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God's promises to
Abraham.
Did God fulfill
His promises to Abraham or
should we look to the
future for their fulfillment?
What do the
scriptures teach?
God promised the land of Canaan to Abraham
and his descendants (Gen. 12:5-7; 13:14-15; 15:18;
Gen. 26:1-4; 28).
God fulfilled
his promises to Abraham through the nation of
Israel (Num. 35:13; Deut. 19:1-2; Deut. 19:8-9;
Josh. 20:1-7; 21:43-45; Judges 2:20-23; Ne. 9:8-9;
1 Kings 4:21).
Were the
prophecies given through Israel conditional or absolute?
While
we have noted that the prophets spoke with
confidence, it is also important to observe that
some prophecies were obviously conditional. This
is especially true with reference to predictions
that contained warnings of impending judgment
upon wicked peoples. The doom prophetically
announced was dependent upon whether or not that
nation would turn from its evil. For example,
when Jonah went to the city of Nineveh, he
announced: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be
overthrown” (Jonah 3:4).
However, that warning
was obviously conditional as evidenced by the
fact that when the people of Nineveh repented,
and “God saw their works that they turned from
their evil way,” he withdrew the judgment and
did not destroy them (Jonah 3:10). Similarly,
when God promised the Israelites that the land
of Canaan would be their inheritance, that
pledge was contingent upon their fidelity to
Yahweh (Deut. 28-30; Lev. 26; Jer. 12:14-17; 18:7-11; 26:1-6).
Joshua 23:14-15 says, “And now I am
about to go the way of all the earth, and you
know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that
not one word has failed of all the good things
that the LORD your God promised concerning you.
All have come to pass for you; not one of them
has failed. 15 But just as all the good things
that the LORD your God promised concerning you
have been fulfilled for you, so the LORD will
bring upon you all the evil things, until he has
destroyed you from off this good land that the
LORD your God has given you,”
Look at how these other passages describe God
fulfilling His promises to Israel:
Joshua 21:43-45 says, “Thus the LORD gave to
Israel all the land that he swore to give to
their fathers. And they took possession of it,
and they settled there. 44 And the LORD gave
them rest on every side just as he had sworn to
their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had
withstood them, for the LORD had given all their
enemies into their hands. 45 Not one word of all
the good promises that the LORD had made to the
house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.”
Joshua 24:28 says, “So Joshua sent the
people away, every man to his inheritance.”
2 Samuel 8:3 says, “David also defeated
Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he
went to restore his power at the river
Euphrates.”
1 Kings 4:21 says, “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.”
2 Chronicles 9:26 says, “And he ruled over all the
kings from the Euphrates to the land of the
Philistines and to the border of Egypt.”
Nehemiah 9:8 says, “You found his heart faithful
before you, and made with him the covenant to
give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite,
the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the
Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And you have kept
your promise, for you are righteous.”
Jeremiah 11:5 says, “that I may confirm the oath
that I swore to your fathers, to give them a
land flowing with milk and honey, as at this
day.” Then I answered, “So be it, LORD.”
So, to say that God did not give Israel
all the land promised to Abraham is unbiblical.
Sadly, the Hebrew nation apostatized and lost
its special privileges with God (Lev. 26; Deut. 28-29; cf. Matt. 21:42-44; 23:37-39). Those
people who argue for Israel’s
intrinsic right to the land of Palestine
today overlook this very critical element of Bible
prophecy.
On the other hand, some
of the prophecies were absolute. Predictions concerning
the coming Messiah were not predicated upon
human response; they were fulfilled with amazing
accuracy. The Messiah was to be: the seed of
woman (Gen. 3:15), the offspring of Abraham
(Gen. 22:18), from the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10), born to a virgin (Isa. 7:14),
in the town of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), etc. There
was nothing conditional about these statements.
The Lord God kept His Word long before Jesus was ever
born. God kept His promise that He made to Abraham. The scriptures clearly
reveal that the promises were fulfilled shortly after the Lord made them. To
believe that these promises were not fulfilled until the 20th century does not
make sense based on the clear teaching of scripture. God is a faithful God that
keeps his covenants. So, the land promises that God made with Abraham were
fulfilled over 3000 years ago! [1]
God's promises to Abraham were ultimately fulfilled in Jesus.
These are the inheritances that the people of
Israel received in the land of Canaan... (Josh. 14:1)
God made three major promises to Abraham.
He promised him a great
nation. God promised his descendants would be as the sand of the seashore and
the stars of the heavens (Gen. 22:17).
God promised Abraham that his family would possess
the Land where he lived as a stranger (Gen. 12:7).
Finally, God promised Abraham that his seed or
descendant after him would bless all nations (Gen. 22:18).
When were these promises fulfilled?
God fulfilled the promise of a nation when Abraham's
family grew rapidly in Egypt and then entered into a covenant with them at Mount Sinai
(Gen. 46:3; Ex. 1:7; 19:3-6; Deut. 1:10; 10:22). He fulfilled the land promise when Joshua led the people
on the conquest of Canaan and then divided up the land (Josh. 21:43-45; 23:14-15; Num. 35:9-15). And
then God fulfilled the seed promise through his Son, Jesus Christ (Acts 3:25-26; Gal. 3:7-9; 3:29).
All this being said, there is a sense in which all
the promises made to Abraham either were fulfilled, or will be fulfilled in
Jesus, the promised Messiah. The promise of a nation to Abraham is not just the physical nation that came
from him but all of those who are Abraham’s spiritual descendants (Gal. 3:7-9; 3:29). Jesus was the
“seed” promised to Abraham (Gal. 3:16-17).
And just as Joshua brought the nation of Israel into take
possession of the Promised
Land, our Joshua (Jesus) is bringing us into the promised rest in the land God
has prepared for his people (Heb. 4:1-11).
[2]
Conclusion:
The scriptures teach
that the Mosaic Covenant was conditional upon
Israel's faithful response to the covenant given
at Mount Sinai (Lev. 26;
Deut. 28:15, 63, 64; 30:17-18).
The
continued inheritance of the physical land by Israel
was always conditional and could be revoked
(Deut. 6:10, 15, 18, 19; 8:19-20; Deut. 9:5; 30:17-18;
Josh. 23:12-16; Jer. 18:1-10; 19:10-11).
Israel
forfeited their national rights to the Kingdom by
rejecting their
Messiah!
When the appointed time
came His people “received him not.” (John 1:11)
Three days before his crucifixion, Jesus
pronounced Heaven's verdict on the Jewish
nation (Matt. 21:43-45; 23:27-39;
Luke 21:1-28).
When the Jews rejected the
Messiah, their rejection as God's sole covenant
people was permanent and irrevocable (Jer. 12:14-17; 18; 26:1-6; Dan. 9:26-27).
God would still fulfill his
promise to bring the Gentiles into a saving
relationship with him (Isa. 60:1-5; Zech. 8:20-23; 14:9; Rom. 11:26-29).
The New Testament describes the spiritual
fulfillment of the Land promise (Rom. 4:13-14;
Gal. 3:18; 4:23-28; Eph. 1:10-14; Heb. 4:3).
Nowhere in the New Testament does it say that
literal Israel will be restored to covenant
privileges outside of the New Covenant promises
given to the Church.
Galatians 3:26-29 says,
“for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God,
through faith. 27 For as many of you as were
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither
slave nor free, there is no male and female, for
you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you
are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring,
heirs according to promise.”
Many of the
Old Testament promises to Israel that were unfulfilled
will never be fulfilled through Israel as a
nation. The promises such as those affirming
Israel's worldwide mission, the ingathering of
the Gentiles and those pointing forward to the
eternal rest in Canaan can never be fulfilled.
They were conditional upon Israel's faithful
response to the Old (Mosaic) Covenant which they
broke.
The other promises that will be fulfilled
through the New Covenant Church as the new
people of God, will be done so in principle -
but not necessarily in detail because of the
fact that many details of those prophecies were
made with respect to Israel as a literal nation,
situated in the land of Palestine, whereas the
Christian Church is a spiritual “nation”
scattered all over the world. Those details
cannot be reapplied to the church in any literal
sense.
New Testament writers often reinterpret Old Testament
prophecies regarding Israel in light of the new
historical setting, applying them to the church
(Acts 2:17-21; 15:15-17; Rom. 9:25-29; 1 Cor. 9:9-10;
Gal. 3:11, 16; 4:22-31; Heb. 4:1-11; 8:8-13; 1 Pet. 2:9-10).
Details that
depended upon the Jews continuing as God's
chosen people in the land of Palestine have
lapsed by default. To lift selected passages out
of their literary and historical context in the
Old Testament and apply them arbitrarily to our day is
not a valid exegesis.
According to Romans 9-11, God still has a plan
for Israel as a people. God loves Israel and
desires the best for them - but their salvation,
like all those who are gentiles, will be based
on the new
covenant promises of Jesus Christ.
References:
1. See:
God's Land Promise to ABRAHAM - Fulfilled?
2. See:
God's Promises to Abraham Fulfilled in Jesus
&
The Fulfillment of God’s Promises to Abraham
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