right to access to "heavenly places" even as Og king of Bashan and Sihon the Amorite

disputed the right of Israel.

Summary judgment is not the character of God's dealings until the time of the end.

He waits. The expression "not yet full" suggests that there is a line beyond which

iniquity, be it that of angel, devil or man cannot pass, and moreover, that until a certain

bound is reached, God will wait and His people may have to wait too. The light we

receive from this passage in Gen. 15: illuminates the wider problem of the ages, and for

the sake of the truth, we will attempt to summarize it as follows:

Abraham in this connexion stands in relation to Israel, as Christ stands to His Church.

To both Abraham and Christ as heads of these two companies, a promise is made which

is unconditional and for the fulfillment of which God Himself stands pledged. The call of

Abraham cannot be disassociated from the presence of the Canaanite and the land of

promise, even as the choice of the church in Christ cannot be disassociated from the fact

that the heavenly places in which their lot is cast, were at the time of God's choice, either

still occupied, or only just evacuated by the spiritual "Amorite", the principalities and

powers who fell and who are under the headship of the prince of the power of the air.

The descent of Israel into Egypt only to be delivered and to return to the same place in

which the promise was confirmed to Abraham, is parallel with the descent of the chosen

members of the church in Adam, who must eventually be delivered and translated before

they can inherit the promise made before the overthrow of the world. Just as Israel were

debarred from their inheritance for four hundred years, because the iniquity of the

Amorite was not yet full, so the church has been debarred its inheritance for a much

longer period because the iniquity of the spiritual Amorite is not yet full.

We have yet to discover whether there may be other and richer reasons for this

position "in Adam" before the day of glory, and in addition we must take into account the

added complication brought about by the fact that Adam was not only by nature "natural"

and "earthy" but in addition involved his seed in both sin and death. These features

however we reserve for another article.