What is the Biblical Significance of the LAND of Israel?

498 Views 3 min Nov 22, 2023

Jewish History, Jewish Life, Modern Israel, Theology

Do Christians miss a key component of the Bible's message when we skip over parts we don't think apply to us - such as God's land covenant with Abraham? Teaching Pastor David Blease, Gateway Center for Israel, emphasizes the importance of God's promises about the physical land of Canaan (modern day Israel) to the Jewish people, and how this promise is also a very real part of our future.

Video Transcript

There is a significant part of the Old Testament that goes unnoticed by many modern Christians regarding the covenant of Abraham.

When reading a story, it’s only natural to find ourselves in the narrative. We do this with all stories, especially the Bible. However, there are potential pitfalls to finding yourself in the story of the Bible, one of which is we tend to read over parts that we feel don’t apply or relate to us. When we look at God’s relationship with Abraham, there are many things we here said in church services across America. God called Abraham to leave his home. Abraham believed God’s promise based on his word. Abraham sacrificed what was most important to him. These stories are easy to relate to. What often gets missed in this story is God makes a solemn promise a covenant that the land of Canaan, modern day Israel will be the home of Abraham’s descendants.

But for most of us who are gentile believers, we don’t live in the land of Israel. We don’t think much about the physical land of Israel, and we tend to spiritualize everything in scripture to the metaphysical, the heart, the motivation, the type and shadow of what’s happening using the physical places and events as analogies of a greater truth. Now, there’s nothing wrong with looking at the types and shadows behind a story. There’s often great revelation found, but sometimes we take so much liberty, we repudiate what’s happening in the story.

The word land is mentioned in the Hebrew scriptures more than the word covenant. And when covenant is mentioned, 70% of those mentions include a direct or indirect link to the promise of the land. Many believe that because Jesus died and was resurrected to bring salvation to the whole world, that God is no longer concerned with a small patch of land in the Middle East. But this is truly a misunderstanding of a covenant. Covenants by definition, are intended to be forever. There’s no biblical precedent for God making a covenant and then breaking it because something better came along, or it was simply just a means to an end. God is not a covenant breaking God. If he was we’re in big trouble.

God did not nullify his covenant with Israel. He expanded it. The olive tree mentioned in Romans 11 did not get cut down. Branches were added into it. This means that the land of Israel still plays a vital role in God’s story. It has played a crucial role from Genesis 12 to Revelation. Psalm 1:32 says that Jerusalem is God’s eternal dwelling place, and Psalm 1:22 instructs us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and that all who love that city will prosper. So if you never have before, pray for the Jewish people and pray for the peace of Jerusalem over the land of Israel, a very real part of God’s covenant and a very real part of our future.