B. Israel's Promised Land Will Be Restored In the Millennium, All of It!

B. Israel’s Promised Land Will Be Restored In the Millennium, All of It!

1. Genesis 17:7-8. The Title Deed to the Land of Israel.
The problem of the Israeli-Arab conflict has consumed more time in the United Nations and the Security Council than almost any other issue. Who owns the land of Palestine? The Jews or the Arabs? Both “brothers” claim title to the land by virtue of being the sons of Abraham; but, having different mothers. They are: Isaac, (father of the nation of Israel) and Ishmael ( father of the Arab nations).
God has given the land to Abraham and his seed. We have the record in Genesis 17:7-8,
And I will establish my covenant between me and thee (Abraham) and THY SEED after thee in their generations for an EVERLASTING COVENANT...And I will give unto thee, and to THY SEED after thee, the LAND wherein thou art a stranger, ALL THE LAND OF CANAAN, for an EVERLASTING possession, and I will be their God.”
2. Genesis 15:18-21 Marks the Boundaries.
In Genesis 15:18-21,God gives the exact boundaries of this land now called Israel.
In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt (the Nile) unto the great river, the river Euphrates: (Genesis 15:18)
The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, (Genesis 15:19)
And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, (Genesis 15:20)
And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. (Genesis 15:21)
The Promised Land extended from the river of Egypt, northward, for hundreds of miles to the River Euphrates. The Hebrew word “river” is used three times in Genesis 15:18. In all three cases it is the Hebrew word “nahar” and means “"river; stream; canal; current." --The word appears about 120 times in biblical Hebrew and in all periods. First, this word usually refers to permanent natural watercourses. (Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old Testament and New Testament Words.) The fact that these rivers are given in the Hebrew as a “permanent natural watercourse” defeats those who, even in the Millennium want to take land from Israel by saying that the “river of Egypt” is the “wadi of Egypt,” (Hebrew “nahal”) meaning “a dry valley in which water runs only during the rainy season:” (Ibid.) Thus making the southern border of the Promised Land extend only a few miles south of today’s Gaza Strip.
It was bordered on the west by the Mediterranean Sea. It included most of the Sinai Peninsula, the Middle East, Edom, Transjordan, Syria, and generally the areas occupied by the Arabian nations. The entire area covered approximately 255,000 square miles. Israel today occupies only a portion of this land.
There was no problem until Israel moved back into the land, after being recognized by the United Nations as a sovereign state in May 14, 1948. There has been trouble and fighting ever since.
3. Genesis 17:8. The Land Is An Everlasting Possession of Israel; Not the Arabs.
A long list of prophetic predictions concerning Israel began a little over 4,000 years ago, when God told Abraham in Genesis 17:8,
“And I will give unto thee (Abraham), and to THY SEED after thee...all the land of Canaan (Palestine) for an EVERLASTING possession, and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17:8)
God’s covenant was with Abraham and “thy seed;” but, which of “thy children”? Ishmael was the first-born in the family of Abraham. Upon the suggestion of Sarah (Genesis 16:1-2), Ishmael was born of an Egyptian slave woman, named Hagar. It was the custom that the first-born would be the heir to Abraham. After Ishmael was born, God told Abraham that Sarah was going to have a son and Abraham strongly objected and cried out in Genesis 17:18,
“...O that Ishmael might live before thee.”
Ishmael, the father of the Arab nations, was Abraham’s choice, but not God’s. God’s choice is now revealed unto Abraham in Genesis 17:21,
“But my covenant will I establish WITH ISAAC, which Sarah shall bare unto thee at this set time in the next year.”
God’s word is clear and unmistakable that Ishmael has NO CLAIM to the promised land. For 13 years, or so, Ishmael was Abraham’s only son and there was no trouble UNTIL Isaac came along. Then the warfare began. We have the record in Genesis 21:9-10,
“And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian (Ishmael), ...mocking (Isaac). Wherefore she (Sarah) said unto Abraham, CAST OUT this bondswoman and her son: for the son (Ishmael)...shall NOT BE HEIR with my son, even with Isaac.”
The matter had come to a head, and Sarah demands Ishmael to be expelled from Abraham’s tent. In Genesis 21:11 we have Abraham’s reaction,
“And the thing (Sarah’s demand) was VERY grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son.”
In Genesis 21:12 God again instructs Abraham concerning who is to be heir of the land,
“...in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, harken unto her voice; FOR IN ISAAC SHALL THY SEED BE CALLED.”
As it was then, so it is now. God gave all the land of Israel, some 255,000 square miles, only to the nation of Israel (the “seed of Isaac”). The Arabs ( the “seed of Ishmael") have no claim to the land whatsoever. As long as both are in the land, there will be no peace, only war.
Let us recapitulate: In Genesis 17:7-8, God had given all the land of Canaan to Abraham and his seed. (Hebrews 11:9). In Genesis 21:12, we find “the seed” would be Isaac (Israel), and not Ishmael (Arabs). Genesis 15:18-21 gives the boundaries of the land, encompassing approximately 255,000 square miles.
In the process of time, Israel had been in bondage to the Egyptian nation for 430 years. (Exodus 12:40). It was Moses who led them out of Egypt and Joshua who took them into the promised land of Canaan. God’s warning and instructions to Israel are recorded in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.
4. Blessings and Cursings.
In Deuteronomy 28:1-14, God promises these blessings if they will obey the Lord. Beginning with Deuteronomy 28:15-68, God gives the curses they will bring on themselves, should they disobey the Lord. In Deuteronomy 28:15 we read,
“But it shall come to pass if thou wilt not harken unto the voice of the Lord thy God; to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; then ALL THESE CURSES SHALL COME UPON THEE, and overtake thee.”
Notice in Deuteronomy 28:64-65,
“And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from one end of the earth even unto the other...And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee.”
5. Disobedience Brought Judgment and Captivity (Jeremiah 25:11; Jeremiah 29:10).
After living in the promised land for over 800 years, God brought judgment upon them because of their sins. In 721 B.C., Assyria took captive the 10 northern tribes, known as Israel. In 606 B.C., the Babylonians, under Nebuchadnezzar invaded the two southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin, taking them captive.
God told Jeremiah to tell the people that the captivity would last 70 years. Jeremiah 25:11 is the record,
“And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy (70) years.”
In Jeremiah 29:10, God says He will cause them to return to their land after the captivity. There were only about 50,000 Jews that returned. (Ezra, Chapter 2). Ezra records the rebuilding of the Temple and Nehemiah records the rebuilding of the walls and city of Jerusalem. Most of the Jewish people remained scattered throughout the world under the Persian, Grecian, and Roman Empires.
Then in 70 A.D., Titus, the Roman general, finally destroyed Jerusalem and the remnant dispersed among the nations of the world. Thus, literally fulfilling Moses’ prophecy in Deuteronomy 28.
6. The Modern Day “Give-Away!”
The Jewish people today occupy less than 5% of the land God gave to Israel. A review of History of the 20th Century will explain the conflict now taking place.
 One of the greatest factors in Israel’s return was the Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917. Toward the end of World War I, when the Allies were fighting with their backs to the wall, victory for Germany seemed inevitable. Then a Jewish chemist, named Chaim Weizman, a British subject, offered to his homeland a newly discovered explosive, TNT, the most powerful known to man at this time. It is believed that this turned the tide of the war, resulting in Germany’s defeat.
 Partly in return for this favor, Lord Balfour proposed that in the event of victory, the land of Palestine be set aside and declared a homeland for Israel. After the war, the Balfour Declaration was signed on November 2, 1917, largely through the influence and suggestion of Chaim Weizman. He later became the first president of the Republic of Israel, from 1921 to 1929. (Encyclopedia Americana, Volume 29).
 This declaration greatly increased the tempo of Jewish people immigrating to Palestine. At the conclusion of Britain’s Mandate over Palestine, in 1948, Israel was recognized by the United Nations as a sovereign state; but, A BIG MISTAKE was made. It was the dividing of the land of Palestine. The Balfour Declaration had not carried out the full purpose of its original drafters. Instead of giving the land of Palestine as a homeland for Israel, they were only given a PART of the land.
For political reasons, or fear of war between Israel and the Arabs, it was proposed to divide the land between the two. A line was drawn through Palestine, bisecting Jerusalem, giving part to the Arabs and part to Israel. It was hoped this would pacify both sides. The opposite occurred and has resulted in continual fighting and wars. This has become the “trigger spot” of the world, even to this present time.
 It is the “trouble in Abraham’s tent” all over again. Ishmael (the Arabs) and Isaac (the Jews) cannot share the same premises that God gave ONLY to Israel. Putting up a “fence” through the middle of Abraham’s tent could not solve the problem of keeping Isaac (Israel) on one side and Ishmael (the Arabs) on the other.
 There will never be peace while the Arabs occupy land that God mandated only to Israel. Israel is in the land, today, under a false peace and facing future destruction.
They will be driven out of the land once again and persecuted by the one-world ruler, the Antichrist. Israel in the land today is not the complete fulfillment of any of the Old Testament prophecies concerning Israel. The complete fulfillment of all the hundreds of promises made to Israel will not be accomplished until the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ, returns to the Earth and establishes His Kingdom for a thousand years. Then—and only then—will Israel inherit all the land God had promised to them, some 255,000 square miles of real estate. Only then will there be perfect peace throughout the world.
7. The Tribulation Period Precedes the Kingdom Reign of Christ.
To understand what is prophesied concerning Israel’s future, it is important to know the next prophetic even which will shock the entire world. That event is described as the Rapture, when Jesus Christ comes in the clouds and every Christian is gone from the Earth, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.” (1 Corinthians 15:50-52). 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 describes the event,
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the Trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are ALIVE and remain shall be caught up together with them in the CLOUDS to meet the Lord IN THE AIR: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
As we have said, at this point, the world will be in a condition of mass chaos. This event opens the door for the one-world leader (the Antichrist) and the one-world church which God calls, The great mother of Harlots, and abominations of the earth.” (Revelation 17:5). The Antichrist makes a covenant with Israel; but, after three and a half years breaks the covenant (Daniel 9:27); and then seeks to exterminate every Jew. Hitler will seem like a “Sunday school teacher” (although he slaughtered six million Jews) as compared to the Antichrist.
Matthew, Chapter 24, describes this same period of time, known as The 7-Year Tribulation Period. There has never been anything happen on this Earth like what is yet to come. Christ, Himself, states in Matthew 24:21,
“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. ...And except those days should be shortened, there shall no flesh be saved: but for the elects sake (i.e., the Jews that have received Christ as their Messiah during that time.), those days shall be shortened.”
In Israel, alone, only one-third of the Jewish people will survive. Zechariah 13:8-9,
“And it shall come to pass that in all the land, saith the LORD, two (Zechariah 13:2) parts therein shall be cut off and DIE; but the third part shall be left therein. (Zechariah 13:8)
And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God. (Zechariah 13:9)