Jerusalem, city of God - 25 September 2024

The thing about Jerusalem is this: God had specifically designated it as significant – a place to put his name no less. Moreover, the Prince of Peace was killed, buried and rose from the dead in Jerusalem. Jesus ascended to heaven from the Mount of Olives and his Second Coming will see him return to that exact spot.

David Pawson’s Unlocking the Bible reiterates: “Meanwhile, King David of Israel had established Jerusalem as his capital. … It was, however, the ‘city of God’, the place where he put his name and chose to live among his people … later in the temple Solomon built.”

The church age, too, had its roots in Jerusalem. Undoubtedly, the city’s significance is second to none. In Finding Messiah, Jennifer M Rosner writes the following: “These founders of Christianity worshiped in the Jerusalem temple, lived in booths during the holiday of Sukkot, and upheld the statutes of the Torah. They were wholly committed to the Jewish faith, and this context influenced how the apostles understood who Jesus was and what following him entailed. “

Furthermore, she wrote this about Israel in particular: “It struck me powerfully that this place was the only place on earth that God ever beheld through human eyes and strode with human feet.”

This incredible city also features heavily in God’s future plans before peace (shalom) is, ultimately, restored. Unsurprisingly, Jerusalem unequivocally continues to inspire the hearts of men and women – and no wonder – no other city has been bestowed with quite such an honour.

Unwittingly perhaps, poet William Blake’s Jerusalem, now the rousing, alternative English anthem, taps into this deep longing of the human heart for all that the God-designated Jerusalem represents, “And did those feet in ancient time walk upon England’s mountains green: And was the holy Lamb of God, on England’s pleasant pastures seen! … I will not cease from mental fight, nor shall my sword sleep in my hand, till we have built Jerusalem In England’s green and pleasant Land.”

Interestingly, the sword as a motif reappears. Shalom, paradoxically, seems to be worth fighting for after all. And though Jerusalem has already played a pivotal role in human history, prophetically, it is posed to do so again.

Prayer: We pray for Jerusalem, the apple of God’s eye. May his peace reign in the hearts of people in the region even in tumultuous times. Amen