Premillennialism
The Land Promise
One of the most popular and widespread doctrines in the religious world today is the one that is referred to as Premillennialism or as it is referred to sometimes as Dispensationalism. Its popularity may be seen in a recent book which deals with one phase of the doctrine. On the dust jacket of this book it is said that 40,000,000 copies have been sold. Although there are many sides to the doctrine, basically it claims that between the second coming of Christ and the end of the world there will be a literal 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth in Jerusalem. Since that period has not occurred yet we are living in the time before it does, thus premillennial. The word millennial comes from Latin and means one thousand, thus the idea of premillennialism. Involved in this is the idea that God promised to Abraham, and especially his descendants (the Jews) the land of Canaan (Palestine). It is further claimed that this promise has never been completely fulfilled and that it will be sometime in the future.
Let us consider the promises to Abraham. Basically there are three: (1) Land, (2) A nation of numerous descendants, (3) Spiritual or the seed promise. The promise of land is seen in Genesis 12. This chapter tells of God's call for Abraham to leave his country and kinsmen and go to the land that God would show him. In obedience to this, Abraham came into the land of Canaan (12:5). Here God said to Abraham, "unto thy seed will I give this land." (12:7). Later the promise was extended in Genesis 15:18ff where God said to Abram, "Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the River of Egypt unto the great river, the River Euphrates." The second part of the promise, numerous descendants, is found in 13:16 where God said to Abraham, "I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth" and "as the stars of heaven" (15:5). The "spiritual" seed promise is found in 11:18, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou has obeyed my voice." These are very important. In fact, the rest of the Bible grows out of these promises; the Old Testament from the first two and the New Testament from the third one.
It is claimed that these promises have never been fulfilled, but this is a false claim. A fulfillment of the promise of the land can be seen in the Israelites entering into the land of Canaan following the exodus from Egypt and the forty years in the wilderness. In Joshua 1:4-6 God assured the Israelites that He would give them "the land which I swore to their fathers to give them." Following their entrance into the land, the Bible says, "So Jehovah gave unto Israel all the land which He sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. And Jehovah gave them rest round about, according to all that He sware unto their fathers; and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; Jehovah delivered all their enemies into their hand. There failed not aught of any good thing which Jehovah had spoken unto the house of Israel, all came to pass." (Joshua 21:43-45)
Furthermore, it can be seen that later the "extended land promise" of Genesis 15:18ff was fulfilled during the days of Solomon. Here in 1 Kings 4:21, "Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River unto the land of the Philistines and unto the border of Egypt: they brought tribute, and served Solomon all the days of his life." Also see Verse 24.
Then in Nehemiah 9:7ff there is a brief, concise history of God's dealing with Israel. In Verses 7-8 the following statement is found, "Thou art Jehovah, the God who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham, and foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Perrizite, and the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it unto his seed, and has performed thy words for thou art righteous."
To people who believe the Bible, there can be no doubt about it, God has fulfilled His land promise that He made to Abraham and his descendants. - Hiram Hutto