The Promised Land
Today’s Text: Genesis 15:18-21
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In the same context that God promised to be Abram’s shield and great reward, He confirmed His promise of a progeny and a land with a formal covenant. God also provided Abram with important details to alleviate his concerns regarding descendants and their future ownership of the land of Canaan:

GENESIS 15:18-21

“On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: ‘To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates—the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.’”

While history documents Israel’s bondage in Egypt, God did not specify the location. God did, however, give Abram a glimpse into the future with a prediction that his offspring would be subjugated for 400 years (vv. 13-14). At the set time, God also promised to liberate them with great wealth IN returning them to the Promised Land.  (Ex.12:33-36).

God delineates the boundaries of the Promised Land in today’s text. Although some assert that the map of the British Mandate of Palestine loosely approximates the boundaries of the land God described, the area is more extensive stretching from Lebanon to Egypt and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea. 

Abram’s Promised Possession, as in Genesis 15:18 – 21

The modern State of Israel inhabits a minuscule portion of the total land allocated to the nation (cf. Dt. 32:8). The fact that Abram’s descendants would live outside the land for 400 years is immaterial. God defines the land as an eternal possession. The title deed belongs to Abram’s covenantal descendants—the Jewish people through the line of Isaac and Jacob—regardless of their residence, living in the land or not (Gen. 17:7-8).

We can be assured that God’s promises to Abram’s covenantal descendants will be fulfilled literally when Messiah establishes His kingdom and rules the earth from Jerusalem.

IMAGES:
1) Bible opened to Isaiah. (Photo credit: By Ken Horn,/[CC BY 2.0] via Wikimedia/Enhancement, MKM Portfolios)
2) Abram’s Promised Possession as in Genesis 15:18–21. (Photo credit: Screenshot from NASA’s globe software World Wind/[Public domain]/Wikimedia/Enhancement, MKM Portfolios)

Copyright © 2016 Charles E. McCracken, devotional comments only. Repost/Reprint with permission from the author via Contact Form under ABOUT. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Charles E. McCracken is an international Bible teacher, long-time friend of Israel and advocate for the Jewish people. Rev. McCracken authentically communicates biblical truth making his presentations relevant for those seeking to understand the significance of Israel and the church in Bible prophecy. He staunchly supports the nation of Israel and the Jewish people’s right to exist and live in peace.

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