Galatians 4:6-7 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
People, especially religious people, love rules and guidelines. (And people love to ignore, change, and rebel against rules and guidelines.) Those that love rules love to judge others against the rules. Such is the attitude of slaves and little children. Those that have believed in Christ have come to know God as Father. As children of God with full rights and favor we need no rules, regulations or observances to cause us to feel closer to our Father, to enable us to receive blessing, or to otherwise keep us in the blessing, presence, and favor of our Father. As sons, or children by faith, we are heirs, and as such all that the Father has is already ours so why would we need special days anyway? As true children of God who are already in a full and favored relationship with God, what good are rules to us? As we are not under the charge of tutors, then God Himself deals with us and we need no one to set regulations over us to gauge our fitness and decide our worthiness. (Ref. Galatians 4:1-3) We are worthy through Christ and Christ alone! (See Romans 8:15-17 and Galatians 3:26, 29)
Romans 10:(1-13) 3-11 Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. 4 Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. 5 Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: “The man who does these things will live by them.”6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
While all of the Laws, Feasts, and observances seem holy and have the appearance of wisdom, (See Colossians 2:20-23), they are just another form of slavery to the end of having us deny our rightful heritage in Christ!
Galatians 4:8-10 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you know God-or rather are known by God-how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10 You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!
The Holy Spirit instructs us that as Christ has come, then all of the regulations, times, and seasons are the same as the regulations times and seasons of false gods and they can only enslave the children of God! They bring no power, no honor, and they bring no blessing from God! Again, if the sons have all that the Father has, (which includes His love and attention), what is there left to bless us with that we do not already possess?!
God’s children live in His love, a love that is so much more than we usually comprehend, and as such we are free in His presence, free in His blessing, and thus we are free in our lives! Why should we take on the attitude of the Prodigal son’s older brother, (See Luke 15:28-29), and enslave ourselves when we possess all that we need, want, and desire?
Luke 15:31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.’”
Such is the life of Sons.
Which Jerusalem Holds You?
Galatians 4:21-26 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23 His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise. 24 These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. (For more on Hagar see Genesis 16 and 21)
The Church still struggles with those that would turn us back to the slavery of the Law. Some attempts are blatant and yet some are very subtle. One such subtle attempt is to bind us to the times and seasons, (which includes the feasts), of the Law. Many observe the Jewish calendar more closely than they do the promises of God that are yes and amen in Christ Jesus! (2 Corinthians 1:20) These determine the strength and opposition of the enemy, the struggles of the Church, and even the times of blessings from God by the superstition of a calendar that has nothing to do with Spirit and therefore nothing to do with the Church! The Church is not bound by Jewish times and seasons for we are not under the earthly Jerusalem, (though we love and pray for her and her people), we belong to the New Jerusalem in heaven and as such are not bound to any earthly laws or timetables!
Those that follow the Law, any portion of the Law, are linked to earthly Jerusalem which is tied to Mount Sinai. This is where the Law was given and with the law came the curse. (Deuteronomy 27:26, Galatians 3:10) What happened on Sinai was glorious, (See Exodus 19:16-19), but that glory faded. The glory of the Church, which is the glory of Christ, can never fade!
2 Corinthians 3:7-11 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
This is the time of the Church, a time governed not by the Law or the times of the Law but by the harvest. What governs the time of the harvest?
Romans 11:25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.
The times of the earthly Jerusalem are in a holding and preparatory pattern for their time includes an interruption of their time, (See Daniel 9:24-27), so that the Gentiles can come in and this is the time of the Church for the Church is both Jew and Gentile alike, all made the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus the Lord! (See Ephesians 2:14-18)
As the Church we are under the promises of God and we live in the authority and power of free Sons of God!
Galatians 4:26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.
Our power and authority is the power and authority of the Holy Spirit. (See John 16:13-15, Acts 1:8, 2 Timothy 1:7) As true and free Sons of God we led and governed by the Spirit of God, (Romans 8:14-17) and as such we follow and work by the time of heaven and do not bow, war, or expect according to the times of earthly Jerusalem! As mature Children of God we have authority over every storm, supply in every situation, and full power over the enemy at all times for we stand in Christ who has ushered in the season of rest! (See Hebrews 3 and 4)
This is not the time to be turning back to earthly Jerusalem for their time is in suspension and there is a greater desire of God for this time than the temporal glory of earthly Jerusalem!
Malachi 1:10-11 “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the LORD Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands. 11 My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD Almighty.
The Glory of the Promise
Galatians 4:27 For it is written:
“Be glad, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth and cry aloud, you who have no labor pains; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband.”
The above passage is from Isaiah chapter 54 and to Isaiah spoke it to Israel concerning their captivity and of a new time for Israel to come when they would return to the Lord and the Lord would no longer punish her for her sins. Paul takes the fullness of the entire thought from Isaiah 53 through chapter 55 and speaks of the promise of God to Abraham and Sarah. As we are still dealing with those that seek to follow the Law as being children of Hagar and earthly Jerusalem, as opposed to those that seek righteousness by faith as those that are the children of Sarah and the heavenly Jerusalem, then we must acknowledge that Sarah was barren and Hagar was fertile. Logically the barren would have no children and the fertile would have many. Yet the Word gives a different order. How can this be? It is because of the power of the promise of God.
Genesis 17:15-16 God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
The world doubts the promise. The religious, those that seek process over faith, doubt the promise. They seek the way that seems fertile to them, the way that makes sense to their way of thinking and works by natural laws and their effort. They love that way over any other. They desire and love the children of their making with ones that are naturally fertile. Even Abraham desired Hagar over Sarah because of the child that the natural produced, who according to scripture was a child of a slave and thus a slave! (Galatians 4:23)
Genesis 17:17-18 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”
Yet God does not seek those born in the natural through the work of men, (See John 1:10-13, 3:3-8), rather He seeks those born of the Spirit which is to be born of the promise!
Genesis 17:19-22 Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.” 22 When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
In Isaiah 53 we have the Messiah, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the living Son of the living God, the heir of the promise, taking the punishment of our sins and bringing to those that will believe the fullness of the promise of God to Abraham, (Galatians 3:13-22). In Isaiah 55 we have God calling to those that are thirsty to come and drink, to those that are hungry to come and eat and all without price - which speaks of the gift and the promise that is received only through faith! In between we have the word of God that those that were without hope; those that had no one to take them in would have more than those that had blessing and life according to the ways of man! This can only be the way of faith and cannot be found through the ways of the Law or any other way but in Christ and by faith in Him as the Promise of God!
Romans 9:6-9 It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 8 In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. 9 For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”
Who has more children today? Does the Law boast of more heirs than grace? Does Israel outnumber the Church? Everyone that believes is brought into Christ and therefore the numbers ever increase – whether they are of Gentile, Jewish, or Arabic descent! The once barren are the more and they hold the promise of God for it is by faith!
We can sing, dance and shout for we have no earthly process to go through! There is no sacrifice to bring, no law to keep! There is no time to wait and no pain in the bringing forth of sons and daughters, for the price has been paid and the pain has been bone, and we, the children of the barren are more than the children of married according to this world and we are named by the name of God!
1 John 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
Children of the Promise
Galatians 4:28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.
Like Isaac, we are children of promise. The promise is just that, a promise. There is no work to a promise.
Romans 4:4 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.
In Christ, which is the only way to receive the promise, (Galatians 3:16, 1 John 5:1-12), the promises of God are always yes!
2 Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. (NKJV)
Children of the promise have a different life than those that are not of the promise. We have passed from the sentiments of Job; Job 14:1 “Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.” – into the fullness of life! John 1:16 From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.
How do we receive the promise? We believe on Christ.
Galatians 3:22, 29 But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (See also Romans 3:9-26)
As heirs of the promise we do not return to the Law or any other method of gaining favor with God, for in Christ we have already revived the promise!
Romans 4:13-17 It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, 15 because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring-not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed-the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
If we know that we have received the promise, how then do we act on the promise? We, like Abraham, believe and do not step back from that which has been promised!
Romans 4:18-21 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead-since he was about a hundred years old-and that Sarah's womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
If I know who I am, then I know what belongs to me. I cannot listen to anything else or speak any other words. If I believe God then I will receive. In Christ we are given all things that have to do with life and Godliness, (2 Peter 1:3), and all we must do is to live in our place of promise - which is living the life of faith!
Romans 1:17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
Casting Out the Law
Galatians 4:28-31 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son.” 31 Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. (Reference Genesis 8:13)
The hardest thing for most Believers that have been influenced by the Law is to cast off all of the Law and its influence. The Law seems to give a feeling of belonging, acceptance, and even some confidence. (Though it is only confidence in the flesh and such confidence also brings condemnation.) Those that still follow any aspect of the Law in their religion are very demanding of those that do not! Yet the Law does not bring blessing and those that follow the Law cannot share in the inheritance. Coming under the influence of the Law will only block us in receiving what can only come by faith!
Romans 4:13-15 It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, 15 because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.
The blessing, or inheritance of God for His children that we share with Christ Jesus, (Romans 8:17), comes only by faith in Christ!
Galatians 2:15-16 “We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ 16 know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.”
To have faith in Christ is to know that He is the fulfillment of, (Matthew 5:17) and therefore the end of the Law. (Romans 10:4) To believe on Christ is to believe that He and He alone is the Way to the Father and apart from Him there is no way to come to the Father to receive the promise or the inheritance! (John 14:6) As this is indisputable, then any other influence would be contrary to the faith that the promise comes through - Christ and Christ alone!
As it is also indisputable that there are many that influence us on matters of observing the Law, we are responsible for guarding that which has been entrusted to us by the Spirit, (John 16:13-15, Romans 8:14, 1 Corinthians 6:11, Galatians 3:5, 5:18, Philippians 3:3), the word of faith. (Romans 10:8) We must be careful and not allow the Law or its message any place in our lives!
If the Law does not does not bring about the inheritance and those that follow the Law do not share in the inheritance that we have in Christ, what good is it to us anyway? It can only turn our hearts from faith to works and wrath! (See above Romans 4:13-15) Wrath and inheritance are incompatible! One who is the heir of all things cannot come under wrath, which involves fear, which has to do with punishment which is contrary to the love of God that we as God’s children find in Christ!
1 John 4:16-18 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
We are children of the Promise, represented by Sarah and so we have no need of the slave woman – the Law and her offspring or the teaching of the Law and its bondage. In Christ we have what the Law looks for so we should live free in the Grace of God and remove all traces of the law from our hearts, minds, and lives and not allow it to have any place in our lives at all!
Galatians 5:9 “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.”
