Abraham's justification and the promise that his seed would be heir of the world was given prior to and apart from the law of Moses. There being no connection between the original promise and the Law, they must be kept distinct in our minds; otherwise confusion will result.

Only the land of Israel is mentioned in the original promise (Gen. 12:1-3). The Lord reiterated it to Abraham after he attempted to offer his son Isaac upon the altar, at which time He went beyond the land of Israel in scope and spoke of Abraham's seed possessing the gate of their enemies and becoming the channel for blessing all the nations of the earth (22:16-18). The same promise with its worldwide aspect was reaffirmed to Isaac (26:3-5). This pushes the promise out to the ends of the world when Abraham's seed, the Jews, will be the head of the nations.

While in these promises we see the dim outlines of Abraham and his seed as the possessors of the world, we are not told how they are to gain it. Psalm 2, which is based upon the covenant into which God entered with David--who was of the tribe of Judah and a descendant of Abraham--gives us that information: God has decreed that His King, Messiah, shall reign in Zion. The Lord Jesus Christ purchased our redemption nineteen hundred years ago, then returned to glory where he has been seated in majesty ever since. When the proper time comes He will ask God the Father for His inheritance and the nations of the world will be turned over to Him. Messiah will then return to this earth, put down all opposition, lift the curse and establish His reign of righteousness.

The hope of being heirs of the world, argues the apostle, is either by the law or by faith--it cannot be by both. If it is by law then faith is made void; if it is by promise through faith then it cannot be by the law. Was not the Law holy, perfect and good? Most assuredly. How then does it work wrath? It is impossible for fallen, sinful humanity to observe the law perfectly. Adam's one act of disobedience brought the ruin and wreckage that is in the world today. Under the Law, when one violates the least of the statutes the wrath of God is stirred against him (James 2:10). In this sense the Law works wrath.

Abraham was born and reared in a heathen environment and home. Though he rejected idolatry, he was not then under any law of God. Leaving his native Ur of the Chaldees and going northward, he came to Haran with his father Terah and nephew Lot. After his father's death God spoke to Abraham telling him to come down into the land that He would show him--the land now known as Israel. There he became associated with Melchizedek, king of Salem (Jerusalem) and priest of God Most High. In this realm Abraham came in touch with the laws of God and His statutes, which he obeyed (Gen. 26:5). But the promise had come while he was still in his heathen environment; not having the law, he could not transgress it.

Inasmuch as law stirs up wrath, the promise could only be fulfilled if put on the basis of grace by faith, not works. The hope of life eternal and immortal glory being placed upon the grace/faith basis has made the promise of God sure and certain to all who will believe, both Jews and Gentiles. Paul quotes Gen. 17:5, saying that it is written, "A father of many nations have I made thee." Has Abraham literally become the father of many nations? He became the father of the Ishmaelites by his concubine Hagar; from Isaac, his son by Sarah, came the Hebrew people. After Sarah's death he married Keturah and through that union became the ancestor of the Midianites. But God said He would bless all nations in Abraham and his seed and that He would make Abraham's seed as numerous as the stars of the heavens and as the dust of the earth. In Gal. 3:29 we read, "And if ye are Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise." In all probability the promise of Gen. 17:5 spoke not only of Abraham's natural seed, but of his spiritual children--those of all nations who would believe in the Messiah--who are his by virtue of having exercised the same kind of faith that he did.

"Who in hope believed against hope, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, So shall thy seed be. 19 And without being weakened in faith he considered his own body now as good as dead (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb; 20 yet, looking unto the promise of God, he wavered not through unbelief, but waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was able also to perform" (Romans 4:18-21).

When God revealed to Abraham that He would make his seed as numerous as the stars, Abraham did not waver through unbelief but trusted in God "who giveth life to the dead, and calleth the things that are not, as though they were" (vs. 17). He believed that the God who was able to create the universe out of nothing certainly had power to fulfill such a promise. Sarah and Abraham had advanced in years past the period of parenthood, yet believed because God had spoken. The Lord fulfilled that promise by performing a miracle of creation (Isa. 43:1) on both their bodies.

God makes many wonderful promises to us today. Like Abraham we should not waver through unbelief but look simply at the promise, realizing that God is able and that He is truthful; He will do whatever He says if we simply believe.

"Wherefore also it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. 23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was reckoned unto him; 24 but for our sake also, unto whom it shall be reckoned, who believe on him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification" (Romans 4:22-25).

The word justified is a Roman legal term and indicates that one is being pronounced righteous. Having accepted Christ by faith as our atoning sacrifice we are justified through His death and resurrection. Our salvation becomes an accomplished fact. The verb in this sentence is in the linear stem and indicates continued action or state of being. Paul was urging the Christian who has already obtained satisfaction and fellowship with God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to maintain this close relationship and the flow of peace and joy that should come to the regenerated heart. There is no peace with God apart from Christ. He is the way, the truth and the life. To accept Christ as a good man or as a Saviour who died as an example for others never brings one into vital connection with God.

Paul and the Roman Christians, having taken their stand by faith upon the testimony of God concerning His Son, had access to God by faith. Standing in that blessed relationship with Him, they could exult in anticipation of the time when Jesus will come for His own and bring them into the full realization of the glory of God which will encircle the earth as the waters cover the sea.

Apparently the Roman Christians were passing through certain, definite troubles. Paul urged them to rejoice in these for "tribulation works steadfastness; and steadfastness approvedness, and approvedness, hope." Afflictions are blessings in disguise--provided they are accepted as being permitted by the Lord to work out in believers' lives the plan of God.

Mankind was helpless, dead in trespasses and sins; he could do nothing to change his condition. In the fullness of time God sent forth His Son, born under the law, born of a woman, in order to redeem the ungodly (Gal. 4:4, 5).

Sometimes, from heroic motives and under the stimulus of the occasion, a few have died in behalf of others. But our Lord's sacrifice was a calculated thing. There was no external pressure or influence appealing to the heroic element that entered into his voluntary suffering and death for humanity. As Paul expressed it: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us ... that upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith (Gal. 3:13,14). It is not the will of God that any should perish. The unsaved will be lost, not because Christ did not make sufficient and ample atonement, but because of their refusal to accept the atonement which He provided for them.

The New Testament writers constantly emphasize that it is through the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that our redemption has been purchased. We are justified by the blood of Christ, pronounced righteous and shall be saved eternally. "... He is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him." (Heb. 7:25a)

These days we hear much about the love, compassion and grace of the Lord, but very little about the wrath and righteous indignation of God or about His holiness. We ought to study carefully and pray over these verses wherein God gives a full statement of His character:

And Jehovah passed by before him, and proclaimed, Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth; keeping lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation (Exod. 34:6,7).

Adam, having chosen to pit his will against that of the Almighty, lost his fellowship and standing with God and death resulted. Satan still held the power of death because of the exalted position of authority in which he was placed when created. It is he in whose hidden domain lie the secret mysteries concerning the death of all the multiplied billions from Adam to the end of the Millennium. To remain consistent with the underlying principles of His moral government the Lord could not take the power of death away from Satan other than by Christ's death on the Cross. As the Apostle Paul declared,

Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same; that through death he might bring to nought him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver all them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Heb. 2:14,15).

Since Christ died for us, reconciling us to God, we shall be saved in the life which flows from Him to us. Our Lord said that He would lay down His life for His sheep, would give them eternal life and that no one could take them out of His hand. The one who believes on the Son has eternal life and has it now. That life can never be extinguished. Christ has accomplished our reconciliation. It has been completed--finished--and can never be destroyed. So we continue, even when put to grief by trials necessary to purge out the dross, to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God and of enjoying fellowship with the Eternal Trinity forever and ever. Praise God for such a wonderful Saviour!