with this second national promise that we are concerned, for unlike the personal and universal promises it has never been fulfilled. The national promise of the land was to be forever. In fact it is called by God an “ everlasting possession” (Gen. 17:8). God not only says this, but He confirms it by making a binding contract with Abraham (Gen. 15:7-21). The significance of this confirmation is that no matter what Abra ham did, this Abrahamic covenant rested upon God and God alone. In other words, God would fulfill the promise of the land. Moreover, the amount of land that Israel would possess is defined by God in Genesis 15:18: “Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river Euphrates.” This indeed is a vast area for it includes present-day Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, South Arabia, Muscat and Oman, Trucial Coast, and parts of Egypt, Kuwait, and Iraq. Certainly, Israel has never possessed this amount of land. Therefore, in light of the present world situation, the question is: “When will Israel possess the promised land?” T h e P l i g h t o p T h e P r e s e n t The reason that Israel does not possess this land today is simply because of her disobedience to God. That which was true in Isaiah’s day regarding the nation Israel is equally true today: “ The ox know- eth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward” (Isa. 1:3-4). Concerning God’s judgment for such sin, the Apostle Paul writes: “ Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded (according as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day” (Rom. 11:7-8). Indeed, God must judge; He must discipline this nation for her sin. Such judgment of God regarding the promised land, however, has taken the form o f dispersion— that is, being cast from off the land, and each of Israel’s three dispersions has been predicted. First was the dispersion from the land into Egypt where it was predicted that Israel would be afflicted for some 400 years (Gen. 15:13-16). The second dispersion was into Babylon where Israel was to be in captivity for some 70 years (Jer. 25:11-12). Even the Prophet Daniel had great hope because of the completion of this proph ecy (Dan. 9:1-2). The third dispersion, the pres ent dispersion, is from the land of Palestine into all parts o f the world. This God declared as early as Deuteronomy 28:62-68. He said concerning Is
rael that He would “ rejoice over you to destroy you and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone” (Deut. 28:63-64). T h e P o s s e s s i o n I n T h e F u t u r e After each of the first two dispersions, Israel was led back into the promised land. The first time, God raised up Moses and Joshua to lead Israel back out of Egypt. After the second dispersion, God raised up Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah to lead back groups of Israelites. What, then, about the return from the third dispersion into all the na tions of the world? When will this be fulfilled? Although there have been partial regatherings of the nation Israel, all o f which are significant, it will not be until the future millennial reign of Christ that Israel will actually possess all the land between the two great rivers. This, as was promised Abraham, is a work that God is going to do. It is not for Israel or for us on their behalf to take the land. The Lord will see to it that Israel possesses the land after the nation turns to Him. In fact God says, “ And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee, and shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; that then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee” (Deut. 30:1-3). In other words, just as the personal and universal promises of the Abrahamic covenant have been literally fulfilled, so God will literally fulfill the national promise of the land to the nation Israel. Just as God brought back the nation Israel from the first and second disper sions, so God also will bring back this nation from the third or present dispersion. How true it is that God will perform all that He has promised! Certainly, He can discipline His children, but never will He discontinue His un conditional promises. What God does is determined by who He is. In other words, since God is faith ful, He must accomplish all that He has said. How wonderful it is to realize that although some Jews are today returning to this land, there is coming a future day when God will give all the land between the two great rivers to Israel as a permanent possession. Israel indeed has a glorious future under the hand of God. BE
MAY, 1967
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