Whose Land Is It?
"The earth is the Lord's, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein."
Psalms 24:1
And it's quoted and repeated in the New Testament:
"The earth is the Lord's, and all its fullness."
1st Corinthians 10:26
The Lord then claims ownership of the land of Israel:
"For on my Holy Mountain, on the mountain height of Israel," says the Lord God,
"there all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, shall serve me…"
Ezekiel 20:40
To Whom Did God Give The Land of Israel?
To Abraham:
"On that day the Lord made a COVENANT with Abram, saying,
'To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.'"
Genesis 15:18
Then to Abraham’s son Isaac:
"And God said, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and thou shalt call his name ISAAC;
and I will establish my covenant with him for an EVERLASTING COVENANT,
and with his seed after him." Genesis 17:19
And then to Isaac's son Jacob:
"... O seed of Abraham his servant, you children of JACOB, his chosen ones!"
1st Chronicles 16:12-13
"Then Jacob said to Joseph: 'God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and
blessed me, and said to me, 'Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make
of you a multitude of people, and give this land TO YOUR DESCENDANTS after you as an
everlasting possession.'”
Genesis 48:3-4
He repeats it to make it clear:
"He has remembered his covenant forever, the word which he commanded,
for a thousand generations, the covenant which he made with ABRAHAM,
and his oath to ISAAC, and confirmed it to JACOB for a statute,
to ISRAEL for an everlasting covenant, saying:
'To you I will give the land of Canaan as the allotment of your inheritance…'”
Psalms 105:6-11
What About Ishmael - The Father of The Arabs?
The Covenant Is With Isaac, and Specifically NOT To Ishmael
"And Abraham said to God, 'Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!'
Genesis 17:18
vs 19-20:
And God said: 'Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac;
I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.
And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: behold, I have blessed him,
and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly......
vs 21:
BUT my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year."
Genesis 17:18-22
Scripture adds more about Ishmael:
"He shall be a wild man; his hand shall be against every man,
and every man's hand against him. and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.''
Genesis 16:11-12
It's amazing how a prophecy spoken more than 3,000 years ago is visibly accurate to this day!
Judgment Comes
Was the land ovenant conditional?
The covenant itself is not conditional, it has been stated several times that it is an everlasting covenant. However Israel was forewarned that the results of disobediance and rebellion would be the loss of possession of the land for a period of time.
God specifies the results of rebellion:
"I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a den of jackals.
I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant."
Jeremiah 9:11
Why?
vs 13:
"…BECAUSE they have forsaken my law which I set before them and have not obeyed my voice…"
Jeremiah 9:11-13
"All nations will say, ‘Why has the Lord done so to this land?
What does the heat of this great anger mean?’"
Deuteronomy 29:24
vs 25:
Then they will say: `BECAUSE they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers,
which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt;
And they remained unrepentant:
"For the people do not turn to him who strikes them, nor do they seek the Lord of hosts.
THEREFORE the Lord will cut off head and tail from Israel …
for the leaders of this people cause them to err...
for everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks foolishness…."
Isaiah 9:13-19
"For Jerusalem stumbled and Judah is fallen BECAUSE their tongue and their doing
are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory. The look on their countenance
witnesses against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom, they do not hide it.
Woe to their soul! For they have brought evil upon themselves."
Isaiah 3:8-9
They were told how long the first dispersion would last:
"...And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment,
and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon SEVENTY YEARS."
Jeremiah 25:11
"For thus says the Lord: After SEVENTY YEARS are completed at Babylon,
I will visit you and perform my good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place."
Jeremiah 29:10
The Second Exile
After 70 years Israel was restored and the Temple rebuilt. But after awhile they would rebel again, and the Lord told them that this time the exile would be world-wide, and for a very, very long time.
"And the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, FROM ONE END OF THE EARTH TO THE OTHER;
and you shall serve other gods of wood and stone which neither you nor your fathers have known.
And among these nations you shall find no ease, and there shall be no rest for the sole of your foot,
but the Lord will give you there a trembling heart and failing eyes and a languishing soul;
your life shall hang in doubt before you; night and day you shall be in dread and have no
assurance of your life." Deuteronomy 28:64-66
For surely I will command, and will sift the house of Israel AMONG ALL NATIONS, as grain is sifted
in a sieve; Amos 9:9
This took place in the year 70 AD. Jerusalem was destroyed, the Temple destroyed, and the Jews were exiled into all of the world and there they have remained for more than 2,000 years.
But final restoration was promised:
"...when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart
and with all your soul according to everything I command you today,
then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you
and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you.
Even if you have been banished TO THE MOST DISTANT LAND UNDER THE HEAVENS,
from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back.
He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it.
He will make you more propserous and numerous than your fathers."
Deuteronomy 30:1-5
This, our generation, is the generation to have witnessed this. In May of 1948 the nation of Israel was re-established. Jews have returned to Israel in the millions, back to the same place they left 2,000 years ago, speaking the same ancient language, and prospering among the chief nations of the world.
The Miraculous Preservation of Israel
Having been scattered for over 2,000 years, yet Israel remained a separate, identifiable people.
When was the last time you saw a Hittite, or a Girgashite, an Amalekite, or any of the other “ites”
who were contemporary with ancient Israel? It is an utter astonishment that despite all these odds,
Israel remained a people.
Israel has survived assimilation, pogroms, crusades, and all Satan’s efforts to do away with her
including the Holocaust. Israel has survived because the covenants God made with her are eternal.
"He has remembered his covenant forever,
the word which he commanded, for a thousand generations,
the covenant which he made with Abraham,
and his oath to Isaac, and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,
to Israel for an EVERLASTING COVENANT,
saying, 'To you I will give the land of Canaan as the allotment of your inheritance...'''
Psalms 105:8-10
Even when they were banished in judgment, the Lord still remembered his covenants to their fathers
and he has brought them back to their land. As the Lord spoke through Moses:
"Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies,
I WILL NOT CAST THEM AWAY, nor shall I abhor them,
to utterly destroy them and break my covenant with them,
for I am the Lord their God. But for their sake
I WILL REMEMBER THE COVENANT of their ancestors,
whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations,
that I might be their God. I am the Lord."
Leviticus 26:44-45
The Second Restoration Is Permanent
God says through the prophet Isaiah:
"It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand
again THE SECOND TIME to recover the remnant of his people who are left…
He will set up a banner for the nations and will assemble the outcasts of Israel
and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth
…And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off..."
Isaiah 11:11-13
and through the prophet Amos:
"'I will bring back the captives of my people Israel;
they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them;
They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them.
I will plant them in their land, and
NO LONGER shall they be pulled up from the land
I have given them,' says the Lord your God."
Amos 9:14-15
and through the prophet Ezekiel:
"Thus says the Lord God: Surely I will take the children of Israel
from among the nations wherever they have gone,
and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land.
And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. …
Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant,
where your fathers dwelt. And they shall dwell there,
they, their children, and their children's children FOREVER."
Ezekiel 37:21-25
An ongoing process until all of Israel has been regathered:
"'For on my holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel,' says the Lord God,
'there all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, shall serve me...
I will accept you as a sweet aroma when I bring you out from the peoples
and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered.
And I will be hallowed in you before the Gentiles.
Then you shall know that I am the Lord,
when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the country
for which I raised my hand in an oath to give to your fathers.'"
Ezekiel 20:40-42
God has seen every tear Israel has shed and will not forget....
"Thus says the Lord God:
'When I have gathered the house of Israel
from the peoples among whom they are scattered,
and am hallowed in them in the sight of the Gentiles,
then they will dwell in their own land which I gave to my servant JACOB.
And they will dwell safely there, build houses, and plant vineyards;
yes, they will dwell securely, when I execute judgments
ON ALL THOSE AROUND THEM who despise them.
Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God.''
Ezekiel 28:24-26
"Egypt (south of Israel) shall be a desolation,
and Edom (east of Israel) a desolate wilderness,
BECAUSE OF VIOLENCE against the people of Judah,
for they have shed innocent blood in their land.
But Judah shall abide forever, and Jerusalem
from generation to generation… for the Lord dwells in Zion."
Joel 3:19-21
"…the sons of those who afflicted you shall come bowing to you;
and all those who despised you shall fall prostrate at the soles of your feet;
and they shall call you the city of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel …
VIOLENCE SHALL NO LONGER BE HEARD IN YOUR LAND,
neither wasting nor destruction within your borders,
but you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.
"Isaiah 60:14-18
