Galatians 4:21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
The Bible is clear that Christians need to grow in the Lord. He has given us His sure, preserved, and inspired Word that we can grow. He has also given His Holy Spirit to indwell every true believer. He is the One Who gives understanding to the saved person. He also motivates the saved person to grow.
James tells us:
James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
In the book of Galatians the apostle Paul was addressing the sin of corrupting salvation by grace with works. He needed to confront Peter publicly because he was a true apostle and yet he was knowingly causing division between Jewish saints and Gentile saints. He was separating himself from Gentile saints when the Judaizers came around. The fear of man was keeping him from living right.
In chapter 4 Paul was directed by God to cause the Galatian saints to examine whether they were actually truly saved. Their behaviour was not the fruit of true salvation. As mentioned earlier, every true child of God needs to grow. The problem is when they are confronted with the truth but push it aside for the sake of “unity”. Unity with sin breaks the unity that God wants to build with His children. The Galatians were hindering their walk with God due to their compromised position. As we can see in this book, God is not pleased with that and He expects His child to listen to Him and repent and serve Him faithfully. A true child of God has the love of God within him or her. That love motivates the true child of God to care for the souls of others. He or she does not want see people going the wrong way. He cares enough to cause division for the sake of Truth.
James also tells us that friendship of the world is enmity with God. If you are more concerned about earthly connections, rather than the all important heavenly connection, you will not have the peace of God in your heart. If you are truly saved, the Holy Spirit will be working in your heart to help you to see the need to repent and get right with God. If you continue to resist the truth, Paul tells us in I Corinthians 11 what can happen in your life. God cannot bless disobedience.
God is not a politician. He directs His writers to speak in plain words that deal with the facts. God does not guess at anything. He knows the heart of man. He knows the direction that man is going.
In verse 21, Paul is showing these saints what their actions are saying. Those that wanted to go back to law keeping needed to pay attention to what they were actually doing. Law keeping is not liberating. The law is God’s standard, but man cannot meet that standard. The option is not to reject or ignore the law. The right response is to understand that we need to draw on God’s strength to live a holy life like He demands.
In verse 22 Paul went back to the history of Abraham. Abraham had two sons. One son was by a bondmaid – Hagar. The other son was by a freewoman – Sarah. God never wanted Abraham to listen to the bad advice from Sarah to sin with Hagar. Abraham needed to trust in God. God had promised him a son with his wife Sarah. Even though Abraham and Sarah were getting older, that was not a problem for God. He created man and He can make things happen in His time and in His way. He allowed Abraham to commit sin with Hagar. He also allowed Hagar to conceive knowing that her son would be a major problem for Israel for many generations. Ishmael’s descendants are still a problem today.
In verse 23 God directed Paul to remind the readers that the son of the bondwoman was born after the flesh. Ishmael was the result of Abraham and Sarah’s sin of doubt. Abraham was the man and he was not forced to listen to Sarah. He chose to listen to her rather than to God. Since Ishmael was the product of the flesh, he and his descendants would be a continuous problem for the world.
However, Isaac — the seed of the freewoman would be a blessing for Israel and the world.
In verse 24 Paul stated that this history was an allegory; they were a picture of something much greater. These two sons were the source of two covenants. The one was the covenant from mount Sinai, the source of the giving of the law. This covenant brought the people into bondage through Agar (Hagar).
In verse 25 Paul continued to develop this fact. Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia which is a type of Jerusalem that existed during the time of Paul. Jerusalem was under bondage at that present time. The children of Israel were under bondage to sin. Yes, the Romans were controlling the land, but the bigger problem was the rejection of the true God.
In verse 26 Paul spoke of the Jerusalem that God intended to be there. That Jerusalem is from above. That Jerusalem is where true freedom exists. That is because Jesus Christ rules in that Jerusalem. Paul was directed to speak of that Jerusalem as the mother of us all. The “mother” is a reference to the new birth that is only available through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul was a saved man and with that he became a free man. He had been in bondage as a Pharisee.
The saints in Galatia were being deceived in wanting to go back to law keeping rather than living by faith in Christ. Freedom is only possible through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The natural man thinks their own ideas are liberating, but they get themselves into all kinds of bondage through their rejection of God’s way.
In verse 27 Paul referred back to Isaiah 54:1-5. God blessed the seed of Isaac to a greater extent than the seed of Ishmael. The seed of Ishmael is trouble. Sadly, the majority of Ishmael’s descendants chose to walk in rebellion against God. There are many Arabs today, but the majority hate God. They would rather follow the lie of Islam and live in misery. They are trying to force all of humanity to live in their misery.
The Jews that choose to follow the God of Isaac, are blessed. The saved Jews have a joy that can only come from God. Many Jews have chosen to live in rejection of Christ and thus they are in bondage. Currently the Jews in Israel are on high alert and often have to be ready to flee to their bomb shelters. The only reason for that is due to their rejection of God. He protected them during the time of King David and King Solomon. They never enjoyed that same protection since that time.
In verse 28 Paul continued to point out that the the saints were the children of promise. He was speaking of those who accepted the promises that God made to Abraham and passed on to Isaac. True saints live by the promises of God. Those promises are sure. Muslim men are promised 70 virgins in their ‘heaven’. The reality is they will suffer in torment in the lake of fire and they will not notice anyone but themselves. Their agony will be intense for all eternity. The few who choose to follow the promises given to Isaac, will be in heaven for all eternity and will enjoy God’s peace.
In verse 29 Paul referred back to how Ishmael mocked Isaac after he was born. Sarah wanted Ishmael and Hagar sent away from her and her son. Abraham was bothered by that, but God told him to listen to his wife on this matter. Ishmael would not be blessed in Isaac. Ishmael was the product of disobedience and his nature was such that he could not be blessed of God.
Abraham should have listened to God. The consequences of disobedience are costly.
Paul pointed out that the Jews who were seeking to live in the flesh were still persecuting the saved Jews. Paul faced persecution as did many other first century saints. Today, most professing Christians are trying to hide behind the world. They do not want to be the peculiar people God says His children will be. Thus, pseudo Christianity is being trampled under foot and it is powerless to do anything about it. Of course, the world cannot tell the difference between a true Christian and a pseudo Christian. True Christians are called to walk humbly with the Lord and not to seek to identify with the world. They are saved to serve God.
Persecution will be part of serving the Lord. There are people who do not like what I say and do. Some are quite vocal about their objection. They say they want nothing to do with me. I am not alone in that. We are not yet in the place where police come and arrest us for speaking the truth. Bill C9 will give them more boldness and there will be other measures used to try to silence the truth. Not that long ago a man in B.C. received a massive fine for stating there are only two genders. A wicked person took offence to his statements and the human rights tribunal took the wicked person’s case and they tried to send a very intimidating message to the rest of Canada. They do not want the truth to be told. The human rights tribunals are made up of people who hate God. They think they are having great success. Eternity is a long time. The lake of fire is no picnic. People need to wake up and face the truth. When those who are saved refuse to speak plainly, they offend God and lie to the people.
Paul did not offend God and he did not lie to the people. He suffered physically for his obedience to God. However, he is in heaven today. His detractors are in hell today. The choice is clear. The consequences of our choices are clear as well. Don’t be deceived. Choose wisely and know God’s peace and blessings.
Pastor Bartel