Freedom's Children Series

But there is a better way to relate to God, and that is through the covenant of promise. You see, God has promised to bless us unconditionally! We don’t have to work for those blessings. All we have to do is believe God’s promise.

Galatians 4:26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. (ESV)

As believers in Christ, we are citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, which is free!

Galatians 4:27 For it is written, “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.” (ESV)

This promise, from Isaiah 54, speaks of the restoration of Israel after a time of captivity. In captivity, Israel is barren like Sarah was, but God promises to restore Israel to greatness again. In fact, God will build a New Jerusalem, which is free from foreign control, unlike the Jerusalem in Paul’s day. And that New Jerusalem is our home! It is our motherland, even we who are Gentile Believers in Jesus.

Galatians 4:28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. (ESV)

Paul, a Jew, is saying this to Gentile believers, calling them “brothers!” All believers in Christ, Jew or Gentile, are children of the promise! We relate to God, not based on a law with its conditional blessings. No. We relate to God based on a promise with its unconditional blessings.

I like the way Ray Ortlund put it just a couple of years ago. In the Gospel Coalition blog, he wrote: “We were married to Mr. Law. He was a good man, in his way, but he did not understand our weakness. He came home every evening and asked, ‘So, how was your day? Did you do what I told you to? Did you make the kids behave? Did you waste any time? Did you complete everything I put on your To Do list?’ So many demands and expectations. And hard as we tried, we couldn't be perfect. We could never satisfy him. We forgot things that were important to him. We let the children misbehave. We failed in other ways. It was a miserable marriage, because Mr. Law always pointed out our failings. And the worst of it was, he was always right! But his remedy was always the same: Do better tomorrow. We didn't, because we couldn't.

“Then Mr. Law died. And we remarried, this time to Mr. Grace. Our new husband, Jesus, comes home every evening and the house is a mess, the children are being naughty, dinner is burning on the stove, and we have even had other men in the house during the day. Still, he sweeps us into his arms and says, ‘I love you, I chose you, I died for you, I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ And our hearts melt. We don't understand such love. We expect him to despise us and reject us and humiliate us, but he treats us so well. We are so glad to belong to him now and forever, and we long to be ‘fully pleasing to him’ (Col. 1:10)!”

“Being married to Mr. Law never changed us. But being married to Mr. Grace is changing us deep within, and it shows. (Ray Ortlund, "Who are you married to?" The Gospel Coalition blog, Ray Ortlund, 2-15-15; www.PreachingToday.com)