They rejected Jesus just as Daniel and the other prophets predicted.  God used that very rejection for our salvation.  Romans 11:11 says, “By their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles.”

But that did not negate God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and others.  Those promises began to be fulfilled in the 19^th century when Jews started returning to the land in large numbers.  They were returning to the place deeded to them by God Himself — the Promised Land.  That led to the rebirth of Israel as a nation in 1948.  They would regain control of Jerusalem in 1967.-Hal Lindsey

This statement above is this true or not?  How do we know?  Were God’s promises conditional or non-conditional?  Is the literal city of Jerusalem the promised land of God?

The Jewish Nation in End Time Events-The Element of Faith and Obedience

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

Hebrews 11:13

In that great faith chapter of Hebrews 11, we learn very much about the true identity of the people of God. Connected to each name is the experience of faith.

The Faith Hall of Fame starts with Abraham the father of the literal nation of Israel and the Jews. This chapter goes on to mention Isaac, Jacob, Esau and other great men of faith.  All desiring a “better country.”  This better country is not on this earth but in heaven where God is not ashamed to be called their God.

 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 a city for them.

Hebrews 11:16

Here is the prize of all believing sojourners on earth; a heavenly city dwelling with the Creator of the universe! There is no city, building, or place on earth that is eternal. God has prepared a city for those who are not ashamed to call Him God!  It is not limited to only literal Jews and a little strip of land in the Middle East.

The passage in Hebrews 11:6  sounds much like the promise of Jesus.  It is the ultimate promise!

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 

John 14: 1-3

For the follower of Christ, including those who looked forward to the appearance of the Messiah,  the ultimate promise is to live forever where Jesus has gone to prepare a land for them…the promised land.  It is one that the patriarchs and disciples died not having received the promise.

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

Hebrews 11:13

Throughout the Old Testament is the story of God raising up a people based on a promise to Abraham.  His offspring were to become His people with a specific purpose, but we see a pattern of failure, judgment,  repentance, restoration and then it starts over failure, judgment, repentance, restoration.

The questions before us are this: Will God finally restore literal Israel?  Will the temple be rebuilt in Jerusalem? During the 7 years of tribulation as taught by Lindsey and others be a period where all Jews accept Jesus and take the gospel to the world as indicated in many of the popular teachings?

It all comes down to how you answer these two questions: Are God’s promises conditional or unconditional?  Were they meant only for the literal nation of Israel?

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The Importance of Faith

All followers of the true God live their life by faith.  True faith is rare.  Faith (aka trust) is sadly lacking when Jesus returns as described by His rhetorical question:

“…when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

Luke 18:8

 When faith is exercised, it pleases God.  When faith is absent, it is impossible to please Him.  Someone once said that God cannot be pleased by any actions on our part.  This is false.

But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Hebrews 11:6

God makes a way (a condition) for faith to grow inside the heart of the weak follower.  God’s word produces faith.  Little time with God and His word produces little faith, but much time produces great faith.

faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Romans 10:17

The ultimate promises are all future i.e., resurrection, eternal life with a healed body and mind, the new earth, eternity with Jesus.   Of course, there are many promises that can be appreciated and realized now, but it too is by faith.  For example, here are a couple of promises you can experience today, but please notice the condition:

You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.

Isaiah 26:3

Think about it.  God will keep you and me in perfect peace.! The condition is to manage our mind by faith so that is “stayed” on Him.  It requires that the mind be constantly focused on God.  However, many Christians fail at perfect peace because the world clamors for the mind and they give in. The voice of God cannot be heard for the loud shouting of the daily life.

A struggling follower of Christ often wonders why their trust in God is not stronger.  They pine that they have no peace.  The answer is by keeping the mind “stayed” (focused) on God.  The way to keep it stayed on God is to fill it up with His voice…His words, His creation! When a person replaces doubt with the lofty thoughts of God, faith or trust in Him will grow.

faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.

Romans 10:17 (NIV)

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As we will see in this study, God has two types of promises: conditional and unconditional. A good example of an unconditional promise is the sure word that God will never destroy the earth again with a flood.  The rainbow signifies God’s unconditional promise.

When God made promises to the literal nation of Israel, they fall into one of these categories.  They are easy to see in their context and the sentence itself.

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Two Types of Promises and Faith

The literal nation of Israel is a lesson on failure.  They often failed to believe and to exercise faith.

For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.

Hebrews 4:2

But the Gentiles that did not pursue it believed the message:

But Isaiah is very bold and says:

God made a promise to give the fallen couple hope.  It had no strings attached and it was for all of mankind, not just the literal nation of Israel:

And I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
    and you will strike his heel.’

Genesis 3:15

From that point forward there would be a conflict between the offspring of the woman (symbol of the church) and the offspring of those who would purse evil and set themselves up as the enemy to the woman (church).  In the end, the serpent ( Satan) would receive a deadly wound by the crushing of his head by the woman.  Notice that the gender designation changes in this promise.  The woman is described as a “He”.  “He: would receive a strike at “his heel” (only an attempt to kill). Here is the first promise of God dealing with the sin problem and ending the life of Satan in the future by the coming of the Savior.

But there is an unfavorable promise God gives to the human race. The earth is cursed and man must toil and fight elements to obtain his food, then he will return to the dust of the ground.

By the sweat of your brown
    you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
    since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
    and to dust you will return.’

Genesis 3:19

Unconditional Promise #2-God Will Never Destroy the Earth By Flood Again

It did not take long for the “seed” of Satan to become exceedingly wicked.

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Genesis 6:5

The people of the earth had become so wicked that God seemed to have regrets for making man.

And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

Genesis 6:6

The only person that found favor and grace was Noah. He “walked” with God, which is an expression of obedience.  Noah was commanded to build an ark to save himself and his family from the destruction soon to come upon the earth by flood.

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord…Noah walked with God.

Genesis 6: 8-9

And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.  Make yourself an ark of gopher wood;

Genesis 6:14

Covenants are similar to promises.  They either have an unconditional promise from God or the human side of the agreement will fail to live up their end of the agreement. Often God gives a sign as His promise, but He never fails on His part of the agreement.

God made a covenant with Noah and all of creation as found in Genesis 8 and 9. A whole study could be made on this covenant, but it is important to notice that this covenant was unconditional.  Man does not have to enter into an agreement to obtain the benefits of the pronouncement of God.

And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:  I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.

Genesis 9: 12-13

When man enters into the covenant with God, their promises are faulty and often not kept.

 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.

Hebrews 8:6

A non-contextual reading of this verse makes it sound like God had good promises at first, but things didn’t work out so He established better promises. But, let’s read on:

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.  Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—  not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded (neglected-stopped caring-turned my back) them, says the Lord. 

Hebrews 8: 7-9

The first covenant made with the house of Israel and Judah had a problem.  What was it?  “…they did not continue in My covenant…”  Because of this, what did God do?  “(He) disregarded them.”

It was God’s covenant that the people agreed they would obey:

Now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

Exodus 19:5, 6

Notice that God said, IF… Their charge was to obey…They agreed to obey, but as Hebrews and the rest of the Bible, they failed to obey.

 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him.

 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord.

Exodus 19: 7, 8

Right after this, the new covenant is explained:

But this is the new covenant I will make
    with the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their minds,
    and I will write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.

Hebrews 8:10

In the new covenant, it is a relationship (which was missing in the old,) I will be their God and they will be my people. The law of God is in their minds and hearts.  So the new covenant is much like the first except that God writes His laws on the heart and mind of those that are His people.  It is a better promise.

If you have entered into the new covenant, you will hear the voice of God and obey.  In fact, the last group of people on earth before Jesus comes has faith (trust in God) and they are obedient to the same words delivered to the children of Israel. But, it is love for God that stimulates obedience.

And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

Deuteronomy 5:10

Jesus said the same words about the same law:

If ye love me, keep my commandments

John 14: 15

The last day people will have patience. They will obey the commandments of God.  They will have faith like Jesus.

Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Revelation 14: 12

Next time we will look at the conditional commandments of God and how his promises are fulfilled in a people that are not literal Israel but are Israel in the heart.  Literal Israel failed in the covenant by disobeying.  In the new covenant, the people of God are identified as those who are in Christ, not by birth.

 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:

But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Romans 2: 28, 29

And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Galatians 3:29

In summary, God has both conditional and unconditional promises.  When we enter into a conditional promise or covenant, we must be careful to not become legalistic, but rather humble….knowing that we can do nothing, including obeying, without Jesus and the new heart he gives us. Literal Israel failed by entering a covenant with God and attempting to keep a promise through their own carnal strength.

The promises of God to Israel were conditional.  They failed.  Now God has raised up a people from the Gentiles and we are grafted in and benefit from the promises intended to Israel first and then to the Gentile.

And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree,  do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.”  Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 

Romans 11: 17-21