Were The Promises of Land to Israel Fulfilled in The Old Covenant?

In reflecting on the conversations I've had with professing Hebrews on the subject of what one gets in Salvation I have reluctantly heard the common belief echoed from the many spheres of social media that the Israelites in the end times will receive the final promise of returning to the land of Israel as promised to the Israelites from Abraham and to also rule with Christ from the land of Jerusalem.

In other words there are promises given only to Jews that will only be received in Christ in the end times. But such a speculation only proves where one's heart is pertaining to what one desires to receive in Christ. And also it reveals that they have not encountered the basic and all-too-common passages that speak of Israel receiving all the lands that God had promised them. But why stop there?... Im gonna push the envelope and look at all the promises in the bag. So let us examine below how God Has fulfilled his promises unto Israel through Abraham and his descendants.

So in the old Testament there were 3 rock star promises given to Israel beginning with the Hebrew patriarch Abraham.


Did God fulfill the land promises he gave to israel?

Answer: Yes.

In the old Testament there were many promises given to Israel beginning with the Hebrew patriarch Abraham. We will only focus on 3 major ones.

Promise #1. I will make you a great nation!

Gen 12:2 LEB And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great. And you will be a blessing.

Gen 46:3 LEB Then he said, “I am the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there.

Exo 19:6 LEB but you, you will belong to me as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you will speak to the Israelites.”

FULFILLED

Deu 4:6-8 LEB 6 And you must observe them diligently, for that is your wisdom and your insight before the eyes of the people, who will hear all of these rules, and they will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people.’ 7 For what great nation has for it a god near to it as Yahweh our God, whenever we call upon him? 8 And what other great nation has for it just rules and regulations just like this whole law that I am setting before you today?

Deu 26:5 LEB And you shall declare and you shall say before your God, ‘My ancestor was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt, and there he dwelt as an alien few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and numerous.

After the Babylonian exile in 536 BC it is still acknowledged as coming to pass.

Neh 9:23 LEB You made their children numerous like the stars of the heavens and brought them to the land that you told their ancestors to enter in order to take possession.

Promise #2. I will give you much lands! Not just the promised land!

Gen 15:18 LEB On that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram saying, “To your offspring I will give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates river,

Exo 23:30-31 LEB 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you until you are fruitful and take possession of the land. 31 “ ‘And I will set your boundary from the Red Sea and up to the sea of the Philistines and from the desert up to the river, because I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out from before you.

FULFILLED

Jos 1:3-4 LEB 3 Every place that the soles of your feet will tread, I have given it to you, as I promised to Moses. 4 From the wilderness and the Lebanon, up to the great river, the river Euphrates, all of the land of the Hittites, and up to the great sea in the west, will be your territory.

Jos 23:14-15 LEB 14 Look! I am about to die, and you know in all your hearts and souls that not one thing failed from all the good things that Yahweh your God promised concerning you; everything has been fulfilled; not one thing failed. 15 But just as all the good things came to you that Yahweh your God promised, so will Yahweh bring to you all the bad things until he has destroyed you from this good land that Yahweh your God has given to you.

Jos 24:28 LEB Then Joshua sent the people away to their inheritance.

Jdg 2:6 LEB And Joshua sent the people away, and the Israelites went each to their own inheritance to take possession of the land.

Before the babylonian captivity in 586 BC, even jeremiah admits that the promise was fulfilled by his time, which was BEFORE nehemiah's time.

PROPHET JEREMIAH

Jer 11:5 LEB in order to keep the oath that I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.” ’ ” Then I answered and said, “Let it be so, O Yahweh.”

After the jews were released from babylon in 536BC, Nehemiah looks back at the promises and counts them as fulfilled exactly as God had promised them.

PROPHET NEHEMIAH

Neh 9:8 LEB You found his heart faithful before you and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite and the Girgashite—to give it to his seed. And you have kept your word because you are righteous.

So in addition to the promised land there were MANY lands possessed by Israel such as the Euphrates, and other ancient places. Take a look for yourself.

PSALMS

Psa 78:55 LEB And he drove out nations before them and allocated them for an inheritance by boundary line, and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

Psa 105:42-45 LEB 42 For he remembered his holy promise; he remembered Abraham his servant. 43 And so he brought out his people with joy, his chosen ones with rejoicing. 44 And he gave to them the lands of the nations, and they inherited the labor of the peoples, 45 so that they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws. Praise Yah.

THE APOSTLE PAUL

Act 13:16-20 LEB 16 So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand, he said, “Israelite men, and those who fear God, listen! 17 The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and exalted the people during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. 18 And for a period of time of about forty years, he put up with them in the wilderness. 19 And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave their land to his people as an inheritance. 20 This took about four hundred and fifty years. And after these things, he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.

So in addition to the promised land there were MANY lands possessed by Israel such as the Euphrates, and other ancient places. Take a look for yourself.

JOSHUA

Jos 20:7-9 LEB 7 So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. 8 Beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they appointed Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau, from the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in the Bashan, from the tribe of Manasseh. 9 These were the cities designated for all the Israelites, and for the foreigners dwelling among them, for anyone that kills a person unintentionally to flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until there is a trial before the congregation.

KING DAVID

2Sa 8:3 LEB Then David struck down Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, when he went to restore his monument at the Euphrates River.

KING SOLOMON

1Ki 4:21 LEB Now Solomon was ruling over all the kingdoms from the River(That is, the Euphrates) to the land of the Philistines, and up to the border of Egypt, who were bringing tribute and were serving Solomon all the days of his life.

2Ch 9:26 LEB And he ruled over all the kings from the River to the land of the Philistines, to the boundary of Egypt.

KING JEROBOAM

2Ki 14:25 LEB He restored the boundary of Israel from Lebo-Hamath up to the sea of the Arabah, according to the word of Yahweh which he spoke by the hand of his servant Jonah the son of Amittai the prophet, who was from Gath-Hepher.

Promise #3. Your seed shall be as the stars of the heavens.

Gen 15:5 LEB And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward the heavens and count the stars if you are able to count them.” And he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Gen 22:17 LEB that I will certainly bless you and greatly multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the shore of the sea. And your offspring will take possession of the gate of his enemies.

FULFILLED

Deu 1:10 LEB Yahweh your God has multiplied you, and look; you are today as the stars of the heaven in number.

Deu 10:22 LEB With only seventy persons your ancestors went down to Egypt, but now Yahweh your God has made you as the stars of the heaven with respect to multitude.

The prophet Nehemiah acknowledges this was done long before his time.

Neh 9:23 LEB You made their children numerous like the stars of the heavens and brought them to the land that you told their ancestors to enter in order to take possession.

So, how can professing Hebrews be excited about a promise of land given to jews at the end of the age when God has already fulfilled all of his promises of giving that land in the old testament?

God had promised to make the nation of Israel great and to bless them beyond measure, and He had been faithful to His word. From the days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the nation of Israel had grown and prospered, despite facing numerous challenges along the way. Through the leadership of Moses, God had led His people out of slavery in Egypt and into the Promised Land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey. And although the people of Israel had often strayed from God's path, He had remained faithful to His promises.

Land. A nation as vast as the stars. Kings and rulers. Gathering and Restoration from many captivities and even rebuilding the temple(The second Temple). And The coming of The Messiah.

God has fulfilled his promise under the old covenant during the times of the old covenant. We are now under a new and better covenant and better promises. Look to That my friends.

Christ is risen...