With the help of Paul’s writing in his epistles to the Galatians and to the Hebrews we see that Sarah and Hagar both signify two covenants: Sarah signifies the covenant of grace and Hagar signifies the covenant of law. Each of them produces sons: Sarah produces sons unto freedom and inheritance of grace, and Hagar produces sons unto slavery under law.
Even more, in Gal. 4:26-28 we see that Sarah symbolizes the Jerusalem above, the New Jerusalem, which is our mother. Wow! Sarah as the covenant of grace is the New Jerusalem, and the New Jerusalem is our mother.
God the Father is the giver of grace, the New Jerusalem as the covenant of grace is our mother, and we as the many believers in Christ born of God under grace are the components of the New Jerusalem, the components of the mother! This is amazing!
We are sons of God, born through grace, children of freedom, and we are enjoyers of grace as the components of the New Jerusalem, who is our mother.
This is truly amazing and mind-blowing. In the human realm the father is one person, the mother is another person, and the children are totally different persons.
In the divine and mystical realm, the Father is the source of the grace, the New Jerusalem (signified by Sarah) is the covenant of grace to be our mother, and we as the sons of grace are the components of the mother; the mother returns to the Father to be one with Him, having come out from the Father and then going back to the Father as the destination (Gal. 1:3; 1 Cor. 8:6). How mysterious!
This really shows us that throughout the Bible God’s intention is to produce many sons born of Him with His life and nature to be His corporate expression; these sons are not produced by human effort under the law but by the grace of God. Hallelujah!
The New Jerusalem is our Mother, and this Mother is the New Covenant of Grace
In Gal. 4:26-28 we see that Sarah signifies the Jerusalem above, the heavenly Jerusalem, the New Jerusalem, which is the mother of all the believers.
Sarah symbolizes the new covenant of grace which brings forth children under grace and unto freedom, while Hagar symbolizes the covenant of law which condemns, brings in death, and produces children unto slavery (Gal. 4:25-26).
As believers in Christ, we are born of God through grace, and we are children of the freewoman, having Sarah as our mother. Since Sarah signifies the New Jerusalem and the new covenant of grace, the New Jerusalem is our mother.
In the new covenant of grace, God Himself is our enjoyment, and the Triune God is our element, our essence, and our nature. We have been born under the new covenant, and the Jerusalem above is our mother! This woman is the new covenant and our mother, and our mother is the grace of God.
In Galatians and Hebrews Paul encourages us not to drift from the new covenant of grace to the old covenant of law; the new covenant of grace is a better covenant!
In Heb. 12:22-23 we see that we have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, and to the church of the firstborn. The church today is the New Jerusalem, the city of the living God, and it is on mount Zion. Whenever we enjoy God as grace, we are under the covenant of grace, and we have come to the New Jerusalem, who is our mother.
As seen in Rev. 22, the redeemed people of God are the components of the New Jerusalem. Sarah as our mother signifies the New Jerusalem, the covenant of grace, we are the sons of God having the New Jerusalem as our mother, and we are the components of the New Jerusalem – the sons are the components of the mother!
This is so mysterious, yet this is what the Bible says and we believe it to be true! In a nutshell, here it is:
The Father is the Grace-giver; the grace is the covenant; the covenant is the city, the Jerusalem above, the New Jerusalem, who is our mother; the sons produced by the mother are the components of the mother; and the mother returns to the Father to be one with Him, having come out from the Father and then going back to the Father as the destination (1:3; 1 Cor. 8:6). (W. Lee)
God’s Intention is to Produce Many Sons under Grace for His Corporate Expression
When God called Abraham and promised him a seed and a land, He was carrying out His original intention. God’s original intention is to carry out His economy, which is to produce many sons of God brought forth by grace to constitute the New Jerusalem for His corporate expression for eternity (see Rev. 21:1-2, 7).
Abraham was chosen by God and he was given the promise of a seed – which was to be produced by grace (Sarah) and not by his human effort (Hagar). Sarah as the wife of Abraham, the free woman, is the mother of all the believers and a type of the New Jerusalem, the covenant of grace.
God Himself went through the long process of His covenant in order to become the life-giving Spirit, and as the Spirit, He is dispensing Himself as grace into all His believers to make them the components of the New Jerusalem, His ultimate corporate expression.
Today we, the believers in Christ, are part of the fulfillment of God’s purpose by enjoying God as grace every day to be united, mingled, and incorporated with the Triune God to be the New Jerusalem for eternity.
When Abraham was sojourning on earth, he was waiting for a city which has foundations (Heb. 11:10), which city is the heavenly Jerusalem, the wife of Christ and the mother of the New Testament believers, which is composed of the sons of God born of her.
By regeneration we have come forward to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, and to the church – we have come forward to become the New Jerusalem together with all the other believers in Christ for God’s corporate expression.
God is our Father: He is the One who gives grace to us. Grace is a covenant, which is a city, the Jerusalem above, the New Jerusalem, who is our mother. Grace begot us: grace is our mother! We as the sons of grace are the components of the mother, the components of the New Jerusalem.
As the New Jerusalem, we return to God the Father to be one with Him, having come out from the Father as the source and then going back to the Father as the destination. God the Father is the origin, the source, and the destination; all things are from Him, through Him, and unto Him.
What can we say now except: Hallelujah! What can we do but enjoy God as grace, as the last verse of the last chapter of the last book of the Bible says, The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints! Amen!
Praise You, Father, for being the source of grace, the grace-giver! We are now sons of God through grace, born under the new covenant of grace to be the components of the New Jerusalem. Grace is our mother: the Jerusalem above, the covenant of grace, is our mother! We are born of God under grace to enjoy the processed and consummated Triune God as grace and become the New Jerusalem! Keep us enjoying You as grace today! Keep us under the covenant of grace: the continual dispensing of the Triune God as grace into our whole being! To God be the glory in the church becoming the New Jerusalem forever and ever, AMEN!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament (msg. 255), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (2), week 6 / msg 6, The Allegory of Two Women.
- Hymns on this topic:
# This grace, which is the living Christ Himself, / Is what we need and must experience; / Lord, may we know this grace and by it live, / Thyself increasingly as grace to sense. (Hymns #497)
# We’re being sonized now; / The life within will do / The deep transforming work / Of making us anew. / In ages past, the work was done— / Now prayer is over—praise the Son! (Hymn #1187)
# God’s economy and goal / According to His heart’s desire / Are to build Himself into our being / And to build us into His being / In order to mingle His divinity with our humanity / Into one entity (one entity)— / The Body of Christ, / Which consummates the New Jerusalem. (Hymn on God’s economy)
# From the fruit of daily living, New Jerusalem we’ll see, / It’s the ultimate in mingling—it’s divine humanity. / And what joy that we can share it all, and share it corporately. / Yes, mingling is the way. (Hymns #1199)
