Jerusalem
the Place God Chose
.
As
believers when we think of the LORD our King and the fact that He chose
Jerusalem as His habitation, perhaps we can begin to understand the incredible
drawing power of the city of Jerusalem, the city of the Great King. Some come
because of a desire to get closer to God. They bring prayers written on little
of pieces of paper and put them in the cracks of the Western Wall. They seek
the face of God in this place. When King Solomon dedicated the Temple to God he
prayed many wonderful blessings. God said He put His name there and today He
still meets with His people in this holy place. When you are in Jerusalem make
sure you pray at the Western Wall and claim the promises in King Solomon’s
prayer. Those who are spiritually sensitive feel a spiritual warfare over the
city of Jerusalem.
by: Rev. Rebecca J. Brimmer, International President and
CEO
Jerusalem!
The very name evokes
an emotional response.
Teddy
Kollek, mayor of Jerusalem for nearly three decades, once said, “Everybody
has two cities, his own and Jerusalem.”
No one is indifferent
to Jerusalem — one loves her, hates her, or is fascinated by her.
No matter where I
travel, I meet people who ask what it is like to live in Jerusalem. They are
drawn to a place so often talked about in the Scriptures and in their
newspaper.
Jerusalem is found
881 times in the Bible.
Even people who have
never walked her streets call Jerusalem the Holy City, situated in the midst of
the Holy Land!
Truly, there is no
other place like Jerusalem and it is a privilege to live here.
My father brought
many tourists to Israel and the highlight of every trip was Jerusalem. As the
bus would climb up to the city, my father would lead the group in singing a
song about Zion.
My husband is a
licensed tour guide and he often recounts the impressions of tourists to
Jerusalem and to the Western Wall.
Jewish people are
drawn to the Western Wall, the retaining wall of the Temple mount. They often
weep as they pray in this holy place.
Similarly, Christians
are amazed as they feel the presence of God here.
One of my Bible
college classmates was recently in Israel for a tour. He wrote on his Facebook
page that he wept at the Western Wall. This is not unusual.
I believe Jerusalem
brings forth these responses because God chose this spot on the globe as His
special habitation. This is written in many Scripture passages.
“For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired
it for His dwelling place” (Psalm
132:13).
The
prophet Joel says, “So you shall know that I am the LORD your God, dwelling
in Zion My holy mountain. Then Jerusalem shall be holy…” (Joel 3:17).
“For
now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever;
and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually” (2 Chronicles 7:16).
Jerusalem is God’s
city, His holy mountain!
He chose it for His
earthly dwelling place. All those who love Him are drawn to His home. Those who
conspire against Him, also conspire against this place.
God said He would put
His name here forever. In this age of computers and satellite imagery, we have
learned that God put a part of His signature in the hills around Jerusalem.
The Hebrew letter shin
(ש) is an abbreviation
for the name El Shaddai. Looking from above the letter shin appears — formed by
the Kidron, the Hinnom and the Tyropoeon valleys.
God has literally
fulfilled His word!
Jerusalem, the City
of the Great King
“Great
is the LORD and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in His holy
mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion on
the sides of the north, the city of the great King” (Psalm 48:1–2).
The phrase “city
of the great king,” is also found in Matthew.
Yeshua
(Jesus) emphasized its holiness when forbidding oaths saying, “But I say to
you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven for it is God’s throne; nor by the
earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the
great King” (Matthew
5:34–35).
Who is the psalmist
referring to when referencing the “Great King?”
Some might say King
David, but I believe he is referring to God Himself.
God Is King
“Oh,
clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of triumph! For
the LORD Most High is awesome; He is a great King over all the earth” (Psalm 47:1–2).
The psalmist is
emphatic — God is a great King over all the earth. The word translated “peoples”
in verse one can also mean nations.
This idea is
emphasized in the next verse when it says God is the Great King over all the
earth.
The word LORD is the tetragrammaton
(yud-he-vav-he/YHVH). This is the personal name of God.
Whenever you see the
word LORD in all capital letters, it is this particular name.
The Jewish people say
it is the ineffable name of God and in reverence do not pronounce it but rather
substitute LORD (Adonai) or “the name” (HaShem).
Christians have
attempted to pronounce it and two such attempts are Yahweh and Jehovah.
I am pretty sure that neither pronunciation is correct and prefer to use the initials or LORD. This personal name of God appears 6,519 times in the Tanakh (Genesis–Malachi)!
The
prophet, Isaiah, also affirms the Kingship of the LORD with a promise — He will
save us; “For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our Lawgiver, the LORD is
our King; He will save us” (Isaiah 33:22).
Many other Scriptures
show the idea that God is King and that He reigns.
He sits on a throne (Psalm 103:19, Ezekiel
1:26–28);
a heavenly host surround Him and serve Him (1 Kings 22:19). He appoints rulers
on the earth (Daniel
2:37);
He overcomes natural disasters (Psalm
29:10, 93:1–4).
His reign is described with words like power and glory (Psalm 145:11–13).
He acts with justice,
holiness and righteousness.
“The LORD reigns; let the peoples tremble! He
dwells between the cherubim; let the earth be moved! The LORD is great in Zion,
and He is high above all the peoples. Let them praise Your great and awesome
name — He is holy. The King’s strength also loves justice; You have established
equity; You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt the LORD
our God, and worship at His footstool — He is holy… Exalt the LORD our God and
worship at His holy hill; For the LORD our God is holy” (Psalm 99:1–5, 9).
In the passage from
Psalm 99, we have allusions to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
We read “He dwells
between the cherubim” which were located in the Holy of Holies as part of
the Ark of the Covenant.
This phrase is found
in five other places (1
Samuel 4:4, 2 Samuel 6:2, 2 Kings 19:15, 1 Chronicles 13:6, Isaiah 37:16).
We are told to
worship at His holy hill — a reference to the Temple Mount.
In Jewish thought the
Temple Mount is holy in part because it is seen as the place from which God’s
holiness emanates.
In the
Art Scroll Jewish commentary on the Psalms we read, “The Psalmist proves
that the Tabernacle and the Temple are actually the sources whence holiness
emanates throughout the world… The place where our God’s holy presence dwells
is awesome and holy as Leviticus 19:30 teaches.”
Maybe this is why so
many are moved to tears at the Western Wall. I have heard it said jokingly that
heaven is a local call from Jerusalem.
In the
Midrash (ancient Jewish commentary) it says, “If one prays in Jerusalem it
is as if one were praying before the Throne of Glory, for the very gate of
heaven is located there, as it is said [Genesis 28:17]: ‘that is the gateway
to heaven.’”
A
Jewish person’s day is punctuated with many blessings which begin with the
phrase, “Blessed are you O Lord our God, King of the universe who has
commanded us to …”
At Rosh HaShanah (the
Jewish New Year/the biblical Feast of Trumpets), there is a major theme of the
Kingship of God.
Simon
Jacobson says, “On Rosh HaShanah we accept upon ourselves G-d as the one and
only absolute authority who rules over every aspect of our lives and we submit
to His judgment which we believe will be merciful because our King is also our
Father.”
Part of
the Kingship (Malchiyot — a section of the central Rosh HaShanah prayer) reads
like this, “And thou, O Lord, shalt reign, thou alone, over all thy works on
Mount Zion [location of Temple], the dwelling-place of thy glory, and in
Jerusalem, thy holy city; as it is written in thy holy words, The Lord shall
reign forever, thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the Lord.”
Messianic Expectation
Both Jewish and
Christian biblical scholars see many of these kingship Scriptures in light of
the Messianic age to come.
According
to I. H. Marshall in his article in the Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia, “The
center of Jewish theological interest, however, lay not so much in the idea
that God was now king, as in the expectation of His future activity, in setting
up His rule visibly and powerfully among men. Within the gospels there is ample
proof of the mood of expectation which filled the people quite apart from any
stimulus to their enthusiasm supplied by Jesus [Yeshua] Himself.”
The expectation is
seen today in the daily prayers, in the Rosh HaShanah service, and in the
Kaddish, the prayer for mourners in Judaism.
The
first two sentences of the Kaddish are, “Glorified and sanctified be God’s
great name throughout the world which He has created according to His will. May
He establish His kingdom in your lifetime and during your days, and within the
life of the entire House of Israel, speedily and soon; and say, Amen.”
As Christians we are
eagerly waiting for the day when Yeshua will come for the second time and usher
in the Messianic Age.
Our Jewish friends
are waiting for the first coming of Messiah and the ushering in of the
Messianic Age.
Many have
communicated to me that when Messiah comes we shall have to ask if this is the
first visit or the second.
Even though we have
significant differences, we can agree that when the Messiah comes, we will all
rejoice with the hosts of heaven.
In both Christian and
Jewish thought there is a concept of an earthly natural Jerusalem and a
heavenly Jerusalem.
My mother has a
beautiful painting which depicts the concept of a heavenly Jerusalem coming
down from above over a natural Jerusalem.
In the
book of Revelation, there is a description of the New Jerusalem: “Then, I,
John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from
heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell
with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be
their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no
more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former
things have passed away.’
“And
he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me
the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having
the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper
stone, clear as crystal. Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates,
and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names
of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. Now the wall of the city had
twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the
Lamb.”
(Revelation
21:2–4, 10–12, 13)
Jerusalem, the holy
city, the royal city of God, will be significant forever.
Royalty
There are a number of
royal families in the world today though in this era many of them are mostly
symbolic with the power vested in prime ministers, presidents and parliaments.
Still, when you visit
their kingdom, you will find amazing royal dwelling places. Tourists visit
their palaces in throngs.
If you should happen
to see one of the royal family members, it is a lifetime memory. When a member
of royalty marries, the world watches the pomp and circumstance that surround
such nuptials.
Their palaces are
well-protected, often with high walls and even moats around them. Specialized
troops ensure their safety.
People are drawn to these symbols of power, grandeur and authority. Some are drawn for good reasons and historically others desired to overthrow these kingdoms.
As believers when we
think of the LORD our King and the fact that He chose Jerusalem as His
habitation, perhaps we can begin to understand the incredible drawing power of
the city of Jerusalem, the city of the Great King.
Some come because of
a desire to get closer to God. They bring prayers written on little of pieces
of paper and put them in the cracks of the Western Wall. They seek the face of
God in this place.
When King Solomon
dedicated the Temple to God he prayed many wonderful blessings.
One of
them is especially significant to me. “Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who
is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for Your name’s
sake (for they will hear of Your great name and Your strong hand and Your
outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this temple, hear in heaven
Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to
You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your
people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which I have built is
called by Your name” (1
Kings 8:41–43).
The first time my
husband visited the Western Wall in 1979 he was almost overcome by the presence
of God.
God said He put His
name there and today He still meets with His people in this holy place.
When you are in
Jerusalem make sure you pray at the Western Wall and claim the promises in King
Solomon’s prayer.
Others come to
Jerusalem with a different heart. They are opponents of the LORD.
Historically many
have sought to destroy this city that God claims. Others have tried to divide
it. There is a war over Jerusalem which is experienced in the natural realm.
According
to Wikipedia, “During its long history, Jerusalem has been attacked 52
times, captured and recaptured 44 times, besieged 23 times and destroyed
twice.”
Those who are
spiritually sensitive feel a spiritual warfare over the city of Jerusalem.
There are those in
both the natural and spiritual realms who would like to unseat our LORD, our
King. They have no desire to walk in His kingdom ways. They want to depose Him.
In this day and age,
when God has gathered the Jewish people from the four corners of the earth,
they are the ones standing guard over His holy city.
Time and again, the
LORD has granted them favor in battle.
Still, in the halls
of power around the world, including the United Nations, there are many
attempts to come against Israel and so derail the stated plans of the God of
Israel.
Reunited Jerusalem
Christians
everywhere pray for the peace of Jerusalem after they read the Scripture: “Pray
for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you” (Psalm 122:6).
Read
on! The psalm concludes, “For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will
now say, ‘Peace be within you.’ Because of the house of the LORD our God I will
seek your good” (Psalm
122:8–9).
The Hebrew Bible is
written without any vowels. Since Hebrew is a consonantal language, with each
word having a root of three (or four) consonants, some words in the Bible could
be translated in alternate ways.
Translators rely
largely on the context to determine which meaning is the right one.
In this passage a key
word is peace. The root is shin-lamed-mem (שלם).
This could be
translated shalom (peace) or it could be shilem
(wholeness or completeness).
Since 1967 the city
of Jerusalem has been whole, united. This year we are celebrating 50 years of
an undivided Jerusalem under the sovereignty of Israel.
During the 1948 war
for independence, the Jordanians occupied Jerusalem. It had never been part of
their territory and their occupation was only recognized by two countries.
During the 19 years
of Jordanian occupation, pilgrimage to holy sites was greatly restricted (to
both Jews and Christians), Jewish sites were desecrated and an ugly no-man’s
land scarred the landscape between east and west Jerusalem.
Miraculously in just
six days, the war ended and Israel had won. The territory seized by Jordan came
once again under Israel’s sovereign control as her paratroopers were the first
to reach the Western Wall.
General Uzi Narkiss
led the battle that liberated the Old City in 1967.
Later
he recounted, “Silently, I bowed my head. In the narrow space were
paratroopers, begrimed, fatigued, overburdened with weapons. And they wept… These
were tears of joy, of love, of passion, of an undreamed first reunion with the
ancient monument to devotion and to prayer. They clung to the stones, kissed
them — these rough, battle-weary paratroopers, their lips framing the Shema.”
The
Shema is the prayer which begins, “Hear O Israel, the LORD, your God is one”
(Deuteronomy
6:4).
After
Jerusalem was liberated, Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren addressed the soldiers
saying, “The dream of all the generations has been fulfilled before our
eyes. The city of God, the Temple site, the Temple Mount and the Western Wall —
symbol of the Jewish People’s Messianic Redemption — has been delivered this
day by you, heroes of the Israel Defense Forces.”
The world continues
to pressure Israel to divide the land and Jerusalem.
Prime
Minister Netanyahu responds, “Israel could not under any circumstances
negotiate over any aspect of Jerusalem, any more than Americans would negotiate
over Washington, Englishmen over London or Frenchmen over Paris. Israel is
prepared to offer the Arabs full and equal rights in Jerusalem — but no rights
over Jerusalem.”
I will stand with the Great King and proclaim that this is His city where He placed His name. Please join with us as we pray for the wholeness and the peace of Jerusalem.
Rev. Rebecca
J. Brimmer is the International President and CEO of Bridges for Peace. She
directs the worldwide organization with International Headquarters in Israel
and eight national offices. She is a spokesman on behalf of Bridges for Peace
in many venues, through the printed page, radio, television, public meetings,
and conferences. She is a published author and the Editor in Chief of
the Dispatch from Jerusalem. She is ordained with the International
Ministerial Fellowship. She has resided in Israel since 1990 with her husband
Tom.
https://www.bridgesforpeace.com/letter/jerusalem-place-god-chose/
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