Galatians 4:27. For it is written, “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.”
The story of God’s grace doesn’t just appear in the story of Abraham and Sarah; it appears throughout the entire Old Testament, including this quote from Isaiah 54. The barren and desolate woman bearing children is not just Sarah’s story—it is Israel’s story. It is the story of shame overcome by grace.
Isaiah’s prophecy was originally for the Babylonian exiles, Jews taken as slaves into Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar (like Daniel, for example). Isaiah is reminding the people of God that God uses the shameful and weak to save the world. A nonagenarian woman who will have a baby; an exiled people dragged from their homeland and enslaved, only to be set free by a Persian king to rebuild the temple and restore the homeland; and even ex-pagan Gentiles with so much moral baggage that there’s no way they could ever produce anything of value for Christ—that is, unless they produce it through law-keeping. Right?
Wrong. If the Gentile Christians are the “barren woman,” then there is nothing they can do to earn value with God. It would literally take a miracle for Sarah to give birth, and any other plan would be fleshly and faithless (think Hagar).
Christian, we are Sarah. We are spiritually barren and desolate. We are to be ashamed. But not in Christ. The miracle of birth has come to us. Christ is being formed in us. We are pregnant with the life and love of Christ. Just as Jesus was born to an ashamed virgin, we too are carrying in us the one who removes all guilt and shame.
So “Rejoice, O barren Christian!” The gospel is true, and it doesn’t matter what you’ve done or where you’ve come from. If Sarah can be made fertile, then so can you—spiritually fertile in Christ. If enslaved exiles can be set free to rebuild their lives, then so can you—spiritually free in Christ. And if a crucified “criminal” can rise from the dead and be enthroned as God in glory, well then, all things are possible for God. Not only possible, but actually happening inside of you right now. Whatever your shame, whatever your background or baggage, Christ in you is truly your hope of glory.
You: What shame are you still carrying? What “barrenness?”
You in Christ: How does Christ in us remove all shame, all moral baggage?
Christ in you: What might rejoicing in your newfound fruitfulness in Christ look like today? How can you live out of your fruitfulness, your new life?
Pray: Father, you choose to use the shameful and weak. Well, that’s definitely me. Use me today as you see fit. Amen.
