God’s land promise was originally made to Abraham in roughly 2,000BC. The Bible first tells of the land promise in Genesis 12:1-3 and it is repeated several more times to Abraham and descendants Isaac and Jacob (aka Israel). As a result, the “Promised Land” became the great quest of the tribes of Israel. Many evangelical Christian leaders today teach that the land promise was only, finally fulfilled in this 1948 action by the UN that established the modern-day nation of Israel. Was it really roughly 4,000 years later that the land promise was fulfilled? What does Scripture say?
“On November 29, 1947, the United Nations adopted Resolution 181 (also known as the Partition Resolution) that would divide Great Britain’s former Palestinian mandate into Jewish and Arab states in May 1948 when the British mandate was scheduled to end.”
How Scripture answers "Was the land promise fulfilled in 1948?"
The land promise was fulfilled long ago (approx 1,300 BC) when the twelve tribes of Israel, led by Joshua, conquered the land1,2. It wasn’t just a portion that was fulfilled, but all of it3,11. This is explicitly stated at the time of fulfillment, as well as repeated by God4 and written into Israelite history by subsequent Bible writers5,6,7,8,9,10,11 spanning more than 1,000 years following. God fulfilled a promise that was conditional on their obedience1,3,4,7,8,10, and it was their disobedience that caused them to lose the land7,8.
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