KEY BIBLE CHAPTERS: GENESIS 25 AND GALATIANS 4.
1) Gen. 25:6 – READ
a) From this verse we find that Abraham’s sons from Keturah and Hagar received “gifts.”
b) Isaac had come from Sarah, the woman was a “wife” in the full sense of this word.
c) Let’s look at verse 5 of Gen. 25 – READ
d) Isaac was the child of Abraham’s “wife” in the full sense of the word and he got the best of what dad had.
2) There is a clear contrast in Gen. 25 when it comes to sons from sons of concubines and the son from Sarah.
3) Gal. 4:22 – READ
4) Paul knew and said that Abraham had “two sons.”
a) In the verses that follow Paul made it clear he was thinking about just two of Abraham’s wives.
b) Paul knew that Abraham had a son from a “handmaid” (Hagar).
c) Paul also spoke about a son from the “free woman” (this describes Sarah and her son Isaac).
5) Isaac and Ishmael are the boys being discussed in Gal. 4 and Paul said these boys/mothers were special.
6) Both of these children pointed forward to some things –– READ 24A.
7) Isaac and Ishmael and even their mothers are an “allegory.”
8) Just as Adam, Noah, the ark, pointed forward to the New Testament, such was true for these 2 boys.
a) Hagar probably didn’t’ realize it, but her life as a concubine pointed forward to something.
b) Gal. 4:24– READ
9) Paul referred to the Old Testament represented by Hagar as a state of “bondage.”
10) Hagar looked forward to the Old Testament law that was associated with Moses.
11) Sarah is not specifically mentioned in Gal. 4, but her life and status of a wife is implied.
12) Hagar pointed to the Old Testament and Sarah pointed to the New Testament.
a) The births of Isaac and Ishmael also pointed forward to two churches.
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c) Acts 7:38 speaks of the “church in the wilderness” (i.e. the nation of Israel).
d) Just by being born a Jewish person became a member of the Old Testament nation of Israel.
13) When the new covenant came into being, this all changed.
14) Think of what Jesus told Nicodemus in Jn. 3:3-8; He said a man must be “born anew” or “born again.”
15) Ishmael was born without divine intervention, such was not true of Isaac.
a) Physical birth no longer works; we need to be “born of the spirit” (hear and heed the Spirit’s word).
b) The circumstances surrounding the birth of Isaac and Ishmael were different because the way people
came into the Old Testament and they way people come into the New Testament are different.
16) The Old Testament system symbolized by Ishmael and Hagar did not symbolize freedom.
17) Sarah and Isaac, however, are the epitome of and represent freedom. Gal. 5:1
a) In Gen. 16:11-12 – READ – we find that after Ishmael was still unborn Hagar fled from Sarah.
b) Think about this information from the standpoint of the contrast in Gal. 4.
c) Sarah and Isaac pointed forward to the New Testament era, which certainly includes the church.
d) Hagar and her son Ishmael pointed forward to the Old Testament and the Jewish nation.
e) The child Ishmael foreshadowed how the Jews would treat those who became Christians.
f) When we see Jewish persecution in the book of Acts, this persecution is rooted in Bible prophecy.
g) Gen. 21:14 tells us what Ishmael received after he and mom were “cast out.”
18) The bottle of the water and the bread in Gen. 21 symbolize the inheritance received in the land of Canaan.
19) Sarah had the full status of a full wife and Isaac – as we heard earlier – got the real inheritance.
20) When we look at Ishmael and Hagar we find this mother and son being “cast out” (Gal. 4:30).
21) A woman and her son were “cast out” but another woman and her son – Sarah and Isaac – were not.
22) The casting out of Ishmael and Hagar symbolized a change in covenants.
23) When the New Testament system of instituted, the Old Testament was “cast out.”
