Episode 2592 - Lesson 9 - Thursday Nov. 27 - The Land Restored

The Land RestoredRead Jeremiah 24:6; Jeremiah 31:16; Ezekiel 11:17; Ezekiel 28:25; and Ezekiel 37:14, 25. What was the promise of God concerning the return of Israel to the Promised Land and how was it fulfilled?During the Babylonian exile, the Israelites experienced not only the sad reality of being rootless but also the promise that their relationship with God, though made concrete through the promise of the land, was not conditioned on, and limited to, possessing the land. When the Israelites confessed their sins, repented, and looked for the Lord with all their hearts, God fulfilled His promise again, and brought them back to their land as a sign of their restoration. That is, He was still their God, even while they were not in the land.However, as the promise that Israel would possess the land forever was conditional (Deut. 28:63-64; Josh. 23:13, 15; 1 Kings 9:7; 2 Kings 17:23; Jer. 12:10-12), so was the promise to re-settle and make Israel prosper in the land after the exile. At the same time, prophets of the Old Testament pointed to a restoration that a future Davidic king would bring (Isa. 9:6-7; Zech. 9:9, 16). This promise was fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, in whom all the promises to ancient Israel would have their fulfillment.In the New Testament, the Promised Land is not mentioned directly, but we are told that the promises of God have been fulfilled in and through Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 1:20, Rom. 15:8). Thus, in the light of Christ, the land is reinterpreted, and it becomes the symbol of the spiritual blessings that God plans to give to His faithful people here and now (Eph. 2:6) and in the hereafter.The ultimate fulfillment of the divine promise of rest, abundance, and well-being in the land will take place on the new earth, liberated from sin and its consequences. In that sense, as Christians, our hope is based on Christ’s promise that He will return and, after a 1,000-year period in heaven, establish His eternal kingdom on the earth made new. This will be the ultimate fulfillment of all the promises about the land.Read John 14:1-3, Titus 2:13, and Revelation 21:1-3. What ultimate hope is found for us here in these verses, and why does the death of Jesus guarantee us the fulfillment of this hope?