“Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise.  At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit.  It is the same now.”

Galatians  4:28-29

In this lesson we explore the transition in Abram’s faith.  Abram a man who (in our lesson last week) expresses concern over God’s timing in the fulfillment of his promise of a son, to a man so completely faithful, he is later willing to sacrifice that same son.

The waiting of Abram and Sarai continues for years to come. Abram, a man 86 years of age with a wife (Sarai) of 76, knows and has faith in God’s promise of a son.  You can almost hear them in their disappointment as no child is coming.  It was customary in that day, for a man having no children of his own to seek offspring through a servant (or concubine).  I still cannot imagine the emotional pain Sarai must have as she suggests Abram sleeps with her servant Hagar who later bore him a son, Ishmael.  To think of this amazing promise of God given to Abram and how she must of anticipated it’s fulfillment, then to appear to be excluded from it. 

This however was not the God’s plan for the fulfillment of his covenant promise to Abram.  We once again see man’s action and plan as not being part of God’s plan.  With Abram and Sarai (and now Hagar) this plan is the beginning of serious problems and complications for generations to come.

Paul in his letter to the Galatians uses this incident between Hagar and Sarai as a metaphor in his struggle with the religious leaders and ‘false teachers’ in Jerusalem.  Let’s go to Galatians 4:21-31 and discover what was going on. 

First some background to the passage:  As Paul’s ministry expanded to the gentile regions of Galatia, the religious leaders of that day were still trying to persuade their followers that the covenant sign of circumcision was still necessary to be associated as a ‘descendant of Abraham’.  Paul is in strong argument with them, accusing the leaders that they are misleading the new believers through their teaching them that human effort is required to receive any blessings associated with the promises as children of Abraham.   Paul refers to this as ‘living under the law of Moses’ or basically ‘working’ to obtain righteousness.  Paul’s argument basically underscores that any requirement of human effort would make the receipt of God’s promise an ‘entitlement’ that is earned, replacing a ‘gift’ of grace that is given.

²¹ Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? ²² For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. ²³ His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.

²⁴ These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. ²⁵ Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. ²⁶ But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.²⁷ For it is written: “Be glad, barren woman, you who never bore a child; shout for joy and cry aloud,  you who were never in labor;  because more are the children of the desolate woman  than of her who has a husband.”  ²⁸ Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. ²⁹ At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. ³⁰ But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”^[f] 31 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

 Paul refers to Hagar as the ‘slave woman’ and also as ‘the present Jerusalem’, the son of which (Ishmael) was born into slavery through human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise.  Slavery of the old covenant, slavery to the Law given at Mt. Sinai, slavery into trying to gain righteousness through human effort of obeying the old covenant requirements.  Sarah on the other hand is referred to as the ‘free woman’ representing the ‘heavenly Jerusalem’, bearing a son born by the power of the Spirit (not human effort), a son receiving the inheritance promised to Abraham as a gift from God. 

As the story unfolds, Hagar and Ishmael are sent away after God provides the promised child, Isaac to Abram and Sarai when Sarai was 90 years old.  Fourteen years after Abram and Sarai had possibly given up, only when childbirth was impossible through man’s effort did God do what only a Holy, powerful God could.

In Genesis 17, God re-establishes His covenant with Abram.  In this covenant he re-affirms His promises to:

• Provide the promised land of Canaan as their possession forever.
• Make Abram the father of many nations through Sarai.
• To be their God as an “everlasting covenant from generation to generation”

Abram is given the responsibility to obey the terms of this covenant promise, the responsibility to walk before God, and be blameless (vs 1) and the keeping of the sign of the covenant, circumcision (vs 11) for all  included in these promises.  This sign in Abrahams day, was a sign of blood, a sign of God’s chosen people bearing the mark of promise, a sign performed by human hands, a sign of cutting away of the flesh.  Notice the huge significance of how Christ changes this sign for believers.  The blood has been shed (Cross), we bear the mark of promise (Holy Spirit), a sign not obtained through human effort, but by the grace of God we no longer live by the flesh but by the spirit dwelling within us.

God changed Abram’s name to Abraham (“exalted father” to “father of a multitude”); Sarai’s name changed to Sarah (“my princess” to “princess”).  The significance in changing both names is they emphasize more than simply a common or local title, but rather a global title.  Look carefully in chapter 17 as God promises them not only numerous descendants (as in chapter 15) but now many nations, kings being among them.  Now the covenant promises are everlasting. 

We think of the events in these passages as God’s way of starting to teach the people of Israel (and us) who the real offspring of Abram’s are.  We see God in effect saying here: “My promise of an inheritance is not simply a blood of Abram promise; there is much more to it”.  Real children of Abraham are children born through God’s promise by the power of the Spirit and who trust in God for salvation through Christ by faith alone (Isaac).   The son born of human effort (Ishmael), represent those striving for salvation through human effort in keeping the law also will be sent away.  This is such a strong point that Paul emphasizes over and over again throughout his letters.  Here are a couple as examples:

Romans 9:6-9:  ⁶ It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. ⁷ Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” ⁸ In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. ⁹ For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”

Galatians 3:5-11:  ⁵ So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? ⁶ So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” ⁷ Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham.⁸ Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” ⁹ So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. ¹⁰ For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” ¹¹ Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.”

 We jump forward to Genesis 21 where God’s promise to Abraham (now 100 years old) and Sarah (90 years old) is fulfilled, the birth of Isaac.  When Isaac was about 3 years old, Ishmael (now 17 years of age) made fun of Isaac, and Hagar and Ishmael are again sent away.  The son born of human effort was to have no share in the inheritance and promises of God to Abraham.  Sending Ishmael away adds incredible significance to God’s next test for Abraham, the sacrifice of his ‘only’ son, Isaac.  Now to give up his only remaining son, the heir of promise to both him and Sarah, would be unimaginable.  I cannot imagine the emotion of the 3 day journey with Isaac. 

There are unmistakable parallels to Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac to the sacrifice of Christ. We see a 3 day journey to Moriah (3 days of hell), riding on a donkey (as Christ entered Jerusalem), Isaac carrying his own wood for the sacrifice (Christ carrying the cross), God provides the sacrifice (Christ), a sacrifice of an only son (a son of promise), a ram caught by the horns in a thicket of thorns (crown of thorns), the angel of the Lord (Christ) appears to intervene.  But the unmistakable difference between the sacrifice of Isaac and the sacrifice of Christ is that no one said ‘STOP!’ before the sacrifice of Christ was completed.

Also once again, do not miss the significance of the location.  This is the future location of the temple of Solomon, the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite (1 Chronicles 21:18-22; 2 Chronicles 3:1) where the Angel of the Lord (Christ) appeared to stop the plague of death.  At His appearance and in His words, which were simply:  “Stop, that is enough”, stopped the angel of death from destroying (you guessed it) Jerusalem.  

This location is also known as the temple mount, the location of the Holy of Holies, the location where God would dwell with Israel, the location where the curtain was torn at Christ’s death, providing full access to God. 

We now understand how Abraham has become a model of faithfulness, scripture even refers to him as a ‘friend of God’ (James 2:23 , the only man this is said of.  He has transitioned from a man who needed ‘proof’ of a promised son to a man so faithful in God’s plan that he is willing to sacrifice him out of obedience.  Hebrews 11:17-19 speaks of this incredible faith in the promise of God that Isaac was the son carrying the line of God’s promise.

¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, ¹⁸ even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” ¹⁹ Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

We have a God that intervenes and provides the sacrifice out of His deep love for us, and as Abraham reasoned for Isaac, God did raise the dead!  Praise God!

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