Articles
Unkept Promises
Those who believe Jesus will one day return and set up an earthly kingdom in Jerusalem frequently argue that this must occur because the land promises God made to Israel in the Old Testament have never been fulfilled. What does the Bible say?
The Promise to Abraham
God promised Abraham that He would make of him a great nation and give to that nation the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:1-3, 7). The borders were specific: “from the river of Egypt [the Wadi el Arish, not the Nile] as far as the great river, the river Euphrates” (Genesis 15:18). The time was also specified: following a 400-year bondage and when the iniquity of the Amorite was complete (vv. 13-16). (The Amorites were living in Canaan in Abraham’s day.) The land promise was repeated to Isaac (Genesis 26:3-4) and Jacob (Genesis 28:13).
Moses led the Israelites, Abraham’s family/nation, out of Egypt after 430 years of bondage (Exodus 12:40-41), just as God had promised. In anticipation of conquering Canaan, God told Moses to set aside three cities of refuge east of the Jordan River. He then added, “If the Lord your God enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which He promised to give your fathers . . . then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three” (Deuteronomy 19:8-9).
Joshua succeeded Moses as Israel’s leader. The book bearing his name details the conquest and division of the promised land. The end of that record says, “So the Lord gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and lived in it” (Joshua 21:43). “Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass” (v. 45). This fact is confirmed by appointment of those three additional cities of refuge God promised (Joshua 20:1-9).
In his farewell address, Joshua made a passionate plea to Israel, based on the complete fulfillment of God’s promises. He argued that just as surely as God had kept the good words He had promised, so He would also keep His threat of removing Israel from the land if the people were unfaithful (23:14-16). Joshua’s argument was nonsense if premillennial notions of unfulfilled promises are true!
Some contend that God gave Israel their land in a sense but not to the full extent He promised. The sacred historians disagree. “Now Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the [Euphrates] River to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt” (1 Kings 4:21; 2 Chronicles 9:26). This was precisely what God had promised Abraham.
The Return Promises
Israel got their land. But just as Joshua warned, when they were unfaithful to God, He removed them from it into captivity. Yet God had made another promise: that if, in captivity, they repented, He would return them to their land (Deuteronomy 30:1-10). And so, the prophets who foretold the captivity also prophesied a restoration. Jeremiah said the captivity would last seventy years (25:11; 29:10-14), then God would restore a remnant of His people (23:3). Isaiah also spoke of the remnant (10:20-24). God did not promise to bring them all back!
This promise, too, was fulfilled. Assyria and Babylon were the captors of God’s people. At end of the seventy years of captivity in Babylon, God raised up Cyrus of Persia to defeat the Babylonians. In his first year, Cyrus issued this proclamation: “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up!” (2 Chronicles 36:23). This decree was in fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy (v. 22).
One group returned under Jeshua and Zerubbabel, another under Ezra, and later a third with Nehemiah. Interestingly, these also testified that God had kept His land promise (Nehemiah 9:8).
Conclusion
The Bible is clear: God’s promises regarding the nation of Israel living in the land of Palestine were fulfilled long ago. There is nothing here to support the idea of a future earthly kingdom ruled by Jesus.
