In case you missed them, here’s the links to parts 1-4:
The Holy Land, Part 1: What Does it Really Mean to be Holy?
The Holy Land, Part 2: Who or What is Israel?
The Holy Land, Part 3: The Spiritual Significance of the Land
The Holy Land, Part 4: Did Israel Get Replaced?

One of the challenges in discussing the land promise is that the New Testament doesn’t address it as directly or explicitly as the Old Testament does. There’s no single, comprehensive statement that spells out exactly what became – or what will become – of God’s promise to give Abraham’s descendants a land. Because of this, some assume that the land promise no longer matters for Christians today – that it was once important for Old Testament Israel, but that it was quietly set aside once Israel was expanded to include all the faithful from every nation through Christ.

But that assumption may say more about our expectations than it does about the text of the New Testament itself.

The New Testament doesn’t ignore the concept of holy land. It does, however, reframe it.

It is important to remember that what made the land “holy” was not its geography or borders – it was the presence of God. In the Old Testament, Canaan was indeed set apart as God’s land because it was the place of His dominion and presence. It was holy, not because it belonged to Israel, but because it belonged to God.

So if we want to understand what happens to it in the New Testament, we should begin by asking: Where is God’s presence now? Where does He dwell? Where is His dominion exercised?  

While the New Testament doesn’t rehash the land promise in the same terms as the Old, it is far from silent about God’s kingdom, His dwelling place, or the scope of His reign. And when we follow those threads, a powerful truth emerges – one that shows us why the idea of “holy land” still matters today, but not in the same way many modern-day evangelicals assume. It matters, but in a transformed and expanded way.

Jesus Redefines Sacred Space

In John 4:19-20, a Samaritan woman asked Jesus a direct question about the geographical location where God should be worshiped.

 Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.

She was referring to Mount Gerizim, the center of Samaritan worship, while acknowledging the Jewish claim that worship should take place in God’s holy land, in Jerusalem. But Jesus’s response reframes the entire conversation:

Woman, believe me, that hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

John 4:21-24

Jesus was not dodging the question – He was reframing the concept of God’s sacred place of worship. No longer would worship be restricted to one sacred geographic location. Neither Mount Gerizim nor Jerusalem would remain central. Instead, worship would become geographically universal, unbound by borders, anchored not in one place, but in every place He is rightly worshiped – in spirit and in truth.

What Jesus promised in John 4 wasn’t a change in God’s plan – it was the fulfillment of it. From the beginning, God’s promise to Abraham was never meant to be confined to a single strip of land. Instead, it pointed toward a blessing that would extend to all nations through Abraham’s offspring (Genesis 22:18).

Even early in Genesis, God spoke in expansive, global terms. He told Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the “dust of the earth” (Genesis 13:16) – an image not of a local settlement but of worldwide reach, a people far greater than the physical boundaries of Canaan could contain.

That’s why Paul, reflecting on this promise, could say its ultimate fulfillment was not limited to Canaan, but encompassed the entire world.

For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

Romans 4:13

For Paul, the land of Canaan served as a symbol, a preview of a much greater inheritance. The true fulfillment of God’s promise was not in one land, but in the whole world, reserved as an inheritance for the faithful.

God’s Presence in His People

Through Christ, the blessing and inheritance once promised to Abraham has now been extended to all who are in Him. And with that expansion comes a radical redefinition of where God dwells. No longer is His presence confined to a physical temple in a single geographic location. The New Testament reveals something far greater: God’s temple is now His people.

Paul writes:

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?

1 Corinthians 6:19

Elsewhere he declares:

For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,
I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.

2 Corinthians 6:16 (quoting from Leviticus 26:12)

And in the vision of the new creation, John hears these words:

Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

Revelation 21:3

Just as God once made His home in the land of Canaan, Paul now explains that “the Spirit of God dwells in you” (Romans 8:9). This means that God’s holy presence is no longer limited by borders or buildings – it is present wherever His people are. Wherever Christians are gathered together, submitting to God’s will, there is God’s dominion. That is holy ground.

The New Creation

What makes a land “holy” has never been geography alone – it is the presence of God that makes any place sacred. In the Old Testament, that presence dwelled in the land of Canaan, but through Christ, God’s presence is now among His people – people drawn from every nation. That shift radically reshapes how we think about the idea of a “holy land.”

If God’s presence is no longer confined to one location but dwells with all who are in Christ, then the holiness once associated with a specific strip of land has now been extended as far as His people reach. In other words, God’s holy land has gone global! This being the case, it would be out of step with the teachings of the New Testament to single out Palestine as uniquely “holy” under the reign of Christ. To do so would suggest that God’s dwelling place is still geographically limited – that He does not dwell wherever His people live and worship in spirit and truth.

The problem with calling modern-day Israel “The Holy Land” isn’t that it assigns too much importance to their land – but that it imagines far too little about God’s Kingdom. God’s reign is no longer confined. It is greater – infinitely greater – and that expansion is the very fulfillment of what the prophets anticipated:

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

Habakkuk 2:14 (cf. Numbers 14:21; Psalm 72:19; Isaiah 6:3)

Jesus confirmed this global scope during the Sermon on the Mount. Quoting from Psalm 37:11, He announced the inheritance that awaited the meek:

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Matthew 5:5

He was not speaking of the present, broken world – a world enslaved by sin, violence, and decay. Rather He was pointing to something far greater. The author of Hebrews captures this cosmic transformation:

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem… Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.
This phrase, “Yet once more” indicates the removal of things that are shaken – that is the things that have been made – in order that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

Hebrews 12:22, 26-28

Peter echoes the same theme. He reminds us that the current heavens and earth are being preserved for judgment in fire (2 Peter 3:7). This judgment, however, is what ushers in what has always been promised:

But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

2 Peter 3:13

The land promise has not been discarded – it has been fulfilled, deepened, and universalized. What began as a parcel of land for Abraham’s descendants now culminates in a new world for the people of Christ. As Paul puts it, this is nothing less than a new creation (Galatians 6:15), the true and final “holy land” where righteousness dwells and where God makes His home with His people.

Understanding the fulfillment of the land promise reminds us that the church is not defined by borders or geography, but by the presence of God among His people. Wherever God dwells with His people, that is holy ground. As we go into all the world – making disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and teaching obedience to Christ – we are conquering enemy territory and extending God’s holy land. This truth fuels our mission, deepens our unity across every nation, and lifts our eyes beyond the passing kingdoms of this world to the one kingdom that will not be shaken.