Hagar and Sarai: The Allegory Contained Within

For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the handmaid, and one by the free woman.  

Howbeit the son of the handmaid is born after the flesh; but the son of the free woman is born through promise. 

Which things contain an allegory; for these women are two covenants; one from Mount Sinai, bearing children unto bondage, which is Hagar. 

Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem that now is; for she is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem that is above is free, which is our mother.

Galatians 4:22-26

 

"Abraham made a great mistake and attempted to fulfil God's

promise. A son had been promised him,--a true free-born son who could be his heir. 

It had been expressly stated that a servant could not be his heir. Gen. 15:2-4. 

Nevertheless, he harkened to the voice of Sarai, instead of to
the Lord, and took Hagar, Sarai's Egyptian bondmaid, by whom he had Ishmael. But since Hagar was a bondservant, a slave, Ishmael could be nothing else. 

So Abraham had gained nothing. 

 

Afterwards Isaac, the child of promise, was horn. 

He was free, and could inherit all that Abraham had. 

The history is so plain that no one can misunderstand it.  

 

These two women, Hagar and Sarah, represent two covenants, known respectively as the first and the second, the old and the new.

 One originates at Mount Sinai, 

the other in the New Jerusalem above. 

---In the first one the people promise to keep the law; 

---in the second one God promised to write the law in their hearts by His Spirit.
---The first one can give nothing but bondage, condemnation, and death. 

---The other gives pardon, justification, and life. 

 “for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”
Heb. 11:10. 

 

Here we may come and be adopted as free-born citizens. “For ye are
not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto

blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more (for they could not endure that which was commanded, and if so
much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart; and so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake). 

---But ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and
church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.” Heb. 12:18-24."

Sabbath School Lesson 1900

Cast out the bondwoman and her son.....

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. Galatians 4:30

 

“Cast out the bondwoman and her son.” 

Q: Does this seem like a hard commandment?

----Do not regard it so; it conveys a most glorious promise. 

It is a personal word to each one of us. 

---The bondwoman is the covenant of human works, 

and the son is our own sinful flesh,.....
“Every one that committeth sin is the bond-servant of sin. And the bond-servant abideth not in the house forever; the son abideth ever.” John 8:34, 35. 

 

Q: Who gives the order? 

A: It is God, who said, “Let there be light,” and the light was. 

If we recognize Him as Creator, we shall see that His command, “Cast out the bondwoman and her son,” is proof that it shall be done, and we shall be delivered from every phase and every
trace of bondage. 

---It is the proclamation of liberty to the captives, the opening of the
prison to them that are bound. Isa. 61:1, 2. 

 

Here is a serious personal matter for the consideration of each one. Christ said, “If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31, 32. He is the truth. John 14:6. “If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:36. 

 

Are you free indeed? 

Do you know your freedom? 

Are you free from all bad habits and from every form of slavery? Are you master of the world, the flesh, and the devil?  

Have you victory over the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, 

and the pride of life?  

 

The word has already been spoken and the freedom is ours. With the psalmist we may say, “O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, 

--and the son of thine handmaid; [Sarai]

--thou hast loosed my bonds. [Freedom from Sin]” Ps. II6:16."

Enfolded and Unfolded

And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Luke 24:27

 "The New Testament is enfolded in the Old; 

and the Old Testament is unfolded in the New. 

For what is the law but the Gospel foreshadowed? 

and what is the Gospel but the law fulfilled?"

Sabbath School Lesson 1896

 

Why Confusion on the Covenants?

"Q: Why are the old and the new covenants a mystery to many

Christians? 

 

A: Because most have assumed that the old covenant was God's way of saving people during the Old Testament and the new covenant was God's means of saving people during the New Testament. 

 

This confusion, combined with humanity's natural disposition toward ceremonialism (making the symbol the means rather than the expression of faith), has led to the notion of a covenantal dispensationalism in which the gospel is distorted.

The everlasting covenant is the same as the new covenant. It is the good news of the gospel. Christ crucified is the sinner's representative, Substitute, and Surety. The sinner is unable in his own power to fulfill his obligations regarding the law. Christ, the Surety of the covenant, fulfilled the righteousness of the law on behalf of the sinner, as his representative Substitute. as his representative Substitute.

--The restoration of what man lost is complete, is sure, already in Christ. 

--Now every man, woman, and child can by faith experience Calvary at Sinai- as the great law of love, the Ten Commandments, is written on their hearts by the One who has fulfilled His everlasting covenant in and through Christ." PaulPenno

Candid Look at the "Covenants"

"We are told who was the author of the first covenant.

It was God.

We are told with whom it was made.

It was made with Israel.

We are told when it was made:

It was made with that people when they came out of the land of Egypt. Jer. 31:32; Heb. 8:9.

By these circumstances the old covenant is clearly distinguished from the Adamic, the Abrahamic, or any other covenant brought to view in the Bible.

We go back therefore to the history of Israel as they came out of Egypt, and lay down this as a consistent and self-evident principle: That the very first transaction we find taking place between God and the Israelites after they left Egypt, which answers to the definition of the word covenant, must be the first covenant.

But what of the Sabbath?

We answer, The Minister of the new covenant was careful to affirm its perpetuity and consequent binding obligation in this dispensation, by affirming in the most positive manner, the perpetuity and immutability of that law of which it is an integral part; that law which is the standard or righteousness, and from which not a jot or tittle was to pass while the heavens and the earth should remain. Matt. 5:17-20.

And the prophecy of the new covenant, itself, has something very emphatic to say about the law.

*Under this covenant says God, "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts."

*As Paul quotes it, it reads, "I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts."

*To what law does this prophecy refer? To that which was the law of God in the days of Jeremiah, which no one will dispute was the ten commandments.

---If it does not mean this, then it should have read, I will put a new law into their minds, and write it in their hearts.

 

Wherever the ark was there was this book of the covenant by its side. Hence Solomon could say, referring to the place where the ark was, that there, in that place, was also the covenant which the Lord made with that people when he led them out of Egypt.

 

Here a most ludicrous and ridiculous blunder is made by some opponents of the Sabbath, even those who claim to be ministers of the word.

*-*They assert that the wall of partition was broken down in order that the Jews might come out where the Gentiles were, and partake of their liberty and blessings, the privileges of the gospel, and the first-day Sabbath.

*-*This is just exactly the opposite of the truth.

The Gentiles had no blessings to offer.

We have already seen from Paul’s testimony that they are

without God,

without Christ,

and without hope,

and have no interest in the covenants.

The gospel was not theirs, but was preached to Abraham, to Moses, and the Hebrews, all through their history; and all its blessings were included in the new covenant, which, like the old, was made with that people. Gal. 3:8; Heb. 4:2.

No! the middle wall of partition was broken down that the Gentiles might go in where the Jews were, and be partakers of the blessings and promises which they entertained. God never made, and never proposed to make, a covenant with the Gentiles."
UriahSmith