Flesh and blood will not enter the kingdom of heaven because they can not be separated or set apart from the earth and therefore are destined to become dust. Ishmael was NOT the Son promised to Abram because Ishmael was not born of Sarah, and Ishmael would be a great nation, but his lineage would not be the one that would usher in the birth of God's only begotten Son to redeem the world of the curse of the law, namely eternal death and damnation. That call would come through circumcision and sacrifice and a lot of wrestling with God, thus, Israel.
The TRUTH? Ishmael and Isaac is about the Carnal man vs the Spiritual man; the Old vs the New. God's promises can NOT be obtained through our fleshly desires and lusts. We must become born again and be circumcised in the heart in order to be received into His Kingdom. We must cleansed, and purged of our sins, we must be Sanctified or Set Apart from the world and the flesh.
My flesh was born first, in the nature of Adam. When I was born again, or born from above, my flesh refused to yield to the New spiritual man occupying this body as a temple of the holy spirt, because Ishmael was older, and had the first shot at demanding his way with this body and didn't want to give up his immoral ways. It would take the kind of rebuke Jesus exercised in the temple when He drove out the barkers and money changers and those buying and selling, and He overturned tables and seats and wouldn't let anyone carry anything through the Temple of the Holy Spirit. That same battle rages today.
Paul writes: "Oh wretched man that I am....." referring to his struggles with the same.
They hated Jesus because they saw Him as the Johnny come lately attempting to tell them how to live and survive in "THEIR" temple which they felt belonged to them first. The rest is history.
The TRUTH? Ishmael and Isaac is about the Carnal man vs the Spiritual man; the Old vs the New. God's promises can NOT be obtained through our fleshly desires and lusts. We must become born again and be circumcised in the heart in order to be received into His Kingdom. We must cleansed, and purged of our sins, we must be Sanctified or Set Apart from the world and the flesh.
My flesh was born first, in the nature of Adam. When I was born again, or born from above, my flesh refused to yield to the New spiritual man occupying this body as a temple of the holy spirt, because Ishmael was older, and had the first shot at demanding his way with this body and didn't want to give up his immoral ways. It would take the kind of rebuke Jesus exercised in the temple when He drove out the barkers and money changers and those buying and selling, and He overturned tables and seats and wouldn't let anyone carry anything through the Temple of the Holy Spirit. That same battle rages today.
Paul writes: "Oh wretched man that I am....." referring to his struggles with the same.
They hated Jesus because they saw Him as the Johnny come lately attempting to tell them how to live and survive in "THEIR" temple which they felt belonged to them first. The rest is history.
