How tender and touching the apostle's language now becomes! “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you” (vers. 19, 20). He had the feelings both of mother and father towards the saints, as he lets the Thessalonians know (1 Thess. 2:7-127But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children: 8So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us. 9For ye remember, brethren, our labor and travail: for laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. 10Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe: 11As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children, 12That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. (1 Thessalonians 2:7‑12)).
He goes beyond Moses here. The lawgiver, when smarting under the perverseness of his charge, was ready to repudiate them. He asked Jehovah why He had afflicted His servant, in laying the burden of the people upon him. “Have I conceived all this people? Have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers?” (Num. 11:1212Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers? (Numbers 11:12)). But Paul was willing to travail with the Galatians a second time. He longed to be personally with them that he might see for himself their actual state, and the extent of the damage that had been done. Perhaps then he could change his voice, but at the moment of writing he had the gravest doubts of them.
The apostle now adopts another line. “Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?” (ver. 21). It is evident that the word “law” has two senses here slightly different from each other. The second use of the word refers to the Old Testament scriptures in general. The quotation that follows is from Genesis. He now illustrates the opposite principles of law and grace by the things that occurred in Abraham's household. “For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a free-woman. But he who was of the bondwoman, was born after the flesh; and he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar,” &c. (vers. 22-24). The principle of grace shines brightly in Sarah. When nature was proved impotent, God came in with His promise. It was received in faith, though there was long to wait ere the word was fulfilled. Her son, therefore, sets forth the seed of faith; those who inherit blessing. Hagar, on the other hand, speaks to us of the energy of the flesh, of bondage too. The apostle shows that this is where Jerusalem now is, whatever the boast of the Judaisers who had troubled the Galatians. “For this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children” (ver. 25). Yet the Jews boasted to the Lord that they were never in bondage to any (John 8:3333They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? (John 8:33))! To submit to Jerusalem now was to place themselves under servitude and to rob their souls of blessing.
What remarkable instruction the Spirit draws forth from so simple a matter as Abraham's two wives! Who would have seen in Sarah and Hagar the principles of law and grace, had not the Spirit of God drawn our attention thus? There is a mine of wealth in the pictures and types of the Old Testament to reward the patient and diligent soul.
To continue, Christians have nothing to do with Jerusalem, or the system of law and bondage connected with her. Christianity knows no center on earth. Our metropolis is in heaven. “But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all” (more correctly “our mother”) (ver. 26).
We now get a remarkable quotation from Isaiah. “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 a husband” (ver. 27). Observe the place in which this is found in the writings of the prophet. In chapter 53. we have Israel bowing to the truth of the atonement, owning the once smitten One as having died for them. Then we hear the remarkable call quoted by the apostle in this epistle. The truth is, that Israel in the coming day will be astonished to learn what God has been doing during their long term of widowhood. They will find that countless children have been born to Abraham-true children of promise. These are reckoned, in a spiritual way, as Jerusalem's progeny. We do well to remember that the gospel started from Jerusalem and all its first preachers were of the Jewish stock. While Israel is estranged God is busy, and many are being brought in to taste the sweetness of His grace.
“Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now” (vers. 28, 29). Here another incident is dwelt upon. The Spirit of God saw in the mocking of Ishmael, an expression of the inveterate hatred of flesh to Spirit. Paul knew much of this. Had he been a preacher of circumcision, he would have been spared much. That would have put honor on the first man, and no persecution would have ensued for him. But he was a faithful minister of heavenly things, and had to endure the consequences in his person and circumstances. Others know this in measure.
Those who contend for law and ordinances have ever been bitter persecutors of the true seed of God. The Inquisition and many a burning pile, to say nothing of minor things, furnish painful proofs of it.
“Nevertheless, what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman” (ver. 30). This is Ishmael's lot, as we know. The Galatians must learn that this must be their portion also if they persisted on the ground of flesh and law. There can be no blessing for such, for God will not share His glory with another. Jerusalem was about to be made a solemn example. The Lord had warned His blinded people, but to no purpose. The heavenly light was resisted, flesh and ordinances were clung to; not submitting to God's righteousness, they were still going about to establish their own. The stroke was soon to fall; and Jerusalem was to be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Solemn warning for Christendom, if men had eyes to see, and ears to hear! Soon will God's hand fall there also, let men boast never so loudly.
But Paul hoped better things of his beloved Galatians. “So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free” (ver. 31). Believers in Jesus are Sarah's children, heirs according to promise. Such will not be cast out, when the Ishmaels are rejected, but be preserved and blessed by God to the glory of His grace.