The Effects of Abrahamic Covenant Upon Israel-Part 1
| By: Dr. Renald Showers; ©2001 |
| Previous articles discussed 10 indications that the Abrahamic Covenant was an unconditional covenant—it rested on the nature of God alone. In light of the unconditional nature, Dr. Showers says, Scripture indicates that Israel is guaranteed permanent existence as a nation. |
The Guarantee Of Israel’s Permanent Existence As A Nation
In our two previous articles we noted ten significant things that indicate that the Abrahamic Covenant is unconditional by nature. In light of its unconditional nature, the Abrahamic Covenant has at least a twofold effect upon the nation of Israel.
First, it guarantees Israel permanent existence as a nation. Since the Abrahamic Covenant is an unconditional covenant (totally dependent upon God’s faithfulness for fulfillment), and since God declared it to be an everlasting covenant with the people of Israel (Genesis 17:7, 19; 1 Chronicles 16:15-17; Psalm 105:8-10), the nation of Israel must exist forever. A covenant cannot be everlasting if one party of the covenant ceases to exist.
In Exodus 32:13 Moses appealed to the Abrahamic Covenant that God swore to keep, and to the fact that through that covenant God promised Israel ownership of the land of Canaan forever, as a reason for Israel not being consumed because of its sin. The only way that Israel could own the land forever is if it were to exist as a nation forever.
Several biblical passages promise that, in spite of Israel’s terrible sins, it never will be totally destroyed as a nation. In Deuteronomy 4:25-31 Moses declared to the people of Israel:
- When thou shalt beget children, and children’s children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a carved image, or the likeness of anything, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over the Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the nations, where the LORD shall lead you. And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. But if from there thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all they heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God), he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he swore unto them.
At first glance verses 26 and 31 appear to contradict each other. Verse 26 states that Israel will be utterly destroyed, but verse 31 declares that God will not destroy Israel. It is important to note that the words translated destroy in these verses are two different words with two different meanings. Certainly the word destroyed in verse 26 cannot mean to put out of existence, for the next several verses indicate that these same people would be scattered among the nations, serve false gods, and have opportunity to seek the Lord after they had been destroyed. Non-existing people cannot perform such activities. The context requires that destroyed of verse 26 be understood as overthrown or removed from the land.
In verse 26 God warned that he would remove the nation of Israel from its land because of its terrible sins, but in verse 31 He promised that he would not destroy the nation of Israel in the sense of putting it out of existence. God will chasten the nation, but He will never annihilate it for its sins. Thus, verses 26 and 31 do not contradict each other.
It is significant that God linked His promise not to destroy the nation of Israel with His promises not to fail Israel or forget the Abrahamic Covenant which He swore to Israel’s ancestors (v. 31). The implication is that Israel’s permanent existence as a nation is guaranteed through the Abrahamic Covenant, because that covenant is totally dependent upon the faithfulness of God for its fulfillment.
God made a similar promise to the nation of Israel in Jeremiah 30:11: “For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee; though I make a full end of all nations to which I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee, but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.”
In Jeremiah 46:27-28 God declared, “But fear not, O my servant, Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel; for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid. Fear thou not, O Jacob, my servant, saith the LORD; for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations to which I have driven thee; but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.”
In Amos 9:8 God promised, “I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob.”
In Romans 11 the Apostle Paul taught that even in his day (after Israel’s rejection of Christ and while they were enemies of the gospel of Christ) the people of Israel were still beloved of God in accordance with His sovereign choice of them to be his special people (verses 1-2, 28; see also Deuteronomy 7:6; 14:2; 26:18-19) and for the sake of their ancestors to whom God swore the Abrahamic Covenant (v. 28; see also Deuteronomy 7:7-8). If God were to reject Israel or allow it to perish totally as a nation from the earth, He would thereby violate His own sovereign choice and betray the covenant commitment that He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In light of this, Paul declared that God’s calling of Israel to be His special people is irrevocable (v. 29). The fact that that calling is irrevocable requires that Israel always exist.
Centuries before the Apostle Paul penned these significant words King David expressed the same truth with the same implication: “And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nation and their gods? For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee for ever: and thou, LORD, art become their God” (2 Samuel 7:23-24). The only way Israel could be a people unto God forever is if it would exist forever.
All of these biblical statements indicate that Israel is guaranteed permanent existence as a nation, and the Abrahamic Covenant is a major basis for that guarantee.
The next article will address the second effect that the Abrahamic Covenant has upon the nation of Israel.
For a comparison of Covenant Theology and Dispensational Theology obtain the following book: Renald E. Showers, There Really Is A Difference! (The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. Telephone: 800-257-7843. Mailing address: P.O. Box 908, Bellmawr, NJ 08099).
