed, Passover’s true meaning was transformed (or revealed) by the Lord’s Supper. We now have Christ offering his body as the final and ultimate sacrifice. Just as Passover was to be a family and corporate event, which remembered the sorrow of the sacrifice but majored on the joy of being rescued from death, so the Lord’s Supper is a church ordinance and should include both sorrow and an emphasis on joy. I am probably going off on a bit of tangent here, but consider how this impacts the understanding of substitutionary atonement. Jesus declared his blood would be offered to establish the new covenant. Hebrews declares blood-shedding is required for a covenant to be in effect. The blood shed at the original Passover, was shed only for a specific group of people, and it was placed over their door posts to mark off God’s people. Similarly, Jesus blood is shed for his people, with whom He establishes his new covenant.
These are just a few examples of how this understanding transforms your reading of and appreciation for the Bible.
How You Think About Modern Israel, Political Activism & Patriotism
Now for this topic, many a dispensationalist will say understanding the land promise as I do will make me anti-Semitic. Well, I’m part German, so I guess they must be right! Just kidding. In no way does this make one anti-Semitic or encourage that.
Now I must admit some Christians historically who have understood how the Church (made up of believing Jew and Gentile alike) ultimately fulfills the land promise and other Abrahamic promises, have been anti-Semitic. But it does not need to follow that the idea makes one anti-Semitic. The NT is emphatic that the only hope for anyone, Jew or Gentile, comes through Christ. And if all Israel will one day be saved, that event will only occur through Christ and all living Jews repenting and embracing Him. And then they will be grafted back into the single tree they were taken out of the very tree in which the believing Gentiles have been grafted in permanently.
The New Testament doesn’t show any Christians as being second-class. There are no racial or class distinctions. Gentile believers are fellow heirs and partakers of the covenant promises — yea even members of the commonwealth of Israel, according to Eph. 2. Gal. 3 declares believers are Abraham’s descendants. So even if there is a millennium prior to the creation of the new world, and that millennium concerns Israel, believing Gentiles will have to be included per the clear teaching of the New Testament.
Now as to modern day Israel, this understanding gives us no reason to prefer the Jewish claim for the land over the Palestinian one. The Church, is not to be allied with a single political party or view, as God’s kingdom advances through the Gospel and not the sword. Israel today almost completely rejects Christ, sadly. Those Jews who are believers are members of the Church, and as such their ultimate inheritance is the new world and heaven, not a physical geographical area in Palestine.
I have seen that those Christians most connected with a dispensationalist understanding of the land promise, are often the most involved in political pursuits and the most apt to “defend” Israel and pledge support for it. Thankfully, many dispensationalists understand we should not have as our main goal the reformation of society through political action (see a wonderful series on this point by Phil Johnson of Pyromaniacs, for instance). But one’s understanding of the land promise directly touches on how likely they will lose the importance of the fact that we are just passing through this world like Abraham, and are looking for an eternal city. Politics in a free society, provides an avenue for kingdom work and a place to be salt and light, but we are not to legislate Christianity or moralism, instead we are to proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
This understanding also shapes our patriotism. While we are thankful for America, we know God’s people are of every nationality and race. We are reminded our country is pagan, as is the whole world. Nations have always been composed of pagan people. Christianity is not a nation but a spiritual kingdom, and we are called to be lights in a dark place. God wants people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Burma, Chile, Venezuela, Israel, and America equally to repent and embrace His kingdom. And God does his work in all those nations according to His sovereign purposes to accomplish His glorious plan.
How You Think About Prophecy & End Times
It goes without saying that this understanding shapes how you approach prophecy. When one prioritizes the NT as the fullest revelation, and interprets the end times through its teachings, rather than elevating Daniel 9 to supreme importance, a different view of end times emerges. Prophecy, as with the land promise, is often pointing to the Gospel age and is fulfilled ultimately through Christ and His people.
I won’t delve into the whole prophetic end times discussion here. But it is obvious that understanding the land promise in this way informs how we interpret prophecy and our thoughts on the end times. I’ll let you work that out for yourself, but I hope we can be a bit less dogmatic and divisive over this, as there are many positions which are true to the clear, unequivocal truths of Christ’s return and rule, and yet differ over the various details of how that fleshes out. Currently, I believe an amillennial understanding best accounts for the whole of Scripture on this subject, but I have great respect for historic premillennialism (post-trib rapture), and postmillenniallism or even moderate preterism. A pre-trib rapture depends on this distinction between Israel and the Church, a distinction I believe the NT clearly denies.
How You Interact with God’s Mission & Think About His Kingdom
Finally, this impacts how we view missions, and God’s kingdom. God’s single mission given to us, His people, is to spread His fame to the ends of the earth. Dispensationalism is often pessimistic, with an emphasis on how bad society is getting and how eventually we need the rapture to get us out of here. But this understanding of the land, while admitting that our ultimate blessings are in the new earth, still allows for optimism. God’s kingdom rule is happening now through the church, and ultimately it will extend over all the earth. Rather than stressing over how much land Israel is currently allotted, we can shift our energies to extending God’s kingdom by preaching the Gospel to all the unreached peoples of the world. So many ministries focus solely on reading the “signs of the times”. Such speculation really distracts from our calling and mission. We are not to be so separate from and scared of the world that we obsess over how bad its getting and get excited when our teacher tells us some current event is making Christ’s return come sooner. Christ could come at any moment. He wants us working in His mission and reaching the lost rather than trying to enact moralistic rules on their behalf. Modern day Israel needs missionaries and prayer. They need to embrace Christ, just as much as the Palestinians, and other people groups do as well.
I’ve rambled on longer than I wanted, but I can’t close without highlighting some resources and recommendations for further study.
The Israel of God by O. Palmer Robertson (the first chapter centers on the issue of the land, it also contains an excellent treatment of Gal. 6:16’s phrase “The Israel of God”)
The Christ of the Covenants by O. Palmer Robertson (an excellent treatment of the Biblical Covenants, with a great chapter focusing on dispensationalism)
As is frequently the case, when publishing a series of posts on my blog, I encounter a lot of comments and counterpoints. This can sidetrack me and lead toward my leaving a series unfinished. Of course there are other reasons for my nack for leaving series unfinished…. I do want to interact with some of the comments under my little excursus post, but for now, I feel we need to continue from part 5, and make my position fully clear. I do not claim perfection and I am open to being convinced otherwise, but for now I’d like to finish out my explanation of my current understanding of the land promise.
As you’ll remember from part 5, I am taking time to answer some objections, and by so doing, to rephrase my position and make it clear. So to review, I’m claiming that Joshua and 1 Kings, with Nehemiah, indicate that the OT understood the Jews to have possessed all the land God promised them at one time. None of God’s promises had failed all came to pass concerning the land, they said. We also showed that the recipients of the land promise specifically were the descendants of Abraham. Yet we should note that the New Testament indicates the Gentiles have been grafted in and are to be viewed as the descendants of Abraham. And very specifically Rom. 4 claims the very promise that Abraham would inherit the land is given to all of his children, Jew and Gentile. This understanding again jives with Eph. 6:1-3 where Gentile Christians are promised long life in the land of promise (cf. Exodus 20).
Obviously these concepts seem at first to fall short. How can Gentile Christians be inheriting the land promised to Israel? How can the land promises have already been fulfilled when there are specific “millennial” promises indicating a future reunification of Israel and possession of the land? We started to explore this by touching on the nature of land. It is integral to the relationship between a god and his people. Namaan brought earth back to his home in Syria because he wanted to serve Jehovah. He falsely thought Jehovah was bound to a local geography. Deuteronomy ties life in the land specifically to the commands and regulations Israel must obey. Abraham himself significantly only built altars within the borders of his promised land. So the idea of land is connected with fellowship and relationship, and as we’ve indicated before, with rest or confidence in God.
We begin to see a full-orbed picture of the land as we look at the idea of conditionality, and as we look at the land in perspective.
The Conditionality of the Land
As has been noted in some of the comments, Israel failed to keep covenant with God. This resulted in their expulsion from the land, and is why the totality of the land has not yet been attained by Israel. This then, makes it obvious the land promise was conditional.
Deuteronomy is the most important book for regulating the Jewish state, and it made much of the land. Obedience was to result in blessing in the land, and disobedience was to incur judgment on the land, and ultimately expulsion from it. As we look closely at the Biblical record in the first 6 books of the Bible, it is clear that while the land was promised and given as a gift to Abraham and his descendants, it nevertheless required them to believe, follow Jehovah, and obey His word in order both to possess the land, and to keep it.
Genesis 12 perhaps most clearly reveals this, as a promise of land is given to Abraham contingent (obviously) on his leaving his homeland and following Jehovah by faith. In Numbers 13 & 14, God refuses to give the land to the rebels who attempt to take it by fleshly, independent force. Let me quote a bit here, now from an article on “Land” in the New Dictionary of Biblical Theology (edited by T. Desmond Alexander & Brian Rosner, [IVP: Downers Grove, IL, 2003], pg. 624) written by J. G. Miller:
From the outset [of Deuteronomy], it is clear that only if Israel obeys will they be able to enjoy the fulfillment of the promise to the patriarchs. Only by reversing the failures of the past and faithfully negotiating the challenges of the future will the infant nation enjoy this divine reward (e.g. “Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you” [4:1], also 8:1; 11:8, etc.). But the relationship between the fulfilment of promise and obedience extends beyond the successful subjugation of Canaan; this is only a first step towards fulfilment of the promise. Entry into the land and longterm successful occupation are repeatedly linked (see e.g. 6:1-3; 8:1-3; 111:8-9; 12:1); obedience is the condition of both. Enjoyment of life with Yahweh in the land (in fulfilment of the covenant promise) is open-ended and dynamic. To realize it, Israel must continue to obey. This idea of a promised land, which is first to be occupied and then enjoyed by an obedient people, is a powerful incentive to make the right decisions. Deuteronomy treats the concept of the land as a powerful rhetorical device to press home the urgency and importance of the decision facing the nation on the plains of Moab. The land is not simply the reward for obedience; it is part of the motivation to obey.
Before moving on, let’s go back to the promises for Abraham. You may remember I said elsewhere that the promises seem unconditional. I stick by that. They are grand promises but there is a condition. Abraham must be loyal to Jehovah. He must trust him. Of course God works through Jesus ultimately to fulfill all such conditions, and He gives grace enough both to us and Abraham so that we all can “through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Heb. 6:12b).
Gen. 12 starts out with a condition. “Go… and I will make of you a great nation….” (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 ch. 17. Abraham must circumcise his sons (17:9-14), and he must also “walk before [God], and be blameless” (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 (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.” (18:19)
Keeping the Land in Perspective
Hopefully, the previous discussion has caused your spiritual antennae to be raised. There are many similarities between Abraham’s required life of faith, the Israelites duty to keep covenant and thereby enjoy the promised land and it’s rest, and our calling as Christians. We are given a great blessing of fellowship with God and an eternal inheritance, yet we must live a life of faith and endure to the end. We must fight the good fight of faith, and thus lay hold on eternal life (1 Tim. 6:12).
These obvious similarities, coupled with the New Testament’s direct claim that we believers also must enter a state of rest and peace through faith (see Heb. 3-4, and part 4), must make us pause. Earlier in our series, we highlighted how God throughout the Bible has related with his people by means of land. Adam and Eve enjoyed Eden, even as they were called to fill the whole earth. Abraham was given a land, strategically located in the center of the known world, that the Jews might bless the nations. The land was special because God dwelt there, in the Holy City, Jerusalem. He was their God, and Israel was His people. And we know from Revelation 21, that God will dwell with His people once again in a new earth — a place where a Heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, has come down to stay.
Obviously, the land promise is but one aspect of God’s promises to Abraham. And tracing the history of the land, and looking forward to the future new earth, is but one of the major themes of Scripture. Admitting this, doesn’t change our conclusions, however, but strengthens them. Consider please, that: all the promises of Abraham are fulfilled through Christ, and are shared by Christ’s followers.
We can’t cut up Abraham’s promises and say some apply only to physical Jews, and others to Abraham’s children by faith. We can’t say some are conditional and others aren’t. This is a wholistic covenant. God obligates himself, conditioned on Abraham’s covenant loyalty (which God works to empower and enable). So when we see the New Testament clearly and repeatedly claim that the Gentile believers share in Abraham’s inheritance, that they too are recipients of the promise, and partakers of the covenant, we shouldn’t conclude it is talking about something besides the land. The world God made is a blend of spiritual and physical realities which cannot be separated. We are physio-spiritual beings. We can’t say some of God’s promises to Abraham are strictly physical and others strictly spiritual.
I’ve already shown Rom. 4 to clearly state that the Gentile believers are recipients of Abraham’s promise concerning the land. And I’ve mentioned Gal. 3 which claims that in Jesus singularly, all of Abraham’s promises are truly fulfilled. It seems I keep restating things in this series so I’m going to have to limit myself. Next time, I hope to focus on one NT passage we haven’t touched on, which draws out the typical nature of the land emphatically. Then, in another post I hope to conclude by showing the ramifications for understanding the land in this way. I’ll also try to fit in a discussion of the exilic promises concerning the land and how they fit into this. I guess I can’t promise only 2 more posts, but that’s my goal. And again, thanks for all the participation in discussing these things in the comments.
I thought that the fifth post would be the last, but Will Dudding brought up some objections in the comments of the last post. This has caused me to dig a little deeper, and in the end has only increased my confidence in this understanding of the land promise. So before drawing out the implications of this view of the land promise (and then concluding our series), I need to pause and answer some objections. Answering these objections will also serve to recap this series and help us gain an even better appreciation for how the land promise applies to us.
Answering Objections
Will’s comments focused on several questions relating to the specific promises made to Abraham. He focused on two places in Genesis where the land promise is specified, but I’d like to quote all the places the land promise to Abraham is mentioned:
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country… to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation….” “To your offspring I will give this land”. (Gen. 12:1-2a; 7)
“Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth…. Arise, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” (Gen. 13:14b-17)
On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites”. (Gen. 15:18-21)
“I have made you the father of a multitude of nations…. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God. (Gen. 17:5b-8]
“I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed…” (Gen. 22:17-18]
From reading these promises, it is easy to see why Will sees problems with my view. He sees unconditional promises made to Abraham, concerning a specific plot of land to be given to Abraham’s offspring to possess forever. He fears I am saying God has cast off Israel and replaced her with the Church, and that I am ignoring these “forever” promises, and turning them into a spiritual pseudo promise so I can say they are fulfilled. It’s as simple as this: Abraham’s descendants haven’t possessed this land, so the fulfillment must still be expected in the future.
To respond to these objections is a large task, because so many fundamental assumptions are wrapped up in them. Nevertheless, I will give this a try.
The Possession of the Promised Land
I am claiming that Joshua 21:43-45 declares that God fulfilled his promise to give the land to Israel. Nehemiah and Solomon also declare God did not drop the ball on any of his promises. In studying this further, I realize I neglected an important passage in 1 Kings.
Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy. Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. (1 Kings 4:20-21)
The inspired author of 1 Kings certainly means to grab our attention here. He is proclaiming the promises concerning Abraham’s seed being as numerous as the sand of the sea, have been fulfilled. He is also pointing us to the exact dimensions of the land promised in Gen. 15, as being now inhabited and ruled over by Solomon. Of course, later in 1 Kings 8:56, Solomon will actually declare that all the promises have been fulfilled. So in one sense clearly, God declares through inspired authors of Scripture, that the Israelites did indeed possess the land. Hold with me here, as we go on to address some other objections.
The Inheritors of the Promised Land
Now the promises above stipulate that Abraham’s descendants will inherit the land. But we observed previously (in part 1) that the New Testament states that the very promise that Abraham would inherit the world, was given to all the spiritual descendants of Abraham (see Rom. 4:11-16). To expand on this, let’s note a few important passages below:
For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. (Rom. 9:6b-8]
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. (Gal. 3:7)
Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. (Gal. 3:16)
…you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. (Gal. 3:28b-29)
…the Gentiles are fellow heirs… (Eph. 3:6a)
Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. (Gal. 4:28]
That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise [re: the land, see v. 13] 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. 4:16)
See how all the above verses go hand in hand with Rom. 4:16 (the last verse cited above). This is clear New Testament teaching here. Unequivocal. “Offspring of Abraham” = “those who believe in Jesus, who is the specific Offspring of Abraham”. We know that Abraham saw Christ’s day, and his faith was in a future deliverer (John 8:58, Rom. 4, Gen. 3:15). And so we know this New Testament assertion must mean something. If we believers are co-heirs with Abraham and descendants of him, than this seems to change how we are to view the promises made in Gen. Again, suspend disbelief until our next point.
The Nature and Concept of Land
When we talk of land, we must think in ancient terms. Land was always sacred, and vastly more important in ancient times than today. A King and his realm was totally tied up in his land. Like a King, so a god. It was assumed that deities were tied up to the land, and the god of the Canaanites wouldn’t hold sway in Nineveh. Remember Namaan? He gets healed of leprosy by Elisha the prophet and what does he request? A barrel full of dirt! He felt he needed part of the land to take back to Syria so that he could be a worshiper of Jehovah.
Of course, Jehovah declares that he is the One True and Living God. He alone is God. And He owns the whole Earth. Nevertheless, land is integral in how God relates with his people. Adam and Eve needed an Eden. A place where they fellowshipped with God. If you note Abraham’s wanderings, the only places he builds altars are in the land God was giving him. Fellowship with God stemmed from being on His land.
Throughout Deuteronomy, a constantly reoccurring idea is that these laws are to be obeyed, “in the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess — as long as you live in the land” (Deut. 12:1 NIV). Obedience is intricately connected to the land. And the land was a good land. “A land flowing with milk and honey”. This points out that the land is a new paradise — a place of communion with God and blessing. And throughout Deuteronomy it is clear that God is graciously giving this to the Israelites, even though they are exhorted to take it.
The land is intimately tied up with God’s redemptive work toward Israel. At the conclusion of laws regulating life in the land (Deut. 12-25), there is a powerful ceremony highlighting the importance of Israel viewing themselves as stewards of God’s land (Deut. 26:1-11). We will explore the nature of the land further as we look at conditionality and a few other topics in the next post.
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.
Author: O. Palmer Robertson
Continuing from