Children of Zion

Part 9 continues Paul’s allegory of Sarah and Hagar from Galatians 4 and explores how these two mothers point to two covenants, two cities and two mountains.

Hagar, the bondwoman, represents the old covenant of law, earthly Jerusalem and Mount Sinai. Sarah, the free woman, represents the new covenant of grace, the heavenly Jerusalem and Mount Zion — the place of promise, freedom and life in Christ.

Believers are compared to Isaac as children of the promise, born not merely according to the flesh but of the Spirit of promise (Ephesians 1:13). The episode also traces the connection between Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the church of the firstborn (Hebrews 12:22–23) and the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost — a gift received not by travelling to a mountain, but by coming to the Father in Jesus’ name.