WHAT ABOUT THE WORD "EVERLASTING" (OLAM) DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?

The word “everlasting” (olam in Hebrew) appears 117 times in Jewish scriptures. These are scriptures recognized by both Jews and Christians. According to the Collins dictionary, “everlasting” means LASTING FOREVER, UNCEASING, NEVER COMING TO AN END! The word first appears in Genesis 9, verse 16. The rainbow is an everlasting sign of the covenant between G-d and all living creatures of every kind on the earth. Rainbows still show up in the sky all over the earth. They haven’t ceased. So we can assume G-d meant what he said.  Fifteen times the word  "everlasting" is used in relation to covenant, G-d’s promise and oath.  In addition to “covenant” we find, Everlasting hills, Everlasting arms, Everlasting righteousness, G-d’s everlasting kingdom, His everlasting foundation, the everlasting rock, everlasting salvation, everlasting sign, everlasting light, everlasting name, everlasting king, everlasting heights, everlasting dominion and G-d’s everlasting love. Pslam 117, verse 2 says, For great is G-d’s love towards us, His truth is everlasting! 

So what is it about this word that those who believe these scriptures DO NOT UNDERSTAND? (I am not addressing those who choose to not believe these words, but to those who find their hope and identity through G-d’s Word) The second appearance of the word “everlasting” is Genesis 17, verse 7. G-d establishes a covenant with Abram. It is an “everlasting covenant” which includes (verse 8) giving the land of Canaan as an “everlasting possession”.  As mentioned earlier, this means NO END, UNCEASING. In verse 19 of Genesis 17, G-d tells Sarah, “I will establish My covenant with Isaac for an everlasting covenant and with his decendants after him.” Towards the end of Genesis in chapter 48, verse  4, Jacob blesses Joseph and reminds him that G-d told him, “I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you”.  In David’s Psalm of Thanks, (1 Chronicles 16, verses 17-18), David remembers that G-d made a covenant with Abraham, an oath He swore to Isaac, confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: TO YOU I WILL GIVE THE LAND OF CANAAN AS THE PORTION YOU WILL INHERIT.

So why is it that Jews and Christians have both questioned G-d’s choice of words? If “everlasting” means never stops, than what is the question about the Jews, the decendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob owning a tiny strip of land on the Mediterranean Sea? Doesn’t G-d say it is theirs?

FOREVER? Some may say, “Yes, but the Jewish people turned their backs on G-d and he dispersed them away from the land.” Well, G-d’s loving kindness is also everlasting, and in Jeremiah chapter 3o, verse 3 it says: The days are coming, declares the Lord, ‘when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity and restore them to the land I gave their forefathers to possess’.  And that is exactly what the everlasting G-d did more than 2500 years after Jeremiah said it! Isn’t the word “everlasting” amazing?

 This has to cause Jews and Christians alike – who believe the Word      of  G-d – to ask themselves, “Why do they call Judea and Samaria ‘Occupied Territory’?” “Why are Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Jericho not part of Israel as a nation?” “Why is there any question about Jerusalem’s ownership?”
Some say, “yes, but there is a problem with a huge population of Arab-Egyptian ‘Palestinians’. What happens to them?” Yes, this is a problem and one that should be a concern to the Arab nations and Egypt. Why don’t they want to help incorporate them into their land? Where was the concern for Jewish refugees in 1948 when they were forcefully kicked out of lands they had lived in for centuries? Well over 800,000 Jews fled from Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon taking nothing with them but what they could carry. No compensation was given to them for land, businesses or homes they left behind. Yes, it is difficult to determine how and where the “Arab-Egyptian Palestinians should live, but there is really no question according to G-d’s word who the land belongs to.

Last week a panel within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) passed a resolution on calling for a vote on divestment in multi-national companies in “Israel-Palestine” that profit from “non-peaceful” activities. They say that because these companies allow their services in “Occupied Territory” for the Israelis, and that they are acting illegally under international law. They, as followers of the Bible, should be glad these companies helped build security walls to protect innocent people from being randomly blown up in buses and pizza parlors, but instead, they have taken a stand with the world and placed their allegiance against G-d. What is it about “EVERLASTING” they do not understand?

Israel is facing threats from all around. One has to ask, is it Israel? Or is it the G-d who called them by name, set them apart and gave them the land?
Are the nations really raging against G-d,  Yaweh, as it says in Psalm 2? As people who believe G-d’s word we must know in our hearts that we stand in agreement with G-d. If you are reading this and you do not even believe the Bible or you have never read it, if you call yourself a "Jew" or a "Christian", but do not believe G-d's Word is true and it is for today, than maybe just say a prayer and ask G-d if His word is true to show you. He will do it. His love for you is from everlasting to everlasting!