If you bought a plane ticket and flew to Israel, and then traveled about six miles east of Jerusalem, not far from the Dead Sea, you would find the city of Jericho. Its ancient stones have been dug out of the mound of earth that time blew over centuries ago. Like so many relics unearthed from that corner of the world, Jericho speaks to the truth of the biblical narratives found in the Old Testament. In fact, it is essential to the Christian faith that we recognize the historicity of the Bible. From Abraham and King David, to Pilate, Paul, and Jesus himself; from Jericho and Jerusalem to Mount Sinai and the Valley of Hebron—these people and places are real.
The question for many Christians is not whether these Bible stories can be verified—archeology has confirmed much of the Bible’s historical narrative—but rather what significance we should attach to them today. Should we still look to the land that once comprised the borders of the nation of Israel in the 10th century B.C. as a holy land, set apart, and promised to God’s people?
The Promised Land
Abraham’s story begins with a call from God, in which he is promised a land for his descendants to inherit (Gen. 12:1, 7). He leaves his homeland and his family to journey to this land, Canaan—at the time, already occupied by other people—because he believed in God’s promise. In fact, Abraham had so much faith in God’s promise to give him and his children this land that when it is time for his son, Isaac, to take a wife, he tells his servant to fetch one for him from the country of his relatives—but not to let Isaac leave the promised land.
Abraham said to him, “See to it that you do not take my son back there. The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘To your offspring I will give this land…’”— Genesis 24:6–7
And so the narrative unfolds throughout Genesis and Exodus, through Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings—the story of God’s people and the land he promised them. Some books of the Old Testament describe the civil and religious laws meant to govern those living in the land, like Deuteronomy and Leviticus. The books of the prophets demonstrate God’s warning to his people that they will lose this precious inheritance if they remain in rebellion, and Ezra and Nehemiah recount the return of the Israelites to the Promised Land after their exile to Babylon.
Truly, you cannot understand the Old Testament without understanding this promise of land as an inheritance. But the Promised Land is not the whole story—kingdoms need a king.
The Promised King
Before God made his promise to Abraham, he made one to Eve (Gen. 3:15–16). As sin entered the world, wreaking havoc and spreading corruption and death, God promised the first woman that she would have children, and that one of her descendents would defeat the curse of sin. The rest of the Bible follows this story of the promised savior. When God tells Abraham that “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” in him (Gen. 12:3, cf. Gal. 3:7–7), it is a reference to this Messiah that would come from his family line who would offer eternal salvation to the whole world. When God promises to David that he will raise up a king after him and “establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Sam. 7:12–16), it is a promise that is fulfilled in Christ, God’s Son and the son of David, who is the everlasting Lord (cf. Isa. 9:6–7).
From the lawless days of the Judges and the turbulent reign of Saul, to the descendents of David and Solomon, Israel was in want of a righteous leader. The promise of the land was not enough because the land needed a king—one better than David, wiser than Solomon.
The Better City
Scripture is clear that this promised king is Jesus Christ, who came in fulfillment of the prophets to be a just, righteous, and faithful king for Israel (Isa. 11). But Jesus was also clear that his kingdom is not the physical land of Israel. When Pilate asks him if he is king of the Jews, Jesus answers, “If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world” (John 18:36).
The writer to the Hebrews explains that Abraham knew the true Promised Land was not going to be found among the rocks and stones of this earth, “For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10). He and all those in the hall of faith desired “a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Heb. 11:16).
But we must not think that this spiritual kingdom of God is some pie-in-the-sky idea. Just as the biblical land of Israel is a real place that can be visited today, the kingdom of God is real as well, and those who die in the faith will see it and its king in person. We can say with Job, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God” (Job 19:25–26).
John’s trustworthy vision promises us that he saw “the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” and that, in that day, God “will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (Rev. 21:2–3).
This eternal inheritance is a greater promise than the hope of any earthly land. Any biblical Israelite would tell you that this was the hope and comfort of the people of God, that he might tabernacle with them. It is made possible through Christ—Emmanuel, God with Us—and his heavenly kingdom. Adam and Eve’s separation from God is restored in the work and reign of the Second Adam.
God’s promises are not stored up for us in stones, fragile earth to be covered by the sands of time. A new heaven and a new earth are coming (Rev. 21:1). Like the people of faith through all the ages, we are awaiting the heavenly Jerusalem that will not perish, where God will wipe away every tear—just as he promised.
