The Land of Promise

The following is an excerpt from ICEJ President, Dr. Jürgen Bühler’s Feast Sermon.

“The Land of Promise” is our Feast theme. How many know where this exact phrase is written in the Bible? In the Old or New Testament? There’s only one time in the Word of God where Israel is called the “land of promise” and this is in the Book of Hebrews, where it says: “By faith Abraham lived in the land of promise…” (Hebrews 11:9) So, the Land of Promise is not just an Old Testament promise… but is introduced to us in the New Testament by the writer of Hebrews. He called it the Land of Promise because he understood the promises of God are unshakable and unfailing.

The idea of the Land of Promise goes all the way back to the calling of Israel in Genesis 12. There was a man living in Ur of the Chaldeans named Abraham… One day, he heard the voice of God saying: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3)

You are seated here today in Jerusalem because four thousand years ago God made a promise to Abraham that one day all the families of the earth would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. You might say where is this in the Bible? In Galatians 3:8, Paul says “the Scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith”. That is, through Abraham the Messiah would come and all the nations would be blessed.