"Barrenness" Tagged Sermons
Paul’s own allegorical reading of Hagar and Sarah in Galatians licenses a similar reading here: Peninnah stands for the old covenant, Hannah for the new. Barrenness throughout the Old Testament turns out to prophesy redemption rather than merely lament its absence. Hannah’s own barrenness, read this way, already points toward Christ.
Throughout Scripture barren women give birth to significant children, and Matthew and Luke both tell of the child. John tells of him in 1:14, where the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. God’s compassion for us takes up residence in human flesh.
In Scripture birth means hope and barrenness means hopelessness, and God shows his power where hope has run out. In Isaiah 9:6, God’s barren people give birth to Christ. The child rules with strength.
Isaiah uses the child as a symbol, and a barren woman conceives by God’s power alone. Isaiah 9:6 names the child Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. The minister’s job is to proclaim that child, and the church confesses him.