Jerusalem Avove

Summary: Paul challenges those who want to be under the Law to listen to what the Law says, and he retells Abraham’s family story to explain two opposing spiritual realities. He speaks of two mothers and two sons: one line comes from slavery and ordinary human means, and the other comes from freedom and God’s promise. Against the “present Jerusalem,” which he associates with bondage, Paul introduces “the Jerusalem above.” He describes this Jerusalem as free and presents her as the believers’ true mother. He supports this by pointing to Scripture’s picture of unexpected fruitfulness—life and family produced not by human ability but by God’s action—matching the way the promised child came. Paul then identifies his readers with that promised line: they are like Isaac, children born through promise, and therefore belong to the free Jerusalem rather than the enslaved one. He acknowledges that conflict follows this identity (as it did in the original story), but he ends by drawing the inheritance line clearly: the children tied to slavery do not share the inheritance with the children tied to freedom. So the believers’ identity, in his conclusion, is rooted in the Jerusalem above—freedom, promise, and inheritance.   Teaching: The kingdom of God is in our midst, and it must expand more and more. That is why we pray about the kingdom of God and righteousness. The kingdom of God that has come to us is already the kingdom above. God’s will, which has already been done in heaven, has come to us through Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Jerusalem above comes down to us, we enter that Jerusalem, and the Jerusalem above is freedom and is our mother. What that Jerusalem gives is freedom, and she gives birth to us—she is compared to a mother who labors in childbirth. It can also be said that in the New Jerusalem there are the names of the saints who have been saved. Although we live on the earth, a person who has received the Spirit of God’s Son has already reached the New Jerusalem. Do not forget that the characteristic of the New Jerusalem is freedom. Excerpt from the sermon by Pastor Lee, Mar 6, 2026 Galatians 4:21-31