BORN FREE!

“Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 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. These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. The one covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves. This is Hagar.” Galatians 4:21-24.

Who was Hagar? She was the Egyptian slave of Abraham’s wife, Sarah. Paul used the rather obscure argument about the mothers of Abraham’s two sons to explain why believers in Jesus are not slaves but sons.

God promised Abraham a son through whom He would make him into a great nation and bless the world through him. In order for Abraham and Sarah to know that their son would be a miracle child, God caused Sarah to be barren until the time came for her to conceive Isaac. Because of their impatience, Sarah urged Abraham to “help” God by resorting to the common custom of a husband producing a child through a slave woman. The baby born would become the child of the barren wife.

But this was not what God planned. Instead of Sarah adopting Ishmael, the child became a source of irritation between her and her slave. Ishmael was the son born of the flesh in more ways than one. He was the result of human scheming; he was the natural outcome of human intercourse; he was not conceived in response to a divine promise; rather, he was Abraham’s way of trying to force God’s hand; and his descendants have been enemies of the children of God down the centuries.

Isaac, on the other hand, would never have been born outside of divine intervention. Everything was against Sarah having a child. She was both old and barren. Only God could reawaken her dead systems and make them function again, and function efficiently to enable her to conceive, carry a baby to term and go through the rigors of childbirth unscathed and without the intervention of 21st century medical skills. Isaac was a God-child from beginning to end.

A good illustration, Paul! Anyone who thinks he can to satisfy God’s perfection by trying to be perfect, is on his own. But the problem is that he is up against his own perverse nature. Every time he is confronted with God’s requirements, his rebellious sin-nature rises up and resists. That’s what the law does. We are not neutral; we are hostile to God, enemies, hating the light because it exposes who we really are. Before we even attempt the impossible, we are gonged out. What does that make us? Slaves! Enslaved by our own nature and enslaved to sin.

On the other hand, Sarah’s baby came easily. When God said it would happen, it happened, on time and in His time. He made the promise and He kept His promise. Isaac was not a “borrowed” son but her son. Isaac belonged to Abraham and Sarah because God gave him to them. They did not deserve him; God did not give him to them as a reward for anything. God gave him to them because He had a plan and Isaac was part of His plan. Isaac was the beginning of God’s human family, Israel.

Salvation is like that. God gave it to us through Jesus. God has a plan. He wants a family of sons and daughters who are just like Him. Giving them rules to keep did not work but it was part of His plan. It showed His people how stubborn and rebellious their hearts were and that they could only become His true children by grace and through God changing their hearts.  Before He could send Jesus, they had to learn what sin was and that their only hope was through the sacrifice of a perfect Lamb. Jesus became God’s perfect son and His perfect Lamb.

We cannot have the law and faith in Jesus. The real problem is that people, even God’s people, find it difficult to believe that we actually have to do nothing except trust in Jesus to be acceptable to God. Like Abraham and Sarah, we think we have to do something to “help” Him so that He will be pleased with us. Until we get rid of that false notion and throw ourselves completely on His mercy, we will never enjoy the freedom of being God’s beloved sons and daughters, unconditionally loved and fully accepted as members of His family.

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.