God’s Plan for Israel - Fulfilled Greg Weston God made a promise to Abraham. God promised that with Abraham’s descendants he would make a great nation and give them a specific land - the land of Palestine. The third part of this blessing is that through his seed [descendant] all the nations of the earth would be blessed. All three of these have been fulfilled. [see Genesis 12:1-3] The promise to Abraham was fulfilled in the seed or descendants of Jacob who was called Israel (Genesis 28:13, 14). By the days of Solomon this promise of a great nation was fulfilled. Judah and Israel, the totality of Jacob’s descendants, were many as the sand which is by the sea in multitude (1 Kings 4:20). The promise of the land inheritance was fulfilled in the days of Solomon who ruled over all the kingdoms from the River unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt; they brought tribute, and served Solomon all the days of his life (1 Kings 4:21). The promise of the seed of Abraham who was to bless all the nations of the earth was fulfilled in Jesus as specifically stated by the apostle Paul (Galatians 3:16). God made the promise, in its three-fold application. God has also delivered on the promise. When God promises an event, and then delivers on the promise, there is no furthur fulfillment. By the days of Solomon, the nation and the land promises had been fulfilled. In Jesus the promise to bless all nations was fulfilled. To expect that Israel is to receive that land promise yet another time is the same as expecting another Messiah to come. The promise and its fulfillment are both past events. We learn from them, and there are lasting results of the fulfillment, but we do not look for the promise to be fulfilled again. With this in mind, we need to recognize that God’s plan for Israel was finished with Jesus’ coming and the establishment of the church. Israel does not have a title to the land of Palestine from God. God delivered on the promise centuries ago. This point has nothing political within it. All need to understand that God’s present people are the spiritual Israel, which is the church (Romans 2:28, 29). All that pertained to Israel was looking forward to Jesus and his kingdom. The nation, the law, the prophets all looked to Jesus. When Jesus established his church, which is his spiritual kingdom, there was not a future reference to a physical land or kingdom but a joyful expectation of an eternity in the presence of God. This is the hope made available to us all through Jesus.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 09:13:43 +0000
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