Galatians 4:9a
"But now, (again, after they had come out of paganism, out of idol worship, they’d stepped into the Grace of God and Paul’s Gospel) after that ye have known God, (the true God, did Paul teach and use the proper Hebrew name [YHWH] of God as Jesus did during His ministry?) or rather (he says) are known of God,…"
I just pointed out to someone. One of the ramifications of our faith today is that God knows us as if we’re the only person on earth. Do you feel that way? That’s how God feels about you, the believer. It’s just as if you were the only one! And we have this confidence that when we pray, we’re not just coming up with multitudes of millions of prayers. My, I wouldn’t even bother to pray if I thought that’s what it was. But we don’t, we come up as an individual. When Christ died, He would have died that death if YOU would have been the only person living. Now that’s what we call a personal Salvation. To be a Christian is that personal revelation that your one and the same person as Jesus was and is NOW the Christ the declared Son of God, a Christ-Like one or the God-child that Adam was before he fell. Positionally in Him, in Christ totally identified as one being, a New Creation. So now this is what Paul is saying:
Galatians 4:9b
"…how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?"
How could you, when you came out of paganism and not only did you know God but God knew you. Now this is language in the style that he used on the Hebrews because they too were in bondage to the weak and beggarly Law. What a difference. What were the weak and beggarly elements? The Law. That’s all it was good for. It was weak and beggarly. It couldn’t give men power to live a good life. All it could do was condemn them, as we saw. Alright, let’s just turn the page while we’re in Galatians and go to chapter 5 verse 1. And Paul is still on the same premise. Don’t go back under the Law. Don’t embrace any kind of legalism and its bondage, don't return to the old paganism of worshiping religious forms which God has NOT set apart for us.
Galatians 5:1
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ (through His finished work, remember) hath made us free, be not entangled again with the (what?) yoke of bondage."
Now we covered that, what does a yoke always make you think of? To me, a yoke of oxen. Why? Because around their neck they had that piece of wood that was their burden, with which they pulled. And that’s the whole concept. The Law was just like a yoke around an oxen’s neck. It burdened them, the older carried the younger as it was trained and in many for the first time the use of the yoke. Remember too that Jesus asks us to take His yoke upon us to learn of Him but His yoke is easy and the burden is light. Why is it light because He asks us to learn of Him, to do as He has done and been doing, though this has nothing to do with the signs, miracles and wonders which were for Israel's teaching and our learning of Him only.(Matthew 11:29-30)
Alright now, even Peter uses the same language, and I think we can go all the way up to Acts 15, when Peter finally, after I think, a long day of confrontation, and disputations, comes to Paul’s defense. Now this is at the Jerusalem counsel when Paul has finally confronted the leaders of Jerusalem not to try and put his Gentile believers under the band of the Law. And so Peter finally gets his own eyes opened and what does he tell us?
Acts 15:9-10a
"He put no difference between us (Hebrews) and them (Gentiles) purifying their (Gentiles) hearts by faith. (now here it comes, from the lips of Peter) Now therefore, why tempt (or test) God, to put a (what?) yoke upon the neck of the disciples,…" (these Gentile believers)
Well, what kind of a yoke is Peter referring to? The oxen. Same thing. Why put your believers under a yoke like oxen pulling a plow, that’s what the Law did with its burdensome ceremonies and its required death penalty. Now the word "disciples" in that verse, I don’t like to use, because too many people will immediately think of the Twelve but in actuality this was used for a student, a pupil. No, we’re talking about Gentile believers. And so he says:
Acts 15:10b
"…which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?"
What’s Peter admitting? The Law never helped them. The Law was not a successful thing for the Nation of Israel. Then nor is it now and for us its out of the question because its altogether useless. They were constantly under the yoke of it and it had no power to help them. And so he says, "don’t put a yoke upon the neck of those Gentile believers, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear." All the rituals were a toilsome burden which no one could bear. Why? Are so many in our day trying to copy Israel with picking up of their customs and ceremonies baffles me. Its pure ignorance on their parts you ask me.
Now let’s go back to Galatians chapter 4, because there’s another verse back there that I think we should look at. All in this concept that the Law can do nothing except put us in bondage. Let’s just start with verse 1 because I want you to see how that all through, especially since Paul’s revelations have come on the scene, how that we see this constant reference to the Levitical Law as something that was less than perfect.
Galatians 4:1-3
"Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world."
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