Genesis 15:5

"And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and number the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be."

"Number the stars ..." Previously, God had promised that Abram's seed would be as "the dust of the earth"; and the dramatic change here suggests the two Israels that call Abram their father, the fleshly Israel and the spiritual Israel of God's church. Also, Morris thought it indicated that the redeemed of both Israels would be active "both on earth and in heaven." The innumerability of the stars is a scientific truth, there being, in fact, innumerable galaxies, the total number of stars in any one of them being innumerable, and the question rises as to how such a fact is mentioned so casually. The answer has to lie in the omniscience of God, the real Author of Genesis.

"So shall thy seed be ..." Seed, of course, has two meanings, being a collective noun, meaning: (1) a single Seed, or (2) billions of seeds. Both meanings are found in the Scriptures. Here the "seed" refers to the vast and innumerable company of Abram's physical posterity on earth. However, in Genesis 3:15, and in Genesis 26:4, "seed" is used restrictively as reference to Jesus Christ only. Some of the scholars made a big thing out of "seed" usually having the plural meaning, but no scholar on earth, nor all of them concurrently, have the right to deny or question the "Seed Singular" reference to Jesus Christ in Genesis 3:15; 26:4, and in the references from Galatians 3:16-19. God used a word with "two" meanings purposely, and apostolic authority guarantees to us the understanding of the "Seed Singular" as Jesus Christ.