“Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.” Galatians 4:28. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul had to remind the Galatians that we are under grace, not the Law. Christ fulfilled the Law on our behalf, but there were people who were trying to get the Galatians to, in essence, bind themselves to the Law. Paul then talks about Sarah and Hagar. He said that, figuratively, Hagar represented Mt. Sinai, and that her children are slaves, but that Sarah represented Jerusalem, and her children are free. Mt. Sinai is where the Ten Commandments were given, and Paul said that the Law was given because of transgression. The Law served as a guardian (according to NIV) to hold us in custody until Christ came, and the KJV uses the term schoolmaster that serves to, “bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” People cannot be justified by the Law, as we could never keep it all, but the Law was to point us to Christ, so that we could receive the promise by faith in Jesus Christ. The Galatians, who I believe were likely young in their faith, were being swayed to trying to bind themselves to the Law, to go back to what held them in custody, instead of continuing to live in the freedom of Christ. We, just like Isaac, are free. We are children of a promise. We are children of God, because we are children of God’s promise. Yet there were people who tried to sway the Galatians into going back to what held them custody. They were trying to figuratively change their birth certificate from child of Sarah’s line, to that of Hagar’s line. Instead of being a child of divine promise, their actions seemed like they wanted to be a child of the flesh. Today, we see people who will try to sway a new Christian, or any Christian for that matter, into actions that they should not do. Satan will throw attacks and temptations intended to get the Christian to pick up chains that Christ has already broken. This is why we must grow our roots deep into Christ, and be built upon Him alone. He is the sure foundation, He is our Rock. God Bless!
