God’s Secret Promised Land?
Genesis 12:7; “And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.”
Genesis 13:15; “For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.”
Genesis 15:18; “In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.”
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.”
So did God lie by telling Abraham He’d give the land of Canaan to him as an inheritance? Or did this Mormon god change his mind again and decide that America might be a better place for his people and none of the Jews in Israel today are aware of it?
Jews cannot fathom calling anything but Israel their promised land. It was promised to them repeatedly by God! Anything less is considered living in exile. Israel, not America is central to not only the Bible but the whole nation of Israel as well. America is but another nation of Gentiles as far as the Jews are concerned and while considered a friend today it is under no circumstances looked upon as their “promised land”.
For the Jew to not think they didn’t sin and weren’t exiled out of Israel during the Babylonian takeover is incomprehensible.
One more thing about this verse…how do you go about “laying aside your sins”? The Israelites were told by God to repent, stay in Jerusalem, and not leave!
To repent in biblical days meant that you wore sackcloth and would sit upon a heap of ashes to show how remorseful you are for your sin. It was a time of fasting and mourning or anguish.
Also read Jeremiah 42:1-22 where God tells the Israelites to stay put. He warned them if they left they’d die by sword, famine or pestilence.