Turn to Galatians 4. The setting is really from verses 19 to 31, but I’ll pick up in verse 26. " 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 travaileth not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free."

THE MOTHER OF US ALL. Well, here Paul in the book of Galatians is contrasting the administration of sin and death, the Law, with the administration of The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. He is equating one of them with Jerusalem which now is - the capital, the headquarters of sin and death; the natural, literal city of Jerusalem. And he calls that the Jerusalem which now is. That is, it is upon the earth, visible, tangible. And he uses Jerusalem as a symbol of the Old Covenant; the Covenant of The Law, the Covenant of sin and death. Paul says we are NOT of that, we are NOT of that mother. Salvation is NOT of the Law of sin and death. But we are of Jerusalem which is above, the heavenly, the New Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem. And he is using that as a New Covenant. We are of a New Covenant, that Covenant which is established in His Blood. We are The Redeemed of The Lord, we are The Born-from-above, we are The Born-of-The-Spirit. We are free from the Law in that we are NOT born OF The Law. (Romans 7 - by His death He has made you free that you might be married to another, and be His Body.)

This is what he’s talking about. Our Mother is this New Covenant, and it is established, confirmed in The Blood of the Lord Jesus, and if it is established and confirmed in The Blood, then it is of the administration and a ministry of The Anointing. So, our Mother, our place of birth is from above - born from above, born again. And that certainly doesn’t keep us from honoring and appreciating our mothers in the flesh, for many of our mothers in the flesh are also mothers in a real, spiritual realm. Mine was! As a child I went to bed every night listening to her pray for me. As a teenager I went to bed every night listening to her pray for me. As long as I lived in that house I went to bed every night listening to her pray for me! But our natural mothers give way to Jerusalem which is above. In her, that New Jerusalem, that New Covenant, which is established and confirmed in The Blood of The Lord Jesus, we rejoice in that we are born from above. We are able, in knowing that, to pay honor one to another and appreciate one another; for that ministry we render one to another in The Lord. And we appreciate those mothers who are true mothers in The Lord, and who have true offspring as a result of that.

Turn to Matthew 1. THE GENERATION OF JESUS CHRIST. You may or may not be aware of this, but there are a number of movements in so-called "Spirit-filled" circles who have less than an exalted view of The Lord Jesus. They are those who take the term "Christ" unto themselves, and they make OF THEMSELVES a generation. Some years ago I heard one of these people make a statement, and it never sat well with me. I wasn’t sure what was wrong with it then, but I know what was wrong with it now. They said, ‘Well you see, we have come from Jesus to the Christ." And they went on to explain how - ‘we are all The Christ.’ And that never sat well with me: particularly the point that we have come FROM Jesus TO The Christ. But the Biblical principle upon which that profoundly stupid statement was made was just this: they said in the gospels it is ‘Jesus, Jesus, Jesus’ - in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John it is JESUS Christ, JESUS Christ. But in the epistles it is CHRIST Jesus! But I’m going to show you how radically wrong that is.

See, it upset me, but that was a number of years ago, and I hadn’t counted those references at that time. Because if you are going to make a statement, and base your whole theme and baseline of what you believe on something, you ought to at least get it right to begin with. Your Biblical principle at least ought to hold water! And if you are going to say that we have come from the time of the gospels, which were before The Cross... Now, they weren’t WRITTEN before The Cross, but the time that they DESCRIBE was before The Cross, and immediately after it. But if you are going to say that we have come by The Cross from Jesus to The Christ, and use as your basis that in the gospels it is JESUS Christ, and in the epistles, which obviously are after The Cross, it’s CHRIST Jesus, then it ought to be that way. That’s the way it ought to be without exception because THE TRUTH IS WITHOUT EXCEPTION. And if it isn’t without exception in the scripture, then it simply is not The Truth!

Now time passed, and in my heart in the searching of the scriptures, and in the ministry of The Lord Jesus it became obvious, it became obvious that we are NOT "The Christ" anyway; that our relationship is TO Christ, being IN Christ, but that we are NOT "The Christ." But in searching the theme of "The Truth", in bringing all things to be found in the light of The Truth; that is bringing all things to be understood in their relationship to Jesus Christ and Him crucified; to see all things in their proper relationship to Him in His death, His burial and His resurrection. And in doing that I got upon a study of THE PERSON OF THE TRUTH - The Truth personified, The Truth being a Person. I stayed on that study, and then I began to identify The Person. The Person is Christ - yes; but The Person is CHRIST CRUCIFIED, Christ in relationship to The Cross because that’s where He is in relationship to you and I - by The Cross. That’s where we come into relationship with Him - by The Cross.

But the first part of that search was just determining by the scripture, by The Spirit, that The Truth as taught in the scripture is in fact, a Person. That everything that is testified in the Old Covenant, and everything that exists in the New Covenant exists either as a testimony of a Person; or they exist by the very substance of that Person. They are either a testimony of Him, or the substance of Him. He is the substance of those things. The Old Covenant is a testimony of Him; He is the very substance of the New Covenant. Take away The Person... and where’s your Covenant? Because our Covenant is not with a stone, our Covenant is not with a Law, our Covenant is not engraved in a stone, written on a parchment. Our Covenant is with a Person, in a Person, as The Body of That Person. The Covenant we have with Him is a Covenant of The Head and The Body. It is a Covenant of union, a Covenant of Oneness; for The Head is One with His Body, and His Body is One with Him - in Spirit, in Truth, in Anointing - in Covenant.

So in this search of The Truth, you finally come to realize that The Truth is not indeed a principle, The Truth is not summed up in a Law or in a thing, but The Truth comes to be a Person - The Truth in The Person of The Lord Jesus! We meet The Truth in The Person of The Lord Jesus. "For God...hath commanded the light to shine in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of JESUS CHRIST." So you put a face on The Truth! The Truth is a Person.

And in searching that The Truth is a Person, I began looking at that Person as he is presented in the scripture. And The Person of Truth presented in the scripture is JESUS CHRIST THE LORD - said just that way: Jesus Christ The Lord. It never changes. So I did a scripture search on my computer. I typed in "Jesus Christ" just that way, and hit the button. And sixteen pages later my printer stopped! And I remembered the brother who said: in the gospels it’s "Jesus Christ" and in the epistles it’s "Christ Jesus". Well now, out of sixteen pages of references on the term "Jesus Christ" I wondered how many of these references of Jesus Christ is actually in the gospels, so I counted them. And this is phenomenal! One-two-three-four-five - FIVE! And the rest of the references - Jesus Christ The Lord; the rest of the references are in the epistles! Yes, there are in the epistles references to just "Christ", but it’s a reference of RELATIONSHIP. Bible scholars are quick to tell you that! And on a few occasions it is said "Christ Jesus", but again, if you look at it in its setting, the writer puts it that way because it is with emphasis of relationship. It has nothing to do with title of His divinity. It is a matter of relationship. But the One with Whom we have a relationship is JESUS CHRIST THE LORD!

God hasn’t switched Sons on us in the middle of this thing! The Same Son Who gave His Life is The Same Son that was raised up in Eternal Life! The Same Son that died is The Same Son that now lives in you! THE SAME JESUS! Shame on us for taking what the scripture teaches as a relationship and making a title out of it for ourselves! And it is my opinion that this kind of ignorance needs to be exposed every time it is found - not fought with or argued with - just exposed, because it eats like a cancer at the soul and the understanding of more believers than I could count. I’m telling you The Truth; it’s pitiful because it gives you a false identity. The human nature is always looking for exaltation in religious realms anyway; and that gives you such a very false sense of exaltation - ‘YOU are The Christ.’ NO - you are NOT!! But oh my - what a relationship we have with Him! What a Life we have in Him! What a purpose, what a generation He has brought forth through His death, His burial and His resurrection!

Now I want to show you something in Matthew 1:1. "The book of THE GENERATION OF JESUS CHRIST, the son of David, the son of Abraham." When I read that it just lit up in my soul! The book of THE GENERATION OF JESUS CHRIST! Yes, both forward and backward - this book is about The Man, The Person - our relationship to HIM! I can not emphasize too strongly - ALL THINGS - all things in the universe are understood, comprehended as to substance and purpose, as to their very existence ONLY as they are seen in relationship to Him. That little statement just flooded my soul! "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ..." And what I saw was: yes, it’s His generation this way, and it is His generation that way (before and after The Cross). He is the end of the one - fulfillment. And by that end, by that death, burial and resurrection, He is the beginning and The Eternal Life of the other. Yes, this is the book; because the book is about no other. It isn’t about a bunch of men here, and a bunch of men here; it’s not about a bunch of men here, and One Man here. No, it’s about one man before The Cross, and one man after The Cross. It’s about one generation before The Cross, and one generation after The Cross. It is about Him fulfilling in Himself an old generation, a generation that was purposed for testimony, that was purposed for type and for shadow and figure of One to come. It is about Him concluding and bringing to its absolute fulfillment the purpose and the fulness of that generation. And it is about Him having done that; it is about Him bringing forth in Himself - not out of flesh, but now by Spirit, an altogether NEW generation in which everything said about the old, is perfectly and totally fulfilled!

It is the book of the generation of Jesus Christ - it is just that. And then I began to notice the order of the scripture, and it’s just beautiful; the order of the scripture as designated by the name "Jesus". Now I know that the books were not put together in chronological order, but I don’t really care about that. But however God arranged for this to be done, it certainly wasn’t through the stupidity of man. During the Dark Ages it was almost all lost! It’s only the grace of God that a copy was hidden somewhere. We think we’ve had the world flooded with Bibles forever. No - it’s only by God’s grace that there’s one copy left, or any fragment of it. However the Lord did this, and its present arrangement we have, we need to see something here. The book of the generation of Jesus Christ - and I’m just going to read the references as they come up. Matthew 1:1, 18; Mark 1:1, John 1:17: these are the references as they come up according to the name - Jesus Christ.

"The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise..." "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God." "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." John 17:3, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." It sounds like a sermon outline! This is how the scripture is ordered by the name: JESUS CHRIST. I’m not making a doctrine out of this, but it’s amazing. And here’s something else that’s amazing in Matthew 1:1, the first reference. See, the Lord had shown me that this was the book of the generation of ONE. There are two generations here: but they are both the generations of One. One He finished - brought to an end. The other is ever and ongoing and eternal. He is the beginning of The New, and the end of the New. I saw that: I hold in my hand the book of the generation of Jesus Christ!

It’s all about HIM! God’s whole plan and purpose is about Him. Listen to my statement again, and I cannot emphasize this too strongly. All things in the universe are understood, comprehended as to substance and purpose, as to their very existence, only as they are seen in relation to Him! SALVATION IS ALL ABOUT OUR RELATIONSHIP TO HIM. We are not something in addition to Him: we are part of the generation of Jesus Christ. We are produced by Him! We didn’t just happen. Mankind as Adam didn’t just happen: Adam was part of the generation of Jesus Christ - the generation that He finished, the generation that He ended, the generation that He brought to death. He did that so that out of that death He may bring forth the answer to that generation - an altogether other, an altogether New. "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it dies..." And He was the seed of that first generation - The Seed spoken of, The Seed prophesied of, The Seed. He brought it to its completion! He is the reason that the first can find Salvation, can be saved, can be redeemed and made New. He is the hope of the first generation, and He is the substance of The New One.

If you are of the first generation - He is your hope! For IN HIM you can find Life. By death, burial and resurrection you can be a New generation. He stands in the center: this is the book of ONE generation! It’s either the generation of the flesh, which is His flesh; or the generation of the Spirit, which is His Spirit. He brings one to an end, and only He could do it! And He gives birth to the other, and only He could do it! Whether we exist in the flesh or in The Spirit - we exist by Him! That’s the reason people say ‘we’re all God’s children’. No, you’re not God’s children unless you are born of God’s Seed; but you EXIST because of Him. There is a creation that is OF Him, BY Him, and FOR Him; and there is a creation that is IN HIM. I’m just trying to show you something. We think that there are multitudes and multitudes and multitudes of generations, but there are not! There are just two. There’s one that He answers in His flesh. It had started out as a testimony of Him, but had been made corrupt through the flesh, had been dealt with of God, kept of God, ministered of God, destroyed of God except for eight. Look at what He did to that generation. Why? To keep a testimony of it, to keep a remnant in it. Why? Because of THE ONE that would come! Why? Because the whole of it was the generation of ONE!

You’ll look in these lists of these generations here in Matthew, Luke and John, and there are different ways they go back, but I’m just trying to show you it is the GENERATION OF ONE. The One gathering many into Himself, but He gathered many into Himself that He might bring that generation to its end. "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto Me." Yes - one died - all died with Him. Yes - the generation He brings forth is NOT the generation of many; but it is the generation of ONE IN MANY, and the many who are by Him made One. It’s the generation of Life. There are only two generations that God deals with: both of them are of Christ. We need to see this, and the reason I emphasize this is that there is another spiritual movement out there that sees part of this, but they fail to see that the one completely and totally ends - stops, and is brought to death! And that the other is altogether and totally - New! They seem to think that the one somehow or other becomes new; that the old is just made new. And that the work that Jesus did on The Cross is just so that the old could somehow automatically be seen as New. But that’s NOT what the scripture teaches.

There is a generation that is fulfilled in His death; there is a generation that is brought forth in His resurrection. The one speaks of the other: the first speaks of the second, and the second fulfills all that was intended of the first. It is the generation of Jesus Christ. I want to show you something here. Matthew 1:1, "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." Then the last verse of your Bible, Revelation 22:21, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." My God, that’s just like two book ends! The book of the generation of Jesus Christ - now the grace of Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Isn’t that wonderful! Just the arrangement of that thrilled my soul!

Let me just give you this verse: Matthew 24:34 and 35. Jesus is speaking of this first generation. This generation has been summed up in Israel under the Old Covenant, in the Old Covenant Jews. And they had come to represent that generation. Of course they had come to represent God’s dealings with all mankind, because they were set in the midst of the nations - of all nations, for a representation, a witness. " Verily I say unto you, THIS GENERATION shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Now this is one of the strongest statements in the Bible showing the old heaven and the old earth, and that generation DID PASS with The Cross. It did pass with The Cross, because had it not passed, then none of the things that have just been mentioned could possibly have been fulfilled, which means we would all be without full Salvation. But I just want you to see here that there is a reference made by The Lord to this generation that we are talking about: the generation of the flesh, the generation of HIS flesh, the generation that starts out in one place with Adam, but is summed up finally through the generation of Israel and right up to the Lord Jesus. It is this first generation that will not pass til all these things be fulfilled. And if that generation is not passed, then there can not possibly be a New one. And to that the scripture is explicitly clear!

In Matthew, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, He is the son of David, because through this listing of the generation, it starts with "Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham..." and then verse 17 says, " So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations." That’s tremendous because the Bible says 40 years is a generation. And according to the decree of Cyrus up to the day that Jesus was crucified, that last Sabbath at the time of the evening oblation, you’ll find that fourteen generations, according to the numerical number for generations, brings it to that very time! I just mention that because there’s a reason for it. Someone will say there’s nothing in the Bible that really tells you that. Yes there is! There’s a listing right here of three sets of fourteen generations. Jesus is the END of the fourteenth generations, and His crucifixion brings the seventieth week of Daniel to its end. If you’re still looking for a last week - IT’S FOUND IN CHRIST! It’s accomplished IN CHRIST! It was accomplished on that day of crucifixion at the hour of the evening sacrifice, which coincides with the same time of day - exactly fourteen generations later, at the same time of the day that the Lord by His Spirit appeared to Daniel and told him about! But there you have it: the end of the generation.

So many things are brought into this. To Matthew He’s the son of David. Why? Because His is The Kingdom and The Throne. In Luke 3 His generation is listed again. Verse 23, "And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli, Which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, which was the son of Melchi..." and it works its way all the way back to "the son of Adam, which was of God." (Verse 38.) So in Luke He is the son of man, showing He is the end of the generation of Adam: not only the end of the generation of David fulfilling in Himself the Eternal King and Kingdom, but He is the end of the generation of Adam. I’m telling you: HE’S THE END OF THE FIRST GENERATION - He fulfils it! There’s no way to get around this. We may not understand what it means, but there’s no way to get around it.

And then in John’s gospel Chapter 1:1-5, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." Verses 9-12, "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name."

Verse 18, "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." John 1:1 - He is The Son of God, The Son of God which is from the beginning, The Son of God which is made manifest in the earth.

So He is the end of the generation of Israel, the end of the generation of David, the end of the generation of Adam. And He is the manifestation in the flesh of that which God has sent. He comes and makes manifest, He comes to sum this all up in the flesh. So we have listed in these three books the generation of Jesus Christ, The Son of God. Now the scripture says in 2 Corinthians 5:17. "If any man be..." He has his being only IN CHRIST. The way that verse reads is "If any man be in Christ he’s a new creation." But the way the sentence is constructed in the original text is just this: "If any man BE, he has his being ONLY in Christ" - ONLY IN CHRIST! And then Colossians 3:1-11, and particularly verses 1 and 4, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." Then shall we appear AS ONE WITH HIM - in glory.

And my point here, if we followed out on this is that as the end of one generation, He is the beginning of the New. And my point is to gather our attention in upon God’s centerpiece, God’s Son, God’s Word, God’s answer, God’s revelation of Himself. And to see that this book has never been about any other, and is not about any other. Here it is not about generations of mankind. No - it’s THE GENERATION OF JESUS CHRIST! And here it is not about doctrines and places and things. No - it’s about THE GENERATION OF JESUS CHRIST! And standing between the Old and the New Covenant is Jesus Christ, The Son of God in His death, His burial and His resurrection. He brings one whole generation into His death, and He brings another generation forth in His resurrection - Both - He can do this because BOTH are The Generation of Jesus Christ! And when we ever do get a hold of this, the first and second coming will automatically be answered. And it will no longer be an issue with you. The two generations of Jesus Christ - there is not a third one!

I’ll give you some verses now. It’s the Old Covenant prophecy and promise of a generation to come. Just the reading of them will show you Who that generation is, and in Whom that generation came - I promise you.

Psalm 78:4-8. "We will not hide them from their children, shewing to THE GENERATION TO COME the praises of the Lord, in his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children; That THE GENERATION TO COME might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children; That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; A GENERATION that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God." These are dark things that have been hidden. They will be shown to the generation to come, of whom Paul said, "God HATH made manifest this mystery to His saints, who are in Christ. Jesus."

Psalm 102:13-18, " Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof. So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory. When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer. This shall be written for THE GENERATION TO COME; and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord."

Psalm 22:30, " A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord FOR A GENERATION." "Except a corn of wheat fall in the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it dies it bring forth much fruit." The Generation of The Seed. "Unto Thy Seed, which IS CHRIST, it shall be accounted unto Him for a GENERATION." My Lord, you are either in the generation of His death, or you’re in the generation of His Life! There isn’t any other generation to be part of!

Isaiah 53:1-8, You know this is a picture of Him on The Cross. " Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness: and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare HIS GENERATION? For he was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of my people was he stricken." WHO SHALL DECLARE HIS GENERATION?

This whole book is bound up in Jesus Christ The Lord! It’s not about things, people or places - except as they relate to Him: either as a testimony of Him, or as existing by Him. Blessed be The Lamb of The Living God!