Israel's Land Promises Part I G K Beale

Hello, I'm William Bell. I want to welcome you to this presentation on Israel's land premises. And if you're watching this on YouTube, on Facebook or other social media, it could be on the website. I want to let you know that if you're watching it on the website, there is a slide presentation that should be directly underneath the video. And those of you who might be watching on social media, you can go over to the website, and make sure you get that presentation. It's a slide share that has all of the actual slides for the presentation. And you can plan on about maybe 15, 20 minutes for this presentation. I'm going to try to get it done as quickly as possible, but sometimes we just lose track of time. But I will do my best to move through the information as expeditiously as possible. So let's go ahead and get started. Now, this is a brief critique of G.K. Beal's analysis of the land premises in his book, New Testament Bible Theology. Particularly, we're focused on chapter 22. And we've got to take that information slowly, because there's a lot that he says. And so you can't just get it. As a matter of fact, this is just from the first couple of pages of the chapter. But we're going to try to walk through these and over time give you some more lessons on this as well. But the question is, are the promises of Israel to be fulfilled materially and literally as the physical land was in the time or the historical case of Exodus? In other words, is there going to be a restoration back to the physical land of Israel in fulfillment of the promises that we find in the Bible? Now, we understand that there are a lot of people who believe that and teach that. But at least we have people who are questioning that as to whether or not it is actually the case. And so we're going to discuss that. Now, the restoration of Christ does not return believing people to a physical land as a mark of their redemption. Now, this is what Beal has said. He says that the restoration of Christ does not return believing people back to the physical land as a mark of their redemption. Here's his actual quote. He says, redeemed people do not go to a geographical place to be redeemed. Rather, they flee to Christ and God for their salvific restoration. Now, that's on page 750 of the book. He also says there is also a reference to Christians who will experience the rest that Israel should have experienced in the promised land. But here, the rest is the focus and the land of Israel appears to be typological of a rest that is spiritual, on page 751. So the physical way these land promises have begun fulfillment is that Christ himself introduced the new creation by his physical resurrection. That's the last quote. All right. So Beal is saying that these promises are spiritual. And he says, but the way that Christ yet he talks about the physical land and he says the way that Christ introduces these land promises is through his and get this physical resurrection. In other words, the physical way the land promises have begun fulfillment. So in other words, he's saying they've already begun. You know, it makes you wonder whether or not he believes that 1948 was an actual restoration of Israel to the land. I'm not sure if that's what he means, or does he mean that those who call themselves believers in Christ are going to be restored to the physical land of Palestine? This is interesting, and I want to see how it unfolds as I continue to study him. But at least we're going to get a handle on the beginning of it as we go. Now he says that Christ is Israel's new temple. And we agree with that. Christ is the new temple. But here's one thing that we want to say about a temple, a temple. If it's going to be physical implies land, it's got to sit somewhere. It's got to be on a foundation. And that foundation has to sit on ground somewhere. It's got to be on some land. And then if it's going to have people who worship in that temple, if all of this is physical, as he's suggesting, then people imply land as well. I mean, that's what we live off. We live off the land. We've got to get our food from there. We get our resources for our clothing, and we get the resources for the dwellings in which we live. For everything that we have, it's all tied to real estate. We come from the land. That's why God said, from dust you are and to dust you shall return. So we are of the land, and you can't have a physical temple without people who are going to worship in it, nor can you have a physical temple and people without a land. But here's the point. If Christ is the new temple, and since the people are in Christ, it must follow that the land ultimately promised to Israel is also in Christ. Now, let's take a look at a couple of passages and see, since he spoke about the rest. One of them would be Matthew chapter 11, verses 28 through 30. And I know this is familiar to you, because many people quote it in their invitations to obey the gospel. Jesus said, Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you shall find, or will find, rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. We can also take a look at Hebrews chapter 4, verses 1 through 11. In Hebrews 4, 1 through 11, we have the promise of the eternal rest. And as he starts off, he says, Therefore, since a promise remains of entering his rest, let us fear, lest any of you seem to come short of it. And then down in verse 10, just to make some of this short, and this is a good study, by the way, to look at and see how he even speaks of the fact that if Joshua had given Israel rest when they came out of Egypt and entered into the promised land, he says, David would not have spoken of another day. That's Psalm 95 in verse 11. But at any rate, he says in verse 9, There remains, therefore, a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered his rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did his. And he says, Let us, therefore, be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of unbelief. Now, here's the point that he's making. He said the land of Canaan, in which David had been, and Israel had, David was in, by the way, and in which Israel had been for some 500 years. He said that had Joshua given them rest when he brought them into that land, David would not have spoken of another day of rest. Nevertheless, David said, as he said, So I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest. And then he said, in verse seven, again, he designates a certain day saying in David today after such a long time as it has been said. Now, here's the point. Israel is already in the land of Canaan. And God said there is another rest which they had not received. So the rest that he's talking about is not the one they already had. Otherwise, he could have said this is it. But he said, after a long time, and therefore, today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. And his conclusion is, therefore, there remains a rest to the people of God. That meant meant that the rest or the land in which David and Israel was then dwelling could not be the land. And so in Hebrews chapter 11, verses 13 through 16, the Bible says of Abraham and the patriarchs, these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them far off and confessed or rather embrace them and confessed and were assured of them kind of got the words out of line here. Let me back up and read it again, because I like to do it in order. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them, embrace them and confess that they were strangers and pilgrims on the land. Abraham was walking up and down in Canaan, and he embraced promises that were afar off. And by embracing those promises, he confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims in the land. Now watch for those who say such things, declare plainly that they seek a homeland. Well, if he declared that they were strangers in the land of Canaan, that meant Abraham's faith, along with the patriarchs, was not the land of Canaan. They were seeking a homeland. Then he says, and truly, if they had called to mind the country which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now, so even though Israel here again, same point made in David, Israel is in the land. Abraham, of course, is now dead. But the Bible says, according to Paul, but now they desire a better. Now, if it's better than the physical land that Israel was already in and was even in at the time Hebrews was written, how can it be that land? But now they desire a better, that is a heavenly country. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared for them a city. So we need to understand that when we talk about the land, if Bill agrees, and he stated in his book that Christ is the new temple, both in this current book, as well as the book on the mission of the holy, the mission of the church and the temple, not sure if I got the name of that correct, but very popular book, very excellent book. He stated that Christ is the temple. So if Christ is the temple, then it must follow that the temple rest on the land and the land has to be in Christ. That's a point that I think needs to really be hammered home. Now let's talk about Christ's resurrection. He is the first of the first fruits. Now I know the Bible says he's the first fruits, but I think if you read first Corinthians 15 and verse 20 correctly, it will say Christ comma, the first fruits comma after with those who are Christ that is coming. The reason I say that is because if you read Leviticus, Leviticus has the first of the first fruits at the time of the barley harvest at the time of the Passover. And then 50 days later at the time of Pentecost was the weed harvest, but that was also called the first fruits. And then at the end of the growing season was the actual harvest where they took in, you know, they had the grain in the first two harvests, but they had the fruit from the trees, et cetera, in the final harvest and in the last part of the harvest. And so that's why we say Christ is the first of the first fruits. And I think you can see Exodus 23, 19 for that particular phraseology now. So he is therefore the firstborn from the dead as a Colossians says, and he is the head of the body, the church who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence Colossians one in verse 18. And also the Bible says in revelation chapter three in verse 14, that Christ is the beginning of the creation of God. Now Christ's death and anti-type let's notice that Christ's death is the anti-type of the death of Adam. As the Bible says for as an Adam all die, even so in Christ are all made alive and notice it doesn't say for as an able all die. See Adam's death was a death to sin. God said in the day that you eat, you will surely die. Adam died that day, but not a physical death, not a biological death and the death or the life that is antithetical to the death of Adam is the life that is in Christ. The life from that sin death, the death of Adam continued through the covenant of Moses, but it does not extend beyond the covenant of Moses as Romans 5 12 through 14 says, therefore justice through one man sin into the world and death through sin and thus death spread to all men because all have sinned for until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of him who was to come. Now let's think about this and Bill even says this or not. Yes, he even says this. If Adam death was a type, if Adam was a type of him who was to come and death reigned from Adam to Moses, it would mean that Moses was also a type of him who was to come or the death under Moses was typical as far as the the life that was to come through Christ. So all of this was typical in terms of what would take place. And that's a that's a very important point that we need to acknowledge as well. Now, so let's go on. If physical death did not end at the covenant of Moses, then it is not the death of which Christ is the beginning and the first fruits or the firstborn physical death violates the very principle of the first fruits, which was a pledge to complete the harvest, which had begun in Christ. In other words, Bill is trying to argue for a beginning of death that is spiritual and a beginning of promise fulfillment that is spiritual, but he wants to transition and change and turn that into something physical in the end. And we say that just doesn't wash according to the scriptures. Now, it's the first or the first is the natural, not the spiritual, but he has turned it around totally and said the first is the spiritual. That's not what the Bible teaches. The natural is first, not the last. The natural is typological of the spiritual. You cannot then come back and use the spiritual to be typological of the natural. You can't come back and reverse the types and the anti types. If the natural was the type, then the spiritual becomes the anti type. And that's the end of that story. And as the Bible says, and so it is written, the first man, Adam became a living being, but the last man, Adam became a life giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first. So first of all, Bill needs to reread that scripture, and I'm sure that he knows what it is. And by the way, I really enjoy his writings. I really like his writings, but the Bible says, however, the spiritual is not first, but the natural is first is what that means. And afterward, after the natural, then comes the spiritual first Corinthians, 1544 through 45. So the natural or the Suki costs and the spiritual or pneumatic costs is not a contrast of the physical body versus a disembodied spirit. It is a distinction between those who are refusing to obey the gospel, who did not have the Holy spirit, who did not receive the things of the spirit of God compared to those who did. And it was Christians upon whom the spirit was poured and who received the teachings of the gospel. That's the difference and the contrast between a natural man and a spiritual man in the context of Paul and first Corinthians and the Bible. You can also see that in Jude verse 19, where it says, these are those who separate themselves sensual. Well, that's the same word meaning natural, not having the spirit. Jude tells you they are the ones who do not have the spirit. Now bill says the two stage process is an inauguration of this fulfillment and an installment fulfillment saying that the initial or first stage occurs with the spiritual, with the natural occurring at the end. Again, that's a direct contradiction of the scripture that is directly opposite to what the Bible teaches the very opposite. And yet he advances it. Then he admits the following, what references there are to the land in the new Testament seem to be spiritualized. Well, you know, it's a fatal admission. Uh, they are spiritual. And if the natural, if the spiritual follows the natural, they would have necessity have to be, they are fulfilled in Christ. If those promises were being fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ, it must be the case that Christ's resurrection fulfills spiritual and not physical premises. All right, let's go on. Bill fails to acknowledge that Christ's resurrection occurred in the realm of the spirit in the spirit is not contrasted with biological flesh in the spirit or that phrase in the spirit is contrasted with in the spirit. In other words, these are two opposing antithetical covenantal States. They are not two, uh, opposing or an opposing biological versus a non-biological state. They are two opposing covenantal States. And so one represents living under the law in the flesh because it required the flesh to achieve its righteousness. Romans chapter seven verses 11 through 14. Let's take a look for sin taken occasion by the commandment, deceive me. And by it killed me. Therefore the law is Holy and the commandment, Holy and just and good has then what is good become death to me. Certainly not, but sin that it might appear sin was producing death in me through what is good. So that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly simple for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal sold under sin. So what Paul is saying is that it was through the weakness of man, of man that caused the problem with the law. Not that the law wasn't good. You simply have to keep it perfectly in order to be saved. And that's where the problem came in. Man was unable to do that. The other is living under the new covenant because it grants righteousness through Christ, the power of God. In other words, via the spirit, according to Romans chapter eight, now watch Romans eight, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit for the law of the spirit of life in Christ. Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. God did by sending his own son on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. And so we see why the law speaks of being raised in the spirit. Now, this is not about the physical body of Christ. Christ's body was a sign of the real or the invisible resurrection, uh, that his death indicated more on that later. But if you look in Matthew 12 in verse 38 through 40, the Jews were requiring of Jesus a sign. And the Bible says there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah, what was that sign? He was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. So his physical death and resurrection was a sign of something else that was going on within the visible realm. You can't see what a sign points to. That's why you need a sign. That's what a sign is for to tell you that some, it represents something else. And so Jesus's physical resurrection was assigned. That's why John said at the end of the, of his gospel, he says, truly many other signs did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written that you might believe the signs were written that you might believe what sign, the sign of Jesus's physical resurrection, because they could see that they couldn't see the fact that he was released from Hades, which was spiritual. Furthermore, Jesus's physical body did not change in his resurrection. Luke chapter 23 verses 24 verses 39 through 43. Remember when they were all nervous and upset about having seen Jesus or not having seen him, he comes in and he tells them, he says, look, touch me and feel me for a spirit does not have flesh and bone. As you see me have. And he says, do you have anything to eat? And they gave him honey, um, uh, fish and honeycomb. And he took it and he ate it in their presence, proving to them without equivocation that he was in his natural body. And therefore his resurrection did not change his physical body. So there was no change from that point of view. And so no contrast between biological flesh versus a disembodied spirit occurred in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but there was a covenantal change. Why do we know that? Because in first Peter chapter three and verse 18, the Bible says that Christ was put to death in the flesh, but he was raised in the spirit for Christ also suffered once for us, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. Now I know your translation is probably going to read by the it is in the spirit. And those are what are called locatives in the Greek. It means the sphere or the location where the action occurred. So his death occurred in one sphere, which was the sphere of the flesh, but his resurrection occurred, occurred in a different sphere. That was the the realm of the spirit. He was put to death in the flesh. He was raised in the spirit. That's where the two alternating or contrasting States occur. Now Jesus is death. Therefore in the flesh, his resurrection was in the spirit. Now believers were put to death in the flesh and raised in the spirit because they died with Christ. Believers follow Christ in his Exodus from the flesh. And by the way, Jesus's death is spoken of as an Exodus in the transfiguration. When Moses and Elijah spoke with Christ, they were discussing his Exodus Luke chapter nine and verse 31. Some translations say deceased, but if you look up the word in the Greek, it's the word Exodus. He was making an Exodus from the realm of the flesh into the realm of the spirit and believers who died with Christ or who died to the law, which is basically the same thing also died to the realm of the flesh. According to Romans chapter seven, verses four through six. Now watch. He says, therefore, my brethren, you have also become dead to the law through the body of Christ that you may be married to another. Who is the another to him who was raised from the dead? He's not the same Jesus in the sense of his covenantal stance. When he was alive, he was born of a woman made under the law in the realm of the flesh. He lived in the realm of the flesh. He died. He was put to death in the flesh. But when he rose, he rose in the realm of the spirit. That's why the Bible says, therefore, though we have known Christ after the flesh, henceforth, no, we him after the flesh, no more. You can never know Christ according to the old covenant again. He is known according to the spirit. So here's what the text says. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by so that we should serve in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. So the law was called the oldest of the letter. That's where their members work to death. But by dying with Christ and being married to another, they entered into the realm of the spirit and therefore served in the newness of the spirit, in the newness of the spirit versus the oldness of the letter. So the very same thing that happened to Christ happened to the saints. Understand this. It didn't change their physical body. When you died with Christ, did it change your physical body? Did you go from being a physical being to a disembodied spirit? Absolutely not. But you did go from a covenant of the flesh or from a state of the flesh to a state of the spirit. So this is the process. This is exactly what happens to us in our baptism. The Bible says that they died with Christ. Notice this text says, no, you're not. That's so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. Therefore, we were buried with him by baptism into death that justice Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father. Even so, we also should walk in newness of life for we've been planted together in the likeness of his death. We also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection for the death that he died. Now here's where the Bible defines the death that Jesus died for the death that he died. He died to sin. It's not talking about his biological death. Remember that was a sign of this death. The death that he died, he died to sin. You can't see what your physical eye when a person dies to sin. We can't look out and say that's a Christian. That's not a Christian just by looking at the person's body. But the Bible says he died to sin once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. That means that's a relationship. If Jesus died to sin, it meant that the sins had been laid upon him, and therefore a separation from God occurred. He said, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? And so when he rose from the dead, he was reconciled to God, reunited with the father, and therefore he lives to God. Now watch. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. He's telling you, you died to the realm of the flesh. Now you live in the realm of the spirit dead to sin alive to God. That's what they couldn't get under Adam. And they couldn't get it under Moses. And therefore death reigned from Adam to Moses. That means the requirement of the law is fulfilled in Christ for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh. And on account of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk after the flesh or according to the flesh, but according to the spirit again, that's Romans eight, three and four. As we said, believers biology wasn't changed. Dying to the flesh did not mean a change to believers biology. Yet it is the death that they died with Christ. If the requirement of the law was fulfilled with the believers dying to the law and the Bible tells us that Romans eight, three and four, how could they be in position to receive the land promise of the law? They were no longer under the law. If the land promise was given through the covenant of Moses fulfilled through the covenant of Moses, how could they who died to the covenant, in other words, who had given up the covenant, how could they claim a right to the land that was in couched within the covenant? That doesn't make sense. That can only mean that in the realm of the spirit, no such promise of physical land exists. That's why Bill acknowledged on the front end that the promises in Christ are spiritual. Now let's talk about the land promise. The Bible says in Psalm 37 and verse 11, but the meek shall inherit the earth. And you can translate that as land from the Greek word, uh, the Hebrew word Eris, but the meek shall inherit the land and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. Now that's quoted in Matthew chapter five and verse five, blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. They shall inherit the land. Now I want to go over to these beatitudes because a lot of people just seem to pass over them as though they are used the way we used to use them when I was a kid. My mother always made us recite these as our Bible verse before we could eat our food. We all had to say one of these beatitudes. And so I learned them when I was a kid, but what we need to see here is that each of these beatitudes are equal in rank. They're just different ways of saying the same thing. In other words, when the Bible says, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is the blessing. And so when he says, blessed are those who mourn for, they shall be comforted. That comfort is the comfort you receive in the kingdom of God. So comfort or being comforted and being in the kingdom are scriptural equivalents. They are exegetical equivalents in the text. So when he says, blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the land. That means the land and the comfort and the kingdom of God are one and the same thing. They're not three different things. They're just described under three different concepts, but our comfort is in the kingdom. Our land is in the kingdom. The land is the kingdom. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled, filled with what? Righteousness. Doesn't the Bible tell us in Romans chapter four, uh, 14, and I believe it's verse 17 for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but his righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy spirit. What is joy? If it's not comfort, what is peace? If it's not comfort, he says it's righteousness and righteousness is not physical land, but that's what they're inheriting. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. That's your relationship with God. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God, sons in the spirit, not in the flesh sons, because they've been baptized. You're all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Verse 11 blessed are you when they shall revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you. Foster for my sake, he says, rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven. And we know that the reward in heaven, according to revelation 21 verses one through three, the Holy city, the new Jerusalem comes down out of heaven to be with man and John says, behold, the tabernacle of God is with man. That means it came down to the earth. The kingdom of God is here. The kingdom of God is the land because it's the equivalent of inheriting the earth. So the promises are spiritual. The key to the land is to realize that the kingdom of God fulfills the land promise of the old Testament and that it fulfills it in Christ. It's as simple as that. Thus, the new land is Christ and his kingdom. What can be greater than Christ and his dominion over heaven and earth. The Bible says that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in all things which are in heaven and which are on earth. So let's get a little perspective here in terms of the kingdom of God. When the UNIA leader and pan-Africanist, Marcus Garvey was asked the question, are you a Jamaican or an African? He responded, why would I give up a continent for an island? That's the same way that believers should view and respond regarding the narrow strip of land that a Palestinian land in the so-called Middle East. And I say so-called because it was recently renamed to the Middle East after colonization. It wasn't the Middle East before. It was a part of Africa. Now, why would I give up the kingdom of God for a narrow strip of dirt about the size of Rhode Island? See, you got to have perspective. People who are clamoring for some land, that narrow strip of land just doesn't work. Why give up the kingdom of God? Heaven and earth, all authority in heaven and earth is what Christ reigns over and is what we inherit in Christ. Because he says, I'm going to give you power over the nations and we will reign with him. And he's done that. Why would we give that up for a narrow strip of dirt? Doesn't make sense. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Believers are not in the flesh, but you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he's none of his Romans 8, 8 and 9. And as such, they form part of the firstfruits in solidarity with Christ, having received the firstfruits of the spirit Romans 8 and verse 23 and James 1 and verse 18. He says of his own will, he brought us forth that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creation. In other words, they become a part of the firstfruits, just like Jesus died at the Passover and became the first of the firstfruits in the barley harvest. Those on the day of Pentecost and the New Testament saints in the Bible were the firstfruits Christians signifying the wheat harvest, still a part of the grain harvest. And then at the end of the age came the final harvest in 70 AD, when the old covenant saints were raised out of sin death to inherit that heavenly country that Abraham was looking for. In other words, the kingdom of God. Now let's take a look at to see exactly what it was that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were looking for in Matthew 8 and verse 11. The Bible says, and I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And by the way, if you compare Luke chapter 13, which is the starting around verse 24 to this text, it says they will come from the east and the west and the north and the south. That's the four winds. In other words, that's the gathering of them from all over. They will come from the east, the west and the north and the south, and we'll sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So my friends, the Bible says Abraham was looking to enter the kingdom of God, but we pointed out from the Beatitudes in Matthew five, the kingdom of God is equivalent to inheriting the land. It is the land. And the Bible says to those who thought that the kingdom of God would immediately appear. Jesus told him the kingdom of God does not come with observation. In other words, it's not a physical land that you see with your physical eyes. It is your stance, your relationship with God through Christ in submission to his will and to his reign. But when did that occur? When the sons of the kingdom were cast out. If you read the parable of the husbandman or the vineyard, when he leased it out and they killed the servants and eventually looked at the son and said, aha, here's the son. This is the heir. Let us kill him that we may seize upon his inheritance. And so he said, when therefore the husbandman comes, what will he do to the vine dressers? It says he will miserably destroy them and the kingdom would be taken from them and given to a nation producing the fruits thereof. Now it's not by coincidence that Peter writes in first Peter chapter one, writing to the diaspora, to the saints scattered abroad in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, that he says to them, seeing that you have purified your souls through the spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart, fervently being born again, not of corruptible seed. You see, when they were born in the spirit, they were not born of a corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which lives in the bites forever. Then in chapter two, a chapter where he says that the temple was being built, they were living stones resting upon Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone. That's why Jesus is the temple. He's the chief cornerstone, but he's also the temple. And they as living stones were being built up into the spiritual house, no further need for another house. It was already being built, composed of those of spiritual seed, a kingdom not to be observed with the physical eye, and therefore the land upon which that kingdom rests cannot be physical land. And so he says, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession to show forth the praises of him who have called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. So they were called out of the realm of the flesh into the realm of the spirit. Do believers have to die in order to enter the realm of the spirit? Paul said, believers couldn't have both. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit you put to death, the deeds of the body, you shall live. Romans eight and verse 13, believers have to fully put to death the deeds of the body of sin. That is the body of Moses, because sin and death operated in the body of Moses, death reign from Adam to Moses. So dying to sin meant dying to Moses, dying to Moses meant dying to sin and dying to the flesh. Believers had to fully put to death the deeds of the body of sin, the body of Moses in order to live in the body of Christ according to the spirit. So let's summarize. And I have to tell you that went much longer than 15 minutes or 20 minutes. I think it's almost an hour, maybe 45 minutes to an hour. I don't even know how long it's taken thus far, but Israel's land promises were to be fulfilled in the realm of the spirit to receive them or to receive those promises. Israel had to die to the law and be raised in the spirit that is in the new covenant being born again. This was a birth or a resurrection from the natural to the spiritual where in Christ, all promises are fulfilled. The only way to return to the physical land, according to the covenant is to renounce the realm of the spirit in Christ. In other words, to die to the spirit, so you can go back and live in the realm of the flesh where the land promises had been given to Israel. But you see, that's really not an option today because the old covenant has been fulfilled and has now passed away. That means there is no more temple land, natural nation of Israel. According to the flesh, there is, but one hope of the gospel. And that hope is found in our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. All things are in him. All promises in him are yes. And all of them are in him. And they are spiritual. That doesn't negate us being physical beings as I demonstrated in the video. And so to those of you who are watching, I hope that this has been of service to you. I want to encourage you to subscribe to our channel if you haven't already done so, because you don't want to miss these lessons. In addition, leave us a comment about what you thought about the material, pro or con. We don't mind you critiquing and opposing what we say. We just critique Bill. I don't think he minds it. And it's good for all of us to examine and debate our causes when we do it in the right manner. And once again, I really, really enjoy Bill's books. I got several of them on my bookshelf. There's a couple over here and there's a couple over there. And I really enjoy his writings. But this matter of going back to the physical land is just untenable according to the scriptures. We also encourage you to visit our website at www.allthingsfulfilled.com. Remember, all the slides to the presentation are on the website in the slide show. So you want to go there so that you can follow along with the various slides and you can see the verses, etc. and all the points that were being made in the video. Until next time, I'm William Bell saying you have a very, very pleasant day. And I'm looking forward to seeing you in our next video presentation.