Stop 6. The promise line

The longest arcs on the chart start in Genesis and 2 Samuel. They carry the promise that holds the whole Bible together.

God tells Abraham, "so that all the families of the earth may receive blessing through you" (Genesis 12:3). Paul says the scripture "proclaimed the gospel to Abraham ahead of time" (Galatians 3:8).

God tells David his son will build a house, and "Your house and your kingdom will stand before me permanently" (2 Samuel 7:16). Look at the two arcs from that chapter. The gold one ends in 1 Kings: Solomon builds the temple and says, "The Lord has kept the promise he made" (1 Kings 8:20). The green ones go much further. The angel tells Mary that "the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David" and "his kingdom will never end" (Luke 1:32–33). Peter says David "was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne" (Acts 2:30).

So one promise has a near fulfilment and a full one. That is why the gold arc carries two labels.

The land promise works the same way on this chart. Joshua says, "Not one of the Lord’s faithful promises to the family of Israel was left unfulfilled; every one was realized" (Joshua 21:45). Dispensational writers hold that the land promise still waits for a future fulfilment for Israel. The other two views do not. Three Ways People Read the End of the Story takes this up under "What About the Land Promises to Israel?"

Picture: Genesis 12 to Galatians 3, and the arcs from 2 Samuel 7. Layers: bands 1 and 2.