…he was a man desired of God, a man desired through Jesus Christ, a man to be made little, so that Christ may seem great, that Christ may be glorified. He was a man liberated, whose cords were snapped, a man given rest from his heavy burden. Rest…
Perhaps that is why Barnabas departed to Tarsus to seek him (Acts 11:25)
…a son of rest…
He was to go to Antioch. (Acts 11:26) Antioch, a city located in the Roman province of Galatia. They were called Christians there…a follower of Christ…a brave title in both the Roman and the Jewish world…perhaps a brave title in our own.
Yet this man from Tarsus had to be found, had to be initially sought out by the Christian leaders. An immediate affect of conversion is wonderment, a reflection, a change, a desire to learn of the One who has called you, a desire to love. Perhaps that is why he had to be found, perhaps that is why he “did not immediately confer with flesh and blood.” (Galatians 1:16) Perhaps that is why he spent three years in the desert (Galatians 1:18). He was learning, he was loving.
But conversion causes more than a wonderment - it causes a passion - a passion for the thing which has caused wonderment, and a holy hatred of the thing left behind. Oh death, where is thy victory…?
The law, the law which he had loved, the traditions he had championed (Galatians 1:14) were now nothing more than a stumbling block and a curse in his eyes. These had brought him no hope, for it is against these goads that he had kicked most furiously. Justification, how is man justified? “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.” (Galatians 2:16)
Flesh…foreskin…a different gospel…
I suppose it was good news for Abraham when he heard he was having a child. Haggar was a close second to Sarah, and God probably meant for it to happen this way, through a bondwoman, right?
Where was Abraham’s righteousness? In his faith. Where was Abraham’s faith? In his obedience. Where was Abraham’s obedience…?
Bound to flesh, bound to flesh!
“Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar…”(Galatians 4:21-24)
Bondage…the flesh…the curse…
“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.’” (Galatians 3:10)
“But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God (imagine this implication), how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.” (Galatians 4:9-11)
The man from Tarsus understood it well…the need for justification…the penalty of the law...
“…now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of the promise.” (Galatians 4:28)
Children of a promise…
To whom was this promise made, and how are we now children of the promise, as this man from Tarsus boldly proclaimed?
“Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise. What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made…” (Galatians 3:16-19)
The Seed of Abraham…the Child of the promise…a promise between a Father and Son...
A Covenant!
Christ!
“But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” (Galatians 3:22)
“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Galatians 3:13-14)
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” (Galatians 5:1)
Had the law failed? No, for “the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:24-29)
This man from Tarsus, blinded by the light of our resurrected Lord on the road to Emmaus, and now an heir in Christ Himself, an heir to the promise, the promise made by God to Himself, and carried out in the work of his Son Jesus Christ, who became a curse for us, that we might be freed from the yoke - the bondwoman - and find freedom in Christ…that we might find hope…that we might find life…
The man from Tarsus, called Christian in Antioch, on the road to Rome…
