Grounded in the Avrahamic covenant, the promise of the land is unconditional. The covenant made by Elohim guaranteed that the land of Canaan will eventually be the land of Israel, forever. The land will be Israel’s estate. Israel is the landlord’s rightful heir. Israel will inherit the land and reign in it (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:1-21; 16:1-16; 17:1-8, 15-22; 21:12; 28:4; 50:24; Exodus 2:24; Deuteronomy 9:5; 2 Kings 13:23; Psalm 105:9-11; Micah 7:18,20; Luke 1:67-75; Acts 3:25,26; Romans 9:4,5; Galatians 3:8,17; Hebrews 6:13-20).
Biblically, the enjoyment of the land had specific provisos. Obedience was required of those who would occupy the land, and Israel’s return to the land from exile was contingent upon Israel’s return to the Lord of the Land (2 Chronicles 7:14). Deliverance from a swarm and army of insects, or a swarm and army of men was and still is contingent upon Israel’s genuine repentance (Joel 2:12).
At the close of the Old Testament scriptures, ZecharYah, the most messianic of the prophets speaks specifically about the final return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel and their reception of the Lord, Yeshua. Unlike the erroneous Replacement Theology bias of Catholicism, Presbyterianism, Episcopalians, some Baptists and evangelicals, the land of Israel is not merely a metaphor or a symbol of a greater place beyond its soil. Scripture is clear that the physical and geographical estate of Israel will exist in the last days, and living in it as rightful heirs will be a literal, spiritual, community of Jewish people, believers in Messiah Yeshua. That future Israel, both the land and the people, will be a light among and to the nations.
Elohimhas not changed His mind or His program. There is no Plan B. The land of Israel is never spiritualized to be only a ‘type’ as some suggest. Israel is an actual microcosm of the earth, not an allusion or an allegory of it. Israel, the land and the people, will abide in the territorial geographical estate promised the patriarchs.
The precept of obedience to YHWH while in His land is historical and biblical and prophetic and it will be played out in pristine form in the geographical land of Israel which will encompass the whole Fertile-Crescent, perhaps 500,000 square miles in comparison to Israel’s 12,000 square miles today.
The millennial reign of Yeshua, the son of David, son of Adam, and the messiah of Israel extends beyond the land of Israel to the lands of Europe, Asia, America, the entire globe, to nations worldwide. The Lord Yeshua will literally sit upon a physical throne, the throne of David, in a literal building, the Temple of Messiah, on a literal geographical hill, the Mountain of Moriah, in a literal city, the New Jerusalem, in a literal state, the country of Israel, within this literal earth. This will be a fulfillment of biblical prophecy, and is not allegory, allusion, or spiritual fiction! Yeshua’s millennial reign is not a novel. He is coming, and He is coming to His millennial Temple in Jerusalem in Israel with David as His Prime Minister, the Apostles as His administrators, and the Church as His Knesset. Within the coming millennial kingdom, the people of Israel will rightfully inherit the Holy Land, all of it, as prophesied by ZecharYah (2:12) and the prophets.
While there is no physical space or site that is inherently holy, when our Lord comes to His land, and is embraced by His remnant people, and He inaugurates His one-thousand-year [millennial] reign as earth’s rightful king, His glory will fill the Middle Eastern Israeli Temple that He Himself will build and inaugurate, and it will be like the Garden of Eden. His Temple will be the Garden of Eden! “Then dust particles of old will dissipate, and the land made holy will be the true land.”
From THE LAND OF ISRAEL, THE LORD OF ISRAEL by Dr. Reginald K. Lisemby at Amazon.com
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