I will plant them on their land, And they will no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them," says Yahweh your God.
There was no need of a temporal Zion, when He who was to send forth His law thence, had come and sent it forth. No need of a temple when He who was to be its glory, had come, illumined it, and was gone. No need of one of royal birth in Bethlehem, when “the Virgin” had “conceived and borne a Son,” and “God” had been “with us.” And so as to other prophecies. All which were bound to the land of Judah, were accomplished. As the true Israel expanded and embraced all nations, the whole earth became “the land” of God’s people. Palestine had had its prerogatives, because God manifested Himself there, was worshiped there. When God’s people was enlarged, so as “to inherit the pagan,” and God was worshiped everywhere, His land too was everywhere. His promises accompanied His people, and these were in all lands. His words then, “I will plant them upon their own land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them,” expanded with their expansion. It is a promise of perpetuity, like that of our Lord; “Lo! I am with you alway, even to the end of the world. The gates of hell shall not prevail against” the Church, the people of God. The world may gnash its teeth; kings may oppress; persecutors may harass; popular rage may trample on her; philosophy may scoff at her; unbelief may deny the promises made to her; the powers of darkness may rage around her; her own children may turn against her. In vain! Jerome: “She may be shaken by persecutions, she cannot be uprooted; she may be tempted, she cannot be overcome. For the Lord God Almighty, the Lord her God, hath promised that He will do it, whose promise is the law to nature.”