Paul’s Letter to the Gauls (Galatians) – Chapter 4

But Abraham had another wife named Sarah, and one day, years later, she bore a son, miraculously out of the work of God, within her very being, within her womb, somewhere within the DNA was the seed of the Messiah, the son of the living God. He was atomically in there. He would be born out of one of her descendants, Mary. If you decide you’re going to please God by merit, you become a child of Hagar, and you’re a slave. If it is all of grace and all of Him, then you are a child of Sarah; you are one of the descendants of Isaac. And now Paul does something. I don’t know how in the world he did this. If anybody can tell me the answer to this, I would love to hear it. He said, “Now then, Hagar is represented by Mount Sinai. That’s where the law came from. And then suddenly he makes this gigantic leap. I don’t know where he got this…which represents Jerusalem.

Now, you be a good proud Jew. Read that. How do you feel? You have just made the city of Jerusalem, that town, that large, beautiful, holy town, somewhere between Jericho and the Mediterranean. You have made that town something that came out of a slave woman, a gentile slave. You have made that city correspond to her that it came out of her loins, her bowels. You do that? That’s exactly what he did. If you follow law, try to gain the merits of God through your own work as Abraham did, then you have become a descendant of Hagar and Ishmael. You are related to Mount Sinai, which corresponds to that city about 500 miles from you down there, where Blastinius said we’re all supposed to come from; he is saying: “saints in Galatia, yes; Blastinius came from Jerusalem, a city of slaves.” The city of Ishmael, the city of Hagar, a heathen slave. That’s where Blastinius came from – the present earthly Jerusalem…a city of slavery. I can’t believe this. Can you? I mean, I’m looking at it, and I can’t believe it. And you’re shocked, too, are you not? You ought to be. I’m horrified. That’s what it says. But you brethren, you brethren, oh, I just can’t. Praise the Lord.

Blastinius has a mother. Jerusalem, a city of slaves…a city full of slaves. They all live under the law, the natural human earthly Jerusalem. But there is another city. Yes, my city. Your city. You are from the Jerusalem that is above. Praise the Lord right there. You also have a mother. That’s what it says right there. What verse is that? Right there. 26. You also have a mother: the Jerusalem that is from above. Praise the Lord. Hey, listen. Have you ever, as a Christian, thought about this? That you don’t have a mother. I wonder if anybody else ever thought about that. You got a Father who’s God. You got a brother who’s Jesus. You’re missing a mother. Is that not true? Well, you just got her. Even when I was a little kid, I wondered about this. I got a father, and I got a mother, earthly, and I got a heavenly Father, and I got a heavenly Brother, and I got brothers and sisters in Christ. I have no mother. Now listen to this one word, would you? But the Jerusalem above is what? Free. All really…free? Do you really believe that? The Jerusalem above is free. Let me tell you something, saints. Everything up there is free. God is free. The city is free…above. Listen to this word above. Now, everybody, wake up. You are from beneath. I am from above. Who said that? The Lord Jesus said that. He said that to a bunch of Pharisees who lived in the natural Jerusalem, who are slaves to the law. You are from beneath. I am from above. My Father is from above.

Now listen to this. You must be born again. No, that’s not what the Bible says. That is a poor translation. It is a mistranslation, and it is utterly in error. You and I have never been born again. You must be born from above. That’s what it says. I come from above. My Father comes from above. I return to my Father. You must be born from above, and there’s a city now we got above. We got above Father. We got above Lord. We got the above birth, and now we’ve got the above city. And now we learn a little bit about the city. She’s free. What do you figure? You figure the Father’s free. You figure the Savior and Lord is free. Where were you born? In the sight of the living God. You were more born from above. In the other realm, you’re more from that realm than this one. You’ve got to get something clear; you are a heavenly being. Your insides came from above. Your outsides are going to be buried in a grave, and God’s going to give you a new outside from above. You are from above. Therefore, no law on this earth has any control over you. That’s for the Jews who live in Jerusalem. They belong to a city of slavery. You belong to a city above that is free.

And that’s not all. She and Sarah are your mother. Sarah is free, and she corresponds to the city that is above, and she is your mother. Praise the Lord; I finally got a mother. Now, do you know who or what the city of Jerusalem…by the way, this is the first piece of Christian literature ever printed. The first piece of Christian literature ever written, and it’s talking about the new Jerusalem. That far back, gentile Christians knew there was another Jerusalem somewhere and that they were born in it. Not that they were going to it, but that they came from it. You ought to say amen more.

Now we know, it’s very clear in the scripture that for us, the church here on earth, is a colony out of the other realm. That’s what the church is. You follow me? It is a colony that came here from the other realm; the church is related to and part of the new Jerusalem. I don’t know about you, but I’m really glad to have a mother who, somewhere in the church, is my mother. Hopefully, you understand that it says the new Jerusalem is the bride of Christ. Right? A bride is a married woman who has never had union with her husband. A wife is a woman who has had union with her husband. You’re a bride, married, but you’re still a virgin. You know the Lord Jesus hadn’t had his wedding yet. Do you know that? Incredible things that are divine; you don’t understand them. Do you realize she’s never had children? She’s barren. She’s not married yet. She’s never conceived. She’s a virgin, and yet she’s your mother. For it is written, “Rejoice, barren woman who does not bear. Break forth and shout even though you’re not in labor. For more are the children of the desolate than of the one who has a husband. She is not even married yet. She’s never conceived, and she has already given birth to many sons and daughters of God.