All of us, at one time or another, have been on the receiving end of a broken promise. From mom and dad not buying pizza for dinner like they said they would, or canceling a family vacation because of unforeseen circumstance, or a spouse that breaks his marriage promise by wanting a divorce, all of us have experienced broken promises.
Abraham thought he was receiving a broken promise from God. When Abraham was 76 years-old God told him to leave his country and go to a new land and that while there God would make him into a great nation by giving him children (Genesis 12:1-3). But after a decade of new life in a new land Abraham and Sarah had no children. Abraham was 86 and Sarah was 76 and they thought they were too old to have children. But Sarah looked at her servant, Hagar, and got an idea. “I can give my servant girl to Abraham, and maybe through her my family can have an heir.” So that’s what Sarah suggested and Abraham agreed.
Abraham spent an evening with Hagar and she became pregnant and gave Abraham a son. But about 14 years later God shows up. He appears to Abraham and tells Abraham He’s still going to give Abraham a son. When Sarah hears this she laughs. But, before you know it, at the age of 90, Sarah is pregnant and gives birth to a son and name’s him Isaac, which means “laughter.” God kept His word to Abraham and Sarah. He gave them a son of their own.
That’s the backdrop for Galatians 4:22-31. In Galatians 4:22-23 Paul provides a brief summary of Abraham and Sarah and how they had their sons.
“For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise” (Gal 4:22-23)
Then Paul gives us an interpretation of the passage.
“This is allegorically speaking, for these women are two covenants: one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar. Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother. For it is written, ‘REJOICE, BARREN WOMAN WHO DOES NOT BEAR; BREAK FORTH AND SHOUT, YOU WHO ARE NOT IN LABOR; FOR MORE NUMEROUS ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE DESOLATE THAN OF THE ONE WHO HAS A HUSBAND.’ And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. But what does the Scripture say? ‘CAST OUT THE BONDWOMAN AND HER SON, FOR THE SON OF THE BONDWOMAN SHALL NOT BE AN HEIR WITH THE SON OF THE FREE WOMAN.’
So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman.” (Galatians 4:24-31)
Isaac was born supernaturally because of God’s promise. Sarah was 90 years old when she had a child. And this was important for the Galatians because they were supernaturally born too. They were Gentiles. They had no claim to be children of Abraham in the natural sense. But in the spiritual sense, they were able to receive that promise because of their faith in Christ.
At one time we were lost and fallen away. Ephesians 2:1, “you were dead in your trespasses and sins.” Ephesians 2:5, “we were dead in our transgressions.” We didn’t know God, but through His promise and our faith we were brought into a relationship with Him.
Each believer also experiences a supernatural birth as Paul wrote in Galatians 4:29, “born according to the Spirit.” John 3:3, “Jesus answered and said to [Nicodemus], ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” And in John 3:5, “’Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
When we experience this new birth we are the recipients of the promise of salvation (Galatians 3:9, 22, 29). As Paul tells us here in Galatians we have become “children of the promise” (4:28) and “children . . . of the free woman”(4:31). God kept his promises to Abraham and Sarah. And through Jesus Christ, God keeps His promise to us that we can become part of His spiritual family.