In these messages on the conclusion of the New Testament, we have covered six persons: God, Christ, the Spirit, the believers, the church, and the kingdom. The church and the kingdom are corporate persons. In this message we will begin to consider another corporate person-the New Jerusalem.
The New Jerusalem, the most mysterious and puzzling matter in the Bible, is first mentioned not in Revelation 21 but in Galatians 4. Galatians 4:26 speaks of “the Jerusalem above,” that is, the heavenly Jerusalem in contrast to the earthly Jerusalem.
As indicated by Paul’s word in Galatians 4:22-26, the Jerusalem above represents the new covenant. In these verses two women, who correspond to the earthly Jerusalem and the heavenly Jerusalem, symbolize two covenants. Paul says, “For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one of the maidservant and one of the free woman. But the one of the maidservant was born according to flesh, and the one of the free woman through the promise. Which things are an allegory; for these are two covenants, one from Mount Sinai, bringing forth children unto slavery, which is Hagar. Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to the Jerusalem which now is, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, who is our mother.” Of the two covenants mentioned in verse 24, one is the covenant of promise to Abraham, which is related to the New Testament, the covenant of grace, and the other is the covenant of law related to Moses, which has nothing to do with the New Testament. Sarah, the free woman, who corresponds to the Jerusalem above, represents the covenant of promise, and Hagar, the maidservant, who corresponds to the earthly Jerusalem, represents the covenant of law.
In verse 25 Paul speaks of “the Jerusalem which now is.” Jerusalem, as the choice of God (1 Kings 14:21; Psa. 48:2, 8), should belong to the covenant of promise represented by Sarah. However, because it brings God’s chosen people into the bondage of law, it corresponds to Mount Sinai, which belongs to the covenant of law represented by Hagar. The Jerusalem above, on the contrary, is related to the covenant of promise. Therefore, according to the context, the Jerusalem above represents the new covenant.
In Galatians 4:26 Paul tells us that the Jerusalem above is our mother. The mother of the Judaizers is the earthly Jerusalem, but the mother of the believers is the heavenly Jerusalem, which will eventually be the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth (Rev. 21:1-2). She is the mother of the New Testament believers, who are not slaves under law but sons under grace. We, the New Testament believers, have all been born of her from above.
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