"Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek your good."
Psalms 122:9 (NKJV)
Once again, the eyes of the entire world are on Israel and much of the attention has been quite critical of Israel's war tactics and strategy.
As people living in the end times, it is critically important that we understand the spiritual roots of what we are seeing. We must also understand the heart and mind of God above al the noise. What is He saying?
One thing I hear the Lord saying is believers far and wide need to pray with undying support for peace in Jerusalem.
For God, There Is No Place Like Jerusalem
Jerusalem is where the Lord chose for all of us to seek Him. It is the house of God. Jerusalem is where He chose to place His temple. And Jerusalem is where our Father’s house will be again and into eternity.
Israel is where we will all come to meet Him.
“He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And [I will write on him] My new name."
Revelation 3:12 (NKJV)
In the New Jerusalem, we will behold Him and receive great healing and freedom and precious answers to our questions about judgment and suffering.
It is the place where all things will be made right. We will dwell there with the Lord. Our life journey is leading us all to Jerusalem. Our heavenly home.
The earthly Jerusalem is a prophetic picture of the heavenly Jerusalem. Just as the earthly temple was a prophetic picture of the house of God, His throne and dwelling place.
God chose Jerusalem to literally express His invitation to us to eat at His table. The disciples ate with Jesus in Jerusalem for the last supper.
Jesus’ heart beat for Jerusalem. He was compelled by the Holy Spirit to go to Jerusalem. He had to die there. He had to be resurrected there.
In short, there is a divine passion the Lord holds for Jerusalem.
Spiritual Opposition To Peace
There is a special hatred the enemy holds for Israel. Remember, Satan is raging against God’s Kingdom. And the seat of the Kingdom is Jerusalem.
“And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
Luke 21:24 (NKJV)
This is our onus for prayer. The enemy is directly opposed to the return of the Lord Jesus and the revelation of our heavenly home. Yet, we have been given authority to pray the Lord's will into the earth as His ambassadors.
This is the essence of intercession. We have been given the priestly ministry of our elder brother Jesus, in order to stand before God and plead for grace and mercy through the atoning blood of Jesus.
As His Body, we have been given the ministry of reconciliation and restoration. The Church is His legislative Body in prayer in the earth realm. If we don't pray, things don't change!
Jerusalem Is The Father's Gathering Place For All Nations
We pray for Jerusalem because the Lord prays for Jerusalem. He desires to see His home restored.
All of human history is pressing toward Jerusalem. It’s the direction toward which Daniel prayed, illustrating the Lord’s heart.
Jerusalem is God’s gathering place.
"Now it shall come to pass in the latter days [That] the mountain of the LORD’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it.
Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem."
Isaiah 2:2-3 (NKJV)
David’s tabernacle was a prophetic sign of Jerusalem’s prominence to the Lord. He had not yet built a temple. The original tabernacle was gone.
But David set up unrivaled worship in a tabernacle he built for the Lord to come and rest.
And He placed it in Jerusalem. Here, David was illustrating the heart of God's Son Jesus, presenting His Father with the ultimate gift, a place where all His people can come and be with Him.
David’s tabernacle expressed the glorious worship of God by His people without restraint. This is God’s desire that we will dwell with Him in His house as one people.
So when we pray for Israel, we pray in view of God’s priority and passion for His chosen place of rest. We will one day see Him there and it’s only there that we will come to know who we really are.
Jerusalem is our home too.
"Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."
1 John 3:2 (NKJV)
In your heart is a passion for Jerusalem and Israel, because Jesus is in you. Pray from His heart’s desire to be home with you and all of his brothers and sisters.
“Blessed [are] those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down [to eat,] and will come and serve them."
Luke 12:37 (NKJV)
The one who watches for the Lord, watches Israel.
Let us watch and pray and welcome home the King of glory!
"He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.” Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!"
Revelation 22:20 (NKJV)
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