27 Our new city will have more people than those who live in Jerusalem now. It will be just like Isaiah foretold about the people whom he expected would come back to Jerusalem from exile. He expected that they would be more numerous than those who were taken into exile. He wrote:
You who live in Jerusalem, you will rejoice! Now you have no children, like a barren woman who does not give birth to children! But some day you will shout joyfully, ◄without restraint/as loudly as you can►, even though now you are few in number, like a woman who cannot give birth to children, and you feel deserted. You will be very happy because you will have many children who will come to you. Those children will be more than the children any woman with a husband could have borne.
28 Now, my fellow believers, you have become children of God as a result of believing God’s promise to us, as Isaac was born as a result of Abraham believing what God promised to him [MET].
29 Also, long ago Abraham’s son Ishmael, the one who was conceived naturally, caused trouble for Abraham’s son Isaac, who was conceived supernaturally [MET]. Similarly, now those who think that we must obey the laws that God gave Moses in order that God will save us are causing trouble for those who are trusting Abraham’s descendant, Christ.