A Gift Worth Waiting For – Part 1

(Gal 4:1 NKJV) Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all,

(Gal 4:2 NKJV) but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.

(Gal 4:3 NKJV) Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.

(Gal 4:4 NKJV) But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

(Gal 4:5 NKJV) to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

(Gal 4:6 NKJV) And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!"

(Gal 4:7 NKJV) Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

In Galatians chapter 4, Paul begins explaining the special way in which God dealt with Israel for a special purpose. He uses the rearing of the Jewish child-heir to teach the relationship between the believer and the law.

The Bible refers to Jews as heirs (Romans 4:14), for God made wonderful promises to them through Abraham, but it took many centuries before they received their inheritance.

(Gal 4:1-2 NKJV) Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.

The child, Paul reasons, might be heir to a fortune…but as long as he or she has not reached the legal age of inheritance, the child is no different from the slave. Even though they would one day inherit all that belonged to their parents, they in many cases, were treated no differently than slave children—until that one day when they received their inheritance.

Paul is teaching that the Jews were in their “spiritual childhood” under the Law. God had ordained that there would be a space of time where they would be indoctrinated or taught His Law.

* Though one day they would inherit the land—that time had not come.

* One day they would be rich in faith—that time had not come.

* One day God would turn their hearts of stone into hearts of flesh but that time had not come.

The Jew’s graduation into their full inheritance was kept at bay until God’s appointed time. Galatians 4:3 says: “Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.”

The "elements of the world" refers to how humanity operated before Christianity. It refers to how both the Jew and Gentile “acted out” before the influence of Christ and the effects of Christianity.

Paul wants us to know “when we were children” that is, before Jewish and Gentiles began to follow Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, we were in bondage under the elements of the world. Our ancestors were living by the principals of the world.

* The Jews were in bondage to keeping the letter of the law to obtain salvation. For example, In Luke 6, the Jewish religious leaders taught that it was against the law for Jesus to heal a man on the Sabbath. In Matthew 15, the disciples of Jesus were scorned for failure to ceremonially cleanse their hands before eating.

* The Gentiles were in bondage to their pagan rituals. The ancients of Rome, Greece, Germany, Italy and Russia…the Mongols, Turkic, Chinese and other Asiatic peoples…the Ethnic people groups of the Middle East, Africa and south America…all sought to appease whatever image of God that remained as their oral tradition distorted God’s revelation to their father Adam.

Before Jesus Christ came on the scene, both Jew and Gentiles were in bondage to their ceremonies and rituals. Our text goes on to say, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son…” He was a Gift worth waiting for!

God has a way of interrupting our lives. He invaded time and space and changed things. Any Jew who wanted to be…was delivered from bondage to the Law. Any Gentile who wanted to be…was delivered by Jesus from bondage to pagan rituals. Anyone today can be delivered from the sins that so easily beset them because God sent forth His Son!

Here in Galatians chapter four, Paul is referring to the incarnation. He is writing about the true meaning of Christmas; he is referring to the time when God gave His Son as a baby, who would grow up to be the God-man, who would die for our sins.

The Bible is telling us that this time of symbolism, legalism, ceremony and pagan ritual would run its course, having prepared the way for Jesus Christ.