Page 7 - Laying Down the Law

offering of faith looking to that day when Yahweh would send His Son as a sacrificial
lamb to atone for all the sins of mankind. Yahweh had regard to the faith of Abel, and
Cain envied his brother’s favor and slew him.
The persecution of the sons of faith by the sons of works found expression once
more in the offspring of Abraham. His first son is a type and shadow of Yahweh’s
first people (Israel). His second son, Isaac, is a type of those who are the seed of
Christ and a people of faith. Paul expounds upon this in his letter to the body of
Christ in Galatia.

Galatians 4:21-30
Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the law? 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. 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 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.

Observe carefully what Paul states here. Hagar is compared to Mount Sinai, the
place where Moses received the Law from Yahweh. Her son represents those who are
under the Law. Hagar is Jerusalem. She is Judaism with its focus upon regulations
and ordinances and commands that define the person who is righteous and the
person who is unrighteous. Ishmael was born before Isaac, the son of faith, and he
persecuted Isaac. Note the particular form of this persecution.

Genesis 21:8-9
And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the
day that Isaac was weaned. Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian,
whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking.

Ishmael was mocking Isaac. Words are often employed as a form of
persecution. It was this event the apostle Paul referred to when he stated that “he
who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the
Spirit.” I have also been the frequent recipient of verbal persecution from my
brothers and sisters who have embraced the Law. A barrage of insults and slander
have come my way when I have pointed those under the Law to a “more excellent