The Promised Land

     As I can now attest from personal experience, Israel is a truly beautiful country. Despite its diminutive size (it’s roughly the area of New Jersey), it contains diverse landscapes and microclimates. Its plains and mountains, its lush greenery and rugged wilderness all prove the truth of God’s promise in Exodus 3:8 to bring the Israelites to “a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey…” The importance of the promised land, however, mainly lay in what it signified to the Israelites, not just in its topography.

God repeatedly promised Abraham that his family would occupy the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:7, 13:15, 17:8). To ancient peoples like the Israelites, owning land meant far more than simply possessing a particular clump of dirt. Instead of the transient nature of nomadic life, land provided a sense of established permanence, a location where generations could come and go in peace and security. It meant regular access to water and a place to cultivate crops to sustain your family and animals with consistent food. By God’s design, Israelite law supported this security – families were forbidden from permanently selling their land to others (Leviticus 25:23, 1 Kings 21:3) and boundary markers were protected (Proverbs 22:28, 23:10). Possessing land meant having a safe place in this world.

When Jesus preached about His new kingdom, I believe He alluded to Abraham’s land promise when He famously said in Matthew 5:5: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (“earth” can also be translated “land”). The practical implications of this are manifold. We live in a fiercely competitive culture where security is granted based on your unique merits. There’s unspoken pressure to be the smartest in the room, or the funniest, or the most musical, to distinguish yourself in a special way. You’re expected to fight for the position you want in your employment and your social circles. You have to carve out a place for yourself in this world and make others respect you. And once you’ve climbed your mountain, you still have to look over your shoulder to ensure that no one else surpasses what you have achieved. There is no true security in such a wilderness of misery and stress.

Jesus is the only escape from this kind of life. In God’s land, our value is determined by the already accomplished work of His Son, not by our own paltry abilities or accomplishments. Although Christians are not promised a particular plot of physical land like the Israelites of old, we have our own brand of promised security which far eclipses the benefits of the old covenant. We possess a heavenly land, in which we are perfectly and completely loved by a gracious Father who has seated us at His side (Ephesians 2:1-7). Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we are promised the power of indestructible life (Romans 8:11). Thanks be to God for the promised land we have!

Nathan