"For it is written that Abraham had two sons,
one by the bondmaid and one by the free woman.
But whereas the child of the slave woman was born according to the flesh
and had an ordinary birth, the son of the free woman was born in
the fulfillment of the promise.
Now all of this is an allegory: these two women represent two covenants.
One covenant originated from Mount Sinai where the Law was given
and bears children destined for slavery: this is Hagar.
Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and she corresponds to
and belongs in the same category with the present Jerusalem,
for she is in bondage together with her children.
But the Jerusalem above, the Messianic kingdom of Christ, is free,
and she is our mother.
For it was written in the Scriptures, Rejoice, O barren woman,
who has not given birth to children; break forth into a joyful shout,
you who are not feeling birth pangs, for the desolate woman
has many more children than she who has a husband.
Be we, brethren, are children not by physical descent, as was
Ishmael, but like Isaac, born in virtue of promise.
Yet just as at that time the child of ordinary birth born according
to the flesh despised and persecuted him who was born remarkably
according to the promise and the working of the Holy Spirit,
so it is now also.
What does the Scripture say? Cast out and send away the slave
woman and her son, for never shall the son of a slave woman be heir
and share the inheritance with the son of the free woman.
So, brethren, we who are born again are not children of a slave woman,
the natural, but of the free, the supernatural.
In this freedom Christ made us free and completely liberated us;
stand fast then, and do not be hampered and held ensnared and submit
again to a yoke of slavery which you have once put off.
(Galatians 4:22-31, 5:1)
Corresponding OT Scriptures:
(Genesis 16:15, 21:2,9 10)
(Isaiah 54:1)
"The Two Women-Hagar and Sarah. It is said that they are the types of
the two covenants; and before we start we must not forget to tell you
what the covenants are. The first covenant for which Hagar stands, is
the covenant of works, which is this: "
"There is My law, O man, if thou on thy side wilt engage to keep it,
I on my side will engage that thou shall live by keeping it.
If thou wilt promise to obey my commands perfectly, wholly, fully,
without a single flaw, I will carry thee to heaven. But mark me, if thou
violatest one command, if thou dost rebel against a single ordinance,
I will destroy thee forever."
That is the Hagar covenant-the covenant propounded on Sinai, amidst
tempest, fire and smoke- or rather propounded, first of all, in the garden
of Eden, where God said to Adam,
"In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die."
As long as he did not eat of the tree, but remained spotless and sinless, he was
most assuredly to live. That is the covenant of the law, the Hagar covenant.
The Sarah covenant is the covenant of grace, not made with God and man, but
made with God and Christ Jesus, which covenant is this: "Christ Jesus on His
part engages to bear the penalty of all His people's sins, to die, to pay their
debts, to take their iniquities upon His shoulders: and the Father promises
on His part that all for whom the Son doth die shall most assuredly be
saved; that seeing they have evil hearts, He will put His law in their
hearts, and that they shall not depart from it, and that seeing they have
sins, He will pass by them and not remember them any more forever.
The covenant of works was, "Do this and live, O man!"
But the covenant of grace is, "Do this, O Christ, and thou shall live, O man!"
An excerpt from the sermon,
"The Allegories of Sarah and Hagar"
(March 2, 1856)
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
(1834-1892)
English Particular Baptist preacher
Widely known throughout Christianity
as "The Prince of Preachers"
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