From the River to the Sea: A Biblical View of Israel and the Promised Land

‍The phrase “from the river to the sea” is politically charged in our time, but its roots reach back to a far older promise in Scripture—one that cannot be understood apart from God’s covenant with Israel and the Messiah.

‍In my recent writing on Elam and modern Iran, I argued that Christians must not force every headline into a prophetic proof text. Current events matter, but Scripture must govern interpretation. Here, I raise a related and more searching question: even if Israel defeats Iran and Hezbollah, does that solve Israel’s relationship with God?

‍A simple illustration may help.

‍Suppose a father has a son living in a house that was intended for him under the terms of a will. Yet the son becomes rebellious, stubborn, and estranged from his father. Because of that rebellion, the father removes him from the house. Later, through the authorization of another man, the son moves back in. He is physically in the house again. He may even claim a certain legal standing to be there. But the deeper issue remains unchanged. His relationship with his father is still broken.‍ That, in many ways, is where Israel stands today.

‍The modern State of Israel emerged through a sequence of public acts and international decisions. The Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917, expressed British support for the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people. The United Nations recommended partition on November 29, 1947. Israel then declared independence on May 14, 1948. Those are historical facts.‍ But political possession is not the same thing as covenant possession.

‍The phrase Promised Land is covenant language. God promised Abraham a land inheritance in Genesis 15:18 that stretches from the river Euphrates to the Mediterranean Sea. Yet the Law and the Prophets make plain that the enjoyment of that land is tied to Israel’s relationship with God. Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28, and Deuteronomy 30 show that the land was never a blank check for rebellion. Israel could be brought into the land, driven out of the land, and restored to the land. The issue was never geography alone. The issue was always Israel’s relationship with God.

‍Joshua 4 provides an incredible pattern. After Israel crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land, Joshua commanded representatives of the twelve tribes to go back out into the Jordan and take up twelve stones. They then returned to the land bearing the memorial stones, which doctrinally represent Jesus Christ, the “stone which the builders refused” (Psalm 118:22 KJV). The scenario testifies that Israel cannot truly and permanently possess what God promised apart from Jesus Christ whom the nation has rejected.

‍The actions of entering the land, going back out, and returning again with the stones (Jesus) form a pattern of Israel’s future. Though Israel is in the land today by the stroke of a Gentile pen, the nation remains in unbelief concerning Jesus Christ. For that reason, the present return cannot be treated as the full and final covenant restoration promised in Scripture. The real question is not, “Does Israel belong in the land?” The real question is, “Is Israel in right relationship with the Lord of the land?”

‍Israel’s future is glorious, but it runs through tribulation, repentance, and faith in her Messiah. Zechariah 12:10, Hosea 5:15, Matthew 23:39, and Romans 11 all point in that direction. Scripture indicates that Israel will be drawn into great deception, will trust the wrong prince, and will suffer terribly under the Antichrist before the nation comes to confession and restoration.

‍Until that repentance comes, Israel will have no rest in the land. The Antichrist will oppress and uproot the nation from the land in the last days because of persistent unbelief and rebellion. But Jesus Christ, the true Joshua, will bring them back and establish them in the land at His Second Coming.

‍Christians should therefore read the present wars carefully. We should not speak as though military triumph settles the spiritual case. It does not. Even if Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas lose the wars, Israel’s deepest problem remains. The nation does not ultimately need stronger defenses, better diplomacy, or regional advantage. Israel needs reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ. Until that happens, the land question is not truly settled, because the covenant issue remains unresolved.

‍Present wars should be viewed as part of God’s larger orchestration of history. He is not merely rearranging borders. He is driving events toward the day when Israel will be brought to the end of herself and will finally say, in truth, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”

‍This must also be said plainly: none of this is antisemitic.

‍Antisemitism denies Israel’s future. Scripture affirms it. Antisemitism despises the Jewish people. Scripture shows God’s continuing purpose for them. Antisemitism wants Israel erased. Scripture teaches that Israel will inherit all that God promised, in God’s time, through God’s Messiah.

‍“Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:  If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.” Jeremiah 31:35-36 KJV

‍Christians should reject the error that says modern political possession equals full spiritual restoration. We should also reject the error that says Israel has no future in God’s plan. Both are false. “But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jeremiah 31:33-34 KJV

‍“Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.” Zechariah 8:23 KJV

Richmond Shee