⁷ “I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants^[a] after you, from generation to generation. This is the everlasting covenant: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

²⁴ where the Lord appeared to him on the night of his arrival. “I am the God of your father, Abraham,” he said. “Do not be afraid, for I am with you and will bless you. I will multiply your descendants, and they will become a great nation. I will do this because of my promise to Abraham, my servant.”

⁷ Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,”^[a] though Abraham had other children, too. ⁸ This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children. ⁹ For God had promised, “I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”^[b]

³⁹ This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away^[a]—all who have been called by the Lord our God.”

¹⁸ So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt^[a] to the great Euphrates River—

¹⁶ But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

¹² I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people.

¹³ At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants.

¹⁶ God gave the promises to Abraham and his child.^[a] And notice that the Scripture doesn’t say “to his children,^[b]” as if it meant many descendants. Rather, it says “to his child”—and that, of course, means Christ. ¹⁷ This is what I am trying to say: The agreement God made with Abraham could not be canceled 430 years later when God gave the law to Moses. God would be breaking his promise.