By John Stenen In Genesis 17:8, God said to Abraham that He is giving the land that we know as Israel as an everlasting possession to Abraham and his descendants ….. Since Israel entered the Promised Land, under the leadership of Joshua, and conquered it from an extremely wicked people, (read Gen. 15:1-16), the land of Israel has belonged to the Jews. Under judgment of God, the Jews have been removed from their land by the Assassyrians and Babalonians, but the land was still theirs. After their captivity, they came back to Israel. When the nation as a whole rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah, Jesus warned them of the judgment that would come upon them from the Romans -which happened in 70 A.D. They were dispersed all throughout the Roman Empire. In 135 A.D., the Roman Emperor who hated the Jews, renamed Israel, ‘Palestine. ’It is referring to the Philistines, Israel’s enemies who occupied the land of Gaza. Israel occupies only a small portion of the total land mass that God gave to them. When Jesus comes back at the second advent, He is going to rule from Jerusalem, and the nations of the world that survive the Great Tribulation will come yearly to Jerusalem, to worship Christ. Read this in Zechariah chapter 14: On May 14, 1948, Israel once again became a nation and returned to their land by Divine decree. Read Ezekiel 36: - 39: to see how God is bringing them back to their land from all over the world, and He will protect them from all their enemies. If you are against Israel, you are against God. Read Genesis 12:1-3.