Kingdom Ready

[The following is a new article from my website]

The promise of land was made to Abraham, and confirmed to Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob’s sons. The land that was promised was a central feature in the identity of Israel as a nation, all throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. The unfolding of God’s plan primarily involved His people and their inheritance of the land. But are the events recorded in the Old Testament the complete fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant?

To understand how God’s Covenant with Abraham forms the foundation for the rest of the Bible, we must first consider exactly what land God promised to Abraham. We saw in the previous article that God promised blessings, including land, to Abraham and his seed. God was very specific about what land He would give them.

The following is the second part of an article by Anthony Buzzard. It first appeared in Journal from the Radical Reformation, Vol. 2, No. 4.  The first part can be seen here, and the entire article can be viewed on his web site.

Hebrews

The Book of Hebrews expounds the drama of Abraham’s faith in the great promises of God making a future resurrection the only solution to the mystery of Abraham’s failure as yet ever to own the land.

“By faith Abraham when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance…” (Heb. 8:11).

The following is the first part of an article by Anthony Buzzard.  It first appeared in Journal from the Radical Reformation, Vol. 2, No. 4, and can now be viewed on his web site.

In one of the most solemn declarations of all time the Almighty God promised to give to Abraham an entire country. On a mountain top somewhere between Bethel and Ai, in the land of Canaan, God commanded “the Father of the faithful” (Rom. 4:16) to “look from the place where you are, northward, southward, eastward and westward: For the entire land you are looking at I will give to you and to your descendants for ever” (Gen. 13:14, 15). As an additional assurance of God’s gift to him, God then instructed Abraham to “arise, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I will give it to you” (v. 17).

I was recently in a store, conversing with a sales manager, when the topic turned to our church that my husband and I are planting in our area. I had mentioned that we rent a school for our location, and he asked me, “Is it non-denominational?” He asked that, because that is what most new church plants are, that arise out of theatres and schools. It’s the current national trend that follows a basic formula: have a core group of people, who are being sponsored and financed by a much larger, mega church, and plant the people within a new community, to offer rocking worship bands and great seeker messages, that will attract large crowds. People filter in, almost like attending a concert. My husband and I have attended these before, saying it makes a great date, because you get free childcare, a concert and a speaker!

The Promises To Abraham

Abraham is called the “Father of them that believe” in Paul’s writing about him in Romans and Galatians. His life was a pivotal point in the unfolding of God’s plan of salvation. The first eleven chapters of Genesis span a period of roughly 2,000 years, from creation through Noah and his descendants. Then the next fourteen chapters focus on the life of this one remarkable man. Of all the people in the Bible, Abraham is the only one who is called the friend of God (James 2:23).

Many of us here at Kingdomready have talked about “Agency” in Scripture before and how much it is a part of the Hebrew thought world & the culture of the biblical writers. A “shaliach” or agent/emissary represented someone and was treated as that individual because legally they were.  In our modern society, the closest we get to that is to appoint “Power of Attorney” to someone.  They can make legally binding decisions for us because we have designated them to serve in that capacity for us.  But in ancient Hebrew culture, the shaliach (or sheliah) wasn’t just that person in a legal sense only.  They were also respected, treated, and thought of AS THE ONE THEY REPRESENTED.  Back in 2005 a man by the name of David Burge of New Zealand wrote a terrific article about how much this Hebrew “law of agency” plays out in God’s dealing with man throughout Scripture and how vital it is to understand the concept in order to prevent a host of biblical errors.  Here’s the article in its entirety.  It is long, but extremely well done!

God’s promise to Abraham also shows us that people will live on the earth, during the kingdom. God made a very explicit promise to Abraham: He promised that Abraham would inherit the land of Canaan (modern day Palestine) – and that he and his descendants would own that land forever. That promise was then repeated to Abraham’s son Isaac, to his grandson Jacob, and to his 12 great-grandsons:

Genesis 13:14-15 (Abraham)

¹⁴The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward;