Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has issued many statements recently stating his wishes and intentions to see Israel disappear in annihilation. “I must announce that the Zionist regime (Israel), with a 60-year record of genocide, plunder, invasion and betrayal is about to die and will soon be erased from the geographical scene,” Ahmadinejad stated. He has been very open in declaring that Israel would be pushed into the sea and removed from her land.

As believers, we will find the truth concerning Israel and her land in what God states in His Word rather than the empty claims and threats of earthly men.

In obedience to the call and command of God, Abraham, along with his wife Sarah, and his nephew Lot, left Haran and entered the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:1-5). After Abraham arrived in Canaan, the Lord appeared to him and promised to give the land to Abraham’s seed (Genesis 12:7). The Lord reaffirmed His promise to Abraham in Genesis 13:14, 15, 17: “And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.” God would continually reaffirm this specific land promise to Abraham (Genesis 15:7, 18-21; 17:8). Abraham, himself, recited and claimed this promise in Genesis 24:2.

These promises concerning the land were then passed down to Abraham’s son – Isaac and grandson – Jacob (Genesis 26:3, 4; Genesis 28:3, 4, 13-15). We should carefully note that the Bible specifically and clearly states that the promise was passed down to Isaac and his descendants not Ishmael (Genesis 17:18-21) and then to Isaac’s son Jacob rather than his son Esau (Genesis 28:13-15; 35:12; Isaiah 41:8). This makes it abundantly and undeniably clear that the Abrahamic Covenant, which includes the land promise (Genesis 15:18-21), is exclusive to the Jewish people as the sole descendants of Isaac and Jacob (who God renamed “Israel” in Genesis 32:28).

This specific land promise from God to the Jewish people – the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is confirmed again and again throughout the Bible (Exodus 6:8; 23:31; 32:13; 33:1; Leviticus 26:42; Deuteronomy 1:8; 6:10; 9:5; 11:24; 30:20; 34:4; Joshua 1:2-4; 2 Chronicles 20:7; Nehemiah 9:7, 8; Psalm 105:9-11; Acts 7:2-5; Hebrews 11:8-10) and leaves no shadow of a doubt about the intended recipients and rightful heirs of the land.

Genesis 17:3-8 “And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. 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 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.”

Therefore, it is abundantly clear that the land belongs to Israel.