What does "the mother of us all" mean (Galatians 4:26)?

Verse 21. He already changes his voice. "Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?" He desires that the law should speak, since they were abandoning the grace of the gospel. In the law it was written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman; the one born after the flesh, the other of the free woman born according to the promise of God. But these things were an allegory, shewing forth the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar, the bondwoman. Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai, which answers to Jerusalem (that is, the system of the law of which Jerusalem was the centre), with her children, as also to those who are under the law. But Jerusalem which is above, the true church of God viewed in her heavenly state, is free; and she is our mother.

To continue, Christians have nothing to do with Jerusalem, or the system of law and bondage connected with her. Christianity knows no centre on earth. Our metropolis is in heaven. "But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all" (more correctly "our mother") (ver. 26).

We now get a remarkable quotation from Isaiah. "For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not; for the desolate has many more children than she which has a husband" (ver. 27). Observe the place in which this is found in the writings of the prophet. In chapter 53 we have Israel bowing to the truth of the atonement, owning the once smitten One as having died for them. Then we hear the remarkable call quoted by the apostle in this epistle. The truth is, that Israel in the coming day will be astonished to learn what God has been doing during their long term of widowhood. They will find that countless children have been born to Abraham — true children of promise. These are reckoned, in a spiritual way, as Jerusalem's progeny. We do well to remember that the gospel started from Jerusalem and all its first preachers were of the Jewish stock. While Israel is estranged God is busy, and many are being brought in to taste the sweetness of His grace.

He does not know what to say. He would like to be present with them, that he might, on seeing them adapt his words to their condition, for they had really forsaken christian ground. Would they then, since they desired to be under the law, hear the law? In it they might see the two systems, in the type of Hagar and Sarah: that of law, gendering to bondage; and that of grace, to liberty; not that only, but the positive exclusion of the child of bondage from the inheritance. The two could not be united; the one shut out the other. The bond-child was born according to the flesh, the free-child according to promise. For the law and the covenant of Sinai were in connection with man in the flesh. The principle of man's relationship with God, according to the law (if such relations had been possible), was that of a relationship formed between man in the flesh and the righteous God. As to man, the law and the ordinances were only bondage. They aimed at bridling the will without its being changed. It is all-important to understand, that man under the law is man in the flesh. When born again, dead and risen again, he is no longer under law, which has only dominion over man in that he is alive here below. Read "Jerusalem which is above is our mother" — not "the mother of us all." It is in contrast with Jerusalem on earth, which in its principle answered to Sinai. And observe that the apostle is not here speaking of the violation of the law, but of its principle. The law itself puts man in a state of bondage. It is imposed on man in the flesh, who is opposed to it. By the very fact that he has self-will, the law and that will are in conflict. Self-will is not obedience.

Verse 27 presents some difficulty to many minds, because it is generally confounded with Hagar and Sarah. But it is a separate consideration, suggested by the idea of Jerusalem above. The verse is a quotation from Isaiah 54, which celebrates the joy and glory of the earthly Jerusalem at the beginning of the millennium. The apostle quotes it to show that Jerusalem had more children during the time of her desolation than when she had a husband. In the millennium Jehovah, the Lord, will be her husband. He had been so before. At present she is desolate, she bears not. Nevertheless there are more children than previously when she was married. Such were the marvellous ways of God. All Christians are reckoned, when earth takes its course again, as the children of Jerusalem, but of Jerusalem with no husband and desolate, so that the Galatians were not to own it as if God did still. Sarah was not without a husband. Here is a different order of thought. Without a husband and desolate (so that, properly speaking, she has none) Jerusalem has more children now than in the best days of her career, when Jehovah was a husband to her. For, as regards the promise, the gospel came forth from her. The assembly is not of promise. It was a counsel hid in God, of which the promises had never spoken. Its position is a yet higher one; but in this place the apostle's instruction does not rise to that height. But we are also the children of promise, and not of the flesh. Israel after the flesh had no other pretension than to be the children of Abraham after the flesh; we are so only by promise. Now the word of God cast out the child of the bondwoman, born after the flesh, that he might not be heir with the child of promise. As to us, we are the children of promise.

"But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all." The word "all" has been added to this verse. The true text ends with "us," and obviously the sense is fuller and better without it. "All" was added, probably, by those who thought to strengthen the connection of all the children of God; whereas the inspired writer particularly refers to those that had been Jews. He says, We are no longer children of Jerusalem which is below, but we belong to Jerusalem which is above. As to the earthly Jerusalem, we owe her no allegiance now; we belong to Christ, and consequently to the heavenly Jerusalem. For it is written — and now he refers to a passage in the prophets — "Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not; for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband" The meaning may be a little obscure at first, but adds much, when understood, to the force of what the apostle insists on. It is connected not so much with Hagar and Sarah, as with the reference to Jerusalem. See Isaiah 54, where Jerusalem in a future day is looking back upon her past trials, and God makes a remarkable reckoning of grace. He is speaking of the time when she was long desolate, of her present season of trial, when she is reft of all her outward privileges; but of that very time it says, she has more children than even when the Lord was her husband. In Hosea Israel is spoken of as one most guilty, and the Lord about to put her away. Then she is the desolate one: the Lord has forsaken her because of her sin; but in due time, before there is any outward deliverance from under Gentile captivity or oppression, grace begins to work, and all those who are brought in under Christ now are counted in a certain respect her children. But all is connected with Jerusalem that is to be — Jerusalem that will have ceased to be Hagar and have taken the ground of grace. So that when she looks upon the Christians who will then be in their own heavenly place, the Lord will count them as children of the desolate wife. He will say, "Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not; for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband." It is a comparison of herself during her time of desolation with herself when she had a husband. The latter was the time when she was owned in her earthly standing, and she had few children then; but now, in her desolation, there is a mighty outpouring of God's grace, and a wide ingathering of souls, who are counted, by grace, as her children.

There can be no doubt about the matter. "Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?" "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, which answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us [all?]. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath a husband." The application of this is as plain as it is conclusive, for those who appealed to Abraham and bowed to the word of God. Instead of going up to Jerusalem on earth, instead of endeavouring to effect a junction with the law or anything else here below, the gospel wants no such allies, but repudiates them all. The very reverse of their system is true. The true link is with Jerusalem above, as our prototype is Isaac, the child of the freewoman. Theirs was the slave's son — Ishmael.

"The Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother: for it is written, Rejoice, barren (woman), the one not bearing, Break forth and cry, the one not travailing; Because more numerous (are) the children of the desolate than of the one having a husband."

These words are quoted from Isaiah 54:1. In a most remarkable way the Spirit of God uses these words of "the prophet to claim as the children of Abraham, belonging to the true house of Israel, all the Christians from the day of Pentecost until the Lord comes again to take us home to Himself. During this time Israel has been set aside. About seventy years after the birth of Christ the Romans completely destroyed Jerusalem, burned the temple, and from that day until recently, the Jews have been scattered to the ends of the earth. Their house has indeed been left unto them desolate (see Matt. 23:38), but, amazing as it will seem in that day, they will find far more children begotten from the gospel, in the time of their desolation, than they ever had in the days of their greatest prosperity. The children brought in by grace are "more numerous" than those ever were under law. But these children are not children of the earthly Jerusalem, but of the Jerusalem above, the heavenly Jerusalem, which is free. For the heavenly Jerusalem "is our mother." But God reckons them as Sarah's children, "children of promise," "children of Abraham" (Gal. 3:7, 29).

Meanwhile there is the Jerusalem which is above, the mother of all those who come under the blessing of God in this dispensation. Our blessing comes down from above. It is all of grace. It links the believer with the place from which it comes. It gives character to those it blesses, as a mother gives character to her children.

Christianity was not an earthly system like Judaism, its origin and centre are in heaven, so that the Apostle could write to the saints of Galatia, “But Jerusalem which is above free, which is the mother of us all” (Gal. 4:26). Christians belong to heaven, their origin is heavenly, they have been begotten of this heavenly system spoken of as Jerusalem above, and heaven is our destiny. We can take account of ourselves as born of God, and as belonging to the scene from whence the Son of God came, and where He now is. We are not bound to a system that brings judgment and death, but which has brought us into life and liberty.

An allegory is drawn from the above history in Gal. 4:24-31. Hagar (AGAR) answers to the covenant of law and to Jerusalem then in bondage; and Sarah to the covenant of promise and to Jerusalem above, which is free. The conclusion as to the believer is, "so then, brethren, we are not the children of the bondwoman, but of the free." The Christian is not under the law nor in the flesh; but is free, under grace. Being the seed of Abraham according to promise, that is, being 'of Christ,' or 'Christ's,' the gospel and new covenant blessings have come to believers through Him, and they are reckoned as of God's city, Jerusalem above, that is free. The church is of God's eternal counsel, heavenly, and is never in scripture called a mother.

She would bring Him into her mother's house. The remnant will receive Christ at Jerusalem. Our mother is Jerusalem above; "but Jerusalem which is above is free which is the mother of us all" (Gal. 4:26). Jerusalem above stands for that system of free grace in contrast to that system of law under which Israel was placed at Mount Sinai, "which genders to bondage." (See the whole passage, Gal. 4:22-28).