Israel - Who Owns the Land — Keith Malcomson

I want you again to turn to a strange scripture as we deal with Israel and the contention that is raging around her as a national people and as a land. I want to bring you to part nine here tonight, and as we do, I want you to turn to Acts chapter 1 and verse 6, reading through to verse 9.

Acts chapter 1 verse 6 to verse 9. My message tonight, part nine, Israel, who owns the land? That's what the controversy is over. Reading from Acts chapter 1 verse 6, when they therefore were come together, they asked of him, that is Christ, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power, but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.

And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. Let's pray tonight. Father, we thank you for the Word of God. Father, this book is filled with so many things that are yet to happen, that the Spirit of God is revealed through prophets and apostles.

And Father, we thank you for the encouragement, the blessing of the Holy Scriptures. We thank you that they're a comfort unto us, that they stir us, that they challenge us, that they secure our hope in the future.

My God, that they place our eyes upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And my God, I thank you tonight, Lord God, that you are a covenant-keeping God. You not only make covenants, but you keep them, and you perform them, and you watch over them, even to a thousand generations.

You have swore by yourself because there was no one greater, and you've sworn in your holiness that you cannot lie, that what you said to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob and to their seed shall surely come to pass, that there shall always be a nation of Israel while there's stars in the heaven.

Lord God, thank you, God, that you're a covenant-keeping God, that you're a God that has gone to great lengths in showing us that you cannot lie, you cannot break one promise, that you'll fulfill all that is written in this book.

And Lord God, all these things in the Old Testament were written for our learning. And Lord God, for the blessing and encouragement of the body of Christ, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you tonight, Lord God.

We bless you. And even as there's a war raging around the national state of Israel, Lord God, we know there's a spiritual battle, Lord God, raging over your church, and the issue is our inheritance, the spiritual land.

And Lord God, we want to be so conscious tonight, even as we consider Israel, its conflict, its wars, the disputing of the land, that there's a far greater spiritual unseen battle raging around us, your church, right now, around every genuine believer.

There is a warfare concerning us inheriting, Lord God, the land of promise. Father, please help us by your grace and your mercy. Lord God, speak to us in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. My message, part nine, Israel, who owns the land?

Israel, Zion, and the Natural-Spiritual Pattern

This is one of the most hotly disputed issues of this generation, the generation before. And if our demise comes, the generation after us. This is one of the central issues. The people of Israel, the Jew, is one of the most controversial people on the earth.

But also, Israel, a small plot of land, is one of the most controversial bits of land. And the city of Jerusalem is one of the most controversial cities in the entire world. I believe this is what the Old Testament calls the controversy of Zion, the controversy, the war that rages around the survival, the existence of something called Zion, both spiritual and physical.

Because listen to me, God always uses the natural to teach us about the spiritual. First comes the natural, then the physical. If you have wisdom, you're not going to just look at Israel, learn about it, study or listen preaching to learn about the national state of Israel.

In doing that, you're going to learn many lessons about the spiritual. They are an earthly people. We are a heavenly people. And I want to tell you what happens to them naturally happens to us spiritually.

So even as we study here and look at Israel, always be mindful. They're a national people. They're a natural people. They're an earthly people. But we are a spiritual people, an eternal people, a heavenly people.

You can learn about the warfare of the real church, the real Christian, the real preacher, if you understand that. We've just read from Acts chapter 1. You might think it's a strange scripture to start with.

My subject is Israel, who owns the land? And considering who actually owns that little bit of land, I go back 2 ,000 years to the words of Jesus just before his ascension into heaven. He's already rose from the grave 40 days before.

He's alive physically in his resurrected body. When we come to Acts chapter 1, for 40 days after his resurrection from the dead bodily, physically, visibly, for 40 days, he intermittently appears to the disciples, his apostles, even to as many as 500 disciples physically, showing that he's risen from the dead.

During that 40 days, we're told here in Acts chapter 1 that he spoke to his disciples, his apostles, about the kingdom of God, things concerning the kingdom of God. That's the context of this, of him saying this.

Look what he says in Acts chapter 1, verse 6. When they therefore were come together, they asked him, saying, Lord, who are they asking? Not Jesus and his earthly ministry. He's resurrected. He's got his new body.

That's who they're speaking to, a Christ who is supreme in power, victorious over death. Here he is, they're asking him a question, Lord, will thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? Hear the disciples, the apostles, listen to me, they've been with Christ intermittently for 40 days.

They passed through the dark hours of his crucifixion. They experienced his resurrection, personal restoration of Peter, who denied him three times. Peter, come and dine. Do you love me? Asked him three times, because he denied three times.

He's restoring them. Do you know what? They locked themselves behind closed doors, terrified that they would die, but not now. They're with the resurrected Christ, and they ask him this question, these apostles who are about to experience Pentecost, will thou at this time, now, you're here physically in your resurrected body, are you going to restore now the kingdom to Israel?

Not to the church. Don't get the terms confused. He doesn't say church. Lord, will thou at this time right now, not future, at this time, restore again the kingdom of Israel? And he said unto them, it is not for you to know the time or the season.

They were interested in the timing. There's no discussion about here, about the kingdom being restored to Israel. No discussion. The apostles, Peter and the others, don't even entertain the thought of, will it happen?

Or is it now spiritual? They don't discuss that. They're actually saying, at this time, they were interested in the timing of the kingdom, because for 40 days he's spoken to them about the kingdom. There is a restoration of the kingdom.

You know what restore means? To give back, to bring back what they once had, to give them what is rightfully theirs. So they're talking about the physical nation of Israel. They know about the church.

They know about the Great Commission. But they're asking a specific question, the kingdom, the kingdom of God being restored to the physical nation of Israel. Is it going to be now? When is the timing of this?

A very important question. See then, this isn't just some idea. They're quoting from the Old Testament. This term about restoring the kingdom to Israel comes out of the Old Testament in many places. Listen to what it says in Joel chapter 3.

For behold, in those days and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem. So in other words, there's going to be a period of time that Judah and the city of Jerusalem, the land of Israel, is going to be in captivity.

There's going to be a marked time when that nation comes out of captivity. Joel says, I will also gather all nations and will bring them down into the city of Jehoshaphat, sorry, into the valley of Jehoshaphat.

We know that as Armageddon. We know that many call it the Third World War, that no one says we may not have a fourth or a fifth or a sixth. Don't limit it. You never know in our world. But here what you have is scriptures.

When you go into the Old Testament, you frequently read about the captivity of Jerusalem, of Israel, of the restoration of the kingdom being given to them as a physical nation. Many promises, many statements, much teaching, many prophecies given concerning this.

We also read this in its most fullest extent in Ezekiel's prophecy. Ezekiel speaks about the restoration of Israel to her land. The same mountains, the same cities, the same valleys, the exact same bit of land.

In fact, when you go into Ezekiel from chapter 35, remember we spoke on that about the mountains of Israel and the perpetual ancient hatred of all those peoples descended from Esau and Arab nations, the perpetual hatred, ancient hatred, and them taking the land, desolating the land, destroying the land, opposing the land.

What does God begin doing in Ezekiel 36 before He speaks about the restoration of physical Israel to the land? He prophesies to the physical land. Don't tell me God doesn't care about land. He cares about this bit of land, I want to tell you.

So beginning in Ezekiel 35, He begins prophesying to mountains, to valleys, to cities, to the mountains of Israel in particular. And He begins prophesying, saying, I'm going to prepare you for the restoration of the people.

I'm telling you, you're going to blossom again. You've been desolate for many generations, but I'm going to restore. When you come to Ezekiel 37, the valley of dry bones, that's not about the church primarily.

It can be used that way. Listen to me. All the promises are ours in Christ Jesus. We can take a prophecy like that, that's specifically, literally for Israel, and it does belong to us as well. There's nothing wrong with that.

It's for us spiritually as the church. What's for them naturally is for us spiritually. The same promises, the same prophecies, they belong to us. So don't think that, well, all the promises are Israel, we can't touch them.

No, they're written for us as well. All the stories, the covenants, the promises, we've been brought into all the covenants of promise that were given to Israel. They're for us as well, very literally.

So in Ezekiel 37, you first get the prophecies about the land, then you get this entire revelation of God's restoration of Israel. I'm going to bring forth the land again. I'm going to put you back in the physical land.

The same people that were scattered all nations being restored to the same nation, the exact same mountains. It has to be the same people and the same land. And he begins to talk, eventually, as you go through Ezekiel 36, you begin to read of their eventual spiritual revival of an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

And then you get the time of it. It's going to be at that time when Russia, Magog, Turkey, Iran, Libya, and the others attack Israel to destroy her. So you get the timing of this, of the whole process of when it's going to reach finality or a climax of spiritual restoration.

But it's going to begin with the land. The land is very important in all of this. So you get the disciples here. They came together and they asked him, saying, Lord, will thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

And what does he say? He said unto him, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in his own power. In other words, he said, it's not for you to know this. But notice what he does say, verse 8, but he shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you and you shall be witnesses.

Do you know what they're speaking about? It's speaking about Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Remember, Joel prophesied that, Joel prophesied this was going to happen. And Joel, when you go back and read there in Joel as we did, first you get Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Then he moves on to say, that's going to be in place, Pentecost, the outpouring of the Spirit's going to be in place until that day when Israel gets restored from her captivity and then all nations are going to come down to the Valley of Megiddo.

So you get a full spectrum here and you're getting the same in Acts chapter 1. You're beginning to see, you know what? It's got nothing to do with you. You're not going to get given the time, Peter, Matthew, John.

What does he set their focus on? The Holy Ghost, the power of the Holy Ghost. You will receive power to be witnesses. Go evangelize in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.

And then when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight. Christ spoke this and then he is gone. In this message tonight, Israel, who owns the land?

“From the River to the Sea” and the Land Dispute

We have all heard over these recent weeks the term, from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. Never has this term been so broadcast. Never have so many nations heard the statement, from the river to the sea.

College students all over America took this up and began repeating it, shouting it, crying it, passionately. In British streets, German streets, Irish streets, across the nations, national people of the world all took up this phrase, from the river to the sea.

Not really understanding what they're saying. Do you know what it's speaking about? That little bit of land. Don't tell me the land doesn't matter. When our world is ablaze, every area of society talking about this bit of land.

Every nation is talking about this little bit of land at the minute. It's that little bit of land between the river Jordan, that mucky, dirty river where people got baptized in, and the Mediterranean Sea.

Do you know the little strip known as Israel today? At its broadest point is only 70 miles wide, at its extreme widest point. We would blink and drive that. But its average distance across the land from, what did they say?

From the river to the sea. I'm talking about this bit of land. The average distance from the river to the sea is about 30 to 40 miles. No distance at all. You could actually take the entire nation of Israel and fit it into Southern Ireland three times.

You can take the entire nation of Israel and fit it into Munster. It would actually be hidden within Munster. And yet that little bit of land has twice the population of all of Ireland. This term from the river to the sea, let's have a look at who is using it.

We know in our world there are terrorist groups using from the river to the sea. Palestine will be free. We know terrorists are using it. Militants are using it. But also casual supporters of Palestinians, Irish people who don't even know what they ate for breakfast this morning just repeat it as another thing on Facebook and change their little picture to announce from the river to the sea.

They don't even have a clue what they're talking about. This term was banned in Germany. The head of the Metropolitan Police in London, when he ignored it in big demonstrations in London said, well, there's many ways to interpret this term.

Oh, yes, maybe someone means some radical statement, but it can be simply a plea for democracy and freedom. Nothing aggressive. This is the head of the police department, the Metropolitan Police in London, now he's an expert on religious statements.

Let me just settle this very simply and let me give you concrete evidence. The first ever mention of this statement ever, that should pretty well settle it, shouldn't it? The first time this statement from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free, was ever used and created was by the PLO in the West Bank in 1964.

That was the very first use of that term. They originated, they created it, and they were calling for the utter annihilation of Israel as a state by bombing, murder, utter destruction. That's what they meant by it.

They rejected in 1947 the UN partition plan and demanded one united Palestinian state free from the Jew, free from Israel, and they called for a perpetual war upon the Jew and upon the nation of Israel.

Hamas used this statement officially for the first time in 2012 by using it in official documents, and then they placed it in their charter in 2017 calling for the violent destruction of the state of Israel.

Quote, Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea. So we have the statement from the river to the sea. Our world is ablaze with this little bit of land, 70 miles at the extreme, 30 miles on its normal basis.

This little tiny bit of land is hotly contested. Governments are stirred over it. The UN, the EU, America, China, Russia, Ireland, all ablaze. Every area of society is burning over this. It is one of the most hotly disputed issues of this era.

Religious and International Opposition to Israel

Let me give you several areas of great opposition to Israel being in the land, which are worldwide. Number one, religious opposition. There is a dynamic religious opposition to the physical national people of Israel being upon that bit of land, and it comes from Islam.

Islam is considered one of the three biggest religions of our world. They would claim they're the biggest. Within the state of Israel today, Islam is the second largest religious group or religion practiced within the nation of Israel.

Eighteen percent of their population claim to be Muslims. That's about 1 .7 million people within Israel are practicing Muslims, and they have the liberty to do that, although many may contest that. When you look at the Middle East, Israel only possesses 0 .1 of land in the Middle East.

Not 1%, 0 .1%. That's all the land. They are surrounded immediately by 22 Arab Muslim nations. Notice that they're Muslim nations. Religion dominates them, like Catholicism used to dominate Ireland. So Islam dominates their societies.

It's remarkable. So Israel's surrounded. There's much ground for Arabs, for Muslims. Let me tell you the DNA of Palestinians today. Are they a unique people? Well, they have the same DNA as Jordanians and Egyptians and Syrians.

The same DNA. That tells me they're not different. They're not a unique people. They're not an ancient people. They have no archaeology in the land of Israel. They have no history. There has never been a Palestinian people with a state in Israel.

Never. But look at this. This is a first-grade opposition. Is Islam, as a religion, a world religion, one of the three biggest international religions that sits engulfing it, surrounding it with armies, with power, with political might, are all set against Israel possessing this little bit of land.

It's a tiny strip. They've got all of these nations. But yet they have a hatred. They have an indignation. When you go to the Koran, you read in the Koran, Islam's holy book, the name Israel 43 times.

43 times. And I can take you through this very easily. 43 times. Do you know when you read that, and I went through them, I started going through all the mentions of Israel in that book. Do you know that within the Koran, they acknowledge Israel's right to the land?

They acknowledge that they are the people of that land. Modern Muslims will tell you differently. But I'm looking at the Koran. The Hadiths, the traditional teachings, the myths of Islam are different.

They're aggressive against the land of Israel. But it's very interesting what you have here. Islam is split into two forms of Islam. You've got Sunni Muslims and you've got Shia Muslims. Now the Sunni make up about 85 of all Muslims in the world.

85%. And the Shia Muslims are 15%. Turkey is a Sunni Muslim nation. And Iraq, or Iran rather, Persia, is a Shia Muslim nation. They're in opposition. So you've got two forms, and this has gone on for 1 ,400 years from their beginning.

As soon as Muhammad died, there was a dispute within Islam. Who's going to replace him? So you've got two forms of Islam because they appointed two different leaders to take the place of Muhammad. So from the beginning of Islam, you've got an internal dispute over a lineage.

And you know, so you've got Turkey and Iran who are going to join together to invade Israel with Russia. And they're in agreement today. They've made a covenant today to join with Russia. They're in agreement, yet they're opposed in their Islamic beliefs.

And yet they're joined. What unites them? Israel unites them. So that's the first thing. You have religious opposition. Is this Islamic opposition? And of course we know Jerusalem's not even mentioned once in the Koran.

Yet they claim Jerusalem as one of their three holy cities. They actually say that Muhammad... First of all, they said that he only went to the holy mosque in a certain place, and they claim it was Jerusalem.

Then they said, no, he went on his horse from Jerusalem, from where the Golden Dome is, and he ascended up into heaven. The only problem is the Islamic armies didn't reach Jerusalem till five years after he died.

But this is what they claim. These are all the stories within the Koran. Israel's called the holy land. That's the name that they actually give to it. And so you've got this radical Islamic religion, and much of it is radical.

You know all the ones who are opposed in Israel, and they'll attack Israel. They say, it's a religious war we're involved with. We do it on the basis of the Koran. We're doing this for Allah. You know what some of their leaders have said?

If you die fighting a Jew, you will be rewarded as a hero. You're a hero if a Jew kills you in warfare. The second thing is military opposition. We have heard nothing but wars against Israel. Great armies, 48, 67, 73.

Tens of thousands. Numbers of nations. Military power. Who wins each time? Israel wins each time. But look at the military opposition. Third of all, you have terrorist opposition. You have Hamas, PLO.

You've got the various... There's not one or two terrorist groups. There's numbers of Muslim terrorist groups. You know where they recruit? They recruit in London. I guarantee they're recruiting in Ireland somewhere.

They're recruiting in all the cities of the world. They're recruiting over Europe. Straight through to Berlin. They will stir up these terrorist groups there. They have an inbred hatred and antagonism.

We must get Israel out of this bit of land. There's political opposition. The UN is opposed to Israel being in the land. They have spoken more against Israel than any other nation in the entire world.

You've got tyrannical systems. You've got bloodshed. You've got China doing all sorts of things. The UN doesn't speak against them. It speaks against the little land of Israel. Right across our world, politicians, kings, princes, leaders of men, legal establishment, they've all got their focus on Israel.

They're opposed to Israel being in the nation, being in the physical land. There's media opposition. I'm going somewhere. I'm taking you somewhere here. There's media opposition where the media marches out.

How quickly did our world forget what a massacre took place? But last of all, this is the last opposition I'm going to mention here, and it's the most important. It's the one I want you to think about here.

Replacement Theology and Spiritualized Land Promises

Theological opposition. The word theology, theo, God, the knowledge of God. The term theology basically has come to mean, and I've got a different definition for it, of course, but generally in the church they say theology is just a biblical teaching about an aspect of what God says in this book.

My definition of theology is like William Ames, the old Puritan. He said theology is the teaching that makes you walk with God. I prefer that. That's my definition. I stole it from him. But do you know what?

Today there's theological opposition to Israel, and we dealt with it in the two previous weeks. Replacement theology. This is from within the church, and this is the one that's important to us. Not the political, not the religious, not the military, not the terrorism, not the media.

It's that that's taught within the church by those who claim to be born again. Preachers, pastors, teachers of the word who love Jesus and the Bible. Yet there's a theological opposition. There is a teaching that they teach against Israel having the land.

Do you know what they've got to do first? They steal like we dealt with last week. Identity theft. Israel no longer means Israel. The church is Israel. We are spiritual Jews. Once they steal the identity, what do they do now?

They spiritualize the land. Listen to what replacement theology teaches about the land of Israel. This is what we're going into here tonight. They say the covenant and promises concerning the land to Israel are already fulfilled.

Fully complete. God's got nothing else to do with it. It is fulfilled. It is finalized. It has happened. There's nothing else to happen with it. So it's a completed covenant. The everlasting covenant.

The covenant with Abraham. It's fulfilled. Don't worry about it. It's not for you. Second of all, some of them teach because they all teach different things because they have to get the land, rid of the land or do something with the land.

There's others who say the covenant is disannulled because Israel rebelled, sinned, didn't accept the gospel. The promise of the land to Israel is disannulled. They have lost their right to it. They can never recover that.

Others say it was transferred. In other words, it's gone to others. Oh yes, it's still there, but Israel has no right. It's open for everybody, for anybody. It's for all people, for every nationality.

Then there's others who say it's spiritualized. The land is Jesus. So they spiritualize it to say, yes, the promises are still being fulfilled. Yes, it's still for us today, but it's for the church. It's in Jesus.

It's not a physical possession. It's a heavenly possession. Let me deal with this. We're going to go to scriptures now. I'm talking about the utter opposition. Listen to me. When you see Israel, the opposition politically, socially, academically, theologically, from terrorists, you're hardly getting a full view of the opposition against the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

What does Jesus say? I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against her. Do you realize there's a raging war around the church of Jesus? Do you realize there's a war of annihilation spiritually, invisibly?

Every time you turn your television on and you're seeing rockets and you're seeing soldiers, terrorists, bombs, desolation, that's nothing compared to the spiritual war going on in our world. There is a war raging, invisible.

You wonder why you're in the midst of a battlefield. You wonder why you feel you're going through so much. We are soldiers on the battlefield. Do you know what civilians can lie on in the morning? A soldier has to be in his position.

He's got to have his weapon. He's got to be ready. You're not your own. You're a soldier. You've been bought by a price. You know, when you go into the army, the sergeant major doesn't have much mercy on you.

No excuses for sleeping in. Well, I felt sick. I just thought I'd stay in the Bible. Or in the bed. There's no room for that. Listen to me. I'm going into the core of the Scripture after Scripture about the land tonight for where we're going in the weeks ahead.

And we're going to deal with this in the new land in the new year. Get my words all back to front here. As we go into the new year, I'm going to move to Israel concerning Bible prophecy in the last days on what is just about to happen in last things.

But concerning this land, there's so much opposition to take away the land from Israel militarily, legally, and theologically that she has no right to the land. Listen to me carefully in the next statement I'm going to make.

One great scholar who used to be replacement theology about 10 years ago, he radically changed his mind. He was a theologian. He was a great scholar. But he believed in replacement theology. But he went back to the Bible.

He wrote two books on all the promises in the Old Testament giving the land to Israel. And this is what he said. Over 1 ,000 times in the Old Testament, the land is either explicitly promised to Israel or it's indirectly inferred over 1 ,000 times.

Do you think it's accidental to have a statement like that where a physical land is given to a physical people and it's repeated times without number? Here's another statement he made. I haven't counted all these, so I don't know.

But it was enough to convince him and he made a radical change at the peak of his career, theologically. Because he said, there was a veil on my eyes that I couldn't see this. He said, it's so obvious.

But he said, I had a veil theologically. And I spiritualized the land. I spiritualized all the people. I stole their name. I said, I'm Israel. I'm a real Jew. He said, I was so wrong. So let's just go to a few of these scriptures.

But this is something else he said. He said, the word covenant in the Old Testament mentioned about 74 times appearing in five books of Moses. 73 of the time that the word covenant is mentioned in the Old Testament, the land of Israel is connected with it.

In other words, you can't separate covenant from a physical land. A physical land. You can't separate that. So let's look at this covenant connection. It says in Genesis chapter 12 verse 1. And this is Abraham meeting with the Lord.

It says in Genesis 12 verse 1. Now the Lord said unto Abraham, get thee out of thy land, Ur of the Chaldees, our present day Iraq. Get thee out of thy land. And notice where he came from. This is the beginning of the physical people of Israel.

God calls one man and his wife to come out of what is today Iraq, near Babylon. That's where God found his people. So he speaks to this man. Abraham says, get thee out of thy country, thy physical land, and from thy kindred, thy family.

He didn't obey that part. Slowed him down. Delayed him. And from thy father's house, he didn't listen to that part. And you know what? He never got into the land until his father died. He tried to take his father with him.

God says, don't take your father. I shall be okay. I'm stepping out. I've left my land. You didn't leave your father or your household or your kindred. That's going to cause you problems. And he says, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee.

This is the first promise. Then in verse 7 he says, and the Lord appeared unto Abraham and said, Unto thy seed I give this land. And there built he an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him. So here's God appearing to Abraham.

This is the beginning. Your seed, your children from Abraham, I'm going to give a land. This land. He shows him the land. He didn't own it. He didn't possess it. He didn't build a house in it. He was always in a tent.

Always building an altar. Always on the move. But he never put down roots in the land. But God said, your seed is going to possess it. Your seed is going to own this land. Then in Genesis chapter 15 verse 12,.

And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abraham. And lo, a horror of darkness fell upon him. Notice what God's going to do. God is about to make a covenant with Abraham. It's not a covenant of you do your part and I'll do my part.

What does he do? He puts Abraham to sleep. Then he makes the covenant. That means the covenant isn't with Abraham. Notice very carefully what happens here. And he said unto Abraham, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them 400 years.

It's a prophecy. He hasn't even had one child yet. This is yet to happen. He's prophesying hundreds of years into the future. You know, God can prophesy about this hour right now exactly, explicitly. Give you the time frame, give you the details, give you everything.

He is absolutely in control of world history. And so here he says, And thy people shall serve them and they shall afflict them 400 years. And also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge And afterwards shall they come up out with great substance and thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace.

Thou shalt be buried in a good old age. Unto Abraham now. But in the fourth generation they shall come thither again to this land. They're going to come out of Egypt. Though he doesn't mention that in the prophecies is that land where they're going to be for 400 years.

And they're going to return from that land to this land. It's very important where they come to. They can't just take up any land, invade any land. This is the land that I'm promising. And he's telling Abraham very clearly.

And it came to pass that when the sun went down and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. Notice two flames of fire come. Abraham's asleep. There's animal sacrifices here prepared.

Abraham had it prepared. And he had to shoo the birds of the air away. And then God puts him to sleep. Why would God put him to sleep and then begin making a covenant? Because God makes it with himself.

He's not making it with Abraham. He's making it with himself saying I'm making a covenant. Listen very carefully. It's about a people and it's about a land. This covenant. And so this smoking furnace and this burning lamp passed between the pieces of the sacrifice together.