Inner Sinai, Free Jerusalem
Galatians 4:25 - A Neville Goddard interpretation
Read Galatians 4 in context
Scripture Focus
Biblical Context
Hagar is identified with Mount Sinai in Arabia and linked to the Jerusalem that is now in bondage; both symbolize a mind bound by the old covenant of law. The passage suggests that bondage comes from identifying with this legal consciousness rather than with the higher freedom of spirit.
Neville's Inner Vision
Imagine that Sinai and the bondage it represents are inner states you have assumed rather than distant events. The letter of the law—the sense that you must do, prove, or earn—sets a mountain in your mind that you keep climbing for approval. When you wake to the fact that the I AM is your only true reality, that mountain dissolves. The present Jerusalem, tied to outward observance and fear of not measuring up, is the illusion of separation; it is not a city you go to, but a condition you choose when you forget your true nature. Hagar’s bondage, then, is your own sense of being less-than, of needing to perform to be valued. The liberating insight is that the I AM is the kingdom, and the kingdom is now. By assuming that you are already the free child of the promise—unbound by ritual, unbound by time—you revise the inner weather. You become aware that imagination, rightly claimed, creates the real you.
Practice This Now
Close your eyes and declare, 'I am the I AM; I am free now.' Feel the sense of bondage melt as you rest in the liberty of your inner Jerusalem.
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