Did God give Israel the Promised Land for all time (Deuteronomy 4:40)?

Since God has so worked by His grace and power on behalf of Israel, every evidence was before Israel's eyes that "the Lord Himself is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. There is no other" (v.39). This being so, it was only right that Israel should keep God's statutes and commandment's (v.40). Such obedience was the means by which things would go well with them and with their children, to give them longer days in the land. He does not say that this would keep them interminably in their land, for he knew that eventually they would disobey and be scattered out of their land.

Numbers 34 gives the boundaries of the inheritance, as drawn by the hand of Jehovah. The selfsame hand which had guided their wanderings here fixes the bounds of their habitation. Alas! they never took possession of the land as given of God. He gave them the whole land, and gave it for ever. They took but a part, and that for a time. But, blessed be God, the moment is approaching when the seed of Abraham shall enter upon the full and everlasting possession of that fair inheritance, from which they are for the present excluded. Jehovah will assuredly accomplish all His promises, and lead His people into all the blessings secured to them in the everlasting covenant — that covenant which has been ratified by the blood of the Lamb. Not one jot or tittle shall fail of all that He has spoken. His promises are all Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus, who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. All praise to the father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit!

Lastly, the land was given to the seed of Abraham "for ever," or as it is elsewhere expressed, "for an everlasting possession." That this was not the case with Israel's possession of Canaan is certain. But has the Lord forgotten His promise? Or are we to assume that the promise was not meant for Israel? So far from it, we find that in the same prophecy in which the Lord speaks of the conditional tenure, and foretells the casting out of Israel in case of disobedience, He points forward to the time when the promise made to Abraham will receive its true fulfilment. "When they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them to destroy them utterly, and to break My covenant with them" (Lev. 26:44). He says also — "Then will I remember My covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also My covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land" (v. 44). And long afterwards the permanence of the covenant is again recalled. "He has remembered his covenant for ever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations; which covenant He made with Abraham, and His oath unto Isaac, and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant, saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance" (Ps. 105:8-11). The conditional and temporary possession enjoyed by Israel is not, therefore, the fulfilment of the covenant with the fathers.

Lastly, the land was given to the seed of Abraham “forever,” or as it is elsewhere expressed, “for an everlasting possession.” That this was not the case with Israel's possession of Canaan is certain. But has the Lord forgotten His promise? Or are we to assume that the promise was not meant for Israel? So far from it, we find that in the same prophecy in which the Lord speaks of the conditional tenure, and foretells the casting out of Israel in case of disobedience, He points forward to the time when the promise made to Abraham will receive its true fulfilment. “When they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them to destroy them utterly, and to break My covenant with them“ (Lev. 26:44). He says also: “Then will I remember My covenant with Jacob, and also My covenant with Isaac, and also My covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land“ (v. 42). The conditional and temporary possession enjoyed by Israel is not, therefore, the fulfilment of the covenant with the fathers.

All this is government. But, by and by, Israel will be brought into possession of the land of Canaan on the ground of unqualified and unchangeable grace — grace exercised in divine righteousness through the blood of the cross. It will not be by works of law; nor yet by the institutions of an evanescent economy, but by that grace which "reigns through righteousness, by Jesus Christ our Lord." Wherefore, they shall never again be driven forth from their possession. No enemy shall ever molest them. They shall enjoy undisturbed repose behind the shield of Jehovah's favour. Their tenure of the land will be according to the eternal stability of divine grace, and the efficacy of the blood of the everlasting covenant. "They shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation."

Promises of blessing from God on condition of Israel's obedience ought to have induced them to be diligent in observing His laws. He promised them that if they would obey, He would keep His covenant which He swore to their fathers (v.12). Actually, whether they obeyed or not, God will eventually keep that covenant made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for it is unconditional. Yet if Israel had obeyed God, they would have reaped the benefits of the covenant in the land, from which they would never to put out as long as they obeyed.

As to the fact itself, that the law does really speak of the first and not the second death (and there is no death between) is a thing which, when we examine it, seems impossible to question. That he that honored father and mother should "live long in the land" of Canaan, is imbedded in the heart of the ten commandments. And in Deut. 4:40, where Moses is urging the people to keep these very commandments, what does he put before them as the result of their being kept, but "that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth which the Lord thy God giveth thee, forever."

But the Israelites have never had an unconditional possession of the land of Canaan. The terms on which they entered were these: “If ye will walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments and do them, then I will give you rain” and other promised blessings. “For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful and multiply you, and establish My covenant with you“ (Lev. 26:3–9). “But if ye will not hearken unto Me, and will not do all these commandments I will bring the land into desolation, and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it; and I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and will draw out a sword after you; and your land shall be desolate and your cities waste”(vv. 14–33). The same thing is repeated in still stronger language in Deuteronomy 28. The Israelites never had, therefore, anything more than a conditional tenure of the land, and it is needless to say that a conditional gift is no fulfilment of an unconditional promise. This is not left to our own judgment, however, for we are plainly told in the language of Pau, “that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise“ (Gal. 3:17–18).

Brought out of Egypt by the exercise of divine power, brought into the land, too, in fulfilment of Jehovah's promise, their entrance into Canaan, and their possession of it, did not depend on their obedience; though for their continuance therein, the keeping of the covenant was an absolute necessity. Placed before God on the ground of law, obedience was requisite, if the land was to support them, or to continue to be cultivated by those to whom Jehovah had given it. So from verses 1-13 we have enumerated the blessings which, on condition of their continued obedience, they would enjoy; and from verses 14-45, the different dealings with them in judgment, if disobedient, till exile should be their portion.

Yes; and we may add, the glory of God demanded the introduction of the seed of Abraham into possession of the property to hold, as tenants for ever under the Lord God Almighty, the most High God, Possessor of heaven and earth. Thus the matter stood for Israel, had they but seen it. Their possession of the land of promise and the maintenance of the divine glory were so bound up together that one could not be touched without touching the other. God had promised to give the land of Canaan to the seed of Abraham, as an everlasting possession. Had He not a right to do so? Will infidels question God's right to do as He will with His own? Will they refuse to the Creator and Governor of the universe a right which they claim for themselves? The land was Jehovah's, and He gave it to Abraham His friend for ever; and although this was true, yet were not the Canaanites disturbed in their tenure of the property until their wickedness had become positively unbearable.