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Ishmael was born of Hagar, Abraham’s concubine, as a result of Abraham’s accepting a proposal from his wife, Sarah. Ishmael was rejected by God because he was born of Abraham according to the flesh, that is, by man’s natural strength, the strength of the flesh, and not by God’s grace (Gen. 17:18-19). Hagar the maidservant signifies the covenant of law, which brings forth children unto slavery (Gal. 4:22, 24). Ishmael, who was born of Hagar into slavery, could not inherit Abraham’s possessions with Isaac, who was born of Sarah, the free woman. This signifies that those who keep the law by their self-effort are in slavery and are born of the flesh, and they cannot be heirs of God with the believers, who are born of grace (Gal. 4:30); that is, they cannot inherit God’s promised blessing—the all-inclusive Spirit.
When Isaac grew and was weaned, Ishmael mocked him (Gen. 21:9). Sarah, unable to tolerate Ishmael’s mocking of Isaac, asked Abraham to cast out both Hagar and Ishmael, for she would not allow Ishmael to be heir along with Isaac (Gen. 21:10). Abraham obeyed God and cast out both Hagar and Ishmael, as he was told by Sarah (Gen. 21:12-14). This signifies that the law and those who keep the law by their self-effort are cast out by grace from the inheriting of grace and are unable to enjoy grace as their inheritance (Gal. 4:30-31; 5:4).
God’s aim in calling Abraham was to accomplish His purpose, which was to establish a kingdom that He might rule on the earth and express His glory. In order to have a kingdom, seeds were needed. Therefore, God promised Abraham that he would beget a son by his wife Sarah (Gen. 17:19) to be his heir.
Isaac was the son born of Abraham by his wife Sarah, and he became the unique seed who inherited all the riches of his father (Gen. 17:19; 21:2-3; 25:5). Sarah, the free woman (Gal. 4:22b), symbolizes the new covenant of grace (Gal. 4:24a), which has the proper position in God’s economy to bring forth children as God’s heirs who will inherit what is of God. Therefore, Isaac represents the New Testament believers, who are born to be sons of God according to His grace and are His heirs who will inherit His possessions (Gal. 4:28, 30-31).
When Abraham had become old and as good as dead, and Sarah had become out of function (Rom. 4:19), according to God’s promise and at the appointed time, the time of life (Gen. 17:21, lit.), the time when the effort of the natural life ceases, Isaac was born. Therefore, Isaac was not produced by the natural strength, the strength of the flesh (Gal. 4:23), but by God’s strength in grace. He was born not of blood, nor of the will of man, nor of the effort of the flesh (John 1:13), but according to the Holy Spirit (Gal. 4:29), who is God reaching man (cf. Gen. 17:21—21:1). Therefore, Isaac represents the New Testament believers, who are born according to the grace of God’s promise—those who are not born of the flesh but of the Holy Spirit.
Isaac lived a life of inheriting and restfully enjoying all his father’s riches. He was born of grace, grew up in grace, and became the heir in grace (Gen. 21:9-12), inheriting all that his father had (Gen. 25:5). Furthermore, he inherited God’s promise to his father, especially the promise concerning Christ, in whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 26:3-5). His entire life was a resting and enjoying life. He was always resting. At a time when he had lost his mother, did not yet have a wife, and his servant had gone away from him, he was not troubled. Rather, he went to the field to meditate (Gen. 24:63). When he encountered the trouble with the Philistines over the wells, he remained restful and did not contend with them (Gen. 26:18-22). He was not merely resting; he was also enjoying. His father and his father’s servant did everything to prepare a bride for him (Gen. 24:61-67). During his whole life, he never suffered thirst. Wherever he went, even when he went downward, going south to the land of the Philistines, there was always a well for his enjoyment. Whenever he sowed in the land, he received a hundredfold. He became great and continued to grow greater until he became very great (Gen. 26:12-14). When he was old, he still asked Esau to go out to the field to get some venison for him and make him savory meat, which he loved (Gen. 27:1-4). Throughout his whole life he did not do anything by his own effort. From the beginning to the end, he was a man who inherited his father’s possessions (Gen. 25:5) and restfully enjoyed all his father’s riches. Isaac represents the New Testament believers, who do not need to strive to accomplish something and who need only to inherit the grace in Christ and enjoy the unlimited grace of God (1 Cor. 15:10).
First, God gave the promise to Abraham, Isaac’s father, saying that He would make him a blessing to all the nations of the earth. Later, He gave the same promise to Isaac to confirm in him what He had promised to Abraham (Gen. 26:3-4). The focus of this promise was Christ in God’s economy, in whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Gal. 3:16). The blessing that Christ gives to all the nations of the earth is the Triune God, who is embodied in Him. This Triune God in Christ, through Christ’s becoming the all-inclusive Spirit, is received and enjoyed as the greatest blessing in the universe by all those on earth who have believed into Christ (Gal. 3:14).
According to Genesis 21, after Isaac had grown up and was weaned, Ishmael began to mock him (v. 9). This means that Ishmael persecuted Isaac. God considered this persecution the beginning of the four-hundred-year persecution of His people, the Israelites (Gen. 15:13; Acts 7:6). Isaac was born according to the Holy Spirit and through the promise, whereas Ishmael was born according to the flesh and through the natural strength. As it was then, that he who was born according to flesh persecuted him who was born according to Spirit, so also it is now (Gal. 4:29). Therefore, Isaac’s suffering of Ishmael’s persecution signifies that the believers, who are born according to the Spirit of grace in the New Testament, will suffer persecution from those who are born according to flesh (Gal. 4:29).
After Isaac had grown up, in order to test Abraham, God told him to bring Isaac to the appointed mountain and to offer him as a burnt offering. By faith Abraham offered Isaac. After Isaac was laid upon the altar on the wood, as Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay him, God prepared a ram as Isaac’s substitute (Gen. 22:2-13). In this way, Isaac was offered as a burnt offering and thus experienced death and resurrection. This signifies that the New Testament believers also must be offered as a burnt offering and experience death and resurrection. When the New Testament believers, constrained by the Lord’s love, present their bodies as a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1), a sacrifice of resurrection and life, they experience co-crucifixion with Christ (Gal. 2:20a). Thus, they live a crucified life by being conformed to Christ’s death, and thereby know and experience Christ and the power of His resurrection (Phil. 3:10). Eventually, they will attain to the out-resurrection from among the dead (Phil. 3:11).
As a historical figure in the Bible, Isaac, like Abraham, does not represent a complete, spiritually mature man. He represents only a part of the experience and life of a spiritually mature person, which includes the inheriting of grace, not using one’s own effort, and the restful enjoyment of the riches of Christ. When he was old, he blessed Jacob blindly (Gen. 27:1-29). This proves that he was not sufficiently mature in his spiritual life and that he was not a complete, spiritually mature person, but can be considered only a part of such a person, just as we saw previously concerning Abraham.
Ishmael was born of Abraham according to the flesh, through his concubine, Hagar, unto slavery. When Isaac grew and was weaned, Ishmael mocked him. Consequently, Ishmael and Hagar were cast out by Sarah, and Ishmael was not allowed to be heir along with Isaac. Thus, Ishmael signifies those who keep the law by their self-effort, those who are under slavery and are born according to the flesh. They will be cast out from the inheritance of grace and will not be able to inherit and restfully enjoy God’s grace as an inheritance with those who are born of grace.
Isaac was born of Abraham according to promise, through Abraham’s wife, Sarah, and he became the unique seed who inherited all the riches of his father. He also inherited the promise given to Abraham concerning Christ, in whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed. When Isaac had grown up and was weaned, Ishmael began to mock him. Furthermore, Isaac was offered as a burnt offering and thus experienced death and resurrection. Thus, Isaac represents the New Testament believers, who are born to be sons of God according to the Holy Spirit by God’s grace and who become God’s heirs, inheriting and restfully enjoying God’s possessions; who suffer persecution from those who are born according to flesh; and who are offered to God as a burnt offering, thereby experiencing death and resurrection. When Isaac was old, he blessed Jacob blindly. This proves that he was not sufficiently mature in his spiritual life and that he was not a complete, spiritually mature person, but can be considered only a part of such a person.
