by David Chadwick
We are going to wrap up the bad guys of the Bible this week with Ishmael. You will find his story in Genesis 15 and 16. He was the firstborn son of Abraham.
If you remember biblical history, because of Sarah’s impatience and unbelief that God would fulfill his promise of bringing her a child, she let Abraham sleep with her servant, Hagar. From that act, Ishmael was conceived.
Ishmael was not the child of promise. His conception, through Abraham and Hagar, was forced and coerced. Isaac, on the other hand, was conceived by Abraham and Sarah through faith and the miraculous power of God.
In Galatians 4:28-29, Ishmael and Isaac are listed as two contrary examples of walking by faith or works. It reads, “Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.”
Paul said that these two extremes are contrary to one another. You can either live by your own human strength, like Ishmael, or by faith in God, like Isaac. This Pauline admonition should remind all Christians that we must live by faith. With God’s power and promises as our guide. We often cannot see or understand, but must cling to the truths of God’s Word and keep moving forward.
By the flesh or by the Spirit? By slavery or by freedom? These are two crucial dichotomies to understand as they lay the bedrock for the Christian faith. Ishmael was the child of the flesh, conceived by human ingenuity and effort. Isaac was the child of promise, conceived when Abraham was almost 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old. He was the child of faith.
The bad decision to force conception led to the birth of an individual from whom much strife would come against God’s chosen people for years and years to come, one that is being lived out before our eyes today.
Followers of Jesus walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). The Spirit and the flesh are contrary. They struggle against one another just like Ishmael did with Isaac. Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).
Choose a life of faith. It produces good fruit!
And God’s miracles!