From time immemorial the ownership of land has been bitterly contested. In the past, in continental Europe, frontiers changed many times, sometimes with bewildering frequency, and the colonial powers wrestled over territories in the New World. On a more parochial level, next-door neighbours have become locked in bitter feuds, sometimes involving costly court action, over a few inches in the line of a boundary fence. The Bible gives us God’s perspective on the bitter dispute in the land of Israel today.

First, it is clearly stated that, as its Creator, God is the rightful ‘owner’ of all the earth...

The earth is the Lord’s and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein. For He has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the waters. Psalm 24:1 (NKJV)

From all the nations God chose the Children of Israel as His special people...

…if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is mine. Exodus 19:5 (NKJV )

Notice again God’s claim: …all the earth is mine.

Under the leadership of Moses, God brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt to the borders of the Promised Land. This land, which today is so bitterly contested, was chosen by God as the home for His people and promised to Abraham as an eternal possession. If this is not remarkable enough, God also said that He himself would dwell in the land and walk among His people. Consider the following quotations...

But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and when He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety, then there will be the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. Deuteronomy 12:10-11 (NKJV)

Therefore do not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell; for I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel. Numbers 35:34 (NKJV)

I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. Leviticus 26:12 (NKJV)

The present day nation of Israel is making many enemies in its handling of the Palestinian problem and it would be a bold man who would forecast a peaceful outcome. But God does not break His word: He is in control, and soon the Jews will be brought to acknowledge Him as their God and Jesus as their Messiah. Then the land of Israel will truly be the Promised Land and God’s Son will reign over a world-wide Kingdom from Jerusalem...

For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Isaiah 2:3 (NKJV).