That means the land belongs to the descendants of Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel. In other words, the land belongs to the children of Israel, referred to in the New Testament as the Jews (Romans 1:16).

Some immediately protest this claim be arguing that the Abrahamic Covenant has been abrogated either by the Cross or by the disobedience of the Jews. But the Bible clearly teaches that the Abrahamic Covenant is an everlasting one that is still in effect (Genesis 17:7; 1 Chronicles 16:17-18; Psalm 105:8-11; and Romans 9:4).

As to the effect of the Jew's rejection of Jesus, Paul specifically addresses this question in Romans 3. He asks a rhetorical question: "What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?" For almost two thousand years the Church has answered this question with a resounding, Yes! But Paul answers it differently. He says, "May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar. . ." (Romans 3:1-4).

Further, Paul states in Romans 11 that the disobedience of the Jews has not nullified the promises of God to them, "for the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable" (Romans 11:29). God's promises are going to be fulfilled to a believing remnant (Romans 9:27).

What most people do not know is that there are two Old Testament covenants pertaining to the land of Israel. The Abrahamic Covenant gives the title of the land to the Jews in perpetuity. A later covenant, the Mosaic Land Covenant — or Canaan Covenant — of Deuteronomy 28-30 defines the conditions for possession and enjoyment of the land.

This latter covenant is often referred to as the "Palestinian Covenant," but that is a misnomer, for the land was never called Palestine until after the second Jewish revolt in 132 A.D. At that time the Romans dubbed it "Palestine" to erase the memory of its Jewish heritage and to insult the Jews, for Palestine is the Latin word for Philistine, the ancient enemy of Israel.

Let me illustrate the role and relationship of these two covenants with a modern day example. Let's say you buy a car for a child of yours and put the title in the child's name. But you explain to the child that there are conditions for using the car — such as no speeding. And you warn your child that a speeding ticket will result in the loss of the privilege of driving the car for a period of two weeks. If the child gets a ticket and you lock the car up in the garage for two weeks, the car still belongs to the child because the child's name is on the title. But the child has temporarily lost possession of the vehicle.

In like manner, the Abrahamic Covenant (about 2,000 B.C.) gave the title of the land to the Jews for eternity. The Canaan Covenant (about 1250 B.C.) defined the terms for possession and use of the land. Title and possession are not the same thing. The Jews have lost possession of the land from time to time, but they have never lost their God-given title.

The Land Covenant promised that Israel would become the prime nation of the world if the Jews were obedient to God (Deuteronomy 28:1,13). But the covenant warned that many curses would befall the people if they were disobedient (Deuteronomy 28:15-37), including exile from the land (Deuteronomy 28:38-57). The covenant warned further that if temporary exile did not restore the Jews to obedience, they would suffer worldwide dispersion and persecution (Deuteronomy 28:58-68). But nowhere are they told that their disobedience would led to a loss of their title to the land.

In fact, the Land Covenant ends in chapter 30 with a prophecy and a promise that a day will come — after the Jews have experienced the curses of the covenant — when the Lord will restore them to their land once again:

The Lord will restore you from captivity, and have compasion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back. And the Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall posses it. — Deuteronomy 30:3-5

For almost 1900 years the Jews wandered among the nations and suffered severe persecution, just as prophesied in Deuteronomy 28. During that time, their land became desolate as prophesied in Deuteronomy 29. But in this century, God has regathered them form the four corners of the earth, re-established them in their land, and reclaimed their land from wilderness to milk and honey — as prophesied in Deuteronomy 30.

The only prophecy left to be fulfilled in the Land Covenant is the spiritual salvation of the gathered remnant (Deuteronomy 30:6-8). That will occur soon when they repent and accept Y'shua as their Messiah.

The Abrahamic and Land Covenants make it clear that the Jewish people have both the right to the land of Israel and the right to be back in it today.

Where does this leave the Arabs? As descendants of Abraham's son, Ishmael, they too have a promise, but it is not a land promise. The covenant God made with Ishmael had to do with the number of his descendants. Ishmael was promised that his descendants would be "multiplied exceedingly" (Genesis 17:20).

God has faithfully kept His promise to the descendants of Ishmael. Today there are 21 Arab states with a combined population of 175 million Arabs. There is only one Jewish state with a population of 4 million. The Arab states contain 5.3 million square miles of oil rich land. Israel has only 8 thousand square miles of land with no major oil reserves that have been discovered. That's a population ratio of 43 to 1 and a land ratio of 662 to 1!

But what about the Palestinian people? Don't they deserve a state? Keep in mind first of all that a Palestinian state has never existed. From 70 A.D. to 1948 the geographical area known as Palestine was never an independent state nor did the Arabs residing there have any consciousness of themselves as a separate nation of people. They regarded themselves as Syrians. Also, keep in mind that Jerusalem has never served as the capital of any Arab nation, whereas it has been considered the capital of the Jewish people since 1000 B.C.

Also noteworthy is the fact that when the West Bank and Gaza were under Jordanian autonomy from 1948 to 1967, there was not any effort to create a separate Palestinian state. The PLO was formed during that time, not for the purpose of creating a Palestinian State, but rather for the purpose of exterminating the Jewish state.

Equally important is the fact that a Palestinian state already exists — and it is four times larger than Israel! The Palestinian state is Jordan. In the Balfour Declaration of 1917, the British originally promised all the Palestinian Mandate to the Jews as a national homeland. But in 1922 they broke that promise by using 77% of the Mandate to create the Arab state of Jordan. Today that state's population is 75% Palestinian.

Then why do the Palestinian refugee camps exist in Israel? Because the Arab states are determined to use them as helpless pawns to unite world public opinion against Israel. The tiny nation of Israel has absorbed over 800,000 Jews who have been forcibly expelled from the Arab countries since 1948. But the 21 Arab countries refuse to absorb the 600,000 Palestinian refugees.

The real Arab goal is not the establishment of another Palestinian state. The true goal is the destruction of Israel. Manipulating Palestinian refugees to commit civil rebellion is just another ploy in the relentless war against the Jewish state.

The world insists that the Jews must trade land for peace. But trading land for peace only whets the appetite of the aggressor. Israel has returned the Sinai to Egypt twice, and the Egyptians are still bristling with hostility toward Israel.

Furthermore, Israel doesn't have any territory to give away. It is one of the world's smallest nations. Turning the West Bank over to hostile Arabs would put the enemy of Israel within 11 miles of Tel Aviv. No government in its right mind would agree to such insanity.

Then why has the government of Rabin and Peres tried to do exactly that? There are several reasons. Keep in mind first of all that this is the most liberal government in the history of Israel. In its leadership there is not one believer. All are either agnostics or atheists. They are guided by a deceived humanistic philosophy that believes in the essential goodness of man. They therefore have deceived themselves into believing that if they will be nice to their enemy that he will return the favor.

They have also been deceived into believing that the basic problem is a political one that can be solved through political compromise. But the basic issue is religious, not political. The Arab world feels compeled by Allah to destory Israel. There can be no compromise regarding this ultimate goal. The methods of the Arabs many vary between violence and diplomacy, but the goal is still the same — namely, the destruction of Israel.

The Israeli leadership has also been deceived into believing that Yasser Arafat has changed. They believe their sincere peace efforts, combined with European and American pressure have converted Arafat from a terrorist gangster into a peace-loving statesman. Yet, Arafat's words and actions make it clear to all but the deceived that he has not changed in any way. He has simply resorted to diplomacy to get a toe-hold in the heart of Israel from which he will launch new waves of terrorism to acquire Jerusalem and then all of Israel.

The misguided and naive Israeli policy of appeasement has done nothing but whet Arafat's appetite. If he can get Gaza, Jericho, and then Judea and Samaria by throwing stones, why should he stop there? He will soon be launching rockets to gain Jerusalem.

The Jews must stand firm in their determination to maintain the territorial integrity of the land God gave them. This will soon happen, for the Jews, regardless of the party in power, must sooner or later draw the line somewhere and say, "Mo more!" That line will be drawn at Jerusalem. When they draw it, they will bring the wrath of the nations upon themselves. The prophet Zechariah says that all the nations of the world will come together against Israel in the end times (Zechariah 12:3).

But God will sustain the Jewish people, for they are the "apple of His eye" (Zechariah 2:8). The Word of says Palestine is finished — "melted away" (Isaiah 14:29-32). And the Word says that once the Jews are re-established in the their land, "they will never be rooted up again" (Amos 9:14-15).

Let all the world come together against God's Chosen. The Lord sits in the heavens and laughs (Psalm 2:4), for He has the wisdom and power to orchestrate all the evil of Man to the fulfillment of His promise (Psalm 76:10).

Y'shua is coming soon, and when He returns, Israel will enjoy the blessings of territorial integrity and peace forevermore (Zechariah 8:1-8).

Dr. David R. Reagan serves as the Senior Evangelist for Lamb & Lion Ministries. He is a native Texan who resides in a suburb of Dallas. He is married and is the father of two daughters. His wife, Ann, is a first grade teacher. They have four grandchildren.

Dr. Reagan is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Texas in Austin. His graduate degrees were earned in the field of International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy of Tufts and Harvard Universities.

Dave — as he prefers to be called — was the founder of Lamb & lion Ministries in 1980. Before entering the ministry he had an extensive career in higher education which included the following positions: Assistant to the President of Austin College in Sherman, Texas; President of South Texas Jr. College in Houston; Director of Pepperdine University's Center for International Business in Los Angeles; and Vice President of Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma.

In the mid-60's Dave served as a Fulbright Lecturer at the University of the Philippines and toured all of Southeast Asia lecturing on U.S. foreign policy in behalf of the U.S. Information Agency.

Dave is a life-long Bible student, teacher, and preacher. He entered the full time ministry in 1976 when he was called to serve as the pulpit minister for a church in Irving, Texas. His ordination as a Christian minister has been formally recognized by three different Christian groups.

He is the author of many religious essays which have been published in a wide variety of journals and magazines. He has written five books — Trusting God, The Christ in Prophecy Study Guide, What the Bible Says about AIDS, The Master Plan, and Jesus is Coming Soon! (a book for children). He has co-authored another book called The Parched Soul of America. His sermons on cassette tape and video tape have been distributed world wide. His books have been translated into several languages. He has led more than twenty pilgrimages to Israel that focus on the prophetic significance of the sites visited. He has also conducted prophecy conferences in Russia, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Beloruss, Israel, and South Africa.

Dave is one of the spokesman on Lamb & Lion's daily radio program called "Christ in Prophecy." This program is broadcast across the United States. The program deals with the prophetic significance of national and international events.