Footnote 42 — Christopher JH Wright, Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1992), p68 LOGOS edition

“The promise to Abraham was effective because he believed it and acted upon it, continuing to do so long after it had become humanly impossible. The exodus was promised by God, but it would not have happened if the Israelites had not responded to the leading of Moses, and even then some of them did so reluctantly. The same people received the promise of the land, but because their faith and obedience failed at the crucial point, they never received it and perished in the wilderness. And so it goes on all the way through scripture. The promise comes as the initiative of God’s grace and always depends on his grace. But that grace has to be accepted and responded to by faith and obedience.”