Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible Part in the Book of Genesis. Tonight is Part #9 of Genesis, chapter 17 and we are going to read 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.

We have been looking at verses 7 and 8 for the last couple of studies and we spent some time looking at the everlasting covenant and the word “everlasting” and how it identifies with God and His kingdom, as well as His promises to the seed.

The Lord says, “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land…” Just as a reminder, the seed points to the Lord Jesus Christ, according to 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.

This is the Biblical definition of the “seed,” singular, which is Christ. So with God’s promise to Abraham, we must see that the “seed,” singular, is very important because it points to the Lord Jesus Christ. It said in Genesis 17:7:

And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.

And, again, it said in Genesis 17:8:

And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger…

God will give the land to Christ. It is His and He has ownership of it. We also know from Galatians 3 that since Christ is that “seed,” there is also a people counted for the seed in Him, as it says in Galatians 29:3:

And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Christ is that seed, but if we are His, we are also the “seed,” and note it is plural because it is related to everyone Christ has saved, the entire company of the elect. We are Abraham’s seed and the children of God. And whether Jew or Gentile or male or female, everyone written in the Lamb’s Book of Life is the seed that is in view when it says in 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.

We have discussed this, but we will look at it one more time before we move on. Here, God speaks of the land of Canaan as an “everlasting possession.” We are reminded by the Bible that this present earth in which the literal land of Canaan resides in the Middle East will be destroyed; it will be burned up with a fervent heat, according to 2Peter, chapter 3. That means that every nation in the earth will be destroyed, including the land of Canaan, so it is not Biblically possible for the land of Canaan to be given to the people of God for an everlasting possession because the literal land will not endure everlastingly. It will be destroyed (and very shortly), as God destroys the land of Canaan, the Middle East and the land of Israel that the Jews occupy, as well as the literal city of Jerusalem. It will all be destroyed and that disqualifies the literal land as what is in view regarding what God is telling us here.

You see, this is how God wrote the Bible. We must look at all possibilities. For instance, we know that the Bible also tells us in the next chapter of Galatians that there are two “Jerusalems.” There is a heavenly Jerusalem and there is an earthly Jerusalem “that now is” and we know there is a physical Israel and a spiritual Israel. God says in Romans that they are not all Jews that are physical descendants of Abraham, but then He went on to describe spiritual Jews that are circumcised – not in the flesh, but in the heart.

So, we see the way God has written the Bible and then we begin to understand that He is not referring to the earthly land of Canaan, but the heavenly land of Canaan. It is just like when we see the word “Jerusalem,” and it is not referring to the earthly Jerusalem, but to heavenly Jerusalem, like it does in Revelation 21 where “new Jerusalem” comes down from above. Since we know the Bible does this and we know God writes this way, we are faced with two possibilities regarding the land of Canaan: it could be the earthly land or it could be the heavenly land. Therefore, when we try to figure out which one it is, we understand that it cannot possibly be the physical land due to other scriptures that indicate that all the earth will be destroyed. It disqualifies that possibility and leaves only one other option, so we know we must go in that direction. This fits with the character of the Bible and how Christ speaks in parables and it also harmonizes with the rest of scriptures. There is no problem with God destroying the physical land of Canaan because we know it is talking of a heavenly land, the new heaven and new earth.

Again, our verse says in 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.

The word translated as “land” is the word “eh-rets” and it is Strong’s #776 and this word is also translated as “earth” or “world” and in a few other ways such as “field,” but it is usually translated as “earth.” It is only translated as “world” four times. The word “eh-rets” is translated as “land” 1,500 times, so there is nothing wrong with that translation, but it is also translated over 700 times as “earth,” which has to do with the entire earth and not just a portion of it. For instance, it is the word used in Genesis 1:1:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

It is the same word “earth” that is used throughout the chapter of Genesis 1 and we know God is speaking there of the entire earth, so this is the most frequent Hebrew word that is translated as “earth.” There is another Hebrew word that can be translated as earth, but it is not translated that way nearly as often as our word. This is the main Hebrew word for “earth,” so we can understand that God is saying in Genesis 17:8: “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the earth wherein thou art a stranger.” Since it is followed by the statement, “all the land of Canaan,” it just did not seem to fit, so the translators saw that God was speaking of the land of Canaan, so they translated it properly. We cannot say it was not translated properly, but it is more helpful to the spiritual meaning when we translated it as “earth,” which would be a proper translation: “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the earth wherein thou art a stranger, all the earth of Canaan…” Again, this is pointing to what Canaan represents and it is the outward representation of the kingdom of God to the inhabitants of the earth. It pictures the kingdom of God which will be granted to the people of God as the new heaven and new earth, so God uses the figure of the land of Canaan to typify the earth to come.

It says in Psalm 25:12-13:

What man is he that feareth JEHOVAH? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth.

This “man” is the Lord Jesus Christ. His seed will inherit the earth and this is the same Hebrew word and it is properly translated here as “earth,” because this is exactly what God is talking about. He is talking about inheriting the entire creation, the “earth.” Notice that it mentions the seed: “and his seed shall inherit the earth.” And the word “seed” is the same word used in our verse.

It also says in Psalm 37:9:

For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon JEHOVAH, they shall inherit the earth.

In the same Psalm, it says in Psalm 37:11:

But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

Then it says in Psalm 37:22:

For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.

And we recognize this language in the New Testament, too. It says, “The meek shall inherit the earth.” Those that are blessed shall inherit the earth, as it says in the Beatitudes, which are the blessings the Lord Jesus pronounced upon His elect people, in Matthew 5:3:

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

We could say, “for theirs is the land of Canaan.” Then it goes on to say in Matthew 5:4-5:

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

The word translated as “earth” is “ghay,” and it is also translated as “earth” or “land,” so it is synonymous with the Old Testament Hebrew word “eh-rets.” Here, Christ is laying down a principal that has been understood properly for a long time – it is God’s intention to give to the people He has saved a new heaven and a new earth. Of course, the Bible speaks of this in many places.

If we go back to the Old Testament, it says in Isaiah 60:21:

Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever…

This is the same Hebrew word that could have been translated as “earth” and it would have been better translated as “earth.”

Or, we can look at Isaiah 65:9:

And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.

A little further on, God says in Isaiah 65:17:

For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

Then He speaks of His elect in Isaiah 65:22:

They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

Of course, we will because God had said back in verse 9, “and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.” This has to do with the eternal habitation or dwellingplace of the people of God, the land of Canaan, an “everlasting possession.” The elect are the inheritors as it very clearly says in Isaiah 65.

Or, we could go to Isaiah 65:22:

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

We know of God’s plan to create a new heaven and new earth.

Then it says in 2Peter 3:12-13:

Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

This is the promise given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God assured Abraham and He has assured us that He has promised and sworn to it and His Word is truth and faithful. It is immutable and it cannot be changed. We know all the wonderful language of the Bible that God confirms with an oath. We could not know anything more assuredly than this. There is no greater security than something God has sworn to and guaranteed will happen. It is a certain as anything could be.

Let us go back to Genesis 17:8 and look at the second Part of the verse. Again, it says in 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.

The word translated as “stranger” is not the typical word for “stranger.” It is a word that is found relatively few times. It is found in Genesis 37:1:

And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.

It is also found in Exodus 6:2-4:

And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am JEHOVAH: And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them. And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.

It is the word “pilgrimage” that is the same word as translated as “stranger” in our verse. It is Strong’s #4033. It has to do with sojourning in a land where they will be temporary dwellers. That is the idea and we know from the historical account that Abraham dwelt in tents. Isaac dwelt in tents and Jacob dwelt in tents. They did not build a homestead or a big ranch and settle down as property owners. The Bible will later emphasize that Abraham purchased land only for the burial of Sarah, but it was the only property (land) that he owned during the time of his pilgrimage. He was a “stranger.” The Canaanites owned the land. Abraham did not own the land, but God promised him that he would one day own the entire land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, God’s elect people have no Part or parcel in this world, even if we own a home or a piece of property. We may own a little piece of property, but that is not the point. God is stressing that His people have been made “strangers” and “pilgrims” by Him because He has translated us out of this world and the kingdom of Satan and into the kingdom of His Dear Son, making us foreigners and strangers. He has given us citizenship in the heavenly kingdom and even though we still live on the earth and interact with people here, by God’s grace in saving us we have become strangers and pilgrims on this earth. This is why it is a good Biblical picture to see that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were sojourners. They never settled down in a permanent place and became a Part of the society around them. They would move about. In other words, this is not our home; we have a heavenly home and that is where we are headed. That is where our desire is and that is where we will settle for evermore.

Can you imagine that? You know, most people like stability. We want a stable home and we want stable relationships with people in our lives. We want stability in our family, do we not? We do not want our family members to die and leave us. We want stability because that is security and it gives us comfort. It is a wonderful thing when we can know that our mother, our father, our sisters and brothers and loved ones will never leave us. But there is no stability in this world. There is instability. There is constant turmoil because things are always being uprooted due to various circumstances, especially death. People leave us and we will leave, too, if the Lord wills, so there is no stability in that sense. This is the biggest cause of heartache, pain, misery, tears and sorrow that come with life in this world because it is only for a time that we will have our loved ones with us. Even the things we own are owned only for a time and then we pass on and, yet, God has promised and sworn an oath that there is a stable world to come. There is a stable new heaven and new earth. There is a stable life ahead where we will dwell in His presence. Of course, God is the essence of stability. He is everlasting and He has already assured us that He will never leave us nor forsake us. We will be with the people of God for evermore. There will be tremendous stability and that has a great deal to do with eternal happiness, love, joy and peace. If there were not stability, we would not have all those things.