Whose Promised Land? (5^th edition), by Colin Chapman.

 Synopsis of chapter 5 – The Land After Christ

5.1 The birth of Jesus the Messiah

The annunciation to Mary (Lk 1:31-33), the song of Mary (Lk 1:46-55), the song of Zechariah (Lk 1:68-79, the song of Simeon (Lk 2:25-32), and the words of Anna (Lk 2:36-38) all testify that the promises to Abraham and David have been fulfilled in the coming of Jesus the Messiah.

These individuals, and others like them, had been looking forward to restoration of Israel and the liberation of Jerusalem, now understood to have begun through the coming of Jesus.

5.2 Jesus and the Land

Whereas Jewish hopes gave a central place to the land, Jesus had very little to say about this.

Some have argued that this is because Jesus took for granted Jewish expectations concerning the land.  But the more likely explanation is that Jesus’ emphasis was on the kingdom of God.

Mt 5:5 – The third beatitude – ‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth’ is taken from Psa 37, where the reference is to the land of Palestine.  On Jesus’ lips, however, the words take on a new meaning.  Those who inherit the land are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, and the meek – regardless of ethnicity.

Lk 4:17-21 – ‘Freedom for the prisoners’.  Jesus quotes Isa 61:1-2.  In original context the words referred to those in exile.  There was a fulfilment when the exiles returned to their land.  But there is a further fulfilment in the ministry of Jesus.

Lk 7:21f – ‘Good news is preached to the poor’.  Jesus describes his ministry in terms drawn from Isa 35 and 61 which anticipated the Jews’ return from exile.  Once again, Jesus presents himself and his ministry as the ultimate fulfilment of Old Testament hope.

Mt 8:10-12 – ‘Many will come from the east and the west’.  Alludes to Isa 43:5–7 and Psa 107:2–3, which referred to the return of the Jewish exiles to their land but are now applied to the gathering of people from all nations into the kingdom of God (with many Jews being excluded).  See also Jn 10:16, 11:51f.

5.3 Jesus and Jerusalem

Whereas Jerusalem figured prominently in prophecies concerning the future of Israel, for Jesus it was principally the arena of his death and resurrection (Lk 18:31–33), and was later to suffer destruction.

Hos 6:1–2 speaks of national restoration, but Jesus applies the ‘third day’ to his resurrection: ‘The resurrection of Christ is the resurrection of Israel of which the prophets spoke’ (C.H. Dodd).

Mk 13 – often understood to be referring throughout to Christ’s Second Coming.  But the ‘coming of the Son of man’ (see Dan 7:13) might well refer to Christ’s ‘arrival’ to glory in his resurrection and ascension, and his further vindication with the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 and the worldwide gathering from the nations (Mk 13:27).

Lk 21:24 – ‘Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled’.  Some interpret this as meaning that Jerusalem will be overrun by Gentiles and after that it would come under Jewish rule again (often linking this with the recapture of Old Jerusalem in June 1967).  But it probably means that the fall of Jerusalem would be a divine judgment, but those Gentile nations which were the instruments of judgment would themselves be judged.

5.4 The redemption of Israel, the kingdom of Israel, and the kingdom of God

Lk 24:19–27 – Jesus answers the question about the redemption of Israel by declaring that he himself is the fulfilment of all that the Old Testament prophets predicted.

Acts 1:4-8 – Jesus answers the question about when the kingdom would be restored to Israel by stating that it has been restored in his resurrection, and that they would be witnesses to this throughout the world.

5.5 The land in the teaching of the apostles

Acts as the counterpart to the book of Joshua:

• Joshua describes the gradual conquest of the land, beginning from Jericho.  Acts describes the gradual expansion of the church, beginning from Jerusalem.
• Joshua begins with God’s command to enter and conquer the land (Josh 1:11).  Acts begins with the command to start a different kind of conquest – of the gospel (Acts 1:8).
• Joshua was to triumph by the edge of the sword.  In Acts the word of God is the weapon by which Christians are to occupy their inheritance (Acts 20:32).
• Joshua describes the progress of the conquest – beginning with the capture of Jericho and Ai, and then on the campaigns in the south and the north.  Acts describes the progress of the gospel as it spreads from Jerusalem, to Samaria, then Caesarea and the first Gentile, then from Antioch into Asia Minor, Greece, and finally to Rome.
• Joshua and Acts both describe the difficulties which had to be faced.  In Acts there is the tragic deception of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11), which is paralleled by the story of Achan (Josh 7).  Times of peace and consolidation in Joshua (Josh 11:23; see also 14:15; 21:44; 23:1) are matched by something similar in Acts (Acts 9:31; 2:47; 6:7; 12:24; 13:49; 19:20).
• But if Joshua is about the conquest of the land, Acts is records the success of the gospel in the whole known world.  The only weapon was the word of God, and the message was not only for the people of the land, but for all nations.

Rom 4:13 applies to promise to Abraham as relating to ‘the world’ (not just ‘the land’).

Rom 9-11 – Paul expresses great love and concern for his fellow Jews.  But he makes no mention of the land.

2 Cor 1:21 – all God’s promises are fulfilled in Christ.

Gal 3:26–29 – All Christians – both Jews and Gentiles – are Abraham’s ‘seed’.

It would be strange if the other aspects of God’s promise to Abraham were fulfilled spiritually, only for one element – concerning the land – were to be fulfilled literally.

Gal 4:24–26 – Jerusalem was, and continues to be – ‘in slavery with her children’ because of her rejection of her Messiah.

Gal 6:14–16 – The ‘Israel of God’ embraces all believers in Jesus Christ, Jews and Gentiles alike.

Hebrews – all that was looked for under the old covenant has been fulfilled in Christ.

Heb 4:1–3 – the sabbath rest fulfilled in Christ.

[Colin Chapman might have mentioned Heb 8, which declares that the old covenant has been made ‘obsolete’]

Heb 10:11–12 – the sacrificial system fulfilled in Christ.

Heb 11:9–10, 14, 16 – the expectation all along was for a heavenly country – not a geographical one.

Hebrews 12:18–19, 22–24, 28–29 – Christians do not have ‘an enduring city’:

‘Christians have no territorial centre, no physical land or place that is the focus of faith and worship, because Jesus Christ has taken on the full theological and spiritual significance of all that land, city and temple had held for Israel and opened that significance up to people of all nations.’ (Chris Wright)

Expectations that there will be a literal rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple are misplaced.

1 Pet 1:3–5 – speaks not of a geographical inheritance, but a spiritual one.

1 Pet 2:9–10 – titles that hitherto had referred exclusively to Jews are now applied to Jewish and Gentile believers alike.

5.6 John’s vision of the final fulfilment of the covenant

Eze 43:1–5 – speaks of the glory of the Lord entering the temple.

Jn 2:18–21 – Jesus is himself the fulfilment of all that the temple stood for.

Revelation 21:1–3, 22 – This same thought is applied to Jesus’ second coming, and the established of the new heaven and the new earth.

Eze 47:1–3, 5–9, 12 and Joel 3:18, 20 all speak of the river of living water.

In John 7:37-39 Jesus uses this image, applying it now not to the temple, but to himself and/or whoever believes in him.  Once again, there is a further fulfilment in the new heaven and new earth, Revelation 22:1–2.

Christians today should resist attempts to directly link details in, say, Ezekiel, with contemporary events in the Middle East:

‘Christians do not have the liberty to work out from Ezekiel 38 the scenario for a Russian invasion of Palestine in contemporary history; or to draw a plan of Ezekiel’s temple from chapters 40–47 and expect that it will one day be built in Jerusalem; or to draw a map of Palestine according to Ezekiel’s division of the land in chapter 48 and expect that this will one day be the territory occupied by the State of Israel.’

Rather, when we consider God’s promises to Abraham:

• ‘The promise of the land has now given way to the promise of ‘a new heaven and a new earth’ (Revelation 21:1).
• ‘The nation which God promised would become great and numerous has now become ‘the 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel’ (Revelation 7:4).
• ‘The promise of a special relationship between God and his people is fulfilled because now ‘the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God’ (Revelation 21:3).
• ‘The promise of blessing for all peoples on earth will finally be fulfilled in the ‘great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb’ (Revelation 7:9).’

5.7 The land and the millennium

Just one biblical passage (Rev 20:1-6) refers explicitly to a period of 1,000 years.  It is doubtful, given the highly symbolic nature of Revelation, whether this should be regarded as a literal period of time.  It is better to view it as the present age in which believers share in the victory wrought by Christ through his death and resurrection.