But we must go a little further, and see that our situation is precisely that of ancient Israel, and that the same rest and inheritance which God gave them, and which they foolishly allowed to slip from their hands, is ours, provided we “hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” Fortunately the evidence is very simple and plain, and we have already considered the most of it at some length. Let us refresh our minds with the following facts. EVCO 421.1
Canaan is a land which God gave to Abraham and to his seed “for an everlasting possession.” 2Genesis 17:7, 8. It was to be an everlasting possession for both Abraham and his seed. But Abraham himself had not so much as a foot-breadth of the land in his actual possession (Acts 7:5), and none of his seed had it either, for even the righteous ones among them (and only the righteous are Abraham’s seed) “all died in faith, not having received the promise.” 3Hebrews 9:13, 39. EVCO 421.2
Therefore, as previously shown, the possession of the land involved the resurrection of the dead at the coming of Christ to restore all things. By the resurrection of Christ, God has begotten us unto a lively hope, “to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 41 Peter 1:3-6. EVCO 421.3