Rev. Daniel Fleischer
Debate, unrest, and wars over time, relative to Israel, spawn frequent reference to Scripture by evangelical commentators and preachers who promote the idea that Israel has a claim to its geographical site by the original promise to Abraham.
“Now the Lord had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, from your family And from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him” (Genesis 12:1-7).
What do we glean from that divinely authored account?
- * God would make of Abraham a great nation.
- * Abraham’s descendants occupied Canaan.
- * Abraham and his descendants would be a blessing to all nations of the earth.
- * “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8).
- * “He (God) Who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23).
Scripture identifies Canaan with Israel, so named after Jacob whose name God changed (Genesis 32:28) and Judah. Israel was a United Kingdom under Saul, David, and Solomon, each of whom ruled Israel for forty years. After Solomon, Israel rejected Rehoboam and chose Jeroboam as king. Hence, the kingdom was now divided and recognized as Israel (10 tribes), and Judah (and Benjamin). Of the kings of Israel not one was a godly king. Consequently, it suffered the judgment of God by the Assyrians (Assyrian captivity) and was lost to history. Judah had some godly kings, but it was divinely disciplined by captivity in Babylon. God in His grace restored Judah, because of the tribe of Judah the Savior was to be born. The birth of Christ of the House of David is rooted in Scripture’s covenant promises. Many passages of the Old Testament testify to this until we read in Luke, “And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:4-7).
Because both Jews and Arabs are biological children of Abraham, who the descendants were according to God’s promise who should occupy the land, has been a bone of contention that has contributed to and still contributes to wars and unrest between Jews and Arabs. Abraham’s sons-Ishmael through Hagar, Isaac through Sarah, and the six sons through Keturah constituted the offspring of Abraham. The descendants of Abraham, to whom the land was promised, ran through Isaac and Jacob. The long, complicated, and divisive history has been exacerbated since 1948, when the state of Israel was created.
The Lord led Abraham’s people to Canaan, also known as Palestine. The name Palestine was derived from the Philistines. Seven nations occupying pagan Palestine at the time were the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. (Genesis 15:18-21). God’s promise “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed,” was reiterated to Abraham, “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed… (Genesis 22:18). Further, to Jacob, a descendant of Abraham, God said, “In you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 28:14).
The promise to Abraham—’To your descendants I will give this land.’ has been fulfilled! He gave it to Israel just as He said. The part of the promise relative to the land has been grossly misinterpreted today. The part of the promise that still applies is that Abraham would be a blessing to all nations.
To forestall any misunderstanding, the subject before us is not whether Israel today has a right to exist in or defend the territory it calls home. It has as much right to exist and defend its existence as any other nation. The question is, as the Reformed and Evangelicals assert, can modern Israel, legitimately claim that God’s promise to Abraham that his descendants would occupy the land still apply in the 21st century. The answer is, “No.” Such a claim that the promise of real estate still applies is deceptive because it directs attention away from the blessing Abraham was and is. This promise to Abraham is still operative in the 21st century until the end of time, because it is centered in the Messiah, Christ, the Savior of the world, Who would be born of the line of Abraham.
This subject piqued interest in view of an article that appeared on line in The Christian Post (April 10, 2026). It reveals a millennialism bent as it claims, “The book of Acts Keeps Israel at the Center.” It says, “The Kingdom of God has a past rooted in Israel, a present expressed through the Church, and a future that, according to Jesus and His angels, returns to Jerusalem. Acts does not allow us to choose between Israel and the Church.”
It continues, “One of the quiet assumptions shaping much of modern Christian theology is that Israel has been spiritually eclipsed. The Church, we are told, sometimes subtly, sometimes explicitly, has replaced Israel as the focal point of God’s redemptive purposes. Israel belongs to the past; the Church belongs to the present and future. And yet, the book of Acts refuses to cooperate with this assumption. If we allow Acts to speak on its own terms: historically, geographically, and biblically, it presents a far more integrated vision. In Acts, Israel remains central to the Kingdom of God, not as a rival to the Church, but as the covenantal and geographic stage upon which God’s redemptive drama unfolds, past, present, and future.”
Before His ascension the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). The Post again: “This question matters far more than many Christians realize. These are not confused outsiders. These are resurrected-Christ-trained apostles, men who have spent forty days being taught by Jesus ‘about the kingdom of God’ (Acts 1:3).
“If anyone should have had their theology corrected by now, it would have been them [the disciples]. He [Jesus]does not say, ‘You misunderstand …’ nor does He say ‘Israel no longer matters.’ He does not say, ‘The Church is now the true Israel.’ He does not say, ‘There will be no future restoration of Israel.’ Instead, He responds: ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by His own authority’ (Acts 1:7). In other words, the expectation is correct. The timing is not yours to know.”
In response we say, “Scripture is its own interpreter,” and it says, “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ” (Galatians 3:16).
For whom is the blessing through Abraham and his descendants intended? All nations. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16-17). Who is the Israel to whom God promises eternal life?
Paul mourned for his kinsman who had rejected Christ and crucified Him, “because He made Himself the Son of God” (John 19:7). To the Church in Rome the apostle wrote, “But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called.’ That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed” (Romans 9:6-8).
Scripture defines the true Israel. It has nothing to do with politics, land mass, borders, or bloodlines. “God is able to raise up children of Abraham from these stones” (Matthew 3:9). He creates His Israel as He wills. “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3: 26-29). Members of the kingdom of God are of every people, race, and nation who confess faith in Christ as their Savior.
Faithful Christians do not hate or wish ill upon the nation of Israel. They pray for their conversion. Faithful Christians recognize that God’s Israel and the Church are one in the body of Christ. “For the “Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved’” (Romans 10:11-13).
“And so all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26), and through faith will inherit the better land. It’s called heaven.
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