We will now direct our focus on discovering the actual promises that are contained in this inheritance. In other words, Just what can we inherit and why is it so valuable?
Promises
These promises are specified in the book of Genesis.29 They include the promise to make Abraham a great nation, to make kings of his descendants (thus establishing the great nation as a kingdom), to give a blessing (which is eternal life),30 and to give a great name (i.e., the sacred name Yahweh).31
Abraham is also to be a blessing to the nations, the father of many nations (from which the inheritance extends to all nations),32 and to become exceedingly fruitful. We are further told that Yahweh gave Abraham the promise of eternal life and an inheritance of land.33
We must take special note of the promises from Yahweh regarding the Eternal Inheritance of שרץ (erets; land)”34 and the Eternal Covenant. To begin with, Yahweh brought Abraham out of Ur of the Kasadim (Kaldees, Chaldaeans) in order that Abraham might ירש (yaresh; possess as an inheritance)35 the land of Kanaan.36
The boundaries of this inheritance not only encompass the land of Kanaan but are defined as extending from “the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.”37
To Abraham and His Seed
After Abraham arrived, Yahweh not only promised that he would give him this land but added:
Unto your זרע (zerah; seed) I will give this land (i.e., the land of Kanaan, the Promised Land).(Gen. 12:7)
The LXX importantly translates the word זרע (zerah; seed) in this verse as σρέρματι (spermati; single seed).
As already shown, Saul informs us that the single seed who is designated as heir along with Abraham in the Covenants of Promise is Yahushua the messiah. (Gal. 3:16)
An Eternal Inheritance of Land
Further, the inheritance of land given to Abraham and the messiah is to be an Eternal Inheritance. In Genesis, for example, Yahweh tells Abraham:
For all the land which you see, to you I will give it, and to your seed (= the messiah), עד עלם (ad olam; a perpetual world-age). (Gen. 13:15)
The idea of the possession of the Promised Land for an eternal עלם (olam; world-age) is further confirmed by other passages that also use the word עד (ad; perpetually)38 to describe the possession of this inherited land.39
Therefore, the covenant is to establish an olam that will last perpetually—a world-age which begins after our present temporal olam ends. The main point to be deduced is that, if we are joint-heirs with the messiah, we too shall possess the Promised Land eternally.
Next, in a Psalm of David we read that Yahweh will give the land of Kanaan (the Promised Land) to the Israelites for the following reason:
He shall remember to עלם (olam; the world-age)40 his covenant, the דבר (debar; promise) commanded to a thousand generations, which he cut with Abraham, and his oath to Isaak; and he confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel as an olam (world-age) covenant, saying, To you I will give the שרץ (erets; land) of Kanaan as the portion of נחלתכם (nachalathkim;41 your inheritance).(Ps. 105:6-11)
These important promises of an inheritance of the שרץ (erets; land) explain the scriptural statements that, “the meek shall inherit the erets.”42 This erets is inherited as an eternal possession.43 The covenant itself is referred to as the “Eternal Covenant,”44 “a promise of life.”45 The results are “eternal salvation.”46
The fact that the covenants made with Abram (Abraham)47 include the granting of the “inheritance” of land prove that those promises are part of a Covenant-Will. Indeed, it is from this land of promise located between the Nile and the Euphrates that the messiah will rule the coming new world. New Jerusalem, the throne city, will be located upon that land.
With the promise of land is implied the promise of a city wherein the saved might live while residing on that land. The promise of a new environment to accommodate this new world is implied as well. Therefore, the promises to Abraham include the residence of New Jerusalem and a חדש (khadash; new or renewed)48 heavens and new (renewed) earth.49 The book of Hebrews, for example, informs us:
By trust he (Abraham) sojourned in the land of the promise, as a strange country, having dwelt in tents with Isaak and Jacob, joint-heirs of the same promise; for he was waiting for the city having foundations, of which the artificer and constructor is eloah. (Heb. 11:9-10)
“The name of the city of my eloah” is “New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my eloah,”50 “the sacred city, New Jerusalem,”51 ”heavenly Jerusalem,”52 and the “free” city which comes by means of the Covenant of Inheritance.53
It is also called “the city of Yahweh” and “Yahweh is there.”54 Further, New Jerusalem arrives with “the new heavens and the new earth,” which “are according to his promise” and in which “righteousness dwells.”55
More Promises in the Inheritance
Yet the inheritance does not stop here. There is also the promise of kings coming out of Abraham; and from this flows the statement that we are to inherit the kingdom of Yahweh, i.e., the government (indicating authoritative positions within that government).56
Even more, “He that overcomes shall inherit all things.”57 Saul supports this statement by saying that by promise, and not by the Torah, was Abraham and his single seed (the messiah) given the right as heirs to “the κόσμου (kosmou; universe).”58
The claim that Abraham was given the universe (the earth and all the constellations of the heavens) presents an important question. By merely inheriting the right to an eternal possession of the land located between the Nile and the Euphrates rivers, how does Abraham and his seed achieve the magnitude of power and possession that is indicated by being heirs to the universe?
It comes by virtue of ownership rights. Father Yahweh’s throne will rest in New Jerusalem, which in the future will set within the Promised Land. If one has joint and eternal ownership of the Promised Land with Yahweh, he is also a joint and eternal owner in the throne and the palace-city residing there.
As a result, he has an eternal right to inhabit that land and to enter its royal city. In turn, this means that he cannot be denied the right to see the face of father Yahweh.59 It also means that he will share in the power of that throne (each in his own rank), resulting in a political position in the kingdom of Yahweh. Since the throne of Yahweh governs the universe, he also inherits the universe.
Resurrection and Eternal Life
Another important question to consider, since men and women die, How can anyone eternally own, as a joint-heir, the Promised Land? Indeed, the dead own nothing;60 and, it is apportioned for men once to die,61 for the wages of sin is death and all men have sinned.62 This fact is true even for the heirs of Yahweh’s Will.
Did not Abraham, Isaak, and Jacob, to whom the promises were assured, all die?63 And if you are an heir, but you are dead, as the heirs Abraham, Isaak, and Jacob are to this day,64 how can you inherit anything in the world of the living?65
It is therefore manifest that in order to inherit eternal life, one must be resurrected from the dead, for Yahweh is an eloahi of the living, not of the dead.66
The necessity of a resurrection of the dead in order to fulfill the Covenants of Promise is the source for the Resurrection doctrine taught throughout Scriptures.67 In fact, as the apostle Saul so poignantly concludes, if there is no resurrection from the dead then our trust in a resurrected messiah is in vain and we are without hope.68
This necessity of a resurrection was clearly alluded to by Yahushua in one of his debates with the Jewish Sadducees, who did not believe in a bodily resurrection. Yahushua, quoting Exodus, 3:6 and 16, addressed this issue by stating:
But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read in the book of Moses, while at the bush, how eloahi spoke to him, saying, “I am the eloahi of Abraham, the eloahi of Isaak, and the eloahi of Jacob?” He is not the eloahi of the dead, but the eloahi of the living. (Matt. 22:31-32; Mark 12:26-27; Luke 20:38.)
In short, for these patriarchs to still be living in the eyes of Yahweh, who declares the end from the beginning,69 Yahweh must resurrect them from the dead so that they might inherit.
A second question is also manifest. “Does not eternal ownership require that you live eternally?” Herein lies the promise of eternal life as spoken of throughout Scriptures. Once Yahweh has given you a share of the Promised Land for eternity, he must also give you eternal life, otherwise his promise of eternal ownership cannot be fulfilled.
The New Covenant in the Inheritance
In this regard, also included in this Will to Abraham and his seed is the promise of making an Eternal Covenant with the seed (LXX sperma, i.e., plural seed) of Abraham70—elsewhere referred to as the elect of Israel.71 This Eternal Covenant, which has not yet been established,72 is the New Covenant,73 the Old Covenant being the Torah previously established at Mount Sinai.74
Both covenants are marriage covenants.75 This New Covenant is the tool by which we shall receive the blessing,76 which is defined as eternal life.77 Remember, one cannot fully abide by an eternal covenant unless he lives eternally. Once more we have the basis for the promise of a resurrection and eternal life.
Conclusion
The evidence proves that Yahweh has left to us, through a Covenant-Will given to Abraham and passing through the Israelites, and ultimately coming to us through Yahushua the messiah, an inheritance of land and an Eternal Covenant that will enable us to attain eternal life.
Note: This study consists of an adapted chapter from the publication by Qadesh La Yahweh Press titled The Festivals and Sacred Days of Yahweh Vol. I.
Footnotes:
Click this link for Bibliography and Abbreviations.
29 Gen. 12:1-3, 7, 13:14-17, 15:1-12, 17-21, 17:1-14, 18:16-19, 21:9-13.
30See Ps. 133:1-3; Deut. 30:19.
31 Heb. 1:4; Isa. 43:7; Eph. 3:13–15. See Rev. 14:1, 22:4; and see The Sacred Name Yahweh, chap. xvi.
32 Rom. 4:16-19.
33 See Heb. 9:15, 11:9; Ps. 105:42; Acts 2:33, 26:6; Rom. 4:16; Gal. 3:29; Titus, 1:1–2; James, 1:12, 2:5.
34 A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (CHAL). William L. Holladay., p. 28, “ground . . . piece of land . . . totality of land, earth”; Strongs [SEC], Heb. #776, “prop. mean. to be firm; the earth (at large, or partitively a land)”; Hebrew-English Lexicon [HEL]. Zondervan Edition, 1970., p. 26, “earth . . . the ground . . . region, province.”
35 ירש (yaresh), “a prim. root; to occupy (by driving out previous tenants, and possessing in their place); by impl. to seize, to rob, to inherit” (SEC, Heb. #3423). Yaresh, therefore, means to occupy something as an inheritance by seizing it from someone else. The messiah and the elect shall receive the Promised Land by driving out the wicked.
36 Gen. 15:7; Acts 7:1-5.
37 Gen., 12:7, 13:14-15, 15:17–21, 17:8. The LXX also uses spermati (single seed) at this point.
38 The Hebrew term עד (ad), means, “continuing future, always” (CHAL, p. 264); “prop. a (peremptory) terminus, i.e. (by impl.) duration, in the sense of advance or perpetuity . . . eternity, ever (-lasting, -more), old, perpetually, = world without end” (SEC, Heb. #5703); “perpetuity, eternity . . . antiquity” (HEL, p. 187).
39 See Pss. 37:27–29, 21:4–7, 61:8; Dan. 12:3; Mic. 4:5; etc.
40 Most English translations render the Hebrew term עלם or עולם (olam) as “forever,” “everlasting,” or “eternity.” It is true that עולם (olam) means, “concealed, i.e. to the vanishing point” and “time out of mind,” or “eternity” (SEC, Heb. #5769). Yet it also carries with it the idea of a “world” or “age” (Introductory Hebrew Grammar [IHG]. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Michigan. 4th ed., 1955, p. 84, “age, eon, eternity”; Danby, Mishnah, p. 10, n. 8, “both ‘world’ and ‘eternity’”). In the Greek LXX translation of the Hebrew, for example, olam is translated by the Greek terms αἰών (aion) and αἰώνιος (aionios) (A Concordance to the Septuagint and the Other Greek Versions of the Old Testament (including the Apocryphal Books [CS], 1, pp. 39–42), meaning, “an age; by extens. perpetuity (also past); by impl. the world . . . perpetual (also used of past time, or past and future as well):—eternal, for ever, everlasting, world (began),” and “a period of existence . . . a definite space of time, an era, epoch, age, period . . . lasting for an age” (SEC, Gk. #165, 166; An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon [GEL], p. 25).
41 See 1 Chron., 16:15–19. נחלתכם (nachalathkim, i.e., your inheritance) is the plur. of נחל (nachal), “a prim. root; to inherit (as a [fig.] mode of descent), or (gen.) to occupy; causat. to bequeath, or (gen.) distribute, instate” (SEC, Heb. #5157); נחלה (nachalah), “prop. something inherited” (SEC, Heb. #5159).
42 Matt. 5:5; Ps. 37:9, 11, 22; Isa. 60:21. Isa. 57:13, notes, “But he who takes refuge in me, he shall נחל (nachal; inherit) the land, and he shall ירש (yaresh; possess as an inheritance) my sacred mountain.” Isa. 65:9, states, “And I will bring forth out of Jacob a seed (LXX, sperma, group), and out of Judah one (the messiah) to possess as an inheritance my mountain. And my chosen shall possess it as an inheritance, and my servants shall live there.”
43 Gen. 17:8; Ps. 105:8–11; 1 Chron. 16:15–20.
44 Isa. 24:4-5.
45 2 Tim. 1:1.
46 Heb. 5:7–10.
47 Gen. 17:5; 1 Chron. 1:27.
48 חדש (khadash), means “to be new; caus. to rebuild;—renew, repair . . . new:—fresh, new thing” (SEC, Heb. #2318, 2319); “renew, restore . . . new, recent, fresh” (HEL, p. 80).
49 Isa. 65:17, 66:22 (SEC, Heb. #2319); Rev. 21:1 (SEC, Gk. #2537).
50 Rev. 3:12.
51 Rev. 21:2, 10-11.
52 Heb. 12:22.
53 Gal. 4:21–31.
54 Isa. 60:14; Ezek. 48:34; cf. Rev. 3:12f.
55 2 Pet. 3:13; see Rev. 21:2, 10-11.
56 Gen. 17:6; see Rev. 1:6, 5:10. As heirs to the kingdom see Matt. 25:33-34; 1 Cor. 6:910, 15:50; Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5.
57 Rev. 21:7.
58 Rom. 4:13. The Greek word κόσμου (kosmou) means, “world-order, universe” (Greek–English Lexicon to the New Testament. This lexicon is located in the back of The Interlinear Literal Translation of the Greek New Testament. George Ricker Berry. Zondervan Publishing House, Michigan, 1958 [GEL], 1968, p. 985); “the material universe . . . the inhabitants of the world . . . a vast collection, of anything” (ILT, Lex., p. 57).
59 For example, Rev. 22:2–4; Heb. 12:14; Ps. 11:7; 1 John 3:2; Matt. 5:8.
60 Eccles. 9:5-6.
61 Heb. 9:27; cf., 1 Cor. 15:21f; Ps. 22:28-29.
62 Except for Yahushua, all humans have sinned, and all who have sinned shall die (Rom. 3:23, 5:12–14, 6:23; 2 Chron. 6:36; Eccles. 9:2–5; Ezek. 18:4, 20).
63 Gen. 25:8, 35:29, 49:33. Heb. 11:8–12, v. 13, “In trust these all died not having received the promises.”
64 That Isaak and Jacob were joint-heirs with Abraham see Heb. 11:8-9.
65 Eccles. 9:5-6.
66 Matt. 22:23–33; Mark 12:18–27; Luke 20:27–38.
67 For example, in the OT see Job 14:7–15; 1 Sam. 2:6; Pss. 16:10, 30:3, 49:12–15; Isa. 26:19; Hos. 13:14; Dan. 12:2, 13; and in the NT see John 11:23-24; Acts 17:18, 24:21; 1 Cor. 15:21, 42; Heb. 11:17–19, 35; Rev. 20:4–6.
68 1 Cor. 15:12–21.
69 Isa. 46:9-10.
70 Gen. 17:7.
71 Isa., 45:4, 65:9.
72 Heb. 8:13; Ezek. 37:15–28; Jer. 31:31–40. This evidence proves that the New Covenant will not be established until Yahweh returns the house of Israel and the house of Judah to the Promised Land permanently, at which time the true shepherd, the messiah, will reign.
73 Jer. 31:31–34; Heb. 8:3–13; Isa. 61:1–11, which note that the New Covenant is an everlasting covenant; and Ezek. 37:15–27, which states that this everlasting covenant is with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
74 Heb. 8:3–13.
75 Jer. 31:31-32; Isa. 54:5.
76 Gen. 12:1–3.
77 Ps. 133:1-3; Deut. 30:19.