"Ye are come [present tense]."

Physical Jerusalem; spiritual Jerusalem. There is a Jerusalem on earth. There also is a Jerusalem in Heaven and all believers in Christ already are in the spiritual Jerusalem whether they are Jewish or Gentile by race.

Many of us have been to the land of Israel and to Jerusalem. We feel at home there as though it were our homeland. In fact, Jerusalem indeed is the homeland of those who belong to Christ. There is no other land on earth that belongs to God in the same manner that is true of the land of Israel.

We must remember, however, that the true Jerusalem is in Heaven. One day the true Jerusalem will descend from Heaven and clothe the earthly Jerusalem just as our body from Heaven will descend, in the day of resurrection, and clothe our resurrected flesh and bones.

But until that time, earthly Jerusalem is Hagar—that is, the concubine whose children cannot be heirs with Isaac.

For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. (Galatians 4:22,23)

Again we find that spiritual Israel always is by promise, never by mere fleshly lineage. Ishmael was born of Hagar, the slave woman. Isaac was born of Sarah, the free woman. The physical Jew is born of the flesh, and sometimes by the promise as well, thus becoming a true Jew, a true member of the royal priesthood.

Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. (Galatians 4:24,25)

Paul is pointing out to us the way we should interpret the persons, things, and circumstances of the Old Testament. They are allegories. They portray spiritual truth. They happened for our benefit who are recipients of the Kingdom of God through Christ.

Physical Jerusalem corresponds to the Law of Moses and to Hagar, the mother of Ishmael. The physical land and people of Israel are not of Sarah, the free woman, but of Hagar, the slave woman. The physical land and people remain in slavery to the flesh.

But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. (Galatians 4:26)

The mother of every true member of God's elect, whether Jew or Gentile by race, is the heavenly Jerusalem, which corresponds to Sarah, the free woman.

It often is true that the members of the Seed of Abraham are not as readily fruitful as are the physical Jews but are dealt with in a special manner by the Lord. We think of Sarah, of Hannah, the mother of Samuel, of Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, all of whom were barren for many years. But when true Israel begins to conceive the result is many more children than is true of the physical descendants, that is, many more children of the Kingdom of God.

To be continued.