Jesus our Isaac within
Galatians 4: 21-31 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic.
For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.
For it is written: “Rejoice, O barren, You who do not bear! Break forth and shout, You who are not in labour! For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband”
Two sons, two women, two births, two covenants, and two Jerusalem’s
Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now.
Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free. Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made you free and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
In Genesis 16 we read about the birth of Ishmael who was the son of Abram from Ur and Hagar the Egyptian because Sarai was old and barren and they thought this must be what God meant when he promised that Abram would have children “as the stars of the sky for number”
Sarai gave her maidservant (Hagar) to Abram in order to bring forth a son who could be the heir of God's promises…but “the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman”
Ishmael was born before God had changed Abram's name to Abraham and before Sarai had become Sarah.
Their names were changed when God added the Hebrew letter “hey” to their names. “Hey” is the breath of God, and it indicates to us the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. “Hey” also represents God’s creative power as in…
Psalm 33:6 “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath (“Hey”) of His mouth.”
So reading on in Genesis Ch. 17:5 God said… “No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.
Vs. 15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.”
Only after God had placed his breath and power into their names to Abraham and Sarah was it possible to conceive and bring forth the promised seed, Isaac.
Hebrews 11:11-12 “By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.
Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.”
Ishmael then was born from “fleshly” Abram and Hagar; his birth was "of the flesh". Isaac was born from “spiritual” Abraham and Sarah, by faith and his birth was "by promise," that is, "according to the Spirit" confirming what Jesus said to Nicodemus;
John 3:6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Born naturally and born again spiritually.
This shows us that God's promise of new life, an abundant life is only brought forth only by the power of the Holy Spirit, not by keeping laws to the natural, but becoming a “child of God, by believing in His name and being born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”
So Ishmael was the son of Abram; (of the flesh) Isaac was the son of Abraham. (Of the promise) These two boys represent to us in that our old Adamic nature (or flesh) corresponds to Abram and Hagar and it can only bring forth that which is its nature.
Paul described our Ishmael flesh in Ephesians 2:3 “…we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath…”
Both the natural and the spiritual life have emanated and been blessed by God. But the natural life has been infiltrated with Satan’s nature and fallen and corrupted through Adam – “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”
Flesh can be summed up as inherited selfishness…
MESSAGE describes it as; “The root of sinful self-interest”
AMPLIFIED “The cravings and desires of the human nature without God”
The "Living Bible “As rotten through and through"....
Paul instructs us Galatians 5:16-18 “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law.
Potentially the sins you and I committed before we were saved, we are still capable of doing even after giving our lives to Jesus Christ, because becoming a Christian is a spiritual birthing not a natural one – our bodies are not converted and won’t be until we get a new one at the coming of Christ.
The history of the bible and the church tells us that “he who thinks he stands to take heed unless he falls”.
And being a so-called “Pentecostal”, speaking in tongues and claiming to be Holy Spirit filled, is no guarantee because even those have fallen morally, financially or ethically.
Our old “Ishmael” selfish nature enjoys sin, that's the problem. Temptation is always attractive otherwise it would not be temptation. Every sin we committed was because we wanted to.
Galatians 4:29 “But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now”
This “Ishmael” man insists on his own way, he is a selfish man, he justifies himself by saying “I’m pretty good, and do good things sometimes” he might be a very moral and kind person doing many charitable deeds, but he has no love for God, he loves darkness more than light. He is a proud man, full of himself. A self righteous man.
Although living he is dead to God, blind and lost.
It is “wrong thinking, deceptive thinking” It’s a mind that thinks he can get away with things…Our “Ishmael” flesh does not want to pray, he would rather stay in bed. He has no desire for the things of the Spirit…
1st Cor. 2:14 says; “The Natural man does not receive the things (thoughts/revelations) of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him: nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (Understood)
One could be talking about the glory of God and the wonders of heaven, opening revelation of the word – but your mind has drifted onto your “Ishmael” and you start thinking about a roast dinner or fried chicken.
Rules, ritual and laws, relate well with our old “Ishmael” nature he loves formulas; but we soon find he can’t become more spiritual by “keys” which brings frustration because he has fallen into the trap of trying to make the flesh spiritual.
Christianity can only be lived out by a new nature, by those who have been born again of the Spirit, birthed by God and having Him as their heavenly father.
Romans 8:3-4 “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Not walking by laws written externally on cold blocks of stone, but written on our hearts by the Holy Spirit. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death”
The problem is not to be more spiritual, because we cannot be more spiritual than spirit, which only wants to do spiritual things, it loves Jesus and the word, it loves everything to do with the Holy Spirit,
(God is Spirit and they that worship him, worship him in Spirit and truth) pushing against that is our “Ishmael” me, myself and I, the flesh…”he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now”.
I am my biggest trouble.
Galatians 5:17 “For the flesh (our old “Ishmael” nature) lusts against the spirit (new nature our “Isaac” within) and the spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.”
Paul’s instruction to you and me is, “walk in the Spirit (By the new nature – our Isaac within, Christ in you) and you will not fulfil the lusts of the flesh (our old Ishmael nature) by the new creation man within us, "Christ in you, the hope of glory" who does not and cannot sin, his is the only life, the only one that cannot sin.
1 John 3:9 literal rendering of this verse, "Each one having been born of God does not do sin because His (God's) seed in him remains, and he (or it) is not able to sin because He (or it) has been begotten (or born) of God.
The new nature is Christ in us doesn’t and cannot produce sin; the old nature can do nothing but produce sin. Both the new and the old have drawing power, and which one we feed the most will be the strongest.
We can walk in the flesh and feed the “fool” or we can walk in the Spirit by enthroning the “King” within us as Lord.
A King or a Fool, which one do, you want to reign?
Matthew 26:41 “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Our old "Ishmael" flesh can and never will be righteous enough to be spiritual or to inherit the promises, but he can be trained to submit to the “greater one” in us.
As Paul instructed the Romans 6:12-14 “do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
Religion is not the answer, religion rules by telling fleshly people what to do to be "righteous." It restricts sin by law enforcement by trying to change the old “Ishmael” nature into the nature of Christ by Old Covenant measures.
However if we have been truly born again then we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free and Paul’s instruction to us is to;
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made you free and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage”
To walk in the spirit is not to not walk by legalism but by God’s enabling grace.
Walking in the Spirit… to walk in the Spirit is to walk with anew way of thinking, not the old deceptive thinking of the flesh.
I like you want to even more desire to walk out of the mighty Holy Spirit who has filled us, touching with the peace of God, I want to learn to walk knowing I belong to God and cannot be separated from him.
I like you, want to know the power outflowing form his resurrection life in me, that my old “Ishmael” man was crucified with Christ and has no claim on me anymore – my heritage is Christ not my granddad.
"God who separated me from my mother's womb" said Paul
We can only walk in the Spirit with the help of the Holy Spirit… with a proper communion with the Holy Spirit’s ministry in finding peace, joy, and victory otherwise we will live far below all the riches of God’s grace having never discovered the Holy Spirit and His power, His indwelling, His anointing, His intercession, His gifts, and the fruit He longs to produce in us.
Without the Holy Spirit is like trying to drive a car with an empty tank.
This is a deep mystery, that we can now be partakers of that divine life of God. Moment by moment, day by day, sometimes consciously and at other times unconsciously, but walking in the Spirit, walking with the “overcomer” in us who makes us over-comers - a victorious life where that old "Ishmael" man who formerly was my tormenter, has been already crucified with Christ, so that there is for me and you no condemnation on account of the flesh.
We have been raised – resurrected as one alive from the dead to walk in newness of life, walk in the Spirit giving no place to the old – our song is not “What about me?” but “It’s no longer I that liveth but Christ that liveth in me!”
Years ago we used to sing “Lord make me like you please make me like you” we sang it with gusto, it had a beautiful melody, but we sang it with ignorance as we didn’t realise what we asking “make me like Jesus” we did not realise what that would do to our selfishness and the "fleshly me".
Having died with Christ, and become partakers of a new life in Him and of the Holy Spirit..."we live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me"
These are the qualities of the new man,
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such there is no law.
No more painful trying, but perfect trust; Once a half salvation, reconciled..
Now the uttermost saved by his life. Trying harder is the fruit of an independent self, simple trusting is the fruit of a yielded self to the greater one in you.
Isaac Watts wrote it well in his famous hymn,
When I survey the wondrous cross, On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood.
What does it mean to walk in the Spirit? It means as Paul encouraged us to do “Cast out the bond woman and her son!” Having nothing to do with that old selfish man. There is nothing wrong with our naturalness what is wrong, is wrong thinking and that is the root of self, the flesh and all the negatives of the mind.
Galatians 5:25 “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit”
MAJOR IAN THOMAS said this;
"I must recognise that the enemy within the camp-the flesh, the old nature, self, I, the old Adam-is a usurper. By faith I must reckon him to be in the place that God put him-crucified with Christ. I must realise that now my life is hid with Christ in God: that He is my life."
How many today have trusted Christ for his death work upon the Cross? How many then are willing now to trust Jesus for his life work in you through his resurrection. To be willing to be made willing to walk in the Spirit, to trust the Holy Spirit to teach and lead you ..."For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God"
We would like to agree with you in prayer ....to walk in the mighty Holy Spirit.
