You have to pay attention to one particular point here. God's word to Abraham is unconditional. God simply said, "I will save and bless the world through your seed." He gave no conditions. God did not say that Abraham's descendants had to be this or that, or that the kingdom to come forth from him in the future had to be this or that before he would have a seed and the world would be blessed. No. God simply said that he would have a seed who would save the world. It did not matter if Abraham was good or bad; it did not matter if his descendants were good or bad; and it did not matter if his kingdom was good or bad. There was no condition attached. This is the way He wanted it done. He would cause the seed to bring blessing to the people in the world.

After this word was spoken, Christ the Son of God did not immediately come to the world. Abraham begot Isaac, but Isaac did not come to save the world. Isaac was not the Son of God. Four hundred and thirty years later, Moses and Aaron came. And though they were very good people, they were not the Christ of God. Through God's revelation, Paul pointed out to us that the seed of Abraham does not refer to many seeds, but to one seed, who did not come until two thousand years later. There is a great reason why the seed did not come sooner. It is true that God wants to do things for man, that God wants to give man grace. However, will man allow God to do things for him? God sees that we are not doing well, and He wants to help us; but we may still think that we are quite capable. We are evil, but we may still consider ourselves to be good. We are filthy, but we may still consider ourselves to be clean. We are weak, but we may still consider ourselves to be strong in everything. We are useless, but we may still consider ourselves to be useful. We human beings are sinful and completely incapable, but we may still consider ourselves to be good and useful. God's purpose from before the times of the ages was to give grace, and in time He told Abraham that He would indeed give grace to man. But because man was ignorant, weak, useless, sinful, and deserving to die and perish, God had no choice but to give man the law four hundred and thirty years after He gave Abraham the promise. After God gave man the law, man found out that he was sinful. God put the law there to let man find out if he is right or not and if he is able or not. God put the burden of the law there to let man see if he could lift it or not. Let us remember that God's giving of the law was not His original intention. I must emphasize that the law was something added in for meeting a temporary need. It was not something in God's original intention.

Let us take a look at Galatians 3:15-22. We must consider these verses carefully because they are very important. Verse 15 says, "Brothers, I speak according to man, though it is a man's covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one nullifies it or makes additions to it." Let us lay aside man's covenant with God for a moment and consider the covenants men make among themselves. Suppose someone is selling a house, and a contract has been agreed upon and signed. Can the seller come later and ask for two hundred dollars more? Can he, after signing the contract, go and consider a little more and then tear the contract up? No. Even with contracts between men, once they are signed, it is impossible to add conditions to them or to subtract conditions from them. If a contract between men is like this, how much more a covenant between God and man!