The Bondwoman and the Free Woman

The Bondwoman and the Free Woman

“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.” Gal. 4:22-23. These words have a deeper meaning.

The Lord had said to Abraham that Eliezer “shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” Gen. 15:4. Abraham believed this, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Yet time passed and Abraham turned 85 years old, still without having received a son. Sarah became impatient and came up with an idea for how to produce the fulfillment of the promise in a natural way. If Abraham’s seed was to become as countless as the stars of heaven, he would have to have a wife whose womb was not closed and who was not past the age in which women normally give birth. She began to take counsel with her human understanding. She wanted God’s promises to be fulfilled in Abraham; yet the unrest in her soul kept her from waiting for the Lord’s time. She wanted to hasten the fulfillment of the Lord’s will even if that meant that Abraham would take her maidservant as a wife. That is something that she would never have let happen under other circumstances. Sarah served this law of God in a human way, and the result was that, with her agreement, a son according to the flesh was born from her maidservant.

A person who strives in a natural way to please God carries out works according to the flesh. They know the will of God (the law) and they do it as well as they can, but they do it in their own way, a natural and human way.

These two women are two covenants. The one is from Mt. Sinai, and her children are born into bondage; this is Hagar. “Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children . . . .”

The law was given on Sinai; this is Hagar. The children of this law are born into bondage. The law demands holiness and purity from the natural man, and because the natural man is corrupt, he has come into bondage.

When Hagar realized she had conceived, she despised her mistress. Gen. 16:4. It is just the same today. When the slave produces children, he becomes proud and despises the soul that waits on the promises of the Lord, because he seems unfruitful in his eyes. Hagar not only corresponds to Sinai but also to the Jerusalem which now is—in bondage with her children.

Who are these children of Hagar in our day? Who are the children of the earthly Jerusalem, who slave away according to the law? Everyone who strives to obtain the promises without waiting on the Lord—who works in us both to will and to do—is a child of Hagar. Their works are the fruit of bondage and have nothing to do with the obedience of faith. They all belong to the Jerusalem that is now in bondage with her children. When Sarah’s maid despised her for the work which she believed was of God, Sarah’s eyes were opened, and she understood that what she had done had been the work of man. She immediately went to Abraham and said, “My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between you and me.”

We see that Abraham and Sarah had agreed that he was to take the maid as a wife. Abraham said, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” Then Sarah humiliated her, and Hagar fled from her presence.

Now light dawned for Sarah; she understood that the son of the bondwoman could not be the one God had promised; otherwise she would not have been despised for her actions. She again turned toward the promise that God had given and waited in hope for that son who was to come from her own body. She received such a power in this hope that she humiliated her maid to such an extent that Hagar fled from her presence.

If we have attempted to resolve a matter in the same way Sarah did, it will eventually become clear that the “child” is only a son of the bondwoman. You can recognize this because the work itself will not bring the peace and joy that a work of faith would have brought. With indignation over the shameful mistake, we again turn toward God’s promises, and we are strengthened in faith and chastened according to the flesh, so that we hate the bondwoman (self) and her son (the work we did to gain God’s acceptance).

Especially in the beginning, before our senses have been exercised to discern between works of the law and works of faith, Sarah and Hagar battle for power. Hagar has the most works, yet Sarah lives in hope of fulfilling a work of faith. And this hope makes her so strong that she humiliates Hagar and all her works. Hagar fled from her mistress. Then the angel of the Lord found her and said, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.”

Even if we, after the first disappointment, become so embittered that we chase the bondwoman and her son far from us, she will return to the house according to the Lord’s command with the message to humble herself under Sarah, the freewoman.

In the beginning, right after we are converted, there is a struggle for power between these two covenants, because what is old and obsolete is on the verge of passing away. We meet people within free assemblies that struggle with Hagar their entire life. They think everything is bondage and everyone who is not waging an intense battle against this bondage is a slave. Sarah humiliated Hagar and had no more expectations from her. She had dealt with that matter and kept Hagar humbled from that time on. So it is with us: We keep the flesh in its place by works of faith, and we do not say any more about battling with Hagar. Rather, we fight the good fight of faith in order to attain the promises.

Most Christians are children of Hagar; they never go beyond her. That is why it is written: “For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband,” namely Sarah. Gal. 4:27. They can still receive the baptism of the Spirit, for it is written: “Even on my slaves, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” Acts 2:18 (Norw.). Yet even when they have received the Spirit, it is easy to recognize them because they cannot deny their own nature. They fight and seek power according to the flesh.

They speak and write as a natural man does, and not as a man of God. Everything revolves around their self. They write about wives and children as if other people’s salvation was dependent on their own family situation. They glorify nature, mountains, valleys and lakes. They feed their listeners with stories about how they indulge their flesh on their travels, and when they write and speak, they lavish praise on those who support them financially.

The church of God, which seeks the promise through works of faith, is their sworn enemy because they think their own mother, Hagar, can fulfill their every need. Therefore, they hate Sarah; she seems unfruitful in their eyes. They persecute Sarah’s children, thinking to get the inheritance and the glory for themselves. However, they will fail. Let Hagar and her children, who are many in number, boast of their great assemblies and their big-name pastors and priests. Let them extol the earthly Jerusalem with their descriptions of nature and travelogues. If they had been of the Jerusalem above, the glory here below would pale by comparison, and they would quickly stop adoring the creation above the Creator.

The natural man cannot be subject to the law of God. What benefit are the baptism of the Spirit and prophetic words if a person continues to find his comfort in Hagar and the earthly Jerusalem? What use is the Spirit if a person does not obey it? They employ every conceivable means to align themselves with and impress those people whose law comes directly from Sinai. This word is true: “Even on my slaves, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.”

“But the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.” Gal. 4:26.

A person whose citizenship is in the new Jerusalem never praises the earthly Jerusalem. The Spirit will prohibit him from doing that; what he hears and sees from above is of so much greater value. He is like the Shulamite who veils herself in the flocks of his (her beloved’s) companions and asks: “Tell me, O you whom I love, where you feed your flock, where you make it rest at noon.” Song of Solomon 1:7.

He searches for the flock and the One who guards the flock. But have you ever seen or heard of the children of Hagar bearing the Lord’s flock on their heart? The Lord’s flock is born from above, and they will die if they do not get nourishment from the heavenly Jerusalem. For them, travelogues and descriptions of earthly glory are like stones in place of bread. They will die of hunger if all they have to live on is carnal, religious talk about glories that, for them, ceased to be glorious long ago compared to the glory that is revealed from the new Jerusalem.

Never go to broken cisterns for water. Never seek comfort with the religious multitudes of Hagar’s children. They are born to be your enemies. Be reconciled with that thought, and you will never become disillusioned.

“Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.” Gal. 4:28. The promises are not fulfilled through human exertion; they are fulfilled in Him and from Him who has promised. Hagar is from below and strives upward toward Sinai. The children of promise are born from above with the incorruptible seed through the Word of God, which lives and abides forever. Hagar glories in the earthly Jerusalem, which is why they greedily grasp for earthly goods, while the children of promise are sent away empty-handed in the power of hope. They wait for that city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

When Sarah saw that Hagar’s son was not the heir, she received faith to conceive seed despite her age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. Heb. 11:11.

The children of promise put their confidence in the promises, promises which are beyond the natural man’s grasp, and they attain the promises by faith. The children of Hagar class themselves and compare themselves with one another, and they cannot fathom how a person can attain anything in any other way than through their own strength. That is why they do not seek to attain greater glory than what satisfies their human nature, and they find that glory in the Jerusalem which now is. That is why you should not be amazed over the fact that such people are enraptured by things like cars, beautiful meeting halls, a lovely summer afternoon, etc.

Therefore, do not allow yourself to be deceived by their lavish praise of nature and earthly glories. We have the heavenly glory, a glory which will continue even when heaven and earth pass away. Therefore, if we renounce the visible things and refuse to live for them, if we set our sights on those things which cannot be seen, which are eternal and will not perish, then we will be allowed to suffer with Christ according to the flesh; but in return, we will be glorified with Him.