GALATIANS - Chapter 4 "JERUSALEM WHICH IS ABOVE IS FREE'

“JERUSALEM WHICH IS ABOVE IS FREE”

Galatians Chapter 4

Preached by:  Carolyn Sissom

Sunday, August 23, 2009

4:1 – Paul continues with the metaphor of an heir.  “Consider an heir to a large estate.  As long as he is a minor, he is not better off than a slave.  Though he will be the master of all in the day of his maturity, he has to do what his guardians and trustees tell him until he reaches the age set by his father.  So it is with us, in those days when we were spiritual minors, we were slaves to the ‘ABCs’ of religion in the world.

Twenty centuries passed before the arrival of Abraham’s heir.  Why so long?  The world wasn’t ready to Christianity, says Paul.  It was not spiritually mature enough to receive its inheritance, the Holy Spirit of God.

Both Jews and Gentile had to grow up in schools of religion.  It was slavery.  The Gentiles made gods with their own hands and slavishly served them.  They sacrificed for sin, attempting to placate the wrath of their false deities.  They lived under the threat of punishment.  The Jews became slaves to the rituals and demands of revealed religion, which indeed dramatized the truth of God’s coming sacrifice for sin. 

The world had must to learn about sin before it would be ready for Jesus.  In its spiritual infancy, all mankind had to be tutored by religious elements before Christ could come.

4:4:  “But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law.  To redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”

Man had to face the impossibility of saving himself.  It took time to prepare the world for God’s Son.  That same preparation is going on now for the second coming of the Lord and the ultimate defeat of the spirit of anti-christ over the world.

The rise of the Roman Empire, the fourth empire in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream interpreted by Daniel.  As Paul points out how in the fullness of time Christ was born and all world events had to come in to place. The Roman Empire with the universal Greek language and suture and the 1400 years of Hebrew drama of redemption by sacrifice were all necessary preparation for the coming and spread of Christianity.  Jew and gentile alike contributed to the moral and spiritual expansion which made the world more capable of apprehending the gospel.  The term, “fullness of time” corresponds to the world’s maturity when she was ready to receive Abraham’s Heir.

Today as we watch world events and nations align with scripture and we see that we are coming closer to the end of time, it will again be the fullness of time when all things must come together according to the Lord’s eternal plan.

There will be a revival of the Roman Empire culminating in the Antichrist, befriending Israel at first (he will confirm a covenant) then turning against her for half of the seven years.

Jesus entered the human stream by human birth to arrive as a newborn baby.  By being born to a “woman, made under the law”, He became subject to the Jewish Law.  This he did to free those trapped under the Law (as well as those in the worldly schools of religion including the Galatians).  Through faith in Jesus, they would be clothed with Him to receive instant adulthood and their full inheritance.

Adam is called the son of God (Luke 3:38).  When God gave this world to Adam, it was an out right gift.  It was his to enjoy.  Then Adam fell, and the whole world, including all who would come after him passed over to satan.  It then became the devil’s world.  All of mankind became his subjects.  If God wanted His people back, He would have to redeem or buy them back.  The price was the death of Jesus.  Satan was clever; He knew that Jesus was the Delivered.  His notion was that the death of the Deliverer would make his kingdom secure.  God provided a way of escape from the satanic kingdom through the death of His Son.

4:6-7:  “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son unto your hearts, crying Abba, Father.   Wherefore you are no longer a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”

“The Spirit of His Son” which is the Spirit of Christ.  By this, Paul observes how the same Spirit which animated Jesus in the days of His flesh, now indwells us, causing us to regard God as our Father even as Jesus did.  We are family.  This is the miracle of son-ship.  Before salvation a man is under bondage.  A spirit of fear dominates his life (Rom 8:15a).  God is awesome to him, but once he receives the Spirit and is elevated to son-ship, he fees at home in God’s presence.  He even addresses God as Jesus did, “Abba! Father!” (Mark 14:36). 

He is telling the Galatians that the evidence of the Presence of the Lord is the Spirit’s witness of son-ship.  Submitting to Jewish law would thus be a return to slavery.  They already have everything there is to have—in Christ.  Slipping into Judaism would be a regression from adulthood to infancy. 

4:8-9:  “Howbeit it then when you knew not God, you did service unto them which by nature are no gods.  But now, after you have known God, or rather are known of God, how you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements whereunto you desire to be in bondage?

To know God is a special work of the Spirit known by some theologians as a pre-salvation illumination.  John 6:44: “No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Satan blinds the eyes of the people of the world.   (2 Cor. 4:4L “In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the precious gospel of christ who is the image of God should shine unto them”.

Thus the Galatians would not have found god had He not first found them.  Now that they know Him, and have son-ship as well as full inheritance, it is unthinkable, says Paul that they could hope to improve on the relationship by going backwards to the empty routines of pre-Christian religions.

In our time the former gods are more likely to be family, fame, fortune, science or pleasure.  Once we served them devotedly, could we think to add to our wealth in Christ by returning to our former bondage!

(4:10-11):  “You observe days and months, and times and years.  I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon your labor in vain.”

Paul speaks of their taking on the Jewish observances.  They had yielded to the Judaizers and were beginning to observe the various holy days and seasons of the Jews.  They were easing dangerously close to circumcision.  It hurt Paul to think they would return to outward and formal worship with an eye to improving their status with God.  He had worked so hard to bring them the simplicity of the gospel.  If they would prosper in Christ, they must banish every vestige of legalism.  Of course it was not the keeping of the days which was evil, but their reason for doing so, i.e. obtaining further merit in the sight of God.

Modern Christians who observe certain days in the legal sense lapse into bondage with the Galatians.  Days can be wonderful as an aid to fellowship, but if special merit or empowerment is attached to the keeping of them, they instantly become legalism.

(4: 12-14)  “Brethren I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as you are; you have not injured me at all.  You know how through infirmity of the flesh you despised not, nor rejected, but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. 

Paul had an attack of illness which forced him to remain with the Galatians.  The physical repugnance of his illness could have caused the Galatians to turn from him in disgust.  We can’t identify it, but the best guesses include malaria, epilepsy or palsy.  Regardless of his appearance, they accepted both him and his savior with boundless enthusiasm.

(4:15-16):  “Where is then the blessedness you spoke of? For I bear you record, that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.  Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?”

Some suggest that Paul’s illness was eye trouble.  It is hard to say, since this was a current expression of sympathy based on the value of the eyes. 

Paul says I haven’t changed, neither has my message.  The answer lies in the fickleness of their hearts as they gave heed to the false teachers.  This is a lesson in wisdom for all ministers.  Fickleness of heart is part of the cost of ministry.  We do not measure the fruit and eternal value of our ministry on how we are received.  We just keep on preaching the same message and change not.

(4: 17-18):  “They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that you might affect them.  But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.”

“I know how eagerly those false teachers are trying to win you over, but their intentions toward you are not honorable.  All of their flattery is for an evil purpose.  They would like to isolate you from the fellowship of believers and from me in particular.  These false teachers are out to hurt you, and I must oppose them.”

This spirit is rampant today.  I cannot tell you the number of people and ministers who have tried to sabotage this ministry.  As ministers of the gospel, we can never be careful enough for the traps of those who are dis-honorable.  The line is long and goes back for two thousand years.

(4:19-20):  “My little children of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.  I desire to be present with you know, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.”

God used Paul to deliver them from heathenism.  Now all his good work is being threatened by Judaism.  They must continue in Christian liberty and mature after the likeness of christ.  Spiritual freedom is essential for Christian growth.

“I stand in doubt of you.”   That is not what I would want Paul or the Lord Jesus Christ to think of me.  I would not that any Christian brother or sister to have any doubt that I am fully persuaded and totally committed to follow after the Gospel of Jesus Christ.   Many may accuse us and try to provoke us, but it should not be because they stand in doubt of are stand and walk in Christ Jesus.

Those who challenge us today, do so out of selfish-ambition or vanity of religion.  These are seeking after vain-glory and seek to discredit others.

4:21-23:  “Tell me you that desire to be under the law, do yu not hear the law?  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but of the freewoman was by promise.