Who Are the True Heirs of the Promised Land?

Introduction

Who do the land promises made to Abraham belong to? Robert Reymond, an American Reformed theologian, former dean and professor at Knox Theological Seminary in Florida and author of a systematic theology, answers this question in an article published in 2006 in Sword and Trowel. The Metropolitan Tabernacle in London now offers a reading of it on its podcast.

He starts from an observation: a vast effort is under way to convince evangelical Christians in the United States that the political state of Israel owns the "Holy Land" in perpetuity because God gave it to Abraham and his descendants. He cites President Clinton's address to the Knesset on October 27, 1994, and judges it severely: in his view, it is "bad policy based on equally bad theology."

His thesis fits in one sentence: in the Old Testament, the land promises are "shadow, type, and prophecy," and the New Testament shows "the reality, the substance, and the fulfillment" of them. The true heirs are therefore, according to him, Christians, members of Christ's messianic kingdom, but in the fulfilled form of the promise: the world to come.

Outline of the Message

1. The Covenant with Abraham, Key to the Whole History of Salvation

Robert Reymond begins with the Abrahamic covenant, which he presents as "the antidote to the error of dispensationalism." With the call of Abraham, the covenant of grace announced in Genesis 3:15 takes a leap forward: "in you all the families of the earth will be blessed" (Genesis 12:3).
The Bible covers thousands of years in eleven chapters before reaching Abraham. For him, Genesis 1 to 11 serves as preparation for this covenant, and everything God has done since to save, he has done to fulfill his promises to Abraham.
The Old Testament confirms it: God renews this covenant with Isaac and Jacob, and he delivers Israel from Egypt because he "remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob" (Exodus 2:24).
So does the New Testament: Mary and Zechariah see in the coming of Jesus the fulfillment of the oath made to Abraham (Luke 1:54-55; 1:68-73). Paul writes that Scripture "preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham" and that those who believe are blessed with him (Galatians 3:8-9).
Abraham is the father of all who believe without being circumcised, as well as of those who believe and are circumcised (Romans 4:11-12), and "if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring and heirs according to promise" (Galatians 3:29).
Robert Reymond relies on Romans 9:6-13: Israel according to the flesh was never, in itself, the center of God's plan, because his promises have always been aimed at the true spiritual Israel within the people.

2. A Land That Points to Eden and a Heavenly Homeland

With O. Palmer Robertson, he points out that the idea of a land for God's people does not begin with Abraham but in paradise. God places Adam and Eve in the garden to work it, keep it and live in communion with him.
Paradise is lost through the fall. But God renews the hope, first through the promise of Genesis 3:15, then through the covenant with Abraham, in order to redeem a people and transform the cosmos. The land "flowing with milk and honey" becomes like another Eden set before the people.
Robert Reymond does not deny that earthly and temporal promises were made to Abraham. But they were never the heart of the covenant: their full accomplishment awaits the final salvation of the elect and the re-creation of the universe (Romans 8:19-23).
The proof: Abraham lived in the land of promise "as in a land not his own" (Hebrews 11:9), and God gave him "no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on" (Acts 7:5).
Was Abraham thinking of a strip of land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan, or even of the territory that stretches "from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates" (Genesis 15:18)? "Certainly not," he answers. A whole life of faith had taught him to look beyond.
Hebrews 11:8-16 says it plainly: Abraham "looked for the city which has the foundations, whose builder and maker is God." The patriarchs desired "a better country, that is, a heavenly one."
How did Abraham come to understand this? Because he took seriously the promise that all the families of the earth would be blessed in him. Paul calls him "heir of the world" (Romans 4:13). The Greek word is cosmos: not just Palestine, but the glorified world.

3. A Land That Could Not Be Paradise

Moses and his generation die in the wilderness without having obtained what was promised to them (Hebrews 11:39).
Under Joshua, Israel conquers the land and receives the promised paradise, "in a very limited way." But Canaanites remain in the land, and the people's sin, under the united and then divided monarchy, ends in devastation by Babylon.
The glory leaves Solomon's temple (Ezekiel 9:3; 10), the temple is destroyed, and the exiled people are given the name Lo-Ammi, "not my people" (Hosea 1:9).
The return under Ezra and Nehemiah could not be paradise either, but it showed the way to it. Haggai announces that the glory of this small temple will be greater than that of Solomon's temple (Haggai 2:9). For Robert Reymond, this language means that God was reserving something better than a temporal land and a material temple.
The promise will be fulfilled by nothing less than a restored paradise on a cosmic scale: "the wolf will live with the lamb" and "the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:6-9).

4. Jesus Opens the Horizon to the Whole World

Jesus begins his public ministry in Galilee, "Galilee of the Gentiles," according to the prophecy of Isaiah 9:1. For Robert Reymond, this is a declaration: this land will serve as a springboard to all nations.
After his resurrection, Jesus arranges to meet his disciples in Galilee, far from Jerusalem, and it is there that he entrusts them with the great commission (Matthew 28:7, 10, 16).
The kingdom of God, the central theme of his teaching, therefore goes far beyond the borders of ancient Israel. The type of the old covenant gives way to its fulfillment in the new.
The kingdom came in its form of grace at Christ's first coming; it will come in power at his return. It is not Canaan as such that benefits from it: the whole creation will rejoice in the renewal.

5. The Parable of the Tenants and the Future of Israel According to the Flesh

Robert Reymond reads the parable of the tenants (Matthew 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-9; Luke 20:9-16) this way: the owner is God the Father, the vineyard is the nation of Israel (Isaiah 5:7), the tenants are its leaders, the servants are the prophets, and the son is Jesus himself.
"But afterward he sent to them his son" (Matthew 21:37); "He had one more, a beloved son. He sent him last to them" (Mark 12:6). For him, these words show that Jesus presents himself as God's ultimate messenger, after whom no one greater can come.
Jesus' conclusion: "The Kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation bringing forth its fruit" (Matthew 21:43). According to Robert Reymond, Israel's privileged position then passes to the church of Jesus Christ, made up of the elect remnant of Israel and the elect from among the nations.
He also relies on Romans 11: God hardened the mass of Israel, but he has not rejected all Jews. There is "a remnant according to the election of grace" (Romans 11:5). Jews continue to be saved, made jealous by the multitudes of non-Jews who receive the spiritual blessings first intended for Israel (Romans 11:11-14).
All who believe in Jesus, their Messiah, are "grafted into their own olive tree" (Romans 11:23-24). For him, the justification of non-Jews thus becomes the main path to the justification of the elect among the Jews.

6. Six Propositions on the Land Promises

First, the modern Jewish state, born on May 14, 1948 within God's general providence, is not part of the messianic kingdom of Jesus Christ, since Jesus said that his kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). Robert Reymond goes further, relying on Romans 9:6-8 and Galatians 4:24-25: according to him, lacking faith in Jesus Christ, this state is not the true Israel and cannot claim Palestine on a biblical basis. He adds that any division of the territory must be negotiated between those who claim it through the peace process and the law of nations, and not through biblical arguments, war or terrorism.
Second, the land promises were typological: they announced God's plan for a redeemed people from all the earth (Genesis 12:3) and for the entire cosmos (Romans 4:13).
Third, they served as a model: obedience and blessing go together, and so do disobedience and judgment.
Fourth, the prophecies about Israel's return to its land announce, as types, the "restoration of all things" at Christ's return (Acts 3:21; Romans 8:22-23). Reading them literally would be, for him, "a step backward" that places the shadow above the reality. He cites Robertson: in this age of fulfillment, a return to the limited forms of the old covenant should be "neither expected nor encouraged."
Fifth, Peter, the apostle to the circumcised, says nothing of a Jewish kingdom in Palestine when he speaks of the future. He distinguishes three periods: the world before the flood, "the heavens that now exist, and the earth" kept for fire, then "new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells" (2 Peter 3:5-13).
Sixth, biblical prophecy does not speak of the modern state of Israel. Robert Reymond goes over the texts often put forward: Jeremiah 29:14 refers to the return after the seventy years of exile (verse 10); Isaiah 11:11 speaks of a second deliverance after the one from Egypt (verse 16); Zechariah 8:7-8 describes a faithful Jerusalem, and Ezekiel 36 a people first cleansed from their iniquities (verse 33). As for Amos 9, James applies it to the church in Acts 15.

7. Loving the Jewish People and Proclaiming the Gospel to Them

Robert Reymond acknowledges that the question is delicate for Christians. On the one hand, we owe gratitude to the Jewish people, through whom came the Scriptures of the Old Testament and the Messiah according to the flesh. On the other, most of the Jewish people have not recognized Jesus as Messiah.
His first answer is clear: no Christian should defend anything that resembles, "even remotely," discrimination against Jews because of their origin or their religion.
But since, according to him, the only hope of salvation for the Jewish people is the gospel, he considers it "unloving and unchristian" to encourage the idea that belonging to the people of Abraham or attachment to the Torah is enough to be accepted by God (Romans 2:17-29; Galatians 5:3-4). Jesus Christ is the only Savior, for Israel as for every race and nation.
He also disputes the idea that it is enough to show a Jew that Jesus is the one the prophets speak of, as if the Old Testament were already accepted. He cites Jesus: "For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me" (John 5:46). For him, the Levitical sacrifices all point to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
He recalls Romans 11:28: "Concerning the Good News, they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sake."
His conclusion: Christians must love the Jewish people and do everything they can, "without arrogance," to lead them to place their hope in Christ alone. "How sad it would be if evangelical Christians, who say they love the Jewish people, became the main instrument that turns their faith toward a false hope, away from the only true Savior of this world, Jesus Christ."

Key Takeaways

For Robert Reymond, the covenant with Abraham is the key to everything God does to save, right up to today.
The promised land points back to the lost Eden and announces an entirely renewed world: Abraham was waiting for a heavenly homeland.
In Christ, Jewish and non-Jewish believers are Abraham's offspring and the heirs of the promise.
He rejects all discrimination against Jews and calls us to love them by telling them about Jesus, the only Savior of all nations.

Personal Application

Like Abraham, do you live here as a stranger and a pilgrim, or has your hope settled into what can be seen?
What changes for you in being, in Christ, an "heir according to promise" (Galatians 3:29)?
When you read the Old Testament, do you look for how it announces Christ and his kingdom?
How can you concretely love your Jewish friends and speak to them about Jesus with respect, without arrogance?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

Who are the true heirs of the Promised Land according to Robert Reymond?

For Robert Reymond, they are Christians, members of Christ's messianic kingdom, who inherit the land promise together with Abraham. But they inherit it in its fulfilled form: a heavenly homeland and an entirely renewed world (Galatians 3:29, Romans 4:13).

Was Abraham waiting only for the land of Canaan?

No, answers Robert Reymond. Abraham lived in the land of promise as in a foreign country and did not possess a single foot of ground in it (Acts 7:5). According to Hebrews 11, he was looking for the city whose architect and builder is God, a better country, that is, a heavenly one.

What does Robert Reymond say about Christians' attitude toward the Jewish people?

He states that no Christian should defend anything that resembles, even remotely, discrimination against Jews because of their origin or their religion. Christians must love them and, without arrogance, tell them that Jesus Christ is the only Savior, for them as for all nations.