In Jesus Holy Name February 5, 2023
Text: Galatians 4:22-23 Redeemer
“The Tale of Two Mothers”
There is a great story in I Kings that explains the wisdom of Solomon. When Solomon became king after his father David died he prayed that God would give him wisdom to lead the nation of Israel. It was granted. Here is the story, you probably know it well.
“God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight…..as measureless as the sand on the seashore.” Two women came before him asking for his decision regarding their children. The two women both had a child. They were living in the same house. In the middle of the night one of the children died. The mother of the dead infant quietly slipped her dead child in the bed of the other mother and took her living child to her bed. In the morning, the mother saw that the dead child was not hers. (I Kings 3)
Standing in front of the King, the other woman was insistent that the living child was hers. The other mother was also insistent, and so they argued before the king. Then the king said, “bring me a sword.” He gave the order to cut the child in two and give each mother half a child. Immediately the mother of the living child was filled with compassion and said: “Give the living child to her. Don’t kill him.”
The king realized that she was the true mother and gave the living child back to her. “All Israel heard the verdict and held King Solomon in awe because of his wisdom.
In Galatians Paul tells the story of two women. Sarah and Hagar. As you may remember Abraham and Sarah were promised a son…but she could not conceive. After 25 years of trying Sarah finally suggested to Abraham to have a child by her Egyptian servant girl, Hagar. We could talk about Abraham and Sarah’s failure to trust God’s promise… It had been 25 years. Sarah may have meant well, but we suffer today in the middle East because of Abraham’s decision to go along with Sarah’s suggestion. The son born to Abraham and Hagar is Ishmael.
It was Josephus, a Jewish historian writing in the first century, who first
advanced the idea that Ishmael was the ancestor of the Arabs. In The Antiquities of the Jews Josephus stated that Ishmael was "the founder" of the Arabian nation, and Abraham was "their father". Well that may or may not be true.
But that is not where Paul takes us with the tale of two women. “These things may be taken “figuratively”, he writes. Two points Paul is making. Sons have a father. Slaves have a master.
“When the time had fully come… God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those under the law that we might receive the full rights of sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts…..” Galatians 4:4-5
“When the time had fully come”….By the first century, the Roman Empire had brought a universal peace, a common language and the best roads the world had ever known. The proliferation of false religions had created a spiritual hunger for something authentic. The political, religious, economic and social conditions were suited to the rapid spread of the message of hope and life by faith in Jesus. (Leonard Sweet article from Long Range planning)
In his book “The Knowledge of the Holy”, A.W. Tozer gives this example. It is a simple illustration of the plans of our sovereign God, He writes: “An ocean liner leaves New York bound for Liverpool. Its destination has been determined by proper authorities. Nothing can change it. This is a least a faint picture of sovereignty and the meaning of “When the fullness of time”….
On board the liner are scores of passengers. These are not in chains, neither are their activities determined for them by decree. They are completely free to move about as they will. They eat, they sleep, play lounge about on the deck, read, talk together as they please; but all the while the great liner is carrying them steadily onward toward a predetermined port…
The mighty liner of God’s sovereign design keeps its steady course over the sea of history. God moves undisturbed and unhindered toward the fulfillment of those eternal purposes which He purposed in Jesus before the world began. We do not know all that is included in these purposes but enough has been disclosed to furnish us with a broad outline of things to come and give us hope and assurance of our eternal salvation”…. and current well being as we live our lives.
“A. W. Tozer “The Knowledge of the Holy, The Attributes of God; Their Meaning in the Christian.”
Paul notes that God has redeemed us, He has adopted us into His eternal family by the death and resurrection of Jesus, through our baptism. This He knew in advance. God has no 2nd class kids. I love Paul’s theological point in verse 6. We can call God our Father. His gift is the same Holy Spirit that was in Jesus is in us by adoption through baptism. He knows my name. He knows your name. Our names are written on the palm of His hand. This may be one of the most important passages in this text, but the sermon on this verse will have to wait.
Galatians is all about the gospel. (chapter 1-3) When you are wrong about the “gospel” two terrible things happen. Sinners are not saved. God is not glorified.
Webster’s dictionary gives this answer to what is figurative language:
Figurative language refers to words or phrases that are meaningful, but not literally true. If you say “that news hit me like a ton of bricks,” you are using figurative language; listeners understand the news you got was deeply moving, and also know that you were not actually hit by 2000 pounds of bricks (because if you had been you would be dead). If you say “he begged me to reconsider, but I had a heart of stone, and I refused,” you are also using figurative language;
Paul begins: One father: Abraham. Two mothers: Sarah, Hagar. Two sons. Isaac, Ishmael. One son was by the slave woman, Hagar was born in the ordinary way. The other son, by Sarah was born by a promise, when Abraham was 100 and Sarah 90. That is a miracle.
Figuratively speaking. Paul says Sarah represents grace. Hagar represents the law. Sarah is going to represent “trusting in God”, Hagar represents “trying to help God out and doing it on your own”. Sarah is about faith. Hagar is about works.
Hagar stands for Mount Sinai where the “law” was given. Her children try to keep the “law” to earn God’s love and favor. Sarah stands for the city of Jerusalem where Jesus gave His life on the cross for our broken commandments. It is where He was buried and rose from death and the grave.
Now we return to our opening story with King Solomon. It did not matter who the father was… The question before Solomon is: Who is the mother. So here in Galatians Paul is not asking Who is your Father. The important question is “Who is your mother?” Sarah or Hagar?
All of humanity is in the line of Sarah or the line of Hagar. In God’s eyes the whole human race is not divided by color of skin, culture, location of birth. You are a child of Hagar or a child of Sarah. You are either a slave to sin and trying to save yourself, or you are set free by the grace of God’s love through faith in Jesus.
Paul can write in Romans. “We are justified” through faith and now we have peace with God through Jesus Christ through whom we have gained access by faith into His grace. You see, when we were powerless to stop breaking God’s commandments Jesus died in our place. Now God has given each believer the same Holy Spirit that will enable our behavior to imitate Jesus. (That will be discussed in Chapter 5 & 6 )
God demonstrated His ability to foresee the future in Genesis 3:15. After the sin of Adam and Eve, God looked far into the years ahead as He spoke to the serpent and declared what would come to pass. Satan would strike Christ’s heel, referring to the painful death of Jesus. But that was not the end of the story. Jesus would crush the head of the serpent. While Satan would have appeared to won when Jesus was dying on the cross.
I remember the scene well from the movie “The Passion of the Christ” when Jesus died. Mel Gibson showed Satan laughing as if he had finally defeated the Son of God. He was wrong. Satan would be the ultimate loser in the great spiritual battle. Jesus would rise from death and the grave, and thus release people from the fear of death and the eternal wrath of God. (Hebrews 2:14)
God not only made the universe, He rules it to this day and will throughout eternity. The fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden did not catch God off guard. God looked far into the future and saw His glorious victory over all the forces of evil, all those forces were unleased as a result of one little bite of a piece of forbidden fruit. God unveiled a plan to Adam and Eve that would unfold thousands of years later on a cross outside of Jerusalem. He made certain that the direction of the history of the human race was headed toward our salvation though His Son, Jesus. (Leonard Sweet Ibid)
According to God's plan and promise, "When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law." Jesus did come.
In short, God's perfect all-powerful Son came and, born of human Mary; became One of us. True God so He might fulfill the law and lead a perfect life; true Man so He might live and die as One of us, Jesus' entire life was dedicated to doing all that was necessary to forgive our sins, save our souls.
When we are adopted by God in baptism He becomes our Father and we are heirs of all of His promises. The Holy Spirit convinces your heart of this truth: your destiny is in the hands of a loving Father. He is a good father, who has recorded your name in the Book of Life with the blood of the Lamb. And the Spirit of God is urging you to listen as he affirms in your spirit that you are a child of God. (Max Lucado)
Whose your mother? Sarah or Hagar?
