The name Jerusalem in Hebrew is Yerushalayim, which
means: I will see or provide the peace (Yireh + Shalom).
Those who have followed Jerusalem’s history can’t help but
notice the irony of the name because on this “City of Peace” what has really
prevailed is conflict and war. Jerusalem has been fought over by several
empires, and has been completely destroyed several times; however, it has
always risen up from the ashes and been rebuilt.
Will this City ever know peace? From a human perspective,
this seems difficult or even impossible; men have not been able to establish
peace in Jerusalem no matter how hard they try. However, for God nothing is
impossible (Luke 1:37; Mark 10:27; Jeremiah 32:17, 27). The reality is that the
Lord is the only one who can bring peace to Jerusalem.
(Isaiah 26:12) O LORD,
you will ordain peace for us, for you have indeed done for us all our works.
(1 Chronicles 23:25) For David said,
“The LORD, the God of Israel, has
given rest to his people, and he
dwells in Jerusalem forever.
(Jeremiah 33:6-9) Behold, I will
bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance
of prosperity and security. (7) I will restore the fortunes of Judah and
the fortunes of Israel, and rebuild them as they were at first. (8) I will
cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all
the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me. (9) And this
city shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the
nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them. They
shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the prosperity I provide
for it.
(Psalms 29:11) May
the LORD give strength to his people! May
the LORD bless his people with peace!
We will see peace in Yerushalayim
because God will provide it… through the Messiah:
(Ezekiel 37:24-28) “My servant David shall be king over them, and
they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to
obey my statutes. (25) They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant
Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children
shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince
forever. (26) I will make a covenant
of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I
will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. (27)
My dwelling place shall be with them, and I
will be their God, and they shall be my people. (28) Then the nations
will know that I am the LORD who
sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary
is in their midst forevermore.”
(Haggai 2:6-9) For thus says
the LORD of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the
heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. (7) And I will shake
all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will
fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts. (8) The
silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the LORD of
hosts. (9) The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the
former, says the LORD of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the LORD of
hosts.
PRAY FOR THE PEACE
Although we are expecting for the Messiah to come and bring
peace to the world, this does not mean that we have to just sit there, doing
nothing. Jeremiah, the prophet, tells us that the Lord is asking who will intercede
for the peace of Jerusalem…
(Jeremiah 15:5) Who will have
pity on you, O Jerusalem, or who will grieve for you? Who will turn aside to
ask about your welfare?
The psalmist also compels us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
(Psalms 122:6-9) Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! “May they be secure who love you! (7) Peace be
within your walls and security within your towers!” (8) For my brothers and
companions’ sake I will say, “Peace be within you!” (9) For the sake of the
house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good.
Some say: “why would we pray for the ‘peace of Jerusalem’
when it is obvious that there will never be peace there?” Although this
reasoning sounds logical to the human mind, it reveals a lack of knowledge of
God’s promises. Although man could never bring peace, for God nothing is
impossible. The Lord will bring peace to Jerusalem because He promised it.
(Micah 4:2-4) and many
nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may
walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the
LORD from Jerusalem. (3) He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide
for strong nations far away; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks; nation
shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore;
(4) but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the
mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.
(Isaiah 9:6-7) For to us a
child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his
shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
(7) Of the increase of his government
and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his
kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do
this.
When we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, by implication we
are praying for the coming of the Messiah, who will finally bring peace when he
establishes his throne on that city. The peace will not come through “peace
treaties” but when all the nations submit to the Lord’s authority. Peace comes
by doing the will of God…
(Isaiah 48:17-22) Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches
you to profit, who leads you in
the way you should go. (18) Oh that you
had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a
river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea; (19) your
offspring would have been like the sand, and your descendants like its grains;
their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me.” (20) Go out
from Babylon, flee from Chaldea, declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it,
send it out to the end of the earth; say, “The LORD has redeemed his servant
Jacob!” (21) They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made
water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and the water gushed out.
(22) “There is no peace,” says the LORD,
“for the wicked.”
LET’S PRAY…
Today we come before
you and we call upon your Name because we know that you hear us when we pray to
You. We will seek you and we will find you because we have searched for you
with all our hearts. Today we come together to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
May you have peace within your walls, and rest within your palaces. For the
love of my brothers and my partners I say: Peace be with you. For the love of
the house of Jehovah our God, I will seek for the good of Jerusalem. We join
ourselves to Your Will, Lord.
Although our eyes
cannot see it today, we believe that you will bring peace to Jerusalem, and the
entire world. We will not get carried away by the news nor will we allow the
circumstances to take the peace from within us, because we know that your
thoughts are of peace and well being, and not of evil. We believe, Lord, that
You will do what you have promised and bring peace to Israel. Yehovah, You are
God, and there is no other like You. Amen.
(Psalms 122; Isaiah 45:5-7; Jeremiah 29:11-14)
More articles on the
Promised Land, in the page: Israel
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