not only believed in God `Who quickeneth the dead' but in God `Who calleth those

things which be not as though they were' (Rom. 4: 17). While, therefore, within the

limitations of the creature it must ever remain true that 0 multiplied by any number

however great, remains 0 still, yet when we transfer our reckoning to the realm of

Promise and Resurrection, setting the flesh aside and allowing the Spirit full scope, the

miraculous happens, 0 multiplied by the power that raised Christ from the dead is

abundantly fruitful.

Adam may `multiply' (rabab) but such multiplication ended in destruction (Gen. 6: 1)

and the wickedness that resulted was `great' (rab) (Gen. 6: 5). Abraham was to be

multiplied (rabah) and his name and nation were to be made `great' but the word used is

not rab but gadol. The former word signifies mere increase in numbers, but the second

word implies growth, a nourishing, and greatness of quality as well as of mere quantity is

The word zera `seed' is used of Abraham and of the promise made to him 21 times in

the chapters 12:-22:  It is used another 21 times in the remainder of the book of

Genesis in connection with Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. The word is associated with the

promise of the land (Gen. 12: 7), but Abraham is not `shown' the land until the separation

from Lot takes place. Only then he is bidden to walk through the length of it and the

breadth of it, so making it his own (Gen. 13: 14-18). Abraham's seed is likened to the

dust of the earth, and to the stars of heaven for number (Gen. 13: 16; 15: 5).  Some

believe that these passages indicate `a heavenly seed' and `an earthly seed' but the only

idea which the Scriptures attaches to the `dust' and to the `stars' is that of great number,

and if these passages indicate the earthly and heavenly seed of Abraham, we shall be

obliged to find a yet third company who are indicated by the `sand that is upon the

seashore' (Gen. 22: 17; 32: 12). It is clear however that sheer greatness of number

is intended, for Joseph is said to have gathered corn `as the sand of the sea' so that he

left off numbering (Gen. 41: 49). That `dust' also has this association with greatness of

number, let Balaam testify "Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the

fourth part of Israel?" (Numb. 23: 10). Of the eleven references to the `stars' in the

Pentateuch seven use them to express greatness of number. Abraham certainly has an

heavenly seed as well as an earthly one, but this distinction is founded upon other

statements and promises.

In Gen. 15:, when the Lord said to Abraham "Look now toward heaven, and tell the

stars, if thou be able to number them . . . . . So shall thy seed be", we read with joy that

Abraham `believed in the Lord, and He counted it to him for righteousness' (Gen. 15: 5,

6). Justification by faith therefore is vitally associated with the true seed, and although

not one of the true seed is exempt from sin, righteousness is provided for each one of

them. Later in this chapter, a strange interlude is revealed: