Israel-The Promise Fulfilled

In Genesis 12, God promised Abraham several things: He would make of them a great nation (the Jews); He would give them a land (Canaan, or Israel); He would bless all of the earth through his, Abraham's, seed (Jesus). The land promise was fulfilled when the Jews left Egyptian captivity, traveled in the wilderness for 40 years, then conquered and occupied the land of Israel.

Many people today believe that the land promise is yet to be fulfilled; i.e., that Jesus will return to the earth to establish a kingdom headquartered in Jerusalem, a kingdom to last for 1000 years. They believe that it will be at this time that the land promise will be fulfilled, that Israel will finally have its land as promised by God.

The fact is, Israel got the land of promise as recorded in Joshua 21:43-45, "So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it.....Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass. And later we read in 1Kings 4:21 that king Solomon reigned over all the land.

That Israel has lost some of its land, that Israel is chopped up and incomplete, is unfortunate for the Jewish nation. But there is no promise from God, nor does it seem to fit into His plan, for Israel to be guaranteed a restoration in today's world or in the future. Back in the time of Joshua God fought their battles for them insuring that they got their land in entirety. But to keep it, they had to serve God completely. That wasn't done. And there is no promise that Jesus will ever come to earth again to establish an earthly kingdom. Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this earth."

Thanks for reading. Have a great week!