old man and his wife an old woman by the time they received the promise of a seed.

Rom. 4: and Heb. 11: 12 tells us that so far as parenthood was concerned Abraham and

Sarah were "as good as dead", and Abraham's faith is most definitely declared to be faith

in God that "quickeneth the dead". Abraham knew most intimately the meaning of the

words of Rom. 8: 11, in the quickening of the mortal body even before the actual and

literal resurrection.

But though Abraham got thus far, farther even than most of us can truthfully claim to

have reached, yet observe the remarkable sequel. He had actually entered into the land of

his inheritance, he had walked through the length and breadth of it, he had lifted up his

eyes northward, southward, eastward, and westward (Gen. 13: 14-17), and, as a direct

sequel to this anticipatory possession, had refused "from a thread even to a shoelatchet"

from the hand of the king of Sodom who was under heavy obligations to him

(Gen. 14: 21-23). He had met another king, even Melchisedec, and the truth associated

with that typical king-priest, as taught in the epistle to the Hebrews, prevented Abraham

from accepting "dominion" over the Canaanite or the king of Sodom. It rather led him to

refuse all such anticipation, in the light of a deeper revelation made known to him.

Stephen draws attention to the deeply significant fact that although Abraham entered

the land of promise in faith, nevertheless God "gave him none inheritance, no, not so

much as to set his foot on, yet He promised that He would give it to him for a possession"

(Acts 7: 5). The only piece of land that Abraham actually possessed was the field of

Ephron and the cave of Macphelah, which he bought and paid for with 400 shekels of

silver as a burial place for his wife (Gen. 23: 3-20). His own description of himself in

that transaction was: "I am a stranger and a sojourner with you" (Gen. 23: 4). The

reply of the Canaanite was: "Thou art a prince of God among us . . . . . none of us shall

withhold from thee his sepulchre" (Gen. 23: 6).  Who spoke the truth for the

dispensation then obtaining? Abraham or Heth?

Some of our friends would have taken Abraham very seriously to task for his attitude.

They would have demanded the operation of the law of the spirit of life over against the

law of sin and death, and claimed the field of Ephron as a rightful possession. They

would have considered the payment of the 400 shekels of silver as much a betrayal as the

receiving of the shekels later by Judas himself. Yet Abraham was right. Hear the

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