God Said "I Will"
Part One: The Promise, the Land, and the Nature of God
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Israel on the World’s Mind
Though there are many diverse opinions and perceptions about Israel, one fact is not in dispute: Israel is on people’s minds.
Given this reality, it is helpful to step back and consider how Israel began. So here we go.
The Beginning: God’s Call to Abram
God told Abram—later named Abraham—to move. He was to leave familiar territory and go to a place he had never been. Abram was seventy-five years old at the time.
He was living in Ur of Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, in what is modern-day Iraq. This was a place deeply enmeshed in idolatry.
God instructed Abram to leave that land and go to another—a parcel of land already inhabited by a diverse group of people known as the Canaanites. Abram obeyed and followed God’s directives into the land of Canaan.
There, God spoke to him again:
“To your descendants I will give this land.” (Genesis 12:7)
The Question of “Fairness”
Was it “fair” of God to have given this land to Abram and his descendants when it already belonged to others?
Let’s talk about fairness.
God created humanity in His own image, but mankind quickly sinned against Him. As a result, sin entered the entire human race. God responded with a flood judgment upon all humankind—yet He spared a remnant: Noah and his family. With them, He made a covenant, promising never again to destroy humanity in this way.
God reaffirmed His original intent: that humanity would be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.
But instead of spreading out, people united to build a tower reaching into heaven in direct defiance of God.
Now, if we are talking about what would be fair, then fairness would dictate that God give nothing to anyone and simply obliterate everyone.
But here is something essential to understand about God: He is not constrained by human definitions of fairness. He is free to bestow gifts of grace and mercy.
God’s Choice and His Plan
Immediately following the Tower of Babel incident in Genesis 11, we see God in Genesis 12 choosing a particular people through whom He would graciously and mercifully carry out His plan to redeem fallen mankind.
So God chose:
a particular person,
through whom would come a particular people,
whom He would place in a particular land,
through whom would come a particular Redeemer,
with a particular plan of redemption,
for nobody in particular.
No—it is not “fair” to give the land of the Canaanites to Abraham’s descendants. It is an act of sheer mercy and grace.
The Abrahamic Covenant: “I Will”
God promised the land to Abraham’s descendants. This promise is referred to in the Bible as a covenant—specifically, the Abrahamic Covenant. It is entirely God’s doing.
This covenant is unconditional. Its fulfillment does not depend on human behavior but solely on God’s faithfulness. It is a land covenant with no conditions attached.
A conditional covenant says, “I will if you will.”
The Abrahamic Covenant simply says, “I will.”
The Mosaic Covenant: A Different Kind of Agreement
God later made another covenant with Abraham’s descendants—one mediated through Moses and therefore known as the Mosaic Covenant.
Under this covenant, God gave Israel commandments to live by. Known as the Law of Moses, it consists—according to rabbinic tradition—of 613 commandments.
This covenant clearly establishes blessings for obedience and consequences for disobedience. Unlike the Abrahamic Covenant, it is conditional.
In the Abrahamic Covenant, God says, “The land is yours.”
In the Mosaic Covenant, God says, “You cannot be blessed in the land if you disobey My commandments.”
Israel’s title deed to the land is unconditional.
Israel’s enjoyment of the land is contingent upon obedience.
Has Israel obeyed? No. And that is why she has never enjoyed the full, unopposed possession of the land promised to her.
A Parallel with the New Covenant
This distinction provides a powerful parallel for believers under the New Covenant. Salvation is unconditional—it is entirely God’s work. Yet our enjoyment of salvation is deeply affected by our obedience.
Just as our disobedience does not nullify our salvation, Israel’s disobedience under the Mosaic Covenant does not nullify God’s unconditional promise under the Abrahamic Covenant.
That God gave Israel the land is undeniable. Whether He continues to maintain Israel’s place in the land is often questioned—and understandably so, given Israel’s rebellion. But her land rights were never based on obedience.
Israel’s claim rests on God’s unconditional, unilateral promise. And in the same way, as previously mentioned, our claim, by faith, to our place of promise, heaven, is entirely based on God’s unconditional promise.
May the God of all grace be praised.
-Stuart
You’re writings remind me of your Wednesday night teaching. I miss those lessons.
I find your writing to be very enlightening. Thank you sharing.