The Boundaries of the Promised Land: What Does the Bible Say?

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has taught home-style Bible classes for twenty years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les' teaching is so interesting, people say the time seems to fly by. And now, here's Les Feldick. I'd like to look up there. Okay, good to have you all with us again, and we'll turn to Genesis chapter 15. We'll just take a quick look at where we closed last week. Remember we're on the second part of this Abrahamic covenant. Last week I think we pretty well touched a lot of the verses that dealt with the promise that they would become a great nation of people, and remember that by the time they leave Egypt there's going to be anywhere from three to seven million of them, and like we were just saying after our last break, that all you have to do is look at the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, and you drive through, that's about three and a half, maybe four million people now. Imagine that many people just pulling up stakes and moving out into a desert wilderness, and you'll get some idea of what Moses had to put up with. Now, in the next few moments we're going to be looking at several verses and portions of Scripture that deal with the promise of a land, and like I said in our closing moments last week, this is the problem in the Middle East tonight. Israel has territory that the rest of the world thinks she should give up and let the Palestinians have it for the sake of peace. Israel says what? It's our land. And they haven't even got all that God has deeded to them. So I can sympathize, I can identify with the nation of Israel tonight, as well of course as with the Palestinians. They've been there now for hundreds of years, it's home to them, and nobody likes to be uprooted from home, and I can empathize with that. But we've still got to recognize that what God has said is sovereign, it's set in concrete, and the nations of this world are never going to change it. We might as well get ready. There is not going to be peace in the Middle East because, you see, with these thousands upon thousands of Jews coming in from Ethiopia and from Russia and from Albania and Europe and other places, every place except America. There aren't too many Jews leaving America yet. One day they will, but they have to have room. And I can see the handwriting on the wall for the Palestinians. Bless their hearts, I know they're going to hate to be uprooted, and I empathize with that, but God has promised it thousands of years ago through this Abrahamic covenant. Now, I think in order to give you some idea of how much real estate is involved in that last verse we saw last week as we closed, and you might want to be looking at it, it's in Genesis chapter 15, that last three verses, and I don't want to erase this, so I'm just going to put a small map up here, and again I always have to remind people this is not according to scale, but here's the Mediterranean Sea, and over here is the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River and the Dead Sea, and that puts Jerusalem right about there, present day Beirut, I suppose, somewhere's up here on the seacoast, and then way out here to the east, nowhere to scale, but way out there is the Euphrates River. As we've seen in Desert Storm in the last several months, and the Tigris coming down from the other direction, and then down here, of course, is the tip of the Red Sea, and over here is the River of Egypt, not the Nile. I think the Nile is over here, but this river is no longer there, but I think in Bible times it was, and so we'll just call this the River of Egypt. Now, do you see what that verse says? "'Unto thy seed,' verse 18, this is God speaking, and he says to Abraham, "'Unto thy seed have I given.'" What's the verb tense? Past tense. It's already done. It's not something in the future. God has already done it. He said, "'I have given this land from the River of Egypt,' down here in the corner, "'all the way out to the River Euphrates.'" And then we know from the geography of these various tribes mentioned that their northern border is going to be clear up here north of Lebanon, and the southern border is going to be clear down here to the Red Sea. And so in rough terms, that's all this is, it's just a sketch, but in rough terms the nation of Israel, land-wise, is all the way from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates River, to the Red Sea, to the River of Egypt, and back. That's the biggest part of the Middle East, isn't it? Now, that has already been deeded to the nation of Israel. That's all in the Abrahamic Covenant. Now, even at Solomon's height, they never even got close to enjoying this much land. So no one can say, well, that's all been fulfilled, that's in the past. No, it isn't. They didn't even come close. Now, tonight, of course, Israel is sitting there, and I can't draw this again perfectly, but see the West Bank comes clear out of there, the Gaza Strip comes out of there, and all Israel has left is this little narrow neck of land with a lot of it taken out. And you want to remember, this is only, and that's to the Jordan Valley, 40 miles. Now, when you read the account of Jesus going from Jerusalem down to Jericho, which is up here on the north shore of the Dead Sea, that's only about 18 miles. And yet, you know, we think of it in terms, from America's standpoint, of maybe 100 miles or 150, but everything is so small, and they're only 180 miles long from the Red Sea to, well, their border now would be up here somewhere south of Lebanon. But see, Israel tonight is cramped. They're packing them in like putting them in a little postage stamp territory, and they're going to have to have more room. Well, they're going to get it. I don't know when, I don't know how, but God is going to see to it, because He has given His Word. All right, let's go up through Scripture now and pick out some more of these verses with regard to the land. Come over with me to Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy, Chapter 30, and let's drop down to, well, let's start with verse 1. Deuteronomy 30, verse 1. And again, while you're looking at that, I want to remind our television audience this is just an informal Bible study. Normally we meet in homes or other places, nothing formal about it, and that's why you'll see us dressed casually as we are. We have a coffee break and so forth, so just want people to know what you're looking in on in case you have just chanced on to our program. All right, Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 1, "...and it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee." Now, in the previous two chapters, God has listed all the blessings that would come if they'd be obedient, but all the curses if they'd be disobedient. And when you read those chapters, you can see how they have all been fulfilled to the last jot and tittle. But He says, after all this has been consummated, "...and all these things are come upon thee, the blessings and the curse which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee." Now, does that ring a bell? Isn't that exactly where they've been? Oh, they have been out there scattered in all the nations of the world, now for over 2,000 years. Now, you want to remember that this is one of the miracles of Scripture. If you ever run into a friend who has a doubt about the veracity of the Word of God, remind them that the living proof that the Bible is true is the Jew, the nation of Israel. Even though they've been in dispersion, they've been out there scattered among all the nations of the world, yet tonight, with rare exceptions, a Jew is still a Jew. They have not lost their identity. Whereas you take we Americans with our ancestors, most of us, as I look over you, probably came from Europe, Great Britain, Mediterranean, wherever. But here America has only been a nation a little over 200 years, and most of you can't even trace your roots to one nation anymore. Why? Because we've all intermarried, we've amalgamated, we have lost our national identity, but not the Jew. The Jew has been in Russia, he's been in Germany, he's been in Timbuktu, he's been all over this world, he has put down roots, he has become part and parcel of their various governments and societies, but he's still a Jew. And as God brings them back now to the land of promise, they are not an amalgamated people. Now the Samaritans were, and that's why, of course, the Jews of Jesus' day hated them, they had lost their purity, they had intermarried. But the Jew is for the most part still a relatively pure race of people, and God has seen to it. And this is why we want you to understand that the Bible is so true, and this is why God is saying that after He has scattered them among all the nations, now come back to verse 2, "...and you shall return unto the Lord thy God, thou shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children with all thy heart, with all thy soul, that then the Lord thy God will turn," or end your captivity, "...have compassion on thee, and will return and gather thee from the nations whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee." And then come down to verse 5, "...and the Lord thy God will bring thee into the," what's the next word, "...into the land, into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it, and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above all thy fathers." Israel hasn't reached that place yet, but it's getting close. The time is coming, and we don't think it's that far away when all these prophetic utterances concerning the nation of Israel will become a reality. All right, let's move on. Go to the book of Joshua, right after Deuteronomy, Joshua, chapter 1. And again, we'll just skim the first six verses, because all we're trying to establish is that God has promised a nation of people coming out of Abraham who would be congregated within a geographical area, a land that will be promised to them. Joshua, chapter 1, and he goes on in verse 2 that Moses is now dead. "...Therefore go over this Jordan," they're coming in from the east, "...and all this people unto the land which I," God says, "...do give them." How do they get it? God is giving it to them. Now, granted, as they come in this time under Joshua, they're going to have to fight war, they're going to have to fight battles, but nevertheless God has mandated that it's going to be their land. All right, let's go a little further up through the Old Testament. Let's go all the way to Ezekiel, Ezekiel 37, that portion of Scripture that should just ring a bell with almost anybody who has ever heard the Old Spiritual, "...them bones." Oh, them bones. And here's where it came from, Ezekiel 37. And again, we won't take time to read all these verses. I wish we could, but we just can't take the time for that. But Ezekiel is shown in a vision, this valley floor just covered with bones. Now, remember this, this is a vision, but out of this vision we're going to get a literal truth. And as he sees these bones, the Lord tells Ezekiel to prophesy upon them, and he does so. Verse 5, "...Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews," or flesh, "...upon you, and will bring flesh, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord." So Ezekiel says, "...I prophesied as I was commanded, and as I prophesied there was a noise, and behold, a shaking." Now, I think you've all had dreams that almost come real, haven't you? Well, this is what Ezekiel saw. All these bones, they've been there for centuries, they're very dry, they're bleached, but all of a sudden they began to move, and they began to come together. Now, remember that this is just a symbolic lesson, this isn't a literal thing, but he's got a literal lesson in it. And as all these bones that have been out there for centuries are now coming together, and right before his eyes they take on flesh, the skin comes upon them. And then finally he says, verse 10, "...so I prophesied as he commanded, and breath came into them," they were now living, "...and they lived and stood upon their feet." Now verse 11, "...then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are," what? "...the whole house of Israel." Oh, in symbolic language, in a symbolic vision, he saw that Israel was out there in those Gentile nations for hundreds, yes, thousands of years, nationally dead. But all of a sudden, what's God going to do? He's going to put life back into that nation, and we're seeing it right before our very eyes. They're coming home, they're coming back by the thousands every day. All right, this is what he's referring to, and they said, "...our bones," verse 11, "...are dried, our hope is lost." A Jew had almost given up of ever having a homeland until finally it happened in 1948. But I want you to come on down to verse 12, where God says to Ezekiel, "...prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people," and remember, he's talking to Israel, "...I will open your graves." In other words, a Jew living out in Gentile territory as if he's in a grave. He's dead. He is spiritually out of it. And God says, verse 14, "...and I shall put my Spirit in you, you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land." See, that's what I wanted you to see. It just keeps coming up over and over that God has not forgotten that that land he deeded to Abraham is still the same land, only now it's going to be given to the children of Abraham at a much later time. And then he goes on to say how that they will no longer be a split nation, no northern kingdom and a southern kingdom. It's going to be a one nation under their Messiah. All right, now let's go on a little further to Jeremiah. Jeremiah 23. Can't even find it myself, can I? Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23, and oh, my, let's pick up at verse 5. Jeremiah 23, verse 5, "...Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch." Now, that word branch is capitalized. It's used several times. Who is it? Christ. It's a prophetic naming, again, of the Messiah. And he says, "...I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a..." What? King. Now, we're also going to use this verse when we come to the third part, but pass over it for now. We're going to come back to it. "...and a king shall reign and prosper, and..." Then come on down to verse 7, because this is exactly what we're seeing in our news every day now, the fulfillment of this, which was written 600 years B.C. Verse 6, "...In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely." That hasn't come yet, but we're building up to it. And then verse 7, "...Therefore behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. But they'll say, The Lord liveth who brought up, and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country..." What's that? That's Russia, straight north of Israel. "...they'll come out of the north country, and from all the countries, whither I had driven them, and they shall dwell where..." Can you beat that? God said it, and don't you worry for a minute. The nations of the world, the United Nations, the kings, and the prime ministers can peace talk all they want. Israel is going to end up in her own land, and she's only got a portion of what she's going to have someday. So I don't see Israel giving up a big chunk of territory. I can envision the day when the Palestinians will be pushed out, or they'll be amalgamated. They're going to have a choice. And I don't know why they rebel at that, because we were given the opportunity to go to Israel many years ago, and at that time we had an Arab guide and an Arab bus driver, and they both made it so plain that the best situated Arabs in the whole Middle East, other than the oil rich, of course, but those who had it the best were those living in Israel, who were part and parcel of the Israeli economy. They had businesses, they were thriving. We'd drive through the countryside, and there would be a big, nice school. And our guide would say, now, until the Israelis came on the scene, he said, these kids never had an education. But Israel provides schools for them, provides their education, and yet they're rebelling against it. And so I take 90% of the news coming out of the Middle East with a great big dose of salt, because the whole media is slanted against Israel, because Israel is God's covenant people. Now I tell my classes all the time, now look, don't expect the present day Israeli government or the Jewish people to be super spiritual or super moral. If anything, they're quite the opposite. But they are still His covenant people. God has His thumb on them, and God doesn't sanction much of what they're doing, but nevertheless, they are His covenant people. And I think a lot of times the people think, well, if they're the people of God, why don't they behave like it? Well, listen, they're the people of God only by virtue of the covenant as yet. But when God becomes all that, or when Israel becomes all that God wants them to be, let's look at chapter 31, since I'm on that line of thought here in Jeremiah, because the Scripture says it better than I can, the day is coming when their ungodliness, when their unbelief will come to an end, and you're going to find that the Jew once again is the apple of God's eye. You got Jeremiah 31, verse 31. Behold, the days come. Now even though Jeremiah wrote this clear back in 600 B.C., yet it's still future from our time. But it's coming. God has said it is, and He expects us to believe it. And He said, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant. Now, He could not make a new covenant until this one has run its course. The Abrahamic covenant is still going to be fulfilled. She's going to be a nation of people living within their geographical area with a super, super government, God Himself in the person of Christ the Messiah, their King. And when that has become a full reality, now look at Israel's spiritual condition. I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. What covenant was that? Law. And law was harsh. Law was a burden. Peter and others in the New Testament referred to it as a yoke of bondage that no one could bear. But oh, the day is coming. It's going to be something far better than that covenant of law. The one that they broke, although He says, I was a husband unto them. But this shall be the covenant that I will make. Now, you see, I'm emphasizing the verb tenses here. This is future. A covenant, He says, that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law not on tables of stone, but where? In their heart. Oh, they'll just have full knowledge without having to sit down and read the Torah or study under a rabbi. It's just going to be there by an act of God. Read on. I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. They shall teach no more every man his neighbor, as they were taught back there in Joshua, you remember, when they came into the land. In fact, do you remember what the instructions were? When they rose up in the morning, when they sat down to eat, when they laid down to sleep, what were they to be doing? Oh, memorizing the Word, just letting it saturate them. But God says, the time is coming. They won't have to do that, because they'll have it inwardly. And then He says, from the least of them unto the greatest, saith the Lord. For God, here's the God of mercy coming out now, for I will forgive their what? Their iniquity. They're not a righteous people tonight. Oh, but they will be. And He says, I will forgive their iniquity. I will remember their sin no more. Now that's going to all come to pass. When this Abrahamic covenant comes into full fruition, the Messiah will finally be their King, and they will enjoy this whole Middle East as their homeland. There will not be an unbelieving Jew anywhere in that kingdom. They will all be believers, and it's going to be that glorious kingdom that all the Old Testament has been looking forward to. Now, next week I'll make a little more mention of the fact that all these promises given to Israel are earthly. I'll shock you. Never does the Old Testament teach a Jew dying and going to heaven. Never. You can't find it. But He knew that He would die and be resurrected and come back to this kingdom. He didn't really understand it. He didn't really have a full knowledge of it as we have now with the Word of God complete. But nevertheless, the Old Testament Jewish believer had no concept, as we do, of dying and going to heaven. So Israel was an earthly people with earthly promises. The church, the body of Christ, is a heavenly people with heavenly promises. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible is viewer-supported and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.