THE SPIRITUAL SAGA OF ISHMAEL AND ISAAC
The most casual reader of the Bible will notice that the Scriptures consist of 2 sections - the Old and New Testaments. But have you ever thought how are they related to each other? Someone made the interesting comment about the 2 Testaments that are God’s revelation of himself: "The New is in the Old concealed; the Old is in the New revealed."
There are many passages in the Old Testament which seem on the surface to serve only as historical accounts of God’s dealings with early members of the human race and their relationships with each other. The stories are interesting in themselves and throw light on human nature. But then they are picked up in the New Testament and are shown to have a deeper and a spiritual meaning in the purposes of God. The personalities and their actions are seen as symbols of spiritual truth, as living illustrations to illuminate some aspect of the Christian faith.
Christianity is a faith religion - faith in Jesus Christ, but its roots can be traced back to Abraham to whom God gave such great promises. We are going to look at Abraham’s two sons - Ishmael and Isaac - and see how the principles of our faith are illustrated. We take as our authority for doing so none other than the Apostle Paul. The readings from Genesis 16:1-10,15; 17:1-8 and Galatians 4:21-31 will be our guide as we explore:
THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE OLD TESTAMENT LEGAL CODE AND THE NEW TESTAMENT FAITH
When Paul was writing to the Christians in Galatia, a region in what is now modern Turkey. He was most concerned that these converts to Christianity were in danger of making shipwreck of their journey in the Christian faith and the Holy Spirit turned his thoughts back to the founding father of the Jewish religion to make these new Christians see that they were way off course. His thinking was that if the unchanging God had revealed the way of faith to Abraham, that principle held true for all time.
What a good thing that the Apostle was steeped in the Old Testament. Yes, it had its fulfilment in the New Testament but its principles held good and could be used profitably in shedding light on current problems. I wonder if we value the Old Testament in the same way? It is Scripture; it can be our guide and inspiration if we read it, as someone put it, "with New Testament spectacles"!
Well, what was the problem that Paul found in the experience of the Galatian Christians? They had become unfaithful to the gospel of Christ as a result of the corrupting influence of false teachers. Paul was utterly amazed that they had left the purity of their faith in Christ. It was a kind of spiritual treason; an act of great folly. Paul could hardly believe that they would do such a thing. "O foolish Galatians!" says Paul (3:1). J B Phillips puts it in more colourful language, "O you dear idiots of Galatia … surely you can’t be so idiotic?" What would be your reaction if your pastor used such terms to you? What had they gone and done? They had fallen for the false teaching of some travelling Jewish teachers who said that Christianity wasn’t complete without the ritual observance of the Jewish law. Paul said that this was a contradiction of the Gospel.
What is the Gospel? It’s more than a general knowledge - the facts - about the Jesus of history. Rather, it’s the message that Jesus was crucified and made atonement for the sins of the world. It is that Christ’s work of redemption was completed on the Cross, and that the benefits of his crucifixion are forever valid and available to the repentant sinner. As sinners, we may be justified, that is, freed from guilt before God, not because of any good deeds we might do or gifts that we might have, but because of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf. If salvation is even partly our own achievement then Christ’s work was unnecessary. Paul argues that any other gospel is not the Gospel.
No wonder that Paul was so agitated. It was a matter of principle. If the Jewish teachers were right, then anyone could stand before God and say, "Look! Here is what I’ve done in keeping your rules of life; here are my accomplishments. ’Give me the salvation I’ve earned!’" But if Paul were living today he would quote from that great hymn "Rock of Ages", where it says, "Not the labour of my hands, can fulfil thy laws demands; could my zeal no respite know, could my tears for ever flow? All for sin could not atone. Thou must save and thou alone."
And so we turn to the Old Testament story that Paul found so helpful in making his theological point. But it’s also valuable in highlighting:
THE CONTRAST BETWEEN MAN’S DESIRE AND GOD’S PROMISE
It’s a very human story. Abraham and Sarah, his wife, were well into old age but were still without children. Each passing year diminished Sarah’s hopes of becoming a mother and of giving to Abraham the son that had been promised him by God. Abraham became impatient with God’s timetable of events and thought he could do with a little natural help. Haven’t we all been tempted to wonder if God’s order of service could be accelerated a little? God is perfectly able to take care of his own promises. Like a tennis player who takes his eye off the ball and misses his shot, so Abraham and Sarah slipped from faith to reason and made a disastrous mistake.
When you go out for a meal served as a buffet you’re given the invitation to serve yourself, perhaps a salad. There’s quite a range of dishes to choose from according to your taste. This is fine for eating but it doesn’t work in Christian terms. One of the reasons why there’s spiritual poverty is that believers have taken the "salad bar" approach to Scripture. Can we really pick the teachings we’re comfortable with and ignore the rest? The answer, of course, is "no". When we take the "salad bar" approach to Scripture to justify our own prejudices or personal comfort, the result is a stunted spiritual life. Sooner or later there’s trouble.
God’s special revelation to Abraham was that he would
have a son who would be the beginning of a great nation and it’s recorded that "he believed the Lord." Paul was inspired to write to the believers in Rome that Abraham, despite the unpromising circumstances of old age was "Fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised" (4:21). That was faith. But as the years went by doubt displaced faith and the couple agreed that God’s purposes would have to be achieved by a second-best method. There’s a true saying that "what is good can be the enemy of the best." And so it proved to be.
It seemed a good idea at the time: the law of the land allowed such a childless couple to have a child through a slave girl bearing the baby. And so it was that Sarah’s servant, Hagar bore Abraham a son, Ishmael. Ten years is a long time to accept with patience but Abraham faltered at learning the basic lesson that every believer in turn has to learn, that God’s delays are not denials. God had given Abraham a name meaning "father of a multitude" but no family had arrived and perhaps he felt embarrassed over it.
"Waiting times" can either make us or break us. They draw us closer to God or drive us further away. It’s in times of disappointment and frustration that we must listen to the voice of God’s gentle guidance. Sarah made the suggestion of the supply of a surrogate mother and it seems that Abraham agreed without thinking it through. He was out-manoeuvred by Sarah’s practical approach to the problem and anxiety to get results. But it was all at a human level - faith in God’s promises was forgotten - and it all ended in tears. Let’s remember this 1esson from history next time we’re tempted to turn aside from the way of faith. To do what our head tells us instead of what we know in our heart is right.
This mention of Sarah’s using a surrogate mother reminds me of Solomon’s words that "there is nothing new under the sun" - son’s and daughters as well! Modern science has opened up whole new techniques in bringing children into the world. But this is a matter far too important to be left to clever medical scientists. Little thought is given to the question of what is the morality of these developments. Are these advances contrary to the foundation laws of God’s creation? Is it in the long-term benefit of the mother and child? These are delicate matters to discuss but they do need thought and prayer because we see in the story of Ishmael the result of departing from God’s ways with such sad consequences.
Even before Ishmael was born, the relationship that Abraham had with Sarah brought unhappiness. The slave girl found she was one up on her mistress, Sarah, whom she now despised. This naturally upset Sarah and she blamed Abraham, forgetting that she had suggested to Abraham the solution to their problem in the first place. O dear, what a tangled webs we humans can weave when we deliberately depart from the pathway to faith. What seemed to be reasonable, permitted by law and the way out of a problem, was the cause of friction between man and wife. What a warning to us to consider well the implications of what we should do in any situation. It often pays to make haste slowly. The old proverb is true: "Act in haste and repent at leisure."
About 13 years later God’s timing decreed that Isaac, the child of promise, should be born to Abraham and Sarah. The story of Isaac’s birth shows that the circumstances were quite beyond natural expectation - Abraham was 99 and Sarah 90! Every birth is a miracle but this was a unique intervention by God in fulfilling his promise and purposes.
It’s here that the Apostle Paul begins to draw distinctions between the two mothers, Hagar and Sarah, and the two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. Paul uses the circumstances of these persons from ancient history as an allegory, a sort of parable, to show:
THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE OLD COVENANT THROUGH MOSES AND THE NEW COVENANT OF JESUS
The Old Covenant was identified with Ishmael and the circumstances of his life. His mother was Hagar, born a slave and so her child would also be born into slavery. The apostle also connects Hagar, the slave, with Mount Sinai, the mountain in Arabia where the Law of the Jews was given through Moses. Paul also says that Hagar corresponds with the earthly Jerusalem, the capital city of the Jews, which rejected Jesus. What a dark picture is painted: Slavery, a law that condemned because it couldn’t be kept, a city that rejected its Messiah. Ishmael is a symbol of all who insist on working their own passage to God’s approval. Paul asked the Galatians: "Is that what you’re interested in? Surely not!"
Paul goes on to contrast the Old Covenant with the New Covenant, characterised by Isaac and the circumstances of his life. His mother was Sarah a free woman, who gave birth to Isaac solely because of the promise of God, otherwise it would have been a physical impossibility. If Hagar stands for the earthly Jerusalem, then Sarah represents the heavenly Jerusalem or the Christian church. Paul says that Sarah "is our mother". What did he mean by that?
Both Ishmael and Isaac had Abraham as their father. The Jews are very proud of their forefather, but the Apostle Paul argues that it wasn’t enough to claim Abraham’s ancestry. The real question concerned, in a spiritual sense, "who is our mother?" Paul is contrasting the story of Hagar and her son Ishmael with Sarah and her son Isaac. The point he’s making is that if our spiritual status is like Hagar and Ishmael, we’re still as slaves and rejected. But if we identify with Isaac, the son of God’s promise, having been born again by the Spirit of God, we’re true sons and daughters of God’s Kingdom. Paul makes a personal application from the story, saying that what was true of Isaac is true of his spiritual successors. So is it all happiness for the future?
Although Isaac was born the child of promise, his 1ife was not a bed of roses. O no, for we read that he was ridiculed by his half-brother, Ishmael. This symbolises the persecution of the true church. Christian believers have always had to face opposition and ridicule. I remember hearing one of my employers pouring scorn on one of his employees: "He’s a bit of a Methodist"! It was an unkind jibe, but one that he could wear as a badge of honour. I don’t know what the circumstances were but the words have remained with me over the years.
It’s not only the godless who despise the born-again believer; there are others who persecute the people of faith. As with Isaac it can be our half-brothers, religious people, the nominal believer. It has always been so. Jesus was bitterly opposed, rejected, mocked and condemned by his own nation. The fiercest opponents of the Apostle Paul were the officials of the Jewish religion. And so it has gone on down the centuries - the Protestant Reformers, the Bible translators, and the non-conformists have all suffered this way from church officialdom.
The last century has been a time of tolerance and freedom for the evangelical Christian in the English speaking countries but it certainly hasn’t been the case in many others. Although the people of Isaac can expect persecution, thank God, like Isaac they can expect to receive an inheritance. God told Abraham that it was only through Isaac that his covenant would be established, and this what we receive through faith in Christ.
In the Old Testament story Hagar and Ishmael were turned out into the desert. Paul interprets this as the exclusion of the unbeliever, whether Jew or Gentile, from those who would inherit God’s promises. The true inheritors of Abraham are the people born of faith, the Isaacs. We may have to suffer persecution and scorn for our faith, but on the other hand there’s the untold blessing of being the children of God. Paul wrote to the church at Rome, "and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ" (8:17).
The Old Covenant of itself was powerless to save but it did look forward to the New Covenant in Jesus. If we turn back to Genesis for a last glimpse of Ishmael and Isaac, we find that although Isaac had the blessing and inheritance, a gracious God didn’t forget Ishmael. He was a teenager now. The time was right for he and his mother to be separated from Sarah and Isaac and make their own way through the wilderness. It wasn’t long before their supplies were exhausted but then God stepped in on hearing the boy cry for help. It wasn’t in God’s purposes to give him the inheritance reserved for Isaac but God preserved him and made him the founder of the great Arab nation. We must pray that their eyes will be opened to see God’s provision for them in the Lord Jesus. His grace and mercy is open to all, whether Jews or Gentiles. We often pray for the Jews but do we also remember the Arabs?
This story from the Old Testament, read with New Testament spectacles tells us that there are two great camps in this world - the Christian believer and the non-Christian. They are symbolised by the spiritual descendants of Isaac or Ishmael; the children of promise or the slave; citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem or the earthbound. We can’t chose in what family we are born in, but by the grace of God we can put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and so inherit his promise and enjoy eternal life.
A schematic chart is appended summarising the issues)
Contrast Ishmael Isaac
Factual
Mother Hagar Sarah
Status Slave Free
Born Desire of Abraham Promise of God
Allegorical
Covenant Old New
Dispensation Law Grace
Geographic location Mount Sinai Canaan
Symbolic Jerusalem Earthly -rejected Heavenly - the
Christ Church of Christ
