JERUSALEM
is "the city of the great King": it was Jesus who called
it so. When he came to it "lowly and riding upon an ass",
and was rejected by its leaders, he said: "Behold, your
house is left unto you desolate . . . Ye shall not see me henceforth,
TILL ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the
Lord" (Matt. 23:38-39). Shortly after he amplified this
by saying: "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles
UNTIL the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled ... THFN shall ye
see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory" (Luke
21:24-27).
No man with
any respect for the Lord Jesus Christ could speak slightingly
of Jerusalem. But further than that, no careful reader of his
words would think only of the city's historic past; Jesus looks
to its future, and links it with his own. He has not finished
with Jerusalem, and none who love him will disregard it.
In
all this Jesus was basing his own teaching on the words which
God "spake
in time past unto the fathers by the prophets". Their theme
had been: "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem : they shall
prosper that love thee". Let us see some of the beautiful
things they said about it.
1. Jerusalem
is the place which God chose to place His name there.
"Then
there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose
to cause his name to dwell there" (Deut. 12:11). "But
I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there" (2
Chron. 6:6).
2. Jerusalem
is the city of Christ.
"Thy
king cometh unto thee" is the language of prophecy
addressed to Jerusalem (see Zech. 9:9; Matt. 21:1-7). Because
Jerusalem was God's city, Jesus forbade his friends to swear
by it (see Matt. 5:35). If it was sacred to him, should
it not be so to those who profess to follow him?
3.
A day is coming when "the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together" (Isa. 40:5). Jerusalem
will be the centre from which it shines forth to "fill
the earth as the waters cover the sea" (Hab. 2:14).
"Out
of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord
from Jerusalem" (Isa. 2:3). "Arise, shine; for
thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon
thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and
gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon
thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles
shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of
thy rising" (Isa. 60:1-3). "Be ye glad and rejoice
for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem
a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in
Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping
shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying" (Isa.
65:18-19).
4. Jerusalem,
down-trodden and in affliction with her children, is divinely
assured of happier days.
"Speak
ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her
warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned:
for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all
her sins" (Isa. 40:2). "Awake, awake, stand up,
0 Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the
cup of his fury . . ." "Awake, awake; put on thy
strength, 0 Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem,
the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into
thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself from
the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself
from the bands of thy neck, 0 captive daughter of Zion" (Isa.
51:17; 52:1-2).
5. If you
are to have any part in the salvation God has promised,
it will be as a lover of Jerusalem, and in connection with
her restored glory in the Holy Land.
"Rejoice
ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love
her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her:
that ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her
consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with
the abundance of her glory. For thus saith the Lord, Behold
I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of
the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck,
ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her
knees. As one whom his mother cormforteth, so will I comfort
you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. And when ye
see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall
flourish like an herb: and the hand of the Lord shall be
known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his
enemies" (Isa. 66:10-14).
6. At that
time, the throne of Jehovah [Yahweh] shall be established
in Jerusalem.
"At
that time, they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord" (Jer.
3:17). "The Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion
and in Jerusalem" (Isa. 24 :23).
7. The
divine glory will therefore be established in Jerusalem
for ever.
"The
name of the city from that day shall be, THE LORD IS THERE". "Thine
eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle
that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof
shall ever be removed" (Isa. 33:20).\
Should it
not be clear from all this that no man can truly hope for God's
salvation who is not a lover of Jerusalem?
NEXT:
14. The Return of Israel
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