2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
To me Jerusalem is more than a city in modern-day Israel, it is a concept representing God’s covenant with us. Jerusalem is no ordinary city, because of its roots, its meaning to God, and its meaning to each of us in the eternal sense of things. At one of the most challenging and sad times in Israel’s history, the time when Israel had been divided into two separate kingdoms against God’s will due to disobedience and God allowed her enemies to take her into captivity, Jeremiah was prompted to make a most amazing prophecy. JER 31: 38-40, “’The time is coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when all of Jerusalem will be rebuilt as My city, from Hananel Tower west to the Corner Gate. And the boundary line will continue from there on the west to the hill of Gareb and around Goah. The entire valley, where the dead are buried and garbage is dumped, and all the fields above Kidron Brook as far as the Horse Gate to the east, will be sacred to Me. The city will never again be torn down or destroyed.” Anyone who understands the lay out of Jerusalem knows that it is a very hilly area. The old walled city is atop the highest point with the Temple Mount upon Mt. Moriah. To the east is a wadi called the Kidron Valley that separates Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives where the Garden of Gethsemane is. As one descends from the old “City of David” on the south side, another wadi can be reached called the Hinnom Valley. What mankind at one time made a garbage dump and places to bury the dead, God will reclaim when He sets up His Kingdom as part of the place He holds most dear.
Jerusalem is a tel, that means that many settlements have been built on the same ground over its history. A settlement would be built. It’s enemies would render it to ruins, and then a new settlement would be built on the same ground. We know this to be true not only from Biblical history, but also from archeological digs which have been done in the basements of some homes in Jerusalem and in other places around Israel. This calls to mind the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream which the prophet Daniel interpreted in DN 2. You’ll remember there was a giant statute made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and clay. A great stone broke loose without the help of human hands and crashed into the statue, breaking it into a zillion pieces which were carried away by the wind. Then the stone grew to be a mountain that covered the whole earth. [DN 2; 31-45]. Daniel interpreted this statue to represent human kingdoms, and that great stone to be God’s permanent Kingdom replacing all the temporary human ones and superior in every way to them. DN 4: 17, “This is the decision of the alert and watchful angels. So the, let all people everywhere know that the Supreme God has power over human kingdoms and that He can give them to anyone He chooses-even to the least important of men.” The point of this story is consistent with what God has said all along about Jerusalem at the time He establishes His Kingdom once and for all.
The very first mention in the Scriptures of Jerusalem come in an indirect way in GN 14: 18-20 when Abraham meets up with Melchizedek, a priest of the Most High God and the king of Salem. This is estimated to have happened around 1900 BC. This individual is not an ordinary Aaronic priest, but one who is of a higher priesthood. It is to this man that Abraham pays the first tithe after being blessed by him. We don’t hear about Melchizedek again until HE 7: 1-14, and then, we are told that the resurrected Christ is like Melchizedek and actually becomes our High Priest in the heavenly Holy of Holies, our Advocate and Intercessor [HE 7:15-8:2]. Salem was probably a tiny settlement on Mt. Moriah which grew and later became Jerusalem. We know that David took Jerusalem from the Jebusites who thought he couldn’t do it initially in 2 SAM 5: 5-7. That is why after 7 ½ years of rule over Judah from Hebron, David was to spend the next 33 years ruling from Jerusalem. It is also why the former fortress of Zion became known as “David’s City.” Since David’s reign is estimated to be from c. 1010-970 BC, that allows us to put a human time frame on these events.
Now, you may ask why I call Jerusalem the symbol of a God’s covenant with us. The reason for this is in His assertions in IS 31: 4, MT 5: 15-16, PS 2: 6, and PS 9: 10-11 that Jerusalem is God’s sacred “city on a hill” which He would always protect. The final revelation of just how important this is to each of us individually comes in REV 21: 1-22:5, which I hope you will read. The bottom line is that all believers who endure in their faith will be joint-heirs [RO 8: 17] to the Kingdom with Christ and will find permanent homes in the new Jerusalem [JN 14:2]. We will no longer be tent-dwellers on earth as we are now. That’s a pressing reason for obeying PS 122: 6, to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May those who love her always prosper.” We can rest on the knowledge that our loving Abba will keep His covenant promise to us that we will one day have a home there for eternity.
PRAYER: O Lord, there are many ways in which You express your covenant partnership with us. You have also given us many ways to demonstrate it to You. This relationship is a living and dynamic force in our lives, as it is in Yours. Your presence in our lives goes on every minute of them. If our hearts are open to You, You are only too willing to give us the guidance, wisdom, correction, healing, encouragement, instruction, compassion, patience, and love that we so badly need. That is one reason why You are the Living God, not just some man-made entity that is represented by idols. Your power and authority over the world is supreme and sovereign. That is why You can put action behind the words that You say to us. While we are imperfect, flawed by sin and the flesh, You are perfect and always righteous. You gave us Christ to be a model for us and the Law, so we could tell the difference between right and wrong. You also gave Christ’s life on the cross, so that we could be saved by repenting and coming to faith in Him. Then, You commanded the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, to convict us when we need correction for wrongful thought or action taken, and to encourage us when we are downtrodden from illness or spiritual warfare. One of Your covenant promises to us is a permanent home in which to dwell for eternity, and that is the new Jerusalem. This is the profile of a loving and awesome God Who keeps His promises. You deserve the same kind of love and promise-keeping from us. In humility we come before You to offer our adoration, worship, loyalty, diligence, glory, honor, trust, obedience, praise, and thanksgiving. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, I am led to write about conversation between God and man from the Scriptures that reveals just how God plans to keep His covenant promises. This is no simple academic exercise, but instead, reveals the living, dynamic interaction that has always gone on between God and believers throughout mankind’s history and still goes on today. Any understanding of this subject vital to every believer is truly the gift of a loving Abba Who wants nothing more than to see as many of His children as possible spend eternity in joy and fellowship with Him. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn