Scripture for Today, 6-3-19: Israel's Land

ISRAEL’S DIVINE RIGHT TO THE LAND
God told Abram,  “ I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. And I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojourning, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

Genesis 17:7-8, 15L1-6, 17-21
6-3-19, Not only does God's word describe how the covenant lands of Israel belong to the descendants of Abraham through Sarah's son Isaac; he sent away all his sons by Keturah & concubines: Genesis 25:5-6 "Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country."
As the nations perpetually attempt to bring peace between the descendants of Isaac and Ishmael; questions are asked as follows:

• What does the Bible say about God’s parcel of land and who has a right to it?
• Who has the ultimate authority to determine rights concerning this special piece of real estate?

The biblical answer is by of Divine decree, not human feeling or human reason. The existence of God previous to the creation of the universe and mankind gives Him the right to determine our “rights.”

1. The Land of Canaan, renamed Israel by the Lord, was given by God to Abraham and his descendants as an everlasting possession.  Genesis 12:7 “The Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.'”  Genesis 13:15, He repeated His promise when He said, “for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever.” Also in Genesis 15:18, “To your descendants I have given this land.”
2. The gift of this Land to Abraham and his descendants was based on an unconditional covenant from God Himself. Genesis 17:7-8  There are some who say that this covenant was conditional, that it was based on Israel’s faithfulness to God; the Bible teaches otherwise:  Psalm 89:30-37; Jeremiah 31:35-36 The promise of the land was not based upon Israel’s performance, but upon God’s oath and character — God cannot lie. 
3. This land was not given to the descendants of Ishmael (one ancestor of the Arab peoples), but rather to the descendants of Isaac. Genesis 17:19 God told Abram, " Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.”  Clearly the bloodline of the covenant promise concerning the Land would go through Isaac, not Ishmael: “…In Isaac your descendants shall be called” (Hebrews 11:18).
4. This Land and covenant were given only to Isaac’s son, Jacob and his descendants, not Esau and his descendants. Jacob received the birthright from his father, Isaac. The Lord God revealed to Jacob His message about this land. Genesis 28:13-15
5. God told Israel to conquer the Land which He had given to them.  Deuteronomy 1:8 God told Joshua, “you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan river into the land I am about to give to them — to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses." (Joshua 1:2-4,6)
6. In Leviticus 26:40-45, we read that God would punish Israel for its disobedience and send them into captivity. But, according to verses Leviticus 26:44-45, God will bring them back. Deuteronomy 30:3-5, God promises: “Then the Lord your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you."  (Amos 9:15).
7. The name of this Land is not Palestine, but Israel. Ezekiel spoke of dry bones coming to life. Never before in history has a nation been destroyed and scattered all over the world, and then been brought back to life. Ezekiel 37:11-12 The name, Palestine, was a regional name that was imposed on the area by the Roman Emperor, Hadrian, who suppressed the Second Jewish Revolt in AD 135. He was so angry with the Jews that he wanted to humiliate them and emphasize that the Jewish nation had lost its right to a homeland under Roman rule. The name Palaestina was originally an adjective derived from Philistia [1 Samuel 7:8], the arch-enemies [Philistines] of the Israelites 1000 years earlier. “Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (Luke 21:24). In 1967 Jerusalem was controlled again by the Jewish people, which is one sign that Messiah is soon to return. Daniel 12:1-13
8. Isaiah 61:4,5 “They (God’s covenant people) will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated: they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. The stranger will shepherd your flock; foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.” 

10. The return of the Jewish people at the end of days will be initiated by God, and their return will signal the restoration of a barren and broken land.  The prophet Isaiah spoke of God’s plan to bring His people back to Israel, Isaiah 11:12 “He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel, He will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth”

When the Jews began to return from the nations of the world at the end of the last century, the land was barren and sparsely inhabited. In the 1860s, the author, Mark Twain, traveled in what was then a backward region of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, called Palestine and described the land:

"It is a hopeless, dreary, heartbroken land.” This description matches the Ezekiel’s prophecy of the “barren mountains of Israel” Ezekiel 36:1-7, 8-12 

Truly, the return of the Jews from over 100 nations of the world is a modern-day miracle. Large waves of immigrants began to come back to their promised land in the 1880s. Since those early days, the deserts have been reforested, the rocky fields made fertile, the swamps drained and planted, the ancient terraces rebuilt, and the ruined cities of old re-established. Israel is now a nation of over six million people that is a food exporting nation that boasts high levels of literacy, health, education and welfare, high technology and agricultural development.

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What Does This Mean To Us? The day of Israel’s full restoration is near. Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, will make it possible and we shall all live in peace. Until He comes, we, who believe the Bible to be God’s Word and that every promise of God will come to pass, must stand and support Israel’s Divine right to its land. [See map where Israel's land has been reduced to a mere sliver and is surrounded by Muslim enemies.]  We cannot say on the one hand that we believe there is a God Who has revealed His perfect will in His Holy Scriptures and on the other hand, deny Israel's right to the land that God promised to her that is also written in Holy Scriptures. 

Psalm 102:13 “You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come.” This is that day.

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; may they prosper who love you. May peace be within your walls, and prosperity within your palaces. For the sake of my brothers and my friends, I will now say, ‘May peace be within you.’ For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.”
Psalm 122:6-9
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*Excerpted and adapted full original report here
Related more here

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