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Two peoples claim the same land in the Middle East. For more than 75 years, the competing claims of the Jewish people and the Arabs have resulted in a series of wars. Disagreements over the land will lead to more wars.
Whose land is it? Does it belong to Israel or to the Arabs? Do parts belong to both peoples? Should the land be divided? Who has the right to decide whose land it is? Israel? The Arabs? The United States and its allies? The United Nations?
When the Word of God speaks on any subject, that is the authoritative and final word. And the Bible makes it crystal clear that the land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel. Here’s why:
The Jewish people are the Chosen People: After Adam and Eve joined the rebellion of the fallen angels, humanity became so corrupt that the Lord destroyed that first civilization with the Flood. Noah and his family knew the Lord and were spared. However, after they came out of the ark and their descendants began repopulating the world, the new civilization became idolatrous, perverse and evil.
The Lord created a special nation to be a light to the other nations, to teach them about the one true God who alone can redeem them from Satan and the demons, sin and the sin nature, death and Hell.
Through this Chosen People came the patriarchs, prophets and apostles, the covenants and promises, and the divinely inspired Word of God. And most important, through the Chosen People came the Messiah, who enables us to be born again, receive a new, godly nature and live forever.
The world belongs to God: The Earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all its people belong to Him (Psalm 24:1). Since the Earth and everything in it belong to the Lord, He has the right to give lands to the peoples He wants to.
To fulfill our calling to be a light to the nations, the Chosen People needed a land: When the Most High assigned lands to the nations, when He divided up the human race, He established the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel (Deuteronomy 32:8). God gave the land of Israel to the people of Israel, and gave the other nations their lands based on the boundaries of the land of Israel.
The Lord placed the land of Israel at the center of the nations: This is Jerusalem. I placed her at the center of the nations with lands around her (Ezekiel 5:5). The land that God chose for us is located in a place that connects Europe, Africa and Asia. Because of this strategic location, the other nations were exposed to the-light-of-the-world nation. Israel is like the North Star – the star that’s fixed in place around which the other stars revolve, the star that helps us find true north.
There’s no doubt about Israel’s borders because they are described in detail: The Lord said to Abram, “Look as far as you can see in every direction – north and south, east and west. I am giving all this land, as far as you can see, to you and your descendants as a permanent possession … Go and walk through the land in every direction, for I am giving it to you” (Genesis 13:14-17). The Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River” (Genesis 15:18-21). Based on these details, the entire land of Israel, including Judea and Samaria (the so-called “West Bank”), Gaza and the Golan Heights, was given by God to the people of Israel.
The land of Israel was given as a permanent possession by God as part of an everlasting covenant to Abraham and his descendants: God said to Abraham: I will establish My covenant with you and your descendants after you, from generation to generation. This is the everlasting covenant: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you. And I will give the entire land of Canaan, where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:7-8).
Even though Abraham had other sons, the land wasn’t given to Ishmael or to any of the other sons of Abraham, but only to Isaac: Abraham said to God, “May Ishmael live under Your special blessing!” But God replied, “No – Sarah, your wife, will give birth to a son for you. You will name him Isaac, and I will confirm My covenant with him and his descendants as an everlasting covenant (Genesis 17:18-19). God rejected Abraham’s request that Ishmael be the heir of the covenant and inherit the land, and appointed Isaac instead.
Years later the Lord appeared to Isaac and said: Live here as a foreigner in this land, and I will be with you and bless you. I hereby confirm that I will give all these lands to you and your descendants, just as I solemnly promised Abraham, your father. I will cause your descendants to become as numerous as the stars of the sky, and I will give them all these lands. And through your descendants all the nations of the Earth will be blessed (Genesis 26:3-4).
Knowing that Isaac was the heir of the covenant, which included the land, Abraham gave everything he owned to his son Isaac. But before he died, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them off to a land in the east, away from Isaac (Genesis 25:5-6).
The land wasn’t given to Isaac’s older son, Esau, but to his younger son, Jacob: Jacob had a dream while fleeing from his brother. In his dream the Lord said to him, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham, and the God of your father Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants. Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the Earth. They will spread out in all directions – to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the Earth will be blessed through you and your descendants” (Genesis 28:13-14). God later appeared to Jacob and said to him: the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and I will give the land to your descendants after you (Genesis 35:12). This promise gives the land of Israel to the descendants of Jacob – the Jewish people.
In addition to making an everlasting covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which includes the land of Israel, God swore an oath to give the Jewish people this land – and it’s impossible for God to break an oath (see Hebrews 6:16-18): This oath is repeated at least 50 times. Here’s one example: He always stands by His covenant – the commitment He made to a thousand generations. This is the covenant He made with Abraham and the oath He swore to Isaac. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, and to the people of Israel as an everlasting covenant: “I will give you the land of Canaan as your special possession” (Psalm 105:8-11).
Consider the language used to describe the Lord’s decision to give us our special land: He always stands by His covenant. It’s a commitment He made to a thousand generations. It’s covenant He made with Abraham. It’s an oath He swore to Isaac. It’s a decree He confirmed to Jacob and the people of Israel. It’s an everlasting covenant. Using the strongest possible language of commitment, the Lord is letting the world know that He has given the land of Israel to the people of Israel as a permanent possession.
Most Christians believe that Israel’s sins voided God’s covenant with us and we forfeited our right to the land. That’s not true. The Lord said: But despite all this (our many sins), I will not utterly reject or despise them while they are in exile in the land of their enemies. I will not cancel My covenant with them by wiping them out, for I am the Lord their God. For their sakes I will remember My covenant with their ancestors” (Leviticus 26:44-45).
The Word of God reveals that the Jewish people would experience a time of obedience and blessing within the land, followed by a period of disobedience and exile from the land, followed by restoration to “their land”: I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land (Ezekiel 36:24). I will gather the people of Israel from among the nations. I will bring them home to their own land from the places where they have been scattered (Ezekiel 37:21). I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their ancestors (Jeremiah 16:15). The same people that God scattered, He promised to gather to their ancestral land that belongs to them. And it has been happening! Since 1880, and especially since 1948, millions of Jewish people who were scattered to more than 60 nations have returned to our own land.
The Word of God tells us that we would be brought back to our land in a state of unbelief. Physical restoration to the land would be followed by spiritual transformation: I will gather you up from all the nations and bring you home again to your land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put My Spirit in you so that you will follow My decrees and be careful to obey My regulations. And you will live in Israel, the land I gave your ancestors long ago. You will be My people, and I will be your God (Ezekiel 36:24-28). This means that the modern-day restoration of Israel is not some coincidence of history, but the plan of God that is being worked out in our day.
Sadly, many Christians won’t believe these truths from the Word of God because they have been influenced by “Replacement Theology” – the false teaching that God is finished with the Jewish people as a special people, and the Church has replaced Israel, and the Lord’s promises to the Jewish people will not be literally fulfilled. Speaking to us through the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord warns against believing that God will ever be finished with Israel: “Have you noticed what people are saying? – ‘The Lord chose Judah and Israel and then abandoned them!’ They are sneering and saying that Israel is not worthy to be counted as a nation. But this is what the Lord says: I would no more reject My people than I would change My laws that govern night and day, Earth and sky. I will never abandon the descendants of Jacob or David, My servant, or change the plan that David’s descendants will rule the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Instead, I will restore them to their land and have mercy on them” (Jeremiah 33:24-26). No one who claims to believe the Bible should believe that God has finished with the Jewish people as a special people, and the Jewish people have been replaced by the Church and that God’s promises of physical restoration to our land won’t be fulfilled. Don’t be like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, to whom the Lord said, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures.” Church of Yeshua the Messiah, the King of the Jews – believe the Word of God and reject Replacement Theology!
Even though the majority of the Jewish people were exiled from our land (there always was a remnant who remained within the land), that doesn’t give anyone else the right to take the land for themselves: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Your enemies have taunted you, saying, ‘Aha! Now the ancient heights belong to us!’ … This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My jealous anger burns against these nations, especially Edom, because they have shown utter contempt for Me by gleefully taking My land for themselves as plunder (Ezekiel 36:2-5).
Even though the nations surrounding Israel would take the land for themselves, God rejects the claims of these nations and promises to restore us to our land.
Eventually this conflict over the land of Israel will involve the entire world: The Lord, speaking through the prophet Zechariah, predicted that the nations surrounding Israel will react to the Last Day’s gathering of the Jewish people with irrational hatred and try to destroy us. I will make Jerusalem like an intoxicating drink that makes the nearby nations stagger when they send their armies to besiege Jerusalem and Judah. Eventually all the nations will be drawn into this conflict. On that day I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock. All the nations will gather against it to try to move it, but they will only hurt themselves. The Lord will destroy the armies of all the nations that fight against us while we will be miraculously saved from physical destruction and spiritually saved by recognizing the One whom we have pierced – Yeshua – the resurrected and glorified Messiah!
To those nations that want to divide the land and give part to the Jewish people and part to the Arabs, know that the Lord promised to punish those nations that defy Him by dividing any part of His special land: “At the time of those events,” says the Lord, “when I restore the prosperity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather the armies of the world into the valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will judge them for harming My people, My special possession, for scattering My people among the nations, and for dividing up My land (Joel 3:1-2). When Messiah returns, the nations will be gathered to Jerusalem and judged for scattering us and dividing up our land. That lets us know that no government or group of governments has the right to divide the land of Israel and give part of it to anyone else. This is a very strong warning to those who advocate a “two state” solution.
No nation is perfect – including Israel – but God is on Israel’s side and Christians need to stand by Israel – and not just stand by Israel, but bless Israel. God’s ancient promise to Abraham is still in effect: I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse.
Israel – whose land is it? If you believe the Word of God, it’s the permanent possession given by the God of Israel to the people of Israel. It is part of an everlasting covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants, reinforced with an oath. It’s God’s revealed will, it’s God’s declared plan to gather the Jewish people from our exile to our land, and save us with a great national salvation that is both physical and spiritual. When that happens, all the nations of the Earth will be amazingly blessed.
So, Church of God and nations of the world, agree with the Lord. Cooperate with Him. Don’t defy Him. Don’t fight against Him. Support Israel’s God-given right to the land. Stand by Israel. Bless Israel. And you liberal, progressive, confused and delusional self-hating Jews who are not pro-Israel – believe the Word of the living and Almighty God and stand by Israel. And believe in Yeshua, the King of the Jews, the true King of Israel.
This teaching is based on a pamphlet titled, “Seven Facts About Israel.” The author is unknown.