Happy Mother’s Day 2021!
In the book of Galatians the Apostle Paul paints a rather powerful picture of two mothers who represent two cities, two very different lifestyles, and two very different futures.
Hagar and Sarah
Galatians 4:21
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 according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.
24 These things are being taken figuratively: 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. 27 For it is written:
“Be glad, barren woman,
you who never bore a child;
shout for joy and cry aloud,
you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband.”[e]
28 Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. 30 But what does 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.”[f] 31 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
Paul is quoting here from Is 54
54 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord.
2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
6 For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.
7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
Two Mothers -representing two very different cities, representing two very different life styles. and two very different futures representing two covenants or testaments- the Old testament and the New Testament.
The Hope of Every Mother
Every Mother has a deep hope within them when they learn that they are pregnant with a child- the hope that their child would be a good person, a person with integrity and compassion and wisdom , someone they can nurture and teach and pour themselves into to become a person that the Lord created them to be. it is a sacred trust from the Lord to every Mother, a child an infant pure, sweet and a blank canvass to write upon.
And within each of us we long to be the person that our Mothers can be proud of, no son or daughter wants to bring shame or pain to their Mothers or Fathers, but sin has a way of coming into the picture that can change the hopes of both the Mother and child, sin can destroy a life so quickly or it can slowly erode the teachings of a Mother to the place where the sin becomes greater than a Mothers love, or God forbid that Mother rejects her child and the pain begins early, or the Mothers sins destroy the love that the Lord intended to be there.
Hagar- the first mother in Paul’s analogy represents not just natural Jerusalem and the law which condemns us all, but in essence represents each and everyone of us. For all of us are born into a place of sin, death and eternal separation from the Lord. Born into slavery to our own sin filled passions t the mercy of the will of Satan as he like the master puppet tempts us into deeper and darker places of sin until we like him are destroyed. – the tainted blood of the father affecting each and every child born on this planet- all of us born in sin.
We hear the anguish of King David when he writes about his sinfilled condition in Psalms 51
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Each one of us knows the depth of our own personal sin, so one is without it- as my Pastor used to remark- it’s like we are all apples in a basket and the basket tipped over and we all rolled out , some rolled out further than others but we are all out of the baskets. You don’t have to learn sin, it comes natural to all of us.
Mothers know – they hold all the secrets of their child’s sin, praying and hoping for the day their child will chose to come out of natural Jerusalem into the Heavenly Jerusalem
They ache for the day their child will say enough of the pain, sorrow, and death and chose instead to become a child of the promise- a son of God, taking up residence in the New Jerusalem.
The second Mother Paul speaks of is Sara- the Mother of the Promise a type of the heavenly ,new Jerusalem. That Jerusalem which is from above -the Mother of us all.
Revelation 21 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
Each true Mother desires what is best for their child, that each child would chose to dwell for eternity in the new Jerusalem, that they will chose, to be born again of Water and Spirit to enter this wonderful place of eternal and spiritual love, joy, peace, that they will chose to be born again.
Each of us has a dark legacy of sin, death and hell that we received from our natural Mothers and Fathers, a legacy and inheritance of slavery as children of the bondwoman Hagar, a legacy and inheritance that our parents would never have chose for their children but because we are born into the human race each of us has received this inherited sinful nature.
But thankfully that is not the end of the story.
Jesus – our precious Lord and savior, our heavenly Father came to set us free from the bondage and slavery of Hagar and bring us into the Kingdom of God ,that heavenly Jerusalem and the process was a simple one… we just needed to be born again.
The New Birth
John 3 :1
There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born [a]again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”
Nicodemus was confused how can a man be born again- this was the first time in history that this statement had been used and it was totally confusing.
Today many think they know what it means to be born again.
Some preach it is simply believing and that is all it takes and you are instantly born again, some gloss over it and say it is not for today and was only for the apostles,
BUT- Jesus said you couldn’t get into he kingdom of God without being born again, so this is important and we need to pay close attention to how the Bible says a person a born again.
Jesus clearly said it was a birth of water and a birth of Spirit.
Thankfully, we see this new birth happening multiple times in the New Testament, as people heard the Gospel message – of the death burial and resurrections of Jesus Christ and responded to it by obeying the Gospel message- being born again. of water and Spirit.
Want to make your Mother so happy on this Mothers day?
Then chose the city that will give you love, peace, joy and eternal life.
