Israel's Land Promises Review of G. K. Beale

S
G. K. Beale and Israel’s Land Promises
Reviewed
William Bell
copyright (c) 2015
AllThingsFulfilled.com

Introduction
S A brief critique of G. K. Beale’s analysis of Israel’s Land
promises in his book, New Testament Bible Theology”
Ch. 22.
S Are the promises of Israel to be fulfilled materially and
literally as the physical land in the Exodus?
copyright (c) 2015

Beale’s Quotes
S The restoration of Christ does not return believing people to a physical
land as a mark of their redemption.
S “Redeemed people do not go to a geographical place to be redeemed;
rather, they flee to Christ and God for their salvific restoration,” NTBT, p.
750
S “There is also reference to Christians who will experience the “rest” that
Israel should have experienced in the promised land, but here the ‘rest’ is
the focus, and the land of Israel appears to be typological of a rest that is
spiritual.” Ibid, p. 751
S The physical way these land promises have begun fulfillment is that Christ
himself introduced the new creation by his physical resurrection, Ibid
copyright (c) 2015

Christ, Israel’s New Temple
S Temple implies land
S People imply land
S If Christ is the new temple, and since the people are in
Christ, it must follow that the land ultimately promised to
Israel is “in Christ”. (Matt. 11:28-30; Heb. 4:1-11; 11:13-
16)
copyright (c) 2015

Christ’s Resurrection
S He is the “first of the firstfruits” of them that slept, 1 Cor.
15:20
S He is the “firstborn” from the dead: And He is the head of
the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things He may have the
preeminence. Col. 1:18
S Christ is the beginning of the “creation of God” Rev. 3:14
copyright (c) 2015

Christ’s Death and Antitype
S Christ’s death is the antitype of the death of Adam: “For as in
Adam all die, even so in Christ all are made alive”.
S The death of Adam continued through the covenant of Moses,
but does not extend beyond it. (Rom. 5:12-14)
S If physical death did not end at the covenant of Moses, then it
is not the death of which Christ is the beginning, the firstfruits or
the firstborn.
S Physical death violates the very principle of the “firstfruits”
which was a pledge to complete a harvest which had begun in
Christ.
copyright (c) 2015

1st the Natural
S The natural is first, not last.
S The natural is typological of the spiritual.
S And so it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being’
The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
S However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the
spiritual. (1 Cor 15:44-45)
S The natural (psychikos) spiritual (pneumatikos) is not a contrast of
physical versus non-physical or disembodied spirits 1 Cor. 2:14,
Jude 19.
copyright (c) 2015

Last the Spiritual
S Beale says the “two stage” process is an “inauguration of
this fulfillment” and “installment fulfillment” saying the
“initial” or first stage occurs with the spiritual with the
natural occurring at the end!
S That is directly opposite to what the Bible teaches! The
very opposite! Then he admits:
S “What references there are to the land in the NT seem to
be spiritualized” p. 751
copyright (c) 2015

Fulfilled in Christ
S If those promises were being fulfilled in the resurrection
of the Christ, it must be the case that Christ’s resurrection
fulfills “spiritual” not physical promises.
copyright (c) 2015

Christ’s Raised in the Spirit
S Beale fails to acknowledge that Christ’s resurrection occurred in the realm
of the Spirit.
S “In the Spirit” is not contrasted with “biological flesh”.
S “In the Spirit” is contrasted with “in the flesh” which are two opposing or
antithetical “covenantal” states.
S One represents living under the Law “in the flesh” because it required the
flesh to achieve its righteousness, (Rom. 7:11-14; 8:3).
S The other is living under the New Covenant, because it grants
righteousness through Christ the power of God, i.e. via the Spirit (Rom.
8:2-3)
copyright (c) 2015

Not About His Physical Body
S Christ’s body was a “sign” of the “real” or “invisible”
resurrection of his death to sin (more later), Mat. 12:38-
40; 16:4; Jn. 20:30-31.
S Jesus’ physical body did not change in his resurrection,
Lk. 24:39-43.
S Therefore, no contrast between biological flesh versus a
disembodied Spirit occurred in Christ’s resurrection.
copyright (c) 2015

Put To Death “In the Flesh” but
Raised “In the Spirit”
S “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the
unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death
in the flesh but made alive by [Gk. “in”] the Spirit.
S The phrases “in the flesh” and “in the Spirit” are locatives,
in the Greek meaning location or the realm or sphere
where the action takes place.
S Jesus’ death was “in the flesh” and raised “in the Spirit”
with Christ.
copyright (c) 2015

Believers Were Put to Death in the
Flesh and Raised In the Spirit
S Believers follow Christ in His exodus from the flesh, Lk. 9:31
S Believers died with Christ to the Law and realm of the flesh,
Rom. 7:4-6
S “For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which
were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear
fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the
Law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should
serve in the new newness of the Spirit and not in the
oldness of the letter.
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Death With Christ In Baptism
S Know you not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus
Christ were baptized into His death. Therefore we are buried with
Him by baptism into death, just as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in
newness of life.
S For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death,
we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.
S For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life
that He lives, He lives to God.
S Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but
alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 6:3-11)
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Requirement of the Law Fulfilled
S For what the law could not do in that it was weak through
the flesh, God did by sending His own son in the likeness
of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in
the flesh,
S that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled
in us who do not walk according to the flesh but
according to the Spirit. (Rom. 8:3-4)
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Believers Biology Unchanged
S Dying to the flesh did not mean a change to the believers
biology, yet this is the death they died with Christ!
S If the requirement of the law was fulfilled with the believers
“dying to the law”, how could they be in position to receive the
land promise of the Law? They were no longer under the law!
S Unless the New Covenant promised them a piece a physical
real estate, they have no promise of the land.
S That can only mean that in the realm of the Spirit no such
promise of physical land exists.
copyright (c) 2015

The Land Promise
S But the meek shall inherit the earth [land], and shall delight
themselves in the abundance of peace.
S Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth [land] (Psa.
37:11; Matt. 5:5.
S Observe that the equivalent of the land is the kingdom of God.
S The key to the land is to realize that the kingdom of God fulfills the
land promise of the Old Testament, and that in Christ.
S Thus the new land is Christ and His kingdom. What can be greater
than Christ and His dominion over heaven and earth?
copyright (c) 2015

Let’s Have Some Perspective
S When UNIA leader and Pan Africanist, Marcus Garvey
was asked the question: Are you Jamaican or African?
He responded, “Why would I give up a continent for an
island?”
S That is the same way believers should view and respond
regarding that narrow strip of Palestinian land.
S Why would I give up the kingdom of God for a narrow
strip of dirt the size of Rhode Island?
copyright (c) 2015

Believers Not In The Flesh
S So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
S But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed
the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not
have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. (Rom. 8:8-9)
S As such they formed part of the firstfruits in solidarity with
Christ having received the “firstfruits of the Spirit” (Rom.
8:23; Jas. 1:18).
copyright (c) 2015

Must Believers Die to the
Spirit?
S Paul said believers could not have both.
S “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by
the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you
shall live. (Rom. 8:13)
S Believers had to fully put to death the deeds of the “body
of Sin” i.e. the body of Moses in order to live in the “body
of Christ” according to the Spirit.
copyright (c) 2015

Summary
S Israel’s land promises were to be fulfilled in the realm of the Spirit.
S To receive them Israel had to die to the Law and be raised in the Spirit, i.e.
the New Covenant, i.e. be “born again”
S This was a birth/resurrection from the natural to the spiritual where in
Christ all promises are fulfilled.
S The only way to return to the physical land is to renounce the realm of the
Spirit in Christ.
S That is really not an option since the Old Covenant is now fulfilled and
past, no longer existing as a covenant or people.
S There is but one hope of the gospel.
copyright (c) 2015

Contact Info
S More questions: Contact me:
https://facebook.com/allthingsfufilled.com/
Website: www.AllThingsFulfilled.com
copyright (c) 2015

Israel's Land Promises Review of G. K. Beale

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