(Genesis) Genesis 16:6-10 — J. Vernon McGee

Hagar's Flight from Sarah in Genesis 16

And we read in verse 6, "...but Abram said unto Sarah, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand. Do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarah dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.". Now, she took off, she ran away, and it would probably have meant death to her and certainly to the child.

The Angel of the Lord as the Pre-Incarnate Christ

And so the angel of the Lord, and again, I'm inclined to believe the angel of the Lord here is none other than the pre-incarnate Christ. And it's the picture of him, he's always out looking for the lost.

God's Encounter with Hagar in the Wilderness

And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way of Shur. She had gotten a pretty good ways from home here. And he said, Hagar, Sarah's maid, whence camest thou?

Hagar's Return and the Promise of Descendants

And whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarah. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, return to thy mistress, submit thyself under 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.

Hagar, Sarah, and the Allegory of the Law

Now you find when you get to the fourth chapter of the epistle to the Galatians, that Paul uses this as an allegory, as he tells us, that's what it is. And he speaks of Hagar and her offspring as being Mount Sinai where the law was given and the legality of it and the bondage of it.

And he speaks of Sarah, the one that is free. The thing is that the one that belonged to Abraham actually was Sarah, that was his wife. And a great many today want to take on something different. They want to get under the law.

Joined to Christ and Freedom from the Law

Well, my friend, we've been joined to Christ. The church has been espoused to Christ, Paul says, as a chaste virgin and will someday be the bride of Christ. Now, may I say to you, you don't want to take on the law.

That's another one that you and I just don't need. That's like Hagar. That's the point that Paul's making over in Galatians here. Now, this is going to be a great Sarah, not only to Sarah, it's already that to her, but it's going to be a greater Sarah even to Abraham later on.