“ For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by the bondmaid, the other by the freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants: the one from mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar.”   Galatians 4:22-24.  Abraham had two sons.  Ishmael and Isaac. The scripture is allegorical; symbolic, the language in which the Holy Bible is written, providing us with spiritual or mystical knowledge, so that we may understand the two states of the soul symbolized by these two sons.

The mother of Ishmael was Hagar, an Egyptian. Egypt, where the children of Israel spent 390 years in bondage, symbolizing the spiritual bondage we entered early in life.  Just past the age of four according to the biblical text.   Hagar, the mother of Ishmael, was an Egyptian.  Ishmael was born of the bondwoman, symbolizes bondage.  “For this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage with her children.”  Galatians 4:25.  It was at mount Sinai that the children of Israel, chosen to represent us the people, went into bondage by worshipping of the gold calf, symbolizing the false image or belief that brings us into spiritual bondage, which only truth can overturn, freeing us from our bondage.  Jesus, the truth personified, demonstrated this for us when he entered the temple, symbolizing the heart, overturning the tables, symbolizing “the fleshy tables of the heart,” where we have set up these false images or beliefs, which are to be brought down through a spiritual judgment, through which truth reigns supreme within our heart.  “And Jesus said unto them… ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”   Matthew 19:28

The twelve tribes of Israel are the sons of Jacob (Genesis 49:28), which are neither lost or extinct, but existing within.  “And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.”   Genesis 49:1.  The Holy Quran refers to it as “ The Day of Gathering Together.”   The “last days” is more accurately called the “end of days.”  There are seven days, and we are in the end of the seven days— in the seventh day; in the beginning of the seventh-thousandth year since the fall in garden, symbolizing the spiritual decline of mankind.  A day is as thousand years (2 Peter 3:8).  In the year 2000, we entered God’s one-time spiritual Sabbath Day, which we are to keep holy through the purification of our heart.  Jacob, through his last words to his sons, reveals what we will encounter as we go through this spiritual judgment, purification, salvation, or healing process.  Our false beliefs, the result of the evil seeds that have been sown in our heart, form our word, which the prophet Jeremiah (23:36) tells us is will be our burden, which is bondage.  In this soul-state, we fall under the first covenant, Ishmael, son of the bondwoman, the two sons or two covenants symbolizing the two states of the soul—  bondage and free. “For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by the bondmaid, the other by the freewoman.” But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.”

As God’s word was made flesh (John 1:14), so too has man’s word been made flesh; an invisible or spiritual flesh that has been formed inside of our physical flesh, keeping us in spiritual bondage, which Ishmael, the son of Hagar the bondwoman, symbolizes.   Hagar was an Egyptian.  The word Ishmael means God will hear.   When the children of Israel cried out because of the bondage of Egypt, God heard them.  When we cry out because of the burden or bondage caused by our many false images or beliefs, the first covenant is fulfilled within us.  Sarah was a Chaldean.  She left a land that worshipped images and went to Shechem, meaning to incline (the shoulder to a burden).  When we are inclined to carry our burden, which Jesus demonstrated for us by carrying the cross, we have entered the second covenant.  Through our sincere desire to heal spiritually; on a mental and emotional or soul-level, we discover our word of error, which has kept us in spiritual bondage for all these years.  And with the discovery of our false beliefs, comes the discovery of the unholy spirits associated with them, revealed to us through the sons of Jacob.  It is through our judgment of these false beliefs and unholy spirits, which is the process of overcoming them, that we receive the promise, Isaac, the son of Sarah the freewoman, symbolizing the truth that makes us free, placing us under the second covenant.  Jerusalem, symbolizing the Heart, has been made free of all false beliefs.  “ But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.”  Galatians 4:26 

Written by Sandra L. Butler © 2019