Abraham’s Family and God the Mother
The Bible records the history of Abraham’s family in great detail. In fact, one of Jesus’ parables reveals that Abraham represents God the Father (Lk 16:19–24) and Abraham’s children represent God’s children (Gal 3:7).
“The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God.”
Therefore, Abraham’s family represents God’s family. And through Abraham’s family history, God teaches us the criteria for inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven. In Abraham’s family, there were three potential heirs to his estate: Eliezer, Ishmael and Isaac. Abraham tried making Eliezer, the family servant, the heir of all his wealth, but God said no. Instead, God commanded that Abraham’s heir be of his “own flesh and blood” (Ge 15:2–4).
“Then the Lord said to him, ‘No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir .’”
Since Abraham’s wife Sarah was advanced in age and could not bear any children, Abraham had a son named Ishmael by Hagar, a maidservant (Ge 16:15–16). Yet even then, God did not choose his firstborn Ishmael.
“Then Abraham said to God, ‘Please let Ishmael be the son you promised.’ God said, ‘No, Sarah your wife will have a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will make my agreement with him to be an agreement [covenant] that continues forever will all his descendants.’”
In the end, God chose Isaac to be Abraham’s heir (Ge 17:18–19). The only difference between Isaac and Ishmael is their mother. Ishmael’s mother was a maidservant, but Isaac’s mother, Sarah, was a free woman.
Just as Abraham represents God the Father, and Isaac stands for the chosen children of God, so Sarah represents God the Mother.
“But the other woman, Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman, and she is our mother.”
Galatians 4:26 (NLT)
Apostle Paul testified that Sarah represents the Heavenly Jerusalem—our Mother. “Our” here refers to the believers. Paul explained that only those who believe in God the Mother are children of promise, like Isaac (Gal 4:28)—those whom God will allow to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.
