In Genesis 17, God made a covenant with Abraham regarding a specific piece of real estate on the earth.
God looked out over the world He had created, and He chose a land with detailed borders that He would give as an inheritance to His people. Then He made a covenant with Abraham that his descendants would inherit that land, the land of Israel.
“And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:7–8, NKJV).
God made a covenant that He would give the land of Israel to Abraham in Genesis 17:7–8. The promise of the land was then passed to Isaac in Genesis 26:2–5. Finally, God made a third promise to Jacob, who would become known as Israel, in Genesis 28:10–15. It is clear in Scripture that God left no doubt as to who the land of Israel would be given to — the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
When God makes a covenant, He keeps His word. No word that God has ever spoken has fallen to the ground or returned void. God promised the land of Canaan, the land of Israel, as an everlasting inheritance to His people and to His people alone. Today, and forever, the land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel.
The Jewish people have received great and mighty promises from God in Scripture. In Romans 9, Paul wrote of his people, ". . . my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.” (Romans 9:3–5, NKJV).
The Jewish people received incredible promises from God. They have also endured some of the most difficult problems of any people throughout the entirety of history. The Jews, God’s chosen people, more so than any other people, have endured threats, danger, and violence for thousands of years, dispersed among the nations of the world. They have lived through expulsions, persecutions, the Spanish Inquisition, European Pogroms, the Holocaust, and
the scourge of antisemitism.
Yet, they have overcome. Modern-day Israel is a modern-day miracle. The land of Israel is now the provision of God according to the promise of God for the people of Israel. Against all odds, the Jewish people arose from the ashes of the Holocaust, defeated invading armies, and built the promised land of Israel into one of the most dynamic, industrious, and beautiful countries on the world stage today.
As we understand more of God’s heart and plan for Israel, we will also come to understand more about God. How does God speak about Israel in the Bible? Ask the Lord that you might see Israel and the Jewish people the way He does.
SPEND TIME IN PRAYER
OVER THE SCRIPTURES
CONCERNING ISRAEL,
JERUSALEM, AND THE
JEWISH PEOPLE.
