Bible Questions and Answers

The Bible hope of future life is seen in the promise made to Abraham.

Genesis 13:15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.

God promised Abraham eternal possession of the land of Canaan.

Genesis 17:8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

This promise was repeated to Isaac

Genesis 28:13 And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

And repeated to Jacob

Genesis 35:12 And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.

None of them owned the land in their lifetime.

Acts 7:5 And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.

Hebrews 11:39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:

The promise therefore means that they must be raised from the dead to inherit the land forever at some future time.

The way that this will be brought about is contained in the promise:

Genesis 22:18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

This seed is Jesus Christ.

Galatians 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

It is through the sacrifice of Christ that sins can be forgiven and the faithful raised to life when Christ returns.

The natural seed of Abraham became the nation of Israel and God gave them the land of Canaan.

In the land, they became a kingdom and God chose David as their king.

This kingdom was in fact the kingdom of God, for we are told:

1 Chronicles 29:23 Then Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king instead of David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him.

God promised David a son who would establish his throne forever.

1 Chronicles 22:10 He shall build an house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever.

This Son is Jesus Christ.

Luke 1:32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

From this we understand that the future kingdom of God will be the restored kingdom of David, and Jesus Christ will rule the earth from Jerusalem.

Isaiah 2:2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Israel failed to keep God’s covenant and caused the death of the promised seed.

They were therefore expelled from the land.

This expulsion is not forever, it is only until the times of the gentiles are fulfilled.

Luke 21:24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

When Christ returns to establish the kingdom of God, the nation will recognise him as their redeemer and be reconciled to God.

Zechariah 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

Zechariah 13:9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

God made the earth to be inhabited.

Isaiah 45:18 For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.

He intends to fill it with his glory

Numbers 14:21 But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.

This glory will be in the form of faithful men and women raised from the dead and given the divine nature

2 Peter 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

The Bible hope of future life is that of resurrection from the dead to eternal life in the kingdom of God on earth.

The faithful will have an eternal inheritance on the earth and God will live with and in his people.

So we pray:

Matthew 6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

And we read:

Psalms 37:11 But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

There is of course more detail to be fitted in but this should give an outline of the hope.

May I suggest that you read

‘The Kingdom of God on Earth’ (click here)

And

‘Your Share in God's Promises’ (click here)

I hope you find this helpful.

God bless,
Glenn