One of the most controversial issues among Baptists and Evangelicals concerns the land promises in the OT, beginning with Gen 12:7. “Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’” Abraham lived in that land but never owned it.
For those new to the issue, let me explain what we are discussing. Yahweh promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’s (Israel’s) offspring land. We call it the Promised Land. Evangelicals disagree over whether that promise was fulfilled in part or in full and how subsequent land promises will be fulfilled.
Some say “no,” that the promise wasn’t fulfilled. Ethnic National Territorial (ENT) Israel never fully occupied all the land that God promised them. Others say “yes,” the land promise was fulfilled in Joshua’s day. Joshua, the leader after Moses, said,
Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. 44 And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. 45 Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass. (Jos 21:43–45)
Okay, but what about the other land promises? Ones like, “I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land” (Eze 36:24). These are often called restorative promises.
This is where the divide lies. Does God still have a plan to reconstitute ENT Israel and give them a land? This would be a Promised Land 2.0. Furthermore, these restorations are not merely temporary returns; in Jeremiah 32:37–41, the prophet highlights an explicitly everlasting promise of land. But to whom was this promise given? Was it to the biological descendants of Abraham, or to believing Jews and Gentiles?
Both sides agree that God’s people will spend eternity with their God on the new earth. But they disagree over whether an intermediate fulfillment (a millennial kingdom) is still needed. Some say “yes.” For 1000 years, Yahweh will fulfill the promise of a restored land to Israel. Others, like me, say “no.” That isn’t necessary. Again, all agree that the everlasting land promises will be fulfilled in the new heaven and on the new earth.
It is very important that everyone recognize that this debate is not tied to Paul’s promise of a revival among ethnic Jews in Romans 11. God can bring about a revival for any ethnicity, whether or not the intermediate land promise is fulfilled. But what about the land promises?
Consider what Paul says in Romans 4:13:
For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.
How should Christians interpret the Old Testament’s restorative land promises? I believe Jesus and His Apostles teach us how to read and interpret the OT. Paul first identifies the recipients of the promise. Who are Abraham’s offspring? Romans 4 answers that question. Abraham is the father of “all who believe” (v. 11). In verse 16, the promise belongs to all his offspring, and Abraham is the “father of many nations” (v. 17). Paul then describes their inheritance as being “the world.”
If Paul teaches us how to interpret the Old Testament, should his inspired interpretation govern how we read the later restorative land promises? If the answer is no, how do we handle Rom 4:13? Finally, the writer of Hebrews tells us that Abraham was looking for a “better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Heb 11:16). I take that to refer to the new heaven and new earth.
So, from my interpretation of Scripture, the original land promise was fulfilled when Joshua led Israel across the Jordan River, and they took the Promised Land. And the restorative land promises will be fulfilled as all believers live on the new earth.
