If you have been paying attention to the news over the last few years, you have probably heard a good amount of talk about the “end times prophecies.” With the situation that has been happening in the middle east, especially in Gaza, many in the media have been pointing to verses ripped out of context in order to support their idea of how false doctrines like “the Rapture” are about to come to pass. And, almost three years later, none of these things have happened.
In Deuteronomy 18:22, the Bible tells us how to identify false prophets. The Lord said, “When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.” Based on this passage alone, we can know that these predictions that come around every time something happens in Israel are false.
One of the reasons groups continue to fall for these erroneous claims is a misunderstanding of Scripture that, if true, would completely compromise the nature of God. Their doctrine teaches that the land promise given in Genesis 15:18-21 has not yet been fulfilled. They believe that Israel never extended south, from the river of Egypt nor north to the River Euphrates. But God says just the opposite. In Joshua 21:45, the Bible declares, “Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.” In chapter 1, verse 4, we can see that this is in reference to the same land promise that was given in Genesis 15.
Now, this article is far too short to give a proper debunking of this false doctrine. However, there is a lesson we can learn by understanding this single point concerning the truth of the Land Promise: God keeps His promises.
If the promise made to Israel did not come to pass, then God is a liar. You cannot reconcile God’s statement in Joshua with the belief that the Land Promise was not fulfilled. And, if you cannot trust God’s promise to Israel, then you can’t trust any of God’s promises.
Thankfully, that is not the God we serve. We serve a God that fulfilled the promise He made to Abraham and Joshua just as He said He would. He is a God who cannot lie (cf. Tit. 1:2; Heb. 6:18; Num. 23:19). And if God cannot lie, then I know that, as a Christian, my sins are forgiven (Acts 2:38), I am going to heaven (Phil. 3:20), and God will never forsake me (Heb. 13:5). Any doctrine that teaches otherwise is a lie from Satan.
Let’s praise the Lord who keeps all of His promises.