Israel and the Land
Living out a 4000 year Promise

God’s Covenant with Abraham

"Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir”. He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars - if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness" (Gen 15:4-6).

God’s Covenant of the Land

"He also said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it." (Gen 15:7).

God’s Covenant of the People and the Land

"Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here…” (Gen 15:13-16).

Geographic Boundaries of the Covenant Land

“On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates - the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites." (Gen 15:18-19).

God allocates the Boundaries of Nations

"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live” (Acts 17:24-16, see also Deut 32:8 and Psalm 74:17).

Sarai and Abram attempt to activate the Covenant in the Flesh

“So she (Sarah) said to Abram, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her." Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived (Ishmael ~ Gen 16:1-4).

The Nature of the Covenant with Abraham extends to Ishmael

“And he (the Angel) said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?" "I'm running away from my mistress Sarai," she answered. Then the angel of the LORD told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her." The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count." The angel of the LORD also said to her: "You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery” (Gen 16:9-10).

Why did God extend the Covenant to Ishmael?

Because Ishmael was the seed of Abraham he inherited the promise of Abraham - even though Abraham and Sarah had done the wrong thing in trying to conceive a child of the promise through Hagar…

“But God said to him, "Do not be so distressed about the boy (Ishmael) and your maidservant. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. I will make the son of the maidservant (Ishmael) into a nation also, because he is your offspring." (Gen 21:12-13).

The word of God spoken over Ishmael

“The angel added, "I will so increase your (Hagar’s) descendants that they will be too numerous to count." The angel of the LORD also said to her: "You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery.

He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers" (Gen 16:7-15).

The Covenant with Abraham was Everlasting

Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.

I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God."

Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.

The Descendants of Ishmael settled near Egypt

“Altogether, Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty-seven years. He breathed his last and died, and he was gathered to his people. His descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the border of Egypt, as you go toward Asshur. And they lived in hostility toward all their brothers (Gen 25:17).

The Descendants of Isaac settle as Israel in the Promised Land

“God said to him, "Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel. " So he named him Israel. And God said to him, "I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your body. The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you." (Gen 35:10-12).

“Then Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" (Gen 50:24).

“And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD” (God’s spoken word to Moses, Exodus 6:8).

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God”. (Lev 25:38).

“They gave Moses this account: "We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit” (Num 13:27).

Summary of the Covenant

·       The covenant was everlasting.

·       Abraham was to be the father of many nations (the Jewish nation through Isaac and Arabic nations through Ishmael).

·       The land of Cannan was an everlasting part of the covenant to Israel. Gen 15:18-19 is the title deed to the land where Isaac was to settle as the son of the promise (Gen 21:12).

·       The covenant was signified by the mark of male circumcision.

The Covenant Outworking Today

·       Israel was returned to the land of the promise by the United Nations in 1948 according to Biblical prophesy: "Therefore say: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again” (Ezek 11:17).

·       The Arab world has made war on Israel - against the prophetic word of God to do with the future of Israel - but has lost each time.

·       The United States has underwritten Israel’s existence - as a contemporary part of the everlasting covenant between God and Israel.

·       The United States is continually criticised for its support of the nation of Israel.

·       Arafat emerged as a terrorist, hijacker and extortionist. Palestinian militants today reflect the nature of the line of Ishmael (Gen 16:15). They are a political force with a policy of eliminating Israel as a nation. Arafat started the current Palestinian uprising to obtain by force what could not be obtained through negotiation – even though Prime Minister Baraq offered Arafat about 90% of what he asking  at the Camp David accords under Clinton.

·       The Palestinians demand the right to live in the West bank of Israel with Jerusalem as their Capitol. This is the land of the promise given to the descendants of Isaac - not the descendants of Ishmael. Hence we are living in the middle of a 4000 year family feud!

·       There has never in history been a greater transfer of wealth from the rich to the poor as has occurred in the Middle East. Petro-dollars have poured into the Arab nations with the oil - not into Israel. Accordingly every financial resource has been available for the poor and dispossessed in the Middle East. The responsibility for the dispersement of wealth rests with the Arab nations who have the oil.

·       Iraq has converted its oil wealth into war - against Iran and Kuwait - and to develop weapons of mass destruction. This has resulted in U.N. sanctions in an attempt to contain the risk. The outcome has been a loss of dispersement of oil wealth to the poor and disposed in that geographic area.

·       No country has tried harder (although imperfectly) to maintain the peace in the Middle East than the United States… including the investment of some USD $10B into Egypt under protocols for peace established by President Jimmy Carter.

Click here for a pocket history of Israel.

Click here for the Camp David Accords.

Who is a Jew today?

There are two ways this question is answered:

1.     By birth – if your mother was a Jew then you are a Jew according to Jewish law.

2.     By faith – if you accept Jesus into your heart you become a part of who Jesus is… a fulfilled Jew. As a Christian you have a Jew living in your heart! Accordingly a Christian enters into both the heritage and the future of Jesus.

1. Can a Jew receive Salvation by birth?

"We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?" Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence, and you do what you have heard from your father."

"Abraham is our father," they answered. "If you were Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the things your own father does." "We are not illegitimate children," they protested. "The only Father we have is God himself."

Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God." (John 8:39-47).

2. Salvation is by Faith alone

“A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code (Rom 2:28).

“For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile - the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Rom 10:12).

Are the Jews then rejected by God?

“I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew” (Rom 11:1-2).

“Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious” (Rom 11:11).

What then should be our attitude be to the Jews?

“If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you” (Rom 11:17-18).

The glorious future of both Messianic Jews and Christians

"Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” (Rev 21:9-14).