AP

Genesis 35:9-12   After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him.  God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.”  So he named him Israel.  And God said to him, “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number.  A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants.  The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.”

What a mess our world is in today because of a misunderstanding of the promise God gave to Jacob (Israel) as recorded here.

God makes it patently clear in the New Testament that all his Old Testament promises have their true meaning and fulfilment in Jesus Christ, his One-and-Only Saviour-Messiah.

Two other examples of this are: 

(1) The whole Mosaic sacrificial system of shedding the blood of animals to cover the sins of men only has value and meaning in as much as it foreshadows, and is fulfilled by, the One True Perfect Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross of Calvary; and 

(2) the Promise of a Descendant of King David who would rule the whole world forever, only has meaning and fulfilment in the Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, concerning whom, the Apostle Paul wrote: “God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).

Likewise, it is clear that the promise of the geographical real estate we call the ‘Holy Land’, for the nation Israel to possess forever – the promise given to Jacob, and to Abraham and Isaac before him (Genesis 28 12:7, 15:7; 28:13; and summed up in Psalm 105:5-11) can only be interpreted today as applying, not in a physical sense to real estate, but in a spiritual sense to the Church which the Lord Jesus Christ purchased with his own blood, and over which not even the ‘gates of hell’ will ever prevail (Matthew 16:18).

While ever the nation of Israel fails to recognise Jesus as its Promised Messiah, it has missed its moment of promise and so cannot claim the promise given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as a God-given right to this real estate today.  The present wars being fought over this real estate, with the vast, and sometimes indiscriminate, shedding of ‘innocent’ blood, are partly the result of Israel’s claiming the real estate on the basis of God’s ‘everlasting’ promise and covenant!  But this is without valid foundation because of their rejection of Jesus.

So, how can we end this ongoing conflict once and for all?  Only by continuing in earnest prayer and evangelism to point Israel and Palestine, and every nation for that matter, to Jesus, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) who said: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt.28:18-20).

– Bruce Christian