Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which can't be measured nor numbered; and it will come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.'
"As the sand of the sea ..." The significance of this appears in the fact of its repetition of the Father's promise to Abraham in  Genesis 15:5; 17:22 where exactly this same terminology is used.  Although the covenant with Abraham's fleshly descendants was broken and abrogated, the promise to Abraham was not so terminated; but, as this verse shows, it will be fulfilled by the bringing in of Gentiles, without in any sense excluding any of the fleshly posterity of Abraham who might desire to be included, provided only that they would abide by the terms of the promise.  That spiritual posterity of Abraham will indeed be innumerable  (Revelation 7:9).  The appeal to this promise also shows that God's prior covenant with Abraham regarding the "seed singular" in whom all the nations were to be blessed was superior in every way to that of the law of Moses which was merely "added because of transgressions" until the seed, which is Christ, should come. Such quotations from the New Testament as those cited above, and there are many others, must be understood as indicating "the divine authority and authenticity of Hosea."[31]  We believe that scholars like Dummelow who think that, "Hosea cannot bear to dwell upon God's punishments without going beyond them to contemplate a restored people fulfilling the promise of earthly greatness to Abraham, etc."[32]  are mistaken.  It was not earthly greatness of which God spoke, but spiritual greatness.  There are no Biblical promises of the restoration of physical Israel.