The Life of Legalism Portrayed - Pt 1
Galatians 4:21-5:1 · Roger Henderson · Aug 15, 2010
Galatians (2010), No. 33
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926212306552

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Okay, well this morning, actually it looks kind of formidable, 421-551. But it really is interesting, and actually we can put it in sections. And if I could get someone to read, there are actually three sections we're going to look at. And the first section, you can either read it from the overhead or just from your Bible. This will be the part we're going to cover today, 421-23.

And could someone read that? Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise.

Okay, so that's part one. Okay, part two. Yeah. Okay. Part two. That's four, twenty-four? Twenty-four through twenty-seven. Okay. This is, allegorically speaking, for these women, children who are to be slaves. She is Hagar. Now, this Hagar is from 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. And 27. Oh,

27. For it is written, Rejoice, barren woman, who does not bear, break forth and shout, you who are not a neighbor, for more numerous are the children of the desolate than of the one who has a husband. Great, thank you. And then part three. I volunteer for that. 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. So what does the scripture say? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman. So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman. It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

Great. Thank you. Okay, well, people have categorized these three sections. The first, some call the issue or the story. The second is, because it says allegorically speaking, is an allegory. And the third is the application of what's been said in part one and two to the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ right now.

So it's really kind of a really neat section. We're going to learn a lot about Abraham and his sons, about the two women, and a contrast between these two women. And it's really, the more I look into this, the more it's just, you know, there's wonderful truths here. Some of it gets kind of bogged down when you get into 27 about Rejoice, Baron Woman, but boy, it all connects.

Scripture explains scripture. It all connects. And that's hopefully we can see that as we go through that. So basically we have the issue or the story, we have the allegory, and we have the application to the believer by Paul, the application to the believers in the Galatian church there, and also to us as well. So we're going to start off with part one, the issue or the story.

So it says, tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written, Abraham had two sons, one by the bondswoman and one by the free woman. But the son of the bondswoman was born according to the flesh, and the son of the free woman was born according, was through the promise. And those prepositions are important, even though I kind of messed them up there a bit. So if you look in your Bibles, the couple of verses, this really ties in well.

And Bob covered this last week. If you look at the previous two verses, Paul really has a real desire that the believers in Galatia really walk with the Lord, and in the truth of God's Word. And as Bob covered last week, it says in verse 19 in Galatians 4, My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you. But I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

And then he goes right into this verse. Tell me. And actually we're going to see that's a command. He's in command with a question. It's kind of interesting what he's going to do here. But it's always neat stuff. So let's just kind of jump into the first verse here. Actually, if you look carefully at this, and this is where it really helps to look at the parts of speech and the verbs and the subject. This is actually the subject of this verse.

And it describes the Galatian believer. you who want to be under the law. And you say, why in the world would they want to be under the law? And that's actually the whole question of Galatians, right? Why do they want to go back to the law? This comes up over and over and over again. They want to go back under the law.

So Paul is going to give them these two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. And he's going to contrast, he's going to show them how the law fits under one category and grace fits under the other category. And it's really marvelous. So basically, it's literally the ones desiring to be under the law. So actually, they're desiring to be under the law. And you say, boy, I just don't get that.

And there's a verse that I really, you know, every verse is a tremendous verse in scripture. But this is one that explains possibly their mindset. Because these people were not These people were believers and they really had a desire to please the Lord.

So let's look at Romans, Romans chapter 10. And can I get someone to read verses 1 and 2 in Romans chapter 10. according to knowledge. This is Paul speaking about the salvation of his brothers in Israel. But here, he's speaking of his brothers in the Lord, who are also Israelites.

And I think it really fits. They had a zeal for God. And the zeal for God says, oh, it's God's law, and I want to carry my traditions right over into the Christian life. I'm just going to keep on going. The law is just going to be part of my Christian life.

And Paul is trying to tell them, no, that's not the way to live the Christian life. you're not to go back under the law and they had a desire and it wasn't they had a desire and I think that verse in Romans really kind of speaks to it and basically you look at some of the you know to be let's say to be under law basically describes the state or condition one is under so Basically in this case, actually law appears twice in this sentence. If you notice it says, tell me you want to be under law. And that I believe is, as I said down here, talking about a law system.

It could be any law system. It could apply to us. Whereas later on, it's interesting the translators didn't pick up on this. I would have capitalized the second law. Because I think it really, he really homes in on You're not, you know, do you really listen to what the mosaic law has to say? Have you really listened to that?

If you listen to it carefully, I think you're going to come to some conclusions. And we're going to see that if you contrast Ishmael and Isaac. paying the price. That's good, Tom. That's good enough. So he's telling them, pay attention. Many people say, oh yeah, I know about this. And they say, I know about God. Yeah, I know about the Bible.

They cast it off without ever really looking at or studying it or wanting to do that. And we know that the Galatian believers who were of Jewish background, they were taken in by they were pulled away from grace and to law just constantly. This is why Galatians was written.

I believe there is no article before the first one. The New King James puts an article before it. The first one has none. The second one does, the first one doesn't. The Schofield's notes are incorrect. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know why people, you know, it's really wonderful. When you start looking into God's Word, it really explains it. So the first one does not, the second one does. Hence, I would put a capital there for the second one. You know, I did a search, you know, it's kind of cool with computers these days. It makes you almost kind of lazy.

You can say, OK, under law. I wonder how many times scripture has under law. OK, so you type in there under law. You hit the thing and you turn. And you get three times. Three times. OK? And the other two are two verses that are, and actually it occurs in Romans chapter 14. So let's look there. So I'm giving away my secrets here, how I study, right? You just let the computer do it, right? Not exactly.

But it is a marvelous tool. It's marvelous. So I get someone to read Romans chapter 6, 14, 15. I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself, but to him that is stained with unclean is unclean, and to him it is unclean. You read Galatians? Sorry Tom, that's okay. Those are all good verses. You want to read Romans, Tom? You probably wore yourself out. Would someone like to read Romans chapter 6, 14 and 15?

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid. Right. So Paul basically in those two passages talks, he contrasts under law, under grace. And that's really somewhat what we're going to see here in this extended passage. And I believe that's talking about positional We are positionally under grace, not under law. So the mindset of the Galatian believers was contrary to who they were.

They're under grace, but in the condition they want to be under law. God saved them by grace. In their position they're under grace, but they want to act under law. So that's, once again, the constant theme, the constant desire of Paul's heart is that they know Christ, they walk with Him day by day, moment by moment. Okay. This is such a foundation. Oh, it is. Absolutely. So critically important in terms of walking the life, right?

And it's interesting that we still struggle with this problem today. You would think that we, you know, how many years has it been? Have you learned? How much we learned in those years? We come back to it. And I think that one of the aspects is that our own nature, the law draws us.

Oh wow, all I've got to do, this is easy. All I've got to do is these things. That will please God. And you see it over and over again. People have a tremendous zeal for that and they're tremendously passionate for that. It's not a casual thing. They are really passionate.

I know. Donna? So it constantly feeds to that old sin nature. That's good. And I deserve this. Justice must be done. And we're all that way. We're all that way. And I constantly find myself falling into that trap where I seek to get justice for myself. And I think, why did I go down that path? I don't deserve any justice. I only deserve...

It's God's grace that we look toward. Excellent, excellent points. OK, so that's the first part. Actually, that's the subject. And then we go on here. And this is a verb. And it's present imperative active. So it's a command. So Paul commands a response by a question. And basically, the question is the last part of that verse.

Do you not listen to the law? And it could be, OK, let me go on here. So basically, do you not listen to the law? And listen is basically, it's a typical word for hearing. But actually, it's kind of neat. There's actually a few other words for, this is a kuo, to hear with attention, understanding. This is an understanding hearing. This is just not, yeah, I heard that sound. This is to hear with understanding, which is kind of important in this context. And various translators have tried to capture that. Do not listen to the law. The Amplified Bible has, do you listen to what the law really says? Are you really listening? And decided to listen, to consistently listen, not just a casual thing.

And basically, I believe the law, in this case, is mosaic law. And then this is really an open-ended question. One thing I searched on my computer, how many times does law occur in Galatians? 25 times it occurs in Galatians. Now sometimes, so I would get a count of two for this verse, right? I would get the law system and I would get the mosaic law. So we've got to be kind of careful how you count. But anyway, Paul has a lot to say about the law. I'll just read you a few that just kind of struck me.

In Galatians 2.16, we've covered many of these already. We're not justified by works but by the law. I'm sorry, I didn't read it right. We're not justified by the works of the law. That doesn't make any sense. Sorry guys. Let's see if you're listening here today. Keep you guys awake. Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law? No one is justified by the law before God.

And then eventually we'll get to the fact that he says, actually let's just look ahead a little bit. In Galatians 6, chapter 6, and I'll take this a little bit out of context, but I think it's kind of neat. This is talking about circumcision, but verse 13 in chapter 6 says, For those who are circumcised do not keep the law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.

And actually, this speaks to Donna's point, I think, really. Once people obey, I'm going to obey part of the law. And then, oh, wow, what a good person I am. I've done, I've obeyed the law. I mean, they congratulate themselves. And that's, you know, we follow that same path. Wasn't I good? I obeyed that. I did that. OK. All right.

So let's go on here. So now we start this dialogue about Abraham's sons. For it is written, Abraham had two sons, one by the bondswoman and one by the free woman. And basically, it is written, is in the perfect tense. And I just thought that was kind of cool. This is basically, I think, saying It was written in the past, and it's still relevant. And we know scripture is eternal, basically.

What was written about Abraham and his two sons is carried through up into the present day, and will be carried on into the future. Who were Abraham's two sons? I've already said this a few times. So I think we should look at Ishmael's birth. in Isaac's birth.

And this will help us in the following weeks to kind of get these passages kind of under our belts. So this is another section that's quite long. Maybe a couple of volunteers to read that section. Genesis 16, verses 1 through 16. I'll read part of it. OK. Thank you. Now, Sarah Abrams' wife, barren no children, and she had no handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from barren.

I pray thee, go into my maid, it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar, her maid, the Egyptian, after Abram had dealt ten years in the land of Canaan, gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived.

And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee. I have given my maid unto thy bosom. And when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between thee and thee. But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, Thy maid is in thy hand. Do to her as it pleases thee.

And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face. And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? And whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress, Sarai.

And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself unto her hands. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael, because the Lord hath heard thy affliction.

And he will be a wild man. His hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her. Now God seeth me. Or she said, have I also here looked after him that seeth me? where at the well was called... I know that's... Behold is between Kedish and Berit.

And Hagar bare Abraham's son. And Abram called his son's name which Hagar bare Ishmael. And Abram was fourscore and six years old when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram. To translate that, that's 86 years old. Okay, so there's a lot of neat stuff in here that we're going to kind of come back to. I mean, actually, stuff for the present day.

Oh, I know, I know. The consequences of those things are still up, I know you think, It is written and it's still up in the present and it's still going on. It's just incredible. So we see that... I feel sorry for Hagar. I know what you're saying. And the Lord actually felt for her too. We haven't read all of them, but he came to her and basically So you could have a son. He's going to rip through his.

No, I know. But you know, I think I almost think that he didn't excuse Hagar's. Of course, she was the maid. She was a slave. She was a slave. But still, I don't think he excused her behavior. Obviously, he didn't excuse it because Ishmael was never really blessed. I mean, he wasn't blessed.

I know. Well, later on, Abraham's going to say, I want Isaac to stand before you, Lord. And the Lord's going to say, OK. It's just kind of amazing, some of the things that were said. Because there's all this lack of faith in different parts. But eventually Abraham trusts in the Lord. We're going to see that for Isaac's birth.

So this was man's plan. Ishmael is a result of man's plan. This is how man is going to solve the problem. We need somebody to carry on this race. God says it's going to happen, and we're going to make it happen too. God and us together are going to make this happen. So this is the result of man's plan, and the consequences of that, which are just incredible.

Isn't it also obvious how we don't think God is capable, and oh by the way, it's not happening fast enough. Exactly. And that's what we do all the time. When God has a plan, and we know the Lord has a plan, well it's not happening in our went as fast as we wanted. So let's make sure we're going to get this done. Exactly. We're the can-do generation. We can do this. We can get it done. Let's go to Isaac now. Actually, it's the next chapter. Let's just read 15 through 21 in 17. Margaret, you did a great job there. 15 through 21. in chapter 17.

God also said to Abraham, as for Sarai, your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai. Her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations. Peoples will come from her.

Abraham fell face down. He laughed and said to himself, will a son be born to a man 100 years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of 90? And Abraham said to God, If only Ishmael might live under your blessing. Then God said, Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac.

I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will surely bless him. I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. For my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you, by this time next year.

This is like reading modern history, right? It is. You notice where Abram asks, he's still doubting God here. Ishmael, he can do it. He can be the guy. And Moses says, yeah, I'll bless him. I'm going to bless him. Interesting. So OK. And then the very last part, if you go to Genesis 21. And this is the actual account of his birth. In 21, 1 through 5.

And the Lord visited Sarah, as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah, as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and there Abraham, the son of Israel, aged at the set time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called Ben, his son, born unto him, and Sarah, born unto him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, being eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born unto him.

And Sarah said, God has made me to laugh, so that all that hear shall laugh with me. Yeah, that's neat. And of course, Isaac's name is Laughter. That's what his name means, which is interesting. You know, the Lord almost has a sense of humor here. But this, I mean, they were totally amazed. I mean, this was something way over the top that God promised. This is just, how can this be? How can we have children? This just can't happen.

And they, you know. Interesting, you know, 86 when Isaac, Ishmael was born, and 100. So 14 years had passed. So there's a lot of time for them to, you know. So we see different snippets where it seems like Abraham isn't trusting the Lord. But I'd like to come and share, there's a neat verse, let's see, not how I timed it, sorry.

Okay, so we got the two sons, so the son Ishmael is by the man's woman, Hagar, and basically this is the Actually, it's used in the Greek Old Testament. And actually, it occurred when it had maid in there, that's actually Bondswoman, literally Bondswoman. When the Greeks translated the Old Testament, they translated, they used the same word that's used in the New Testament here for Bondswoman.

And virtually, it's a slave. And one little point, according to the Code of Hammurabi, I hope I get that right, A slave, the son of a slave is a slave. Code of Hammurabi was apparently in force in Abraham's time. So if you were a slave and you had a child by the master, you were still a slave. The offspring of that was still a slave.

And that's going to play in later on as we see down the road here. It's going to play into the whole dialogue. All right, so now part two is won by the free woman Sarai. And I have a lot to say about this. Basically it occurs an awful lot in our passages here that we're going to see.

Basically, in a civil sense, free from bondage or slavery. So kind of a little summary. Ishmael is by or actually literally out of. It's the word ek, out of slavery. And Ishmael is out of freedom. So we get to the set up. It's starting here. Several parallels. Law and grace, slave and free. I mean, there's just all kinds. And that will be kind of amplified as we go on. So now we're going to dig down a little deeper here.

In 23 it says, but the son of the bondswoman was born according to the flesh and the son by the free woman through the promise. So that particular word there is a bud of strong contrast. but the son by the bondswomen was born according to the flesh and Actually, I wanted it before let me just go back a second here Let's just look for a second.

I don't have a lot to turn to you. Let me just see here The phrase was born actually is in another verb in the perfect tense and So, and I was looking at some, a lot of times apparently, you know, for factual things in the New Testament, many times it will use the Aorist tense because it's a past point fact, Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures. Many times that's Aorist, it's a past point fact, and it's, it's, that never changes. Well, in this case, it says that the son by the bondswomen was born in perfect tense.

So it was, it's kind of, let me see if I get this right. So it's a past. something that occurred in the past and is up into the present on into the future. So this birth, I think this is what I kind of thought was after looking at that, is it kind of speaks to the fact that these births by these two sons, their descendants are going to have their births continue to be effective up into the present on into the future. And we see that those two births have affected mankind, you know, positively and negatively. So that was the thought process.

I don't know. I haven't much beyond that. I'm not sure I can say too much. And it's according to or with reference to the flesh. So what do you think here? What's the flesh speaking in this context about? What do you think? Don't look at your notes. According to man's wisdom. It's just right out of the sin nature. Right, I agree with you on that.

It was interesting how many people really just kind of left it at the physical. They said, well, Ishmael's birth was just a physical birth, but Isaac's birth was a miraculous birth, which is true. They were both miraculous. If he was 86, She was 76. I know what you're saying. We don't know how old Hagar was. You're arguing that Abram was 86. I don't know. I think it's possible. But I think Margaret is right.

It was a fleshly scheme. We talked about this before. This is how we're going to make things work out. This is how God's will is going to be accomplished through a fleshly scheme. So I think the sin nature, and I was surprised at how many people just, they stopped at the fleshly, it's a fleshly birth, not a fleshly birth, but a physical birth. That's it. That's what it's referring to.

But boy, they've kind of missed, you know, I think I missed part of the richness here. Well, here's Abraham in his relatively impotent role as a spiritual leader, right? I mean, so Sarai's impatient. She said, let's get on with this. take care of this with Hagar right I mean so and he agrees so he said you listen to what he said yeah okay I think he sounds like a good deal I mean was like right out of the garden hey I had not thought of that that's good okay No, but really, it's the same thing.

The wife convincing the husband. And the husband not really... And the husband not taking a spiritual leadership role. And not maybe thinking through it. And look how that still happens today when women, you know, want to take the spiritual lead in a family.

Excellent point. And look at the consequences that happen from that. Still, they're far-reaching. No, I agree. I think us ladies can get pretty much whatever we want if we nag about it. That's a good point. I'm glad you said that. Right, right. I never did. Oh, I know. You don't do that. You don't do that. You're a liar. I know. She's much, you know, you're a higher plane. Right.

Well, I think a far kettle saying good mood, good food, good meat, good golly, let's eat. okay well maybe we should move on okay So basically, Ishmael's birth was a fleshly scheme, basically, according to the flesh. Now, actually, what I didn't do here, what's neat in the Greek, actually, the son by the free woman, you could insert, by context, was born through the promise. So that makes this statement be perfect as well. So once again, the consequences, they occurred in the past, up to the present, on in the future. So both those births of Isaac and Ishmael have consequences up into today. And we've already said that a bunch of times.

So it's through or by means of, and it's by means of the promise. It's interesting, this word, it has quite a bit of verbiage here, but toward the bottom, The same promise, a gift graciously given, not a pledge secured by negotiation. This was a gracious gift of God given to Abraham. Supernatural birth by means of God's grace.

Okay, and here's a verse I wanted to read. I've been saving this verse here. Okay, so let's look at, so I think this shows the spiritual maturity that Abraham came to eventually. I'm not sure what point that happened, but in Romans chapter 4, he really talks about this event of Isaac's birth. So I'll get someone to read Romans chapter 4.

And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead when he was but a hundred years old. out of the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. And being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able to perform. Just a tremendous statement here. He did not waver in unbelief. It seemed like there was a time when he did waver in unbelief, but then over those 14 years, at some point, this was true. And he grew strong in faith, giving God the glory, and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was able to perform. So at some point in this 14 years, Abraham came to that realization.

So that's really great. True. OK. So lastly here, here's just kind of a summary. I kind of adapted this from a chart that Hal had. Two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, two mothers, Hagar and Sarah, two positions, bondswoman and pre-woman, two conceptions, slash births, flesh, fleshly scheme, promise, supernatural via God's grace. And actually, we can extend some of this. We're going to see that the line of Isaac, through his seed, the nations will be blessed, the Lord Jesus. The line of Ishmael, even though we see that today, the blessing of God came through Isaac to the world, basically.

I'm saying that poorly, but that's... Bob? Just kind of pre-associating a little bit. of Isaac really reflected Abraham's DNA and Sarah's DNA, right? And the next miraculous conception was that of Mary, but with... You're trying to trace the line... There are two miraculous births, are there not?

And Abraham was one of them. I mean, Isaac was one of them. And Christ was the other. That's actually very good. I'm just pondering that a little bit in terms of the nature of those miraculous births. Abraham's seed led to Christ, but Isaac himself was as miraculous as Christ if you think about it. Exactly, very much so. It was obvious by their response. The way I think about the Lord Jesus Christ from a genetics perspective is God's DNA is dominant, no sin. Right, exactly. The seed of the woman, in fact, filled with sin by conception. But Christ's seed came from above and that trumped the sin. Right, and the union of that resulted in a God-man free from sin. Tom, you had something? modern-day science, but it was proven when John was in utero and Mary said hi to the little boy, up he jumped.

So what we're going to see, next week I'm going to dig into the allegory and what's interesting, Does someone have a definition for allegory? Just see if you think of what's kind of a little bit of a controversy about the allegory here. Anybody have a definition of an allegory? It doesn't have to be precise, but just something off the top of your head. What is an allegory? If I said I'm going to speak to you in an allegory now, how would I relate that story to you or whatever?

Something that has both a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning. OK. Anything else that kind of comes to mind? about the allegory. Not every allegory, but many allegories. It's a different story to bear the same truth. Right. There's a key word. Many times it's fictional. Fictitious, right. And so in this case, it's not fictional.

It's history. But what some people have done, and I take this just from reading, I look at Jay Vermigee and others, some people have taken that, oh, an allegory. Oh, well, wait a minute. That means the story of Abraham is, you know, they make that into, so it gives the skeptics have taken this as a way to kind of get a little wedge in. Well, this is allegory.

And so that's obviously not the case. It's historical fact recorded in scripture, which cannot lie. But people have taken this, because the word allegory appears in here. It's the only place in scripture it appears. They've taken that as opportunity to. Well, maybe it actually initially wasn't fictitious. And it could be. And if it came through history fictitious, if it occurred in scripture, then it was maybe at that time based on fictitious events.

I haven't done an exhaustive study of allegory, but people have referred to it saying here's where the skeptics have kind of said this and said that, and it's kind of good to keep in mind. Somebody says, well, You have allegories in scripture, they're just stories, right? People will grasp with any little straw, they won't want to read it. I heard there's an allegory in scripture. But you know, the Jews are very big on thinking that the whole Old Testament, most of the Jewish people, you know. It's all fictitious. It's all just stories and myths and handed down stories. They don't take it literally. Isn't that really sad? It is. We take it more literally obviously than anyone pretty much that we know.

Isn't it funny that about the time Israel was being founded there was a different vote of thought going on at that time and people were actually competing with each other on the radio to come up with the scriptures, at least their half of the scriptures, and looking into it as to what were the past history of Israel and just really putting a great deal of weight that it was the truth then. You're talking about historically in Israel? was founded on. They had a real face to lean on back then because they had just gotten through the Holocaust and still were preserved. So what you're saying is that there's a change to the modern day Jewish, and I had not really thought about that.

And I know that was very significant. I grew up in Miami, Florida, which has a large segment. I remember that was, you know, of course I wasn't that old at that time, but that was a significant, you know, the nation of Israel becoming a nation was very significant.

OK, well next week we'll jump into the allegory. And actually, it doesn't divide exactly. These sections, we've got like three verses here, and the allegory is this book. But the allegory, there's some neat parts in that. Parts that are kind of head scratchers for a while about the Jerusalem above. There's a neat little phrase in there. So hopefully we'll be able to answer some of those.

Any last thoughts or questions? Well, we'll finish early today. We thank you, Father. We thank you for this day, Lord. We thank you for the blessings we have in the Lord Jesus. We thank you for how you are the God that does miraculous things, and you accomplish them for your glory and for our benefit, Lord. We thank you for that. In Christ's name, Amen.