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1/20 Reading Portions: Genesis 21; Matthew 20; Nehemiah 10; Acts 20
Listen to the audio devotional above, and/or read the written devotional below.
“Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” Genesis 21:10
ALLEGORY
When Sarah saw Ishmael, Hagar’s son, mocking Isaac during the celebration of the younger’s weaning feast (Gen 21:8-9), she told Abraham to cast Hagar and her son out (Gen 21:10); with our verse today, being quoted in the New Testament (Gal 4:30). The apostle, Paul, explained this episode as an allegorical picture of two covenants (Gal 4:24). Hagar and Ishmael represent the covenant of the law, which came through Moses on Mount Sinai, and was practiced by Christ-rejecting Jews in Jerusalem (Gal 4:25). The law only enslaved men to keep its ordinances (Gal 3:23) —because sinful man, under the law, was indebted to keep the whole law or else suffer the curse of God’s wrath (Gal 3:10). Sarah and Isaac, on the other hand, represent the heavenly Jerusalem, being free from the bondage and slavery of the law because of the promise received in, by, and through the true Son of promise, Jesus Christ (Gal 4:26; 5:1). Any attempt at accessing God’s favor through our own works only mocks God’s gift of promise— just as Isaac was mocked by Ishmael, and as Jesus Christ was mocked by the religious leaders as He hung upon the cross (Matt 27:41-42). Their rejection of Christ only further enslaved them to the law— a law which can only curse sinful mankind because we do not have the ability to keep the whole law in thought, word, and deed. Jesus Christ, however, kept all of God’s law perfectly. Moreover, Paul tells us,
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us— for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.’ Galatians 3:13
This means that, by faith in Christ Jesus, the blessings of Abraham and the promised Holy Spirit, may fall upon anyone who believes, whether Jew or Gentile (Gal 3:14). Thus, as Paul rightly concludes, if we have been saved by grace though faith in Jesus Christ,
…we are not children of the slave but of the free woman. Galatians 4:31
Hallelujah! What a Savior!
The allegory, shown by grace,
Exalts Christ, our Savior;
And by love’s power, through blest faith,
Transforms our behavior.