“That the kingdom which he will establish will be the kingdom of Israel restored, in the territory formerly occupied, viz., the land bequeathed to Abraham and his seed (the Christ) by covenant. Article XXI
An Everlasting Covenant
We must go back in time some four hundred years before the exodus of the children of Israel from the land of Egypt to the time of Abraham, to find the covenant in which is revealed the actual territory which the kingdom of God will occupy. God had appeared to Abraham when he lived in the land of Mesopotamia (Ur of the Chaldees) and had told him to leave his country and his father’s house and journey to a land which He would show him. Abraham, or Abram as he was then called, obeyed the voice of the LORD and eventually came to the land of Canaan, which today is partly occupied by the nation of Israel. It was while the patriarch sojourned in this land that the LORD once again appeared to him and established with Abraham an everlasting covenant. “Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward and westward for all the land which thou seeit, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land, in the length of it and in the breadth of it: for I will give it unto thee.” (Gen. 13)
There are many features of the covenant which call for close examination. It will first be noted that Abraham was invited to look in all directions of the compass, not up. It was the land which was the subject of promise. Moreover, it was to be given the patriarch “forever,” and was therefore a promise encompassing eternity. The very land on which he walked was to be his — but not his alone. For the LORD had declared that there would be one(s) who would share in the inheritance; viz., “thy seed.” As we pursue the development of this covenant, we shall see that the seed was invariably included as a condition of the promise.
The actual territory covenanted to Abraham and his seed is named in Gen. 15:18-21, all of which was never occupied by his natural descendants. The promise was obviously later expanded to include the whole earth, for Paul, in Rom. 4:13, in relating the principle upon which Abraham would inherit the promises, declared, “For the promise that he should be heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” Since Abraham was to inherit the land forever, it is manifest that he could not do so in his present corruptible condition. As Paul later revealed, “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit in-corruption.” (1 Cor. 15:30) There would, of necessity have to be a change in the nature of Abraham that he might be physically suited to enjoy all the benefits of the promise.
Covenant Typically Confirmed
Once a covenant had been confirmed, there was nothing which could in any way alter it. The principle is clearly stated by Paul in Gal. 3:15; “Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannuleth, or addeth thereto.” It is therefore fitting that there should have been an assurance given to Abraham in the form of a confirmation, which would serve to bolster his faith in the fulfillment of the promise. Abraham, after being assured by God that he would indeed have a son of his own, through whom the promised seed was to come, and after again being told, “I am the LORD that brought thee out of the Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it,” asked God for further guarantee concerning the inheritance. “Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?” (Gen. 15:8) In response to this the LORD instructed Abraham to take certain animals for sacrificial purposes and arrange them in a particular manner. And as the sun was descending, God caused a deep sleep to fall upon him; ‘and lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.” While in this state, the voice of God was heard to declare, “Know of a surety that they seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not their’s, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: afterward shall they come out with great substance . . . In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, unto thy seed have I given this land . . .”
The death of the animals was a necessary ingredient in the confirmation of this covenant, and indicated the surety of its fulfillment. The covenant was later actually confirmed through the shedding of Christ’s blood. Just before His betrayal, when instituting the memorial service, He took the cup (of wine), and gave thanks, and gave it to His disciples, and said, “Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matt. 26:27-28) Paul, in making reference to the immutability of the promise to Abraham, made additional reference to the confirmation of the covenant by Christ: “And this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.” (Gal. 3:17)
‘In Isaac Shall thy Seed be Called’
Though God had promised Abraham that he would have a son through whom the promise was to come, the years passed by with no outward evidence that the LORD intended to keep His word. Abraham did have a son by his wife’s handmaid, Hagar, but God promised that the son would be born of Sarah. Though the aged Abraham loved Ishmael very much. and would have desired, in the absence of a child through Sarah, to have him inherit the blessings, it was the will of God that the seed should come another way. To the patriarch’s plea, “0 that Ishmael might live before thee,” the LORD replied, “Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.”
In the process of time Isaac was born, and when he was grown, the LORD reiterated the covenant which he had made with his father, Abraham. “And the LORD appeared unto him (Isaac), and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee: for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries. and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father.” (Gen. 26:2-3)
The promise was later repeated to Isaac’s son, Jacob (Gen. 28:13-14), with the same stipulation that he would inherit the land with his seed.
‘I Will Perform . .
By the time the promise had been renewed to his grandson, Jacob, Abraham had died. He died at the age of one hundred and seventy-five, “in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people.” (Gen. 25:8) During the course of his life, Abraham never possessed any of the land which God had promised to him. In matter of fact, neither did Isaac nor Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. Stephen, in his defense before the Jewish council, declared, “And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on; yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.” (Acts 7:5) The writer to the Hebrews in like manner confirms the fact that these fathers of Israel died without ever enjoying the fulfillment of God’s promise: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth.” (Heb. 11:13)
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One