6. How did the book Thy Kingdom Come identify the “mother” of members of the “new creation”?

⁶ Interestingly, the book Thy Kingdom Come, published in 1891, said regarding those anointed ones of the “new creation”: “As for Isaiah 54:1-8, the Apostle Paul has thrown the light of superhuman wisdom upon it, and has applied it to spiritual Zion, our mother or covenant, symbolized by Sarah. The fleshly seed of Abraham had been cast out from being heir of the promise, and the true seed, Christ (typified by Isaac and Rebecca), had been received as the only seed of promise.​—Gal. 4:22, 24, 26-31.”

 7, 8. Who is the husband of the “mother” of the Christian congregation, and what does Isaiah 54:1-8 say in this regard?

⁷ This statement had nothing to do with the Zionist World Organization, founded by Theodor Herzl in 1897. That organization dealt with Jerusalem below, here on earth, not “the Jerusalem above,” the “mother” of the Christian congregation. (Galatians 4:26) The book Thy Kingdom Come did not go on to develop the fact that the husbandly owner of the “mother” of the Christian congregation is God, who was pictured by Abraham. Jehovah is married, not to the Abrahamic covenant or the new covenant, but to “Jerusalem above,” pictured by Isaac’s mother Sarah. Like her, as a “mother,” “the Jerusalem above” must be something alive and having personality.

⁸ Who, then, is “Jerusalem above”? To find out, let us first consider Isaiah 54:1-8, which reads in part:

“‘Cry out joyfully, you barren woman that did not give birth! Become cheerful with a joyful outcry and cry shrilly, you that had no childbirth pains, for the sons of the desolated one are more numerous than the sons of the woman with a husbandly owner,’ Jehovah has said. . . . ‘For your Grand Maker is your husbandly owner, Jehovah of armies being his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Repurchaser. The God of the whole earth he will be called. For Jehovah called you as if you were a wife left entirely and hurt in spirit, and as a wife of the time of youth who was then rejected,’ your God has said. ‘For a little moment I left you entirely, but with great mercies I shall collect you together. With a flood of indignation I concealed my face from you for but a moment, but with loving-kindness to time indefinite I will have mercy upon you,’ your Repurchaser, Jehovah, has said.”

 9. (a) At Isaiah 54:1-8, to whom or to what was Jehovah speaking comfortingly? (b) According to Galatians 4:25, 26, who is the figurative “woman” addressed in the antitype?

⁹ There, in the first instance, Jehovah was not talking to a covenant. He was addressing a nation, his chosen people in the Mosaic Law covenant with him. From God’s standpoint, that nation made up a composite “woman” that was like a wife to him. According to the apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians, that figurative “woman” was typical, but he does not say that she is a covenant, or compact. A covenant could not be comforted, consoled. Rather, Paul shows that the antitypical “woman” is something alive, like a “mother,” just as the “husbandly owner,” Jehovah, is alive as a Person having intelligence and ability to give comfort.

The Free Jerusalem

13. What did Paul say about the free Jerusalem, and in freedom from what should her “children” stand fast?

¹³ Paul contrasted enslaved earthly Jerusalem with “Jerusalem above,” which is “free.” Quoting from Isaiah 54:1-8, he wrote:

“But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written: ‘Be glad, you barren woman who does not give birth; break out and cry aloud, you woman who does not have childbirth pains; for the children of the desolate woman are more numerous than those of her who has the husband.’ Now we, brothers, are children belonging to the promise the same as Isaac was. But just as then the one born in the manner of flesh began persecuting the one born in the manner of spirit, so also now. Nevertheless, what does the Scripture say? ‘Drive out the servant girl and her son, for by no means shall the son of the servant girl be an heir with the son of the free woman.’ Wherefore, brothers, we are children, not of a servant girl, but of the free woman. For such freedom Christ set us free. Therefore stand fast, and do not let yourselves be confined again in a yoke of slavery.”​—Galatians 4:26–5:1.

14. Why was Isaac’s birth “in the manner of spirit”?

¹⁴ The Galatian Christians thus addressed were “God’s children as a result of his promise.” (Galatians 4:28, Today’s English Version) Foreshadowing this, Isaac was born to the centenarian Abraham and his 90-year-old wife Sarah in fulfillment of Jehovah’s promise to that faithful patriarch. Yes, Isaac’s birth to Abraham was miraculous, absolutely not “in the manner of flesh.” (Genesis 18:11-15) So it had to be “in the manner of spirit.” Yes, the spirit of the Greater Abraham, Jehovah God, surely was needed to revive the reproductive powers of the free woman Sarah, as well as those of Abraham. (Romans 4:19) It is noteworthy that the “promise” itself was not old when Isaac was born in 1918 B.C.E., for that was only 25 years after Abraham’s entry into the promised land of Canaan in 1943 B.C.E., when the “promise” went into effect.

15. For how long was “Jerusalem above” childless, and when did her offspring begin to become numerous?

¹⁵ “Jerusalem above” was “desolate,” childless as it were, much longer than Sarah had been. Actually, “Jerusalem above” was in that state from 1943 B.C.E., when the promise to Abraham went into effect, until Jesus was baptized in 29 C.E. It was then that Jesus was begotten by the spirit of the Greater Abraham, Jehovah, and was anointed with His spirit to be the Christ or Anointed One, the Messiah. But “Jerusalem above” was to have more than one spiritual child. So at Pentecost of 33 C.E., after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension to heaven, about 120 of his faithful disciples were begotten by the spirit of the Greater Abraham. They were then anointed with that spirit to become the spiritual brothers of the Greater Isaac, Jesus Christ. Later that day about 3,000 more Jews got baptized as Jesus’ disciples and were anointed with the holy spirit. (Acts 2:1-42) Thus on that day “Jerusalem above” became “mother” to many children.

16. What is the identity of “Jerusalem above”?

¹⁶ The apostle Paul reveals that the woman addressed at Isaiah 54:1-8 is “the Jerusalem above.” Jehovah God is her “husbandly owner,” as well as her Grand Maker. Figuratively speaking, she is his “woman,” his “wife,” or wifelike organization in heaven above. Like a husband, he is the One who makes her fruitful so as to produce the true “seed” promised in Abraham’s day.​—Galatians 3:16, 26-29.

17. How did “Jerusalem above” become the “mother” of the primary “seed” of the Greater Abraham?

¹⁷ To become the primary “seed” of the Greater Abraham, the only-begotten Son of God had emerged from Jehovah’s wifelike celestial organization. Thus she became like a “mother” to God’s Son. Jesus Christ was not the figurative son of the earthly Jerusalem of his days on earth, for that city then was in bondage, or slavery, with her “children,” and Jesus never was enslaved. (Galatians 4:25) Earthly Jerusalem was the “mother” of those natural Jews who rejected Jesus Christ as the promised “seed” not only of the patriarch Abraham but also of the Greater Abraham, Jehovah God.​—Matthew 23:37-39.