It's An Unconditional Covenant
Published on October 26, 2009 By KFC Kickin For Christ In Religion

Since ancient times there hasn't been a piece of Real Estate more fought over than that little parcel of land, no bigger than the state of RI, in the Middle East that we now call Israel.  To understand the conflict over there is to understand history.  This land has passed hands countless times even well before the Romans had control over it in the first century and has continued ever since.  Much blood has been shed in that region, more than any other, well before their 1948 Independance Day.  It still continues today promising to get worse with each passing moment.  There seems to be no end in sight. 

So what's going on?  Why can't the leaders of the world seem to achieve peace in the Middle East?  Why does the Psalmist tell us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem written during the times of King David 14 generations before the birth of Christ?  Yet, from then on there has been everything but peace in the region.  What are we missing? 

Many Christians, as do I, believe that land was promised to Abraham and his descendants since almost the beginning of time.  This land was promised to them forever and has been written down for centuries in the oldest manuscripts we have today.  Moses in the Pentateuch outlined the story of how all this came to be and then the well written history recorded by the Jews showed the partial conquest and the failures that led to them never obtaining the promises given to Abraham completely. 

Moses warned before he died in Deut 7:1-5:

1 When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you- 2 and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally.  Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. 3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4 for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD's anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. 5 This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles  and burn their idols in the fire. 6 For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

After Moses died, the fearless Joshua was to lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land.  All they had to do was follow God's commands (above) and do what he said.  God would hand their enemies over to them easily enough.  

In Joshua 21 it's been pointed out,  by those who wish to dismiss the claim to the land by the Jews, as already being fulfilled because written in that chapter it says this: 

 43 So the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. 44 The LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the LORD handed all their enemies over to them. 45 Not one of all the LORD's good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.

The interpretation of these three verses must be considered in the light of what happens next.  The Lord had not failed to keep His promise.  It was unfaithful Israel who failed to keep their end of the bargain. 

After Joshua's death God gave instruction for the continued battle to obtain the land.  So obviously they had not possessed it all quite yet because they were continuing to fight for the rest of it after the death of Joshua.  Just reading Judges (book written after Joshua's death) we can see they did not have possession of the entire land before Joshua died.  Without brave Joshua the people faltered.  Here's what happened:

 1 After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the LORD, "Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Canaanites?"  2 The LORD answered, "Judah is to go; I have given the land into their hands." 19 The LORD was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had iron chariots. 21 The Benjamites, however, failed to dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.  27 But Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land.

29 Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them. 30 Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, who remained among them; but they did subject them to forced labor. 31 Nor did Asher drive out those living in Acco or Sidon or Ahlab or Aczib or Helbah or Aphek or Rehob, 32 and because of this the people of Asher lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land. 33 Neither did Naphtali drive out those living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath; but the Naphtalites too lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, and those living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath became forced laborers for them. 34 The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain.

They faltered big time.  God was certainly not happy with them.  He said this to them: 

 1 The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you, 2 and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.' Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? 3 Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides   (even today) and their gods will be a snare to you."

20 Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and said, "Because this nation has violated the covenant that I laid down for their forefathers and has not listened to me, 21 I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. 22 I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the LORD and walk in it as their forefathers did." 23 The LORD had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.

So that last underlined section gives the answer that while he gave them into the hands of Joshua all was not completed until the Israelites did their part of the plan...and then look what happens...remembering at the very beginning what God had said to Moses back in the book of Deuteronomy and repeated many times:

 1 These are the nations the LORD left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan 2 (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience): 3 the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo  Hamath. 4 They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the LORD's commands, which he had given their forefathers through Moses.  5 The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 6 They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

We see they directly defied God.  Because they did not do what He commanded them to do, they paid the consequences.  Eventually they ending up in captivity.  The nation, for centuries, had been  displaced until 1948 when they were allowed to make the land their home for the first time since the Babylonian Captivity in 586 B.C. 

Now while the Mosaic covenant was conditional, the promise or Covenant to Abraham was unconditional.  That Covenant said that Abraham and his descendants would forever be linked to the land of Canaan with a much larger area promised than what they have today.  The land promised was laid out clearly to Abraham with all the borders mentioned and includes parts of or the whole of Jordan, Israel, Egypt, Syria, Turkey etc.  Put it this way, it's alot larger than the little piece they are fighting over today. 

So the question is, when does the Covenant with Abraham become a reality?  When does the time come that Jerusalem will enjoy the Peace that we are all supposed to be praying about?   

Ezekiel has the answer to that. That is the rest of the story, but today we are seeing the beginning of the fulfillment to Abraham right before our very eyes.  Israel becoming a nation in 1948 was nothing short of miraculous.  And it took the likes of a very evil man to make it all happen showing us that God indeed can take something evil and turn it around for good. 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Comments (Page 3)
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on Nov 02, 2009

The Assyrians according to the OT were a cruel and very wicked people.  As far as I know, I thought they were assimilated as the other people groups were.  I never heard of the Assyrians called Christian before.  I'm not sure what you mean by the "Christian nation of Assyria?"

They are the same people. But they became Christians shortly after Jesus' death.

Since the Persian era they didn't speak the Assyrian language any more and instead spoke Aramaic, like the Jews did too. Today they still speak Aramaic, a particular Assyrian accent of Aramaic, known as "Christian" in Iraq. A Kurd told me how sad he was that so many Christians don't speak Christian any more.

They are the native population of Iraq and today are suffering from Arab imperialism and Islamic fundamentalism. Many have already fled Iraq decades ago and many are currently fleeing to Europe or the Kurdish regions. In the past many have fled to Iran which is why Assyrian Christianity is also common there (and under the Shah it was a respected religion).

The Assyrians are a Christian nation. Their Christianity defines them like Judaism defines the Jewish nation.

I wrote about them here and here.

There are some Catholics but most of them belong to the Assyrian Church. The Assyrian Church split from the Imperial Church before the Council of Ephesus. The Catholic Church gained a foothold among the Assyrians due to switched loyalties much later.

If the Catholic Church is Roman, the Orthodox Church Greek, the Oriental Orthodox Church Egyptian, you can think of the Assyrian Church as Persian. They were basically Christians loyal to the Persian Empire rather than the Byzantinian Empire. And under Ottoman rule they were simply one of the many Christian groups. Under Arab rule they were mostly marginalised and persecuted although some of them became powerful officials in the Arab regime, including Tariq Aziz, one of Saddam's top henchmen who was a Catholic.

 

 

 

on Nov 04, 2009

Leauki, more you might be interested in from a biblical perspective about Israel and her land...

Ezekiel prophesying in Chap 34 of his book wrote about the false shepherds of Israel.  God told him to address them by saying:

"..prophesy against the shepherds of Israel (spiritual leaders) and say to them...woe to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves!  Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? .....and they were scattered because there is no shepherd and they became meat to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered.  My sheep (the Jews) wandered through all the mountains and upon every high hill; yes, my flock was scatttered upon all the face of the earth and none did search or seek after them." 

He goes on to say that he's done with these shepherds and that he will search for the sheep and seek them out like a shepherd seeks out his flock.  He says this starting in v13:

"And I will bring them out from the people and gather them from the countries and will bring them to their own land and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers....I will seek that which was lost and bring again that which was driven away and will bind up that which was broken and will strengthen that which was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment....Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey...and I will set up one shepherd over them and he shall feed them ....and he shall be their shepherd.  And I, the Lord will be their God and my servant David a prince among them.  I the Lord have spoken it.  And I will make with them a covenant of peace and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods....they shall dwell safely and none shall make them afraid. 

This has NOT happened yet.  This is still future.  Ezek wrote this in captivity to Babylon and there is nothing in history to show us this has been fulfilled.

In Chap 36 he goes on to write about how Israel was scattered because Israel defiled the land by their doings so he kicked them out but then he says this starting in v21:

"But I had pity for my holy name which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen whereever they went....I do not do this for your sakes O house of Israel but for my holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the heathen wherever you went.  And I will sanctify my great name which was profaned...and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord...when I shall be sancified IN YOU before their eyes.  For I will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of all countries and will bring you into your own land.....I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh....and you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be my people and I will be your God.......not for your sakes do I do this saith the Lord God, be it it known to you...In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities and the wastes shall be builded.  And the desolate land shall be tilled whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by.  And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden and the waste and desolate and ruined cities become fenced and are inhabited. "

God made a promise to Abraham and he's going to fulfill it.  Not for their sakes but for His holy name's sake.  When he makes a promise he keeps it. 

So what we see here is not only a spiritual regeneration of those Jews living at that time but we also see included the possession of their land, a renewed relationhip with God, productivity of the land and repentence of past sins. 

He then goes on to describe the political and spiritual revival of this nation in Chap 37 which I believe is what we saw in 1948 and continuing today. 

When Lula asked the question about who the descendants were she's trying to get across that we, as Christians are also descendants (spiritual) and she's right but she's doing so at the expense of the Jews.  The Jews are the natural branches of the Abrahamic tree and we, as adopted children of Abraham are grafted in.  That's why part of the promise to Abraham was that "all nations" of the earth would be blessed on account of him. 

The root of the tree is the Abrahamic Covenant and we who are branches are included in this promise to Abraham...first to the Jew and then to the Gentile. 

 

on Nov 05, 2009

When Lula asked the question about who the descendants were she's trying to get across that we, as Christians are also descendants (spiritual) and she's right but she's doing so at the expense of the Jews.  The Jews are the natural branches of the Abrahamic tree and we, as adopted children of Abraham are grafted in.  That's why part of the promise to Abraham was that "all nations" of the earth would be blessed on account of him. 

Lula is looking at this only from her perspective and ignores the plain meanings of words while replacing them with their metaphorical meaning.

While I find it plausible and completely acceptable that they have a metaphorical meaning as well (i.e. Christians are also descendants of Abraham, spiritually), I have absolutely no doubt that the words primarily have a plain meaning.

Christians, I understand, started believing in the god of Israel. If they do that, they will have to live with the fact that Israel also believes in that god and that the god of Israel remains the god of Israel.

If Christians wanted a god who isn't the god of Israel, they could have just said so and adopted one of the others.

(Radical Islam has the same problem. Their prophet chose of the many gods the god of Israel, who commanded the people of Israel to live in the land of Israel and claimed to want to protect them. The prophet then even repeated that story in his own prophecies. And now radical Muslims are upset that the people of Israel exist and live in the land of Israel and cannot be easily beaten.)

 

The root of the tree is the Abrahamic Covenant and we who are branches are included in this promise to Abraham...first to the Jew and then to the Gentile.

Beautifully said!

 

on Nov 05, 2009

Christians, I understand, started believing in the god of Israel. If they do that, they will have to live with the fact that Israel also believes in that god and that the god of Israel remains the god of Israel.

There is only one God. The God of Israel is the Christian God.    The only diff between the Jews and the Church is that the Church recognized that Jesus came from God and was God in the flesh as the Messiah spoken of by the OT prophets. The Jews would not accept Him.  Scriptures say that the eyes of the Jews were blinded because of their unbelief for a season until the fulness of the Gentiles is finished.  This fulfills the promise that "all nations will be blessed" because of Abraham.   When this day comes, the Jews will have their final Yom Kippur when they recongnize their Messiah and understand that they had missed him afterall.  It's all going to happen in Israel because when Christ comes back, it will be to the land of Israel.  The OT Scriptures thru Zechariah say his feet will touch down on the Mount of Olives. 

 It began over there and it will end over there. 

If Christians wanted a god who isn't the god of Israel, they could have just said so and adopted one of the others

haha..true, there's no lack of false gods in our universe! 

 

on Nov 05, 2009

haha..true, there's no lack of false gods in our universe!

What I don't understand is this weird need to worship the god of Israel but to disconnect him from Israel.

 

on Nov 05, 2009

What I don't understand is this weird need to worship the god of Israel but to disconnect him from Israel.

kind of reminds me of the disciples who were arguing over who would sit in the Kingdom on the left and right of the Messiah. 

Those who believe they have replaced Israel don't understand the whole OT scriptures.  God's character and holy name depends on His keeping his promises.  That's why he said in Post #32 that I wrote that he's doing this, not for Israel's sake but for His own holy name.  It's interesting also that the 12 gates in the Millennium Jerusalem has the name of the 12 tribes of Israel on them.  That hasn't happened yet either and Lula never did answer my question about them.  Because there isn't one.  They can't explain that one away. 

God is always faithful to us even when we are not just as any loving parent is to their child. 

on Nov 05, 2009

God is always faithful to us even when we are not just as any loving parent is to their child.

Amen.

 

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