The Promised Land Explained

In the Old Testament, the Promised Land refers to the physical land which is Canaan. This land was said to be inhabited by seven nations, and these are Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. That was the Promised Land of Yahweh to Abraham and to the Israelites back then. In the New Testament, the Promised Land has changed into the New Jerusalem which is spiritual. 

Let me explain.

This all started when the people of Babylon, led by King Nimrod, decided to build a tower, known as the Tower of Babel, to reach the heavens. Their goal was to make a name for themselves and prevent being scattered across the earth. However, God saw their pride and ambition as an act of defiance. To stop them, He confused their language, causing them to speak different tongues. Unable to understand each other, they abandoned the project and was scattered across the world.

This story can be found in Genesis 11:1-9 KJV

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.

And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

Abraham, being faithful, has been chosen by Yahweh, the Hebrew God, to be his own people and renew the Hebrew language to him. Yahweh instructed him to leave Ur and head over to the land God promised to him, and that is the Canaan region.

Genesis 12:1-2 KJV reads:

Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

The same promised was said by Yahweh to Abraham in Genesis 15:18-21 KJV,

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:

The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,

And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,

And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

The land of Canaan was first settled by Abraham, the forefather of the Israelites, when God called him to leave his homeland and promised to give the land to his descendants. His son Isaac and grandson Jacob also lived in Canaan, but their families later moved to Egypt during a time of famine. Over time, Jacob’s descendants became the nation of Israel and were eventually enslaved in Egypt. After their deliverance through Moses and forty years of wandering in the wilderness, the Israelites finally entered Canaan as a nation under the leadership of Joshua, marking their first official conquest and settlement of the land promised to Abraham. They remained in the land for centuries, but their independent rule began to decline after the kingdom divided, with the northern kingdom falling to Assyria in 722 BCE and the southern kingdom of Judah eventually conquered by Babylon in 586 BCE. This Babylonian exile marked the last time the Israelites were in control of the land before being taken away, though many returned later under Persian rule, living in the land once more but no longer as a sovereign nation.

In the New Testament, the Promised Land of God is spiritual. It is not the physical Israel. The Bible never said that the Canaan region is the Promised Land. The Bible states that Yahweh will destroy the Earth and heavens with fire as part of His final judgment.

As 2 Peter 3:7 KJV reads,

But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

Also in Revelation 20:9 KJV,

And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

Revelation 21:1-3 says there will be a New Heaven and New Earth, and the New Jerusalem will come down from God. He will live with His people in this new creation, free from sin, death and suffering.

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.

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.