The Land of Israel: A Gift From God

The land of Israel is fascinating. I have been there so many times. But there is a war going on over there fighting for that territory, and we have a question about whether they survive.
Let me take you back a little bit to the time of Joshua who succeeded Moses. I want to show you in the Book of Joshua what it says.

Now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' servant, saying, "Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel.

"Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory.

"No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them."

Now one Palestinian has said God is not in the real estate business and He doesn't give land to people. She doesn't know the Bible. The Bible says very clearly, I have given you this land.

I want to show you the extent of the land, because Solomon, the son of David who was living in 950 B.C. (that's a long time ago), this was his territory. You go all the way up north to the Euphrates River which encompasses the better part of modern-day Syria. Solomon's empire went up to the Euphrates River.

And Tyre and Sidon and Megiddo. And they had the Via Maris which went from Damascus all the way down to Cairo. It went as far as the area down in Gaza. Just south of that there is a creek called the River of Egypt. Not the Nile. The Nile is further away. This is what they got and it came all the way down and there is Kadesh Barnea and the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba. And it went up the Jordon River. This was the territory that God gave to Joshua.

Let me show you a quick map of where they are now. This is the so-called West Bank. This is Judea and Samaria and they are fighting in Jenin and Nablus. And Ramalla north of Jerusalem. And Bethlehem. And all of this is so called West Bank territory.

But that was just a small part of what God gave to them. And now, can Israel survive? Of course, it will survive because God is going to defend it.

And why is America in favor of Israel? Because we have a great history of biblical belief -- Judeo-Christian -- and we believe God gave the land to the descendents of Israel.

It was not given to Palestine. It wasn't given to so-called Palestinians. It wasn't given to the Saudis or the Syrians.

It was given to the descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through Joshua. God said, "You step on it and conquer it and I will give it to you."

We are looking at a time dating back 3,000 years. This has been the land of Israel. And it belongs to them. And God is not going to let anybody take it away from them.
http://patrobertson.com/teaching/TeachingonIsraelTerritory.asp