The promise was made to Abraham AND his descendents. Allow me to clarify this statement; it means
1. Abraham himself
2. All of Abraham's descendants
Now, most reasonable persons would agree that Abraham was dead long before Joshua ... so #1 above never happened. What are the implifications of this fact? This implies that either God lied to Abraham ... or God told the truth and this fulfillment has just not happened yet.
Since none of us would say God lied to Abraham, the fulfillment of #1 has to be someday in the future. How or when will that happen? It will happen during the millenium. God will raise Abraham and he will finally get to possess this land, along with his descendents. God will also fulfill the Davidic convenant, since now that He has a man who can sit on Davids throne. He will also fulfil the establishment of Daniels "kindgom which will not be destroyed" and which "will rule all other kingdoms." He will also fulfil the "new covenant" of Jeremiah that He made with the nation of Israel.
All of this is pretty straightforward if you read the text. But what irks me even more about your insistance is that you are willing to ignore one of the larger issues of this promise ... that God promised this land to Abraham and his descendants "forever." If that forever fulfillment began during the days of Joshua, Israel would still possess the land. In fact, the nation went into exile for 70 years during the Babylonian captivity. So that history alone says the start of "possess forever" has to happen sometime after that exile; not during the time of Joshua. Further, several other "forever" covenants have not been fulfilled as of yet. The Davidic covenant was also "forever," there is no throne in Jerusalem; the kingdom of Daniel is also "forever" ... there has been no kingdom since the time of the Babylonian exile. Etc. etc. etc.
All of these things will come together during the millenium ... of which even you (no matter how much you will despise it) will be a part.
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You completely missed the point ...
The promise was made to Abraham AND his descendents. Allow me to clarify this statement; it means
1. Abraham himself
2. All of Abraham's descendants
Now, most reasonable persons would agree that Abraham was dead long before Joshua ... so #1 above never happened. What are the implifications of this fact? This implies that either God lied to Abraham ... or God told the truth and this fulfillment has just not happened yet.
Since none of us would say God lied to Abraham, the fulfillment of #1 has to be someday in the future. How or when will that happen? It will happen during the millenium. God will raise Abraham and he will finally get to possess this land, along with his descendents. God will also fulfill the Davidic convenant, since now that He has a man who can sit on Davids throne. He will also fulfil the establishment of Daniels "kindgom which will not be destroyed" and which "will rule all other kingdoms." He will also fulfil the "new covenant" of Jeremiah that He made with the nation of Israel.
All of this is pretty straightforward if you read the text. But what irks me even more about your insistance is that you are willing to ignore one of the larger issues of this promise ... that God promised this land to Abraham and his descendants "forever." If that forever fulfillment began during the days of Joshua, Israel would still possess the land. In fact, the nation went into exile for 70 years during the Babylonian captivity. So that history alone says the start of "possess forever" has to happen sometime after that exile; not during the time of Joshua. Further, several other "forever" covenants have not been fulfilled as of yet. The Davidic covenant was also "forever," there is no throne in Jerusalem; the kingdom of Daniel is also "forever" ... there has been no kingdom since the time of the Babylonian exile. Etc. etc. etc.
All of these things will come together during the millenium ... of which even you (no matter how much you will despise it) will be a part.