In all the joy of Abraham and Sarah concerning Isaac, there remained an unhappy matter to be dealt with. It will be recalled from the 16th chapter that they had grown impatient regarding the birth of an heir and through their own devices another son, Ishmael, had been born to Abraham. But Ishmael’s mother was not Sarah—in whom God’s purposes were determined—but Hagar, a bondmaid. This arrangement, entirely unsuited to God, was a sad mistake that soon caused much sorrow in the household. Is this not the experience of every believer who acts in his own wisdom, without seeking God’s counsel? No lasting good can ever be expected in such circumstances.
The birth of Isaac brought the former problem out into the open. Abraham’s household now had two sons in it and they were sons of conflicting interests. If these two boys are regarded in the light of their spiritual meaning, it will be seen that there must indeed be a conflict between them that could not be remedied by any effort to adjust their characters to one another. Compromise would not do. They could not both be “the heir of promise”; one must give way to the other so that in due time a definite line of descendants would come forth, to be known as God’s people. The character of Ishmael’s mother, Hagar the bondwoman, was transmitted to her son. In type he speaks of the law and the bondage imposed upon all who would walk under it. Ishmael was a man “according to the flesh.” The New Testament in reference to this subject states: “Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh... for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai (the law), which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar ... and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her, children.” Galatians 4:22-2522For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 23But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. 24Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. 25For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. (Galatians 4:22‑25).
Isaac, on the other hand, was the true son of Sarah, the freewoman, and presents a type of the new nature, indeed, a type of Christ Himself, and tells us that faith can do what flesh cannot. It is extremely important for all who would be brought to God to understand the principle involved here. Law and grace, works and faith, can never be mixed together.
Sarah soon recognized that there was an impossible problem in the household while the two sons and two mothers were trying to live together. “Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.” verse 10. The sinner too must “cast out the bondwoman and her son”— the old nature, the activities of the flesh and the bondage of the law. None can ever be justified and brought to God by his own works, no matter how good they may seem, nor by the deeds of the law. He can only come to God through faith in what He has done in providing His Son as the Saviour to redeem lost souls from their sins. All who thus come in faith to Him, putting works and self entirely aside and owning the all-sufficiency of His work and grace, become “a new man” of which Isaac is our present type.
ML 10/31/1965