God Kept His Word,
The Land Promises to Israel HAVE been
Fulfilled by
Jack Kettler
God promised the land to
Abram’s descendants Genesis 15:18-20. This
passage speaks specifically of the land of
Canaan and beyond.
“On that day the LORD
made a covenant with Abram saying “To your
offspring (seed) I give this land from the
river of Egypt to the great river, the river
Euphrates” (Genesis 15:18). This verse would
be about the greater land promise.
This study focuses on
God’s faithfulness in keeping His promises.
From the perspective of the New Testament,
we can say that everything in the Old
Testament points to Christ Jesus. All of
redemptive history points to the Lord Jesus
Christ. There is salvation only in Christ.
First, we will look
at several passages containing this
emphasis of the centrality of Christ:
“Neither is there
salvation in any other: for there is none
other name under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
“For there is one God,
and one mediator between God and men, the
man Christ Jesus.” (I Timothy 2:5)
“For I determined not to
know anything among you, save Jesus Christ,
and him crucified.” (I Corinthians 2:2)
“Of which salvation the
prophets have inquired and searched
diligently, who prophesied of the grace that
should come unto you.” (I Peter 1:10)
In addition to
these texts, consider this regarding the
Lord Jesus Christ:
“Every
single text of Scripture points to Christ….
From Moses to the prophets. He is the focus
of every single word of the Bible. Every
verse of Scripture finds its fulfillment in
Him, and every story in the Bible ends with
Him.” (1)
Now to our study at
hand involving God’s faithfulness in
keeping His promises:
It is surprising, that
there are people who question the Scriptural
fact that God fulfilled his promises to
Israel. Why is this?
Enter the followers
of Cyrus Ingerson Scofield:
In addition to making an
erroneous separation between the ancient
Israel and the Church, some followers of
Cyrus Ingerson Scofield make the claim that
Israel never possessed the entire land that
God promised to them.
For example:
“At no time in Jewish
history has Israel ever occupied all this
land (see Deuteronomy 1:7; 11:24), and so,
the nation of Israel will receive this
promise in the future.” (2)
The chief
formulator of what is known as
dispensational theology states:
“Oftentimes students of
the Bible point to three passages that
appear to suggest that the promise of land
to Israel has indeed been fulfilled: Joshua
21:43–45; 23:14–15; Nehemiah 9:8. These
texts assert that “not one of all the LORD’s
good promises to the house of Israel failed;
everyone was fulfilled” (Josh. 21:45; cf.
23:14). However, the boundaries mentioned in
Numbers 34:2–12 are not the ones reached in
the accounts of Joshua and Judges. For
example, Joshua 13:1–7 and Judges 3:1–4 agree in maintaining
that there was much land that remained to
be taken.” (4)
Are these claims of
incomplete land promises justified in
light of Scripture?
Of particular note in verse 45;
God says of all the good things He had
promised to Israel, “There failed not…any
good thing,” “all came to pass.” Is this
true or not? I would be uncomfortable
denying what the Word of God affirms.
Genesis
15:18; from Gill's
Exposition of the Entire Bible,
explains this in agreement with God’s
declaration that “all came to pass”:
“In the same day the Lord made
a covenant with Abram,…. Which he confirmed
by passing between the pieces and accepting
his sacrifice: saying, unto thy seed have I
given this land; he had given it in his
purpose, and he had given the promise of it,
and here he renews the grant, and ratifies
and confirms it, even the land of Canaan,
where Abram now was, though only a sojourner
in it; and which is described by its
boundaries and present occupants, in this
and the following verses, as is usually done
in grants of lands and deeds of conveyance:
from
the
river of Egypt, unto the great river, the
river of Euphrates; the river of Egypt is
the Nile, which overflowed it
annually and made it fruitful; so the Targum
of Jonathan calls it the river of Egypt; it
may be rendered, "from the river Mizraim or
Egypt", for the name of Egypt was given to
the river Nile as well as to the country,
and so it is called by Homer (p); and
Diodorus Siculus (q) says, the Nile was
first called Egypt; some (r) think the Nile
is not here meant, but a little river of
Egypt that ran through the desert that lay
between Palestine and Egypt; but it seems to
be a branch of the river Nile, which was
lesser about Palestine or Damiata, at the
entrance of Egypt, than at other places.
Brocardus (s) says," from Delta to
Heliopolis were three miles, where another
river was separated from the Nile, and
carried to the city of Pelusium; and, adds
he, this river is properly called in
Scripture the river of Egypt, and at it is
bounded the lot of the tribe of Judah.' 'This river of Egypt, or
the Nile, was the southern boundary of the
land of Canaan, and from hence to the
river Euphrates, the eastern boundary, was
the utmost extent of it in which it was
ever possessed, as it was in the times of
David and Solomon, 2 Samuel 8:3;1
Kings 4:21.” (5)
Final Victory of
David:
“And David reigned over all
Israel; and David executed judgment and
justice unto all his people.” (2 Samuel
8:15)
Consider
Solomon’s Benediction:
“And it was so, that when
Solomon had made an end of praying all this
prayer and supplication unto the Lord, he
arose from before the altar of the Lord,
from kneeling on his knees with his hands
spread up to heaven. And he stood, and
blessed all the congregation of Israel with
a loud voice, saying, “Blessed be the Lord,
that hath given rest unto his people Israel,
according
to all that he promised: there hath not
failed one word of all his good promise,
which he promised by the hand of Moses his
servant.” (1 Kings 8:54-56)
Is this true or not? It seems
that Mr. Scofield and his followers are
saying, it is not true. This is certainly an
odd position to hold. In interpreting
Scripture, the plain and most simple
straightforward meaning is what should be
accepted. To argue with Scofield that, the nation has never as
yet taken the land under the unconditional
Abrahamic covenant seems convoluted
and arbitrary. It certainly seems like
Scofield’s assertion is in conflict with
God’s declaration in I Kings; “that there
hath not failed one word of all his good
promise.”
Let us look again at Joshua.
Does God make any distinction between
conditional and unconditional regarding His
land promises?
“And
the
Lord
gave unto Israel all the land which he
sware to give unto their fathers; and they
possessed it, and dwelt therein. And
the Lord gave them rest round about,
according to all that he sware unto their
fathers: and there stood not a man of all
their enemies before them; the Lord delivered all their enemies
into their hand. There
failed not ought of any good thing which
the Lord
had spoken unto the house of Israel; all
came to pass.” (Joshua 21:43-45)
You either take this passage in
Joshua at face value, or end up in an
awkward position of smuggling in exegetical
assumptions. Does a prior extrabiblical
commitment to an interpretive process color
your interpretation of Scripture? A common
error, in contrast to exegesis, eisegeses is
a process of interpreting a text of
Scripture in such a way that introduces
one's own presuppositions or a foreign
hermeneutical necessity.
A common example of this is
where individuals read the present-day
newspaper events as an interpretive grid
into ancient biblical texts. This so-called
newspaper eisegesis, in addition to arguing
for unwarranted exegetical assumptions, can
also be an anachronism, a logical fallacy.
Schofield’s system with its denial of the
land promises being fulfilled, many makes it
look like there is an error in God’s word
concerning His promise to Israel. Then
Schofield’s system erects an incredible
interpretive scheme to explain away a
contradiction in the Bible that they created
by not taking Joshua 21:43-45 at face value.
The Prophet
Isaiah reminds Israel of His Faithfulness:
“I have declared the former
things from the beginning; and they went
forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I
did them suddenly, and they came to pass.”
(Isaiah 48:3)
Why would anyone doubt this? To
say that the promise will be fulfilled
thousands of years later in a future
millennial period is a denial that the
promise “and they came to pass.” It either
came to pass or it did not. To say that
God’s promises, “it or they came to pass” is
true because they will be fulfilled
thousands of years in the future is
illogical nonsense and destructive of the
intelligible use of human language.
To illustrate
the implications of this approach to logic
and language consider:
“Suppose the word mountain
meant metaphor, and dog, and Bible, and the
United States. Clearly, if a word meant
everything, it would mean nothing. If, now,
the law of contradiction is an arbitrary
convention, and if our linguistic theorists
choose some other convention, I challenge
them to write a book in conformity with
their principles. As a matter of fact, it
will not be hard for them to do so. Nothing
more is necessary than to write the word
metaphor sixty thousand times: Metaphor
metaphor, metaphor, metaphor…. This means
the dog ran up the mountain, for the word
metaphor means dog, ran, and mountain.
Unfortunately, the sentence “metaphor
metaphor, metaphor” also means, Next
Christmas is Thanksgiving, for the word
metaphor has these meanings as well.” -
Gordon H. Clark, God's
Hammer: The Bible and Its Critics
A Summary of
God’s Redemptive History in Christ:
God promised to Abram
that “his seed” would possess the land of
Canaan in Genesis 12:7. God kept His
promises to Abraham as seen in Joshua
21:43-45. In addition, God promised David
that He would raise up his seed in Galatians
3:14, 16, 29. And, He would establish
David’s throne, and his kingdom II Samuel 7.
Moreover, God kept His word, by raising
Christ from the dead, establishing Christ’s
kingdom, and giving the Son of David, which
is Christ the throne in Acts 2:30; 13:33;
Colossians 1:13.
The New Testament,
a Commentary on the Old Testament:
In Romans 4:13 we read
that Abraham was promised to inherit the
whole world and his offspring who are Jews
and Gentiles and by faith are included in
the covenant with Israel and considered, the
children of AbrahamRomans 4:11-17. The
promises made to Abraham were fulfilled in
Christ, the true Seed of Abraham II
Corinthians 1:20. These promises belong to
all who are in Christ, and consequently are
part of Abraham's seed Galatians 3:26-29.
The New Testament interprets prophecies made
to Israel in such a way, proving that they
are now being fulfilled in Christ’s Church,
are seen in: Acts 15:14-17.
In the concluding
summary of the unfolding of God’s redemptive
narrative in the New Testament, a radical
distinction as Scofield makes between the
Israel and the Church is false. This
distinction chops up the Bible into
unintelligible parts and denies the central
thrust of Scripture, namely, that:
“Where there is neither
Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor
uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond
nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.”
(Colossians 3:11)
Schofield and his system
erects an artificial unscriptural
distinction between Jews and Gentiles in
opposition to Scripture and essentially
rebuilds the wall between Jews and Gentiles
that God has broken down in Christ.
From the
Westminster Confession of Faith on the
Church:
Chapter 25 - Of the
Church.
Section 1.) The catholic
or universal Church, which is invisible,
consists of the whole number of the elect,
that have been, are, or shall be gathered
into one, under Christ the Head thereof; and
is the spouse, the body, the fulness of Him
that filth all in all. (1)
(1) Eph 1:10,22,23; Eph
5:23,27,32; Col 1:18
------------------------------------
Section 2.) The visible
Church, which is also catholic or universal
under the Gospel (not confined to one
nation, as before under the law), consists
of all those throughout the world that
profess the true religion;(1) and of their
children:(2) and is the kingdom of the Lord
Jesus Christ, (3) the house and family of
God, (4) out of which there is no ordinary
possibility of salvation. (5)
(1) 1Co 1:2; 1Co
12:12,13; Ps 2:8; Rev 7:9; Ro 15:9-12 (2)
1Co 7:14; Ac 2:39; Eze 16:20,21; Ro 11:16;
Ge 3:15; Ge 17:7 (3) Mt 13:47; Isa 9:7 (4)
Eph 2:19; Eph 3:15 (5) Ac 2:47
------------------------------------
Section 3.) Unto this
catholic visible Church Christ hath given
the ministry, oracles, and ordinances of
God, for the gathering and perfecting of the
saints, in this life to the end of the
world: and doth, by His own presence and
Spirit, according to His promise, make them
effectual thereunto. (1)
(1) 1Co 12:28; Eph
4:11,12,13; Mt 28:19,20; Isa 59:21
------------------------------------
Section 4.) This
catholic Church hath been sometimes more,
sometimes less visible. (1) And particular
Churches, which are members thereof, are
more or less pure, according as the doctrine
of the Gospel is taught and embraced,
ordinances administered, and public worship
performed more or less purely in them. (2)
Section 5.) The purest
Churches under heaven are subject both to
mixture and error;(1) and some have so
degenerated, as to become no Churches of
Christ, but synagogues of Satan. (2)
Nevertheless, there shall be always a Church
on earth, to worship God according to His
will. (3)
Section 6.) There is no
other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus
Christ. (1) Nor can the Pope of Roe, in any
sense, be head thereof; (but is that
Antichrist, that man of sin, and son of
perdition, that exalteth himself in the
church against Christ, and all that is
called God. (2)
Israel and the
Church, from Charles Provan’s The
Church is Israel Now:
Excerpts adapted for the
web, 1997
During this century,
Christians have been told over and over that
"God has an unconditional love for Old
Testament Israel," by which is meant that
God's love is directed toward persons
racially descended from Abraham, regardless
of faith or obedience. Membership in Israel,
therefore, is viewed as a matter of race,
not faith.
The Church Is Israel Now
demonstrates that the Bible totally
repudiates this racialist viewpoint. Being a
member of Israel in the Old Testament was
dependent upon faith and obedience to God.
When the Israelites obeyed God, God loved
them. But when the Israelites turned from
him, He hated them, stripping them of their
Israelite status. After centuries of
Israelite rebellion against God, culminating
in their rejection of Jesus the Messiah, the
titles, attributes and blessings of Israel
were transferred to all who accept Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior, and to no one
else, regardless of Abrahamic descent. The
Church is Israel Now.
Jesus said to the "chief
priests and elders of the [Jewish] people":
Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God
will be taken from you and given to a nation
bearing the fruits of it. Matt. 21:43
Jesus said to His
disciples: Do not fear, little flock, for it
is the Father's good pleasure to give you
the kingdom. Luke 12:32
OLD TESTAMENT TITLES AND
ATTRIBUTES OF ISRAEL WHICH ARE, IN THE NEW
TESTAMENT, REFERRED TO THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
THE BELOVED OF GOD
A) Israel Is Beloved Of
God: - Ex. 15:13, Deut. 33:3, Ezra 3:11
B) Disobedient Israel Is
Not Beloved Of God: - Lev. 3:16, Jer. 12:8,
Jer. 16:5, Hos. 9:15
C) Christians Are
Beloved Of God: - Rom. 9:25, Eph. 5:1, Col.
3:12, 1 John 3:1
THE CHILDREN OF GOD
A) Israel Are The
Children Of God: - Ex. 4:22, Deut. 14:1,
Isa. 1:2,4, Isa. 1:2,4, Isa. 63:8, Hos. 11:1
B) Disobedient Israel
Are Not The Children Of God: - Deut. 32:5,
John 8:39, 42, 44
C) Christians Are The
Children Of God: - John 1:12, John 11:52,
Rom. 8:14,16, 2 Cor. 6:18, Gal. 3:26, Gal.
4:5,6,7, Phil. 2:15, 1 John 3:1
THE FIELD OF GOD
A) Israel Is The Field
Of God: - Jer. 12:10
B) Christians Are The
Field Of God: - 1 Cor. 3:9
THE FLOCK OF GOD AND OF
THE MESSIAH
A) Israel Is The Flock
Of God And Of The Messiah: - Psa. 78:52,
Psa. 80:1, Isa. 40:11, Jer. 23:1,2,3, Jer.
31:10, Eze. 34:12,15,16, Mic. 5:4, Zec. 10:3
B) Christians Are The
Flock Of God And Of The Messiah: - John
10:14,16, Heb. 13:20, 1 Pet. 2:25, 1 Pet.
5:2,3
THE HOUSE OF GOD
A) Israel Is The House
Of God: - Num. 12:7
B) Christians Are The
House Of God: - 1 Tim. 3:15, Heb. 3:2,5,6,
Heb. 10:21, 1 Pet. 4:17
THE KINGDOM OF GOD
A) Israel Is The Kingdom
Of God: - Ex. 19:6, 1 Chr. 17:14, 1 Chr.
28:5
B) Disobedient Israel Is
Not The Kingdom Of God: - Matt. 8:11,12,
Matt. 21:43
C) Christians Are The
Kingdom Of God: - Rom. 14:17, 1 Cor. 4:20,
Col. 1:13, Col. 4:11, Rev. 1:6
THE PEOPLE OF GOD
A) The Israelites Are
The People Of God: - Ex. 6:7, Deut. 27:9, 2
Sam. 7:23, Jer. 11:4
B) Disobedient
Israelites Are Not The People Of God: - Hos.
1:9, Jer. 5:10
C) The Christians Are
The People Of God: - Rom. 9:25, 2 Cor. 6:16,
Eph. 4:12, Eph. 5:3, 2 Th. 1:10, Tit. 2:14
THE PRIESTS OF GOD
A) The Israelites Are
The Priests Of God: - Ex. 19:6
B) Disobedient
Israelites Are Not The Priests Of God: - 1
Sam. 2:28,30, Lam. 4:13,16, Eze. 44:10,13,
Hos. 4:6, Mal. 2:2,4,8,9
C) The Christians Are
The Priests Of God: - 1 Pet. 2:5,9, Rev.
1:6, Rev. 5:10
THE VINEYARD OF GOD
A) Israel Is The
Vineyard Of God: - Isa. 5:3,4,5,7, Jer.
12:10
B) Christians Are The
Vineyard Of God: - Luke 20:16
THE WIFE (OR BRIDE) OF
GOD
A) Israel Is The Wife
(Or Bride) Of God: - Isa. 54:5,6, Jer. 2:2,
Eze. 16:32, Hos. 1:2
B) Disobedient
Israelites Is Not The Wife (Or Bride) Of
God: - Jer. 3:8, Hos. 2:2
C) The Christians Are
The Wife (Or Bride) Of God: - 2 Cor. 11:2,
Eph. 5:31,32
THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM
A) The Israelites Are
The Children Of Abraham: - 2 Chr. 20:7, Psa.
105:6, Isa. 41:8
B) Disobedient
Israelites Are Not The Children Of Abraham:
- John 8:39, Rom. 9:6,7, Gal. 4:25,30
C) The Christians Are
The Children Of Abraham: - Rom. 4:11,16,
Gal. 3:7,29, Gal. 4:23,28,31
THE CHOSEN PEOPLE
A) The Israelites Are
The Chosen People: - Deut. 7:7, Deut. 10:15,
Deut. 14:2, Isa. 43:20,21
B) Disobedient
Israelites Are Not The Chosen People: -
Deut. 31:17, 2 Ki. 17:20, 2 Chr. 25:7, Psa.
78:59, Jer. 6:30, Jer. 7:29, Jer. 14:10
C) The Christians Are
The Chosen People: - Col. 3:12, 1 Pet. 2:9
THE CIRCUMCISED
A) The Israelites Are
The Circumcised: - Gen. 17:10, Jud. 15:18
B) Disobedient
Israelites Are Not The Circumcised: - Jer.
9:25,26, Rom. 2:25,28, Phil. 3:2
C) The Christians Are
The Circumcised: - Rom. 2:29, Phil. 3:3,
Col. 2:11
ISRAEL
A) Israel is Israel
B) Disobedient
Israelites Are Not Israelites: - Num.
15:30,31, Deut. 18:19, Acts 3:23, Rom. 9:6
C) The Christians Are
Israel: - John 11:50,51,52, 1 Cor. 10:1,
Gal. 6:15,16, Eph. 2:12,19
JERUSALEM
A) Jerusalem Is the City
And Mother Of Israel: - Psa. 149:2, Isa.
12:6, Isa. 49:18,20,22, Isa. 51:18, Lam. 4:2
B) Jerusalem Is The City
And Mother Of Christians: - Gal. 4:26, Heb.
12:22
THE JEWS
A) Israelites Are Jews:
- Ezr. 5:1, Jer. 34:8,9, Zech. 8:22,23
B) Disobedient
Israelites Are Not Jews: - Rom. 2:28, Rev.
2:9, Rev. 3:9
C) The Christians Are
Jews: - Rom. 2:29
THE NEW COVENANT
A) The New Covenant Is
With Israel: - Jer. 31:31,33
B) The New Covenant Is
With The Christians: - Luke 22:20, 1 Cor.
11:25, 2 Cor. 3:6, Heb. 8:6,8,10
AN OLIVE TREE
A) Israel Is An Olive
Tree: - Jer. 11:16, Hos. 14:6
B) The Christians Are An
Olive Tree: - Rom. 11:24
OLD TESTAMENT VERSES
REFERRING TO ISRAEL WHICH ARE QUOTED IN THE
NEW TESTAMENT AS REFERRING TO THE CHRISTIANS
You can order The
Church Is Israel Now by Charles D.
Provan from the Chalcedon Foundation at: https://chalcedon.edu/store
See my Nonsense and Dispensationalism at:
http://www.undergroundnotes.com/Nonsense.html
For additional
study:
Be sure to take
advantage of the link to Seeing
Christ in All of ScriptureHermeneutics
at
Westminster Theological Seminary
Westminster Seminary Press at
* For those that would
say the above covenantal approach to
Scripture that finds ultimate fulfillment of
the promises to Israel in the Church as
anti-Semitic see my Dispensationalism's
Eschatological
Dilemma at:
Yellow highlighting
emphasis in this study are mine.
Unfortunately, the highlighting may not
show up in some online web postings such
as Facebook.
Notes:
1.Al Mohler, He is
Not Silent: Preaching in a Postmodern
World [Chicago: Moody, 2008] p.96, as cited
by Abraham Kuruvilla, Privilege
the Text: A Theological Hermeneutic for
Preaching, [Chicago: Moody, 2013, p.
248].
4.Walter C. Kaiser,
Jr., Back
Toward the Future: Hints for Interpreting
Biblical Prophecy (Grand Rapids, MI:
Baker Books, 1989), 111.
5.John Gill, Exposition
of the Old and New Testaments, 1 Kings,
9 Volumes, John, (Grace Works, Multi-Media
Labs), 2011, p. 287.
“Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but
according to his mercy he saved us, by the
washing of regeneration, and renewing of the
Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5). “To God only wise,
be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen”
(Romans 16:27). “heirs according to the
promise” (Galatians 3:28, 29).
Mr. Kettler has
previously published articles in the
Chalcedon Report and Contra Mundum. He and
his wife Marea attend the Westminster, CO,
RPCNA Church. Mr. Kettler is the author of
the book defending the Reformed Faith
against attacks. Available at:
www.TheReligionThatStartedInAHat.com