NOTES ON THE HOLY CITY: JERUSALEM AS GOD’S ABODE & CAPITOL OF THE UNIVERSE FOR ETERNITY – (WITH VIDEO)

SCRIPTURE. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May they prosper who love you [the Holy City]!” – PSALM 122:6, AMPC

1. FIRST THOUGHTS

JERUSALEM. One of the most ancient of Capitols in the world, in some competition with Damascus for that unique honor depending on which archeological authority you choose to believe. City of Mystery, among other things Home to the Three Great Religions of the world – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. And sadly, the historical Flashpoint of innumerable wars of conquest and defense for millennia.

In one of the most fascinating accounts of the Origins of Jerusalem we must travel some 4,000 years in time to a nearly prehistoric place referenced as “SALEM.” Here is one brief summary of that place and its central figure, an equally mysterious King named MELCHIZEDEK.

“Melchizedek [מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק, or, ‘King of Righteousness’]: In the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), was a figure of importance in Biblical Tradition because he was both King and Priest [of ‘El Elyon’], was connected with Jerusalem, and was revered by ABRAHAM, who paid a tithe to him. He appears as a person only in an interpolated vignette (Genesis 14:18-20) of the Story of Abraham rescuing his kidnapped nephew, Lot, by defeating a coalition of Mesopotamian kings under CHEDORLAOMER.” – Editors, Britannica, updated Mar. 25, 2024; edited

Yet this ancient personage remains shrouded in nearly preternatural Judeo-Christian Legend, though there was in fact an historical place and person by these designations. Still, still, The Question roars through the halls of history: ‘Who was this man?’

One of the most inviting introductions to that Question was presented by ALISTAIR BEGG in a Sermon devoted to addressing it, entitled: “The Mystery of Melchizedek: Part One” (Mar. 9, 1997; edited).

“The real burning question in coming to this section of Holy Scripture is, ‘Who is this mysterious figure called Melchizedek?’ Who is this man, this shadowy chap, who has been introduced in [Hebrews] 5:10, referred to once again in 6:20. And the answers that have been provided throughout the years are many and varied.

For example, if you read Commentaries, you will discover that there are those who say that Melchizedek was a personification of the third member of the Trinity—namely, the Holy Spirit. There are others who believe that he was a divine virtue, with dramatic powers greater even than the powers of Christ. We can certainly x that one out. Others have suggested that he was simply an angel. And others—and quite a number of others—have proclaimed the fact that Melchizedek was nothing other than a Preincarnate appearance of the Son of God.”

The reason I spent a little time with this ancient King was that it sets up the uniquely rich ‘Root System of Jerusalem’ before its official designation as the City of David a thousand years later around 1,000 BC.

MESSIAH’S LAMENT. Then the next thing that came to mind as I began to ponder this brief passage was the Cry of Jesus Himself over this important City, His City, that day so long ago:

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who murders the prophets and stones [to death] those [messengers] who are sent to her [by God]! How often I wanted to gather your children together [around Me], as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Listen carefully: ‘your house is being left to you desolate [completely abandoned by God and destitute of His protection]!’” – MATTHEW 23:37-38, AMP

As if in tragic Prophetic fulfillment of His Lamentation, the description of the City some 1,800 years later by MARK TWAIN in his classic, Innocents Abroad (1869) wrote this:

“Of all the lands there are for Dismal Scenery, I think Palestine must be the prince … Renowned Jerusalem itself, the stateliest name in history, has lost all its ancient grandeur, and is become a pauper village; the riches of Solomon are no longer there to compel the admiration of visiting Oriental queens; the wonderful temple which was the pride and the glory of Israel, is gone … Palestine is desolate and unlovely. And why should it be otherwise? … Palestine is no more of this work-day world. It is sacred to poetry and tradition — ‘It is Dream Land’” (Chapter 56; edited).

Note. These clearly Prophetic Sayings are in many ways an Insignia for the Last Times Church, beloved. (Selah). Yet Jerusalem in whatever iteration remains for all Divine Intents and Purposes the very CENTER OF THE WORLD.

And later in The Eschaton, the ‘New Jerusalem’ shall serve as the very Seat of Government for the entire Universe, the Abode of Almighty God!

TO WIT:

• “Thus says the Lord God, ‘This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the center of the nations, and countries are around her.’” – EZEKIEL 5:5, AMP

•  “At that time Jerusalem shall be called The Throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. No more shall they followthe dictates of their evil hearts.” – JEREMIAH 3:17, NKJV

• “Thus says the Lord, ‘I shall return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the [faithful] City of Truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.’” – ZECHARIAH 8:3, AMP

• “And he [the angel] showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, ‘but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it,’ and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.” – REVELATION 22:1-4, NKJV

DK. This then shall be the very Consummation of all the hopes and desires of both Jews and Christians in that Eschaton, when ‘both the Father and the Son’ shall rule from the New Jerusalem. And we shall literally, stupendously and eternally live with our Lord and see Him face to face!

Wait a minute! ‘BOTH the Father and the Son?’  “But the Throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; God himself will be there, His Tabernacle will be among men; the name of this City will be ‘Jehovah Shammah’ – The Lord is Here. The pure and spotless Lamb of God, the Son of the Blessed, will be here, whose presence will make it an happy state; these will both have their Throne, or Seat, here; they will sit on One Throne, being the One God over all, blessed forever. This City will be the City of the great King, where His royal glory and majesty will be most illustriously displayed, and which will greatly make for the felicity of this state, and secure it from the curse.” – JOHN GILL, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, 9 vols., 1746-1763; edited

But before that happens, we must move through a substantial portion of the ‘Birth Pangs of the End of the Age,’ beloved. And that is why I labor so hard to help get us ready for that Final Mission assigned to us.

II.  THE TEACHING

SCRIPTURE. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May they prosper who love you [the Holy City]!” – PSALM 122:6, AMPC

KEY TERM: “JERUSALEM.” ‘Yerushalaim’ or ‘Yerushalayim’ [יְרוּשָׁלַם]: “‘The foundation of peace;’ Capitol City of all Israel;in allusion to its two main hills [Mt. Olivet, Mt. Zion]; since at least the 10th century BC, Jerusalem has been the Holiest City, focus and Spiritual Center of the Jews; Jerusalem has long been embedded into Jewish religious consciousness and Jews have always studied and personalized the struggle by King David to capture Jerusalem and his desire to build the Holy Temple there, as described in the Book of Samuel and the Book of Psalms.”

QUOTATION. “Jerusalem is the House of the one God, the Capital of two peoples, the Temple of three religions and she is the only City to exist twice—in Heaven and on Earth: the peerless grace of the Terrestrial is as nothing to the glories of the Celestial.” ― DR. SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE, Jerusalem: The Biography, 2012; edited

COMMENTARY. “‘Pray for the peace of Jerusalem’ – The prosperity, the welfare of Jerusalem – for peace is everywhere the image of prosperity and happiness. Compare Psalm 51:18. This is the language which ‘those who were going up to the City’ – to the House of the Lord – addressed to each other, expressing the joyful feelings of their hearts at their own near approach to the City.

It breathes the desire that all would pray for the peace and prosperity of a City so dear to their own souls; where the worship of God was celebrated; ‘where God Himself dwelt;’ where justice was administered: A City of so much importance and so much influence in the land. To us now it inculcates the duty of praying for ‘The Church:’ Its peace; its unity; its prosperity; its increase; its influence on our country and on the world at large. It is a prayer that the Church may not be divided by schism or heresy; that its members may cherish for each other right feelings; that there may be no jealousies, no envyings, and no jars; that the different branches of the Church may regard and treat each other with kindness, with respect, and with mutual recognition; that prosperity may attend them all.”

– ALBERT BARNES, Notes on the Old and New Testament, 1834, 1884; edited

THE GAZA WAR. Loving Israel in the Spring of 2024 is a particularly thorny matter since the bloody attack upon innocent civilians last October 7, 2023, by Hamas Islamic terrorists from the northern Gaza Strip. An ongoing War that has thus far resulted in the deaths of 819 Israeli civilians, 668 Israeli service members, and 10,580 wounded. 253 Jewish citizens were taken captive with roughly 100 still held captive and 35 bodies of those killed.

The world media of course blames the Jews for the deaths of thousands of Palestinians, including many little children. This overlooks the Real Cause of the War’s horrors, the centuries of Muslim hatred of the Jewish people, and the heinous Gazan infrastructure by Hamas located beneath schools, hospitals and other places that use even children as chattel for military and political purposes.

After 20 years of intense study of Jewish Israel and Islamic history, I shall give Hamas no quarter here, none! They planned for the collateral deaths, and I am not for one moment fooled by their savage chicanery. This is not to diminish the heroic effort by Jews, Christians and independent groups working hard to get relief to the residents of Gaza caught in the brutal wake of their Islamic overlords.

PRAYING FOR PEACE. So yes, all we can do now and forever is to “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” That does not change as our Lord’s Royal Edict, ever, beloved. Not ever! Because all who do so in obedience to His Command shall indeed “prosper,”along with all Jews and Arabs who would enjoy such a peace.

The Hebrew word for PROSPER is ‘Shalah’ [שָׁלָה]: “To be tranquil, successful or secure; to be safe, quiet and at ease; [thereby happy and content in one’s circumstances].” It is perhaps the very pinnacle of human accomplishment when one can reach such comprehensive ‘Shalom.’

III. LAST THOUGHTS

Let us not for one moment overlook the fact that as we Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem, we are also hastening THE DAY OF THE LORD and all of its massive consequence for our ultimate ‘Transfer as immortal citizens to Immortals.’ Those who shall live and work in (and around) this Eternal City in ways that human speech falters in describing such stunning, Supernatural Life.

THE NEW JERUSALEM. In a superb article by Bible expositor DAVID LEVY writing for Israel My Glory (April-May 1999; edited), he describes this extraordinary Eternal City based on Revelation 21:9-22:5. He proposes FOUR CHARACTERISTICS of this New Jerusalem in some exquisite detail, only briefly presented here.

• A SANCTIFIED CITY. One of the seven angels approached John and said, “Come here, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife” (v. 9). The Bride, the Lamb’s Wife, is identified as “the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God” (v. 10). Why is the New Jerusalem called the Bride, the Wife of the Lamb? First, the City is beautifully adorned, as will be the Church, Christ’s Bride, at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (19:7). Second, the City will be spotless and pure, like Christ’s Church after it is glorified. The City is being compared to a bride in its beauty and intimate relationship to Christ, the Lamb of God. It should be understood that John is not saying that the Bride is the New Jerusalem, but it is being characterized as ‘the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife.’ The Bride figure cannot be limited to the individuals who will live in the City. It must also include the literal City with its physical characteristics (Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8–22, An Exegetical Commentary, 1995, p. 460).

• A SPACIOUS CITY. John described the various components of the City. He described its walls as “great and high” (v. 12). It is obvious that high walls will not be needed for defense because the City will have no enemies. The walls will be symbolic of God’s protection and security and the exclusion of all that is evil [v. 8]. The City will have 12 Gates, each one inscribed with the name of one of the Tribes of Israel (v. 12). The Text does not reveal the order in which the Tribes’ names will be placed on the Gates of the New Jerusalem, but it could correspond to the pattern presented in the Millennial Jerusalem (v. 13; cf. Ezekiel 48:31–34). An angel will be stationed at each Gate as an Honor Guard, stressing the security of both the City and God’s glory (v. 12). The City will have “twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” (v. 14). The mention of one of the twelve Apostles on each Foundation links the Church to a major role in the New Jerusalem. Although Israel and the Church are brought together in the New Jerusalem, they will have distinct identities in Eternity and should not be lumped into one group.

• A SPIRITUAL CITY. After describing the dimensions of the City, John detailed some of the City’s distinctives. He said, “And I saw no temple in it; for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple [sanctuary] of it” (v. 22). In Eternity, there will be no need for a Temple because God Himself will dwell in the midst of His people, who will have direct, immediate, and intimate communion with Him. The City will have no need of creative light from the sun or moon because “the glory of God did light it, and the Lamb is the lamp of it” (v. 23). God’s glorious presence in the City will illuminate every corner of the new Jerusalem; nothing will be hidden. Scripture does not say that the sun and moon will be absent in eternity, but that there will be no need for them. All the “nations … who are saved shall walk” in the physical and spiritual “light” (v. 24) of God’s glory. ‘The word ‘nations’ means ‘Gentiles’ and is used, not in a political sense, but referring to saved Gentiles living in the Eternal State who are not part of Israel or the Church. At that time, “the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into” the New Jerusalem (v. 24). Those holding positions of honor among the saved Gentiles in eternity will give their glory and honor, once it is bestowed upon them, to God the Father and Jesus Christ.

• A SINLESS CITY. John then divulged the Paradise Qualities of the New Jerusalem. That which was lost in the Garden of Eden, because of mankind’s sin, will be recreated by Jesus Christ. The angel revealed to the Apostle “a pure river of water of life, clear [i.e., bright and shining] as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb” (22:1). This will be a life-giving River, providing those living in the City with a deeper quality of spiritual life and symbolically portraying the eternal life manifested to them in Eternity. This River will flow “out of the throne of God and of the Lamb” (22:1), indicating that ‘Christ will be enthroned with God the Father in Eternity.’ John’s attention was then drawn to “the tree of life” (v. 2) located in the middle of the street, whose branches will be large enough to spread on both sides of the River of Life. The “tree of life” will bear “twelve kinds of fruits, and [yield] her fruit every month” (v. 2). This tree will produce an annual harvest of twelve different fruits. The mention of twelve months would indicate that time will be calculated in eternity.

CODA. I have absolutely no adequate words with which to do justice to a conclusion. So do I turn to a much Grander Voice to complete our brief excursion into the trans-historical City of God where we shall someday dwell, with Him, forever and ever and then forever.

“None of the rulers of this age or world perceived and recognized and understood this, for if they had, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. But, on the contrary, as the Scripture says, ‘What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, [all that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed].’” – 1 CORINTHIANS 2:8-9, AMPC

This is where The Faithful Remnant Church is going, beloved, our Very Blessed Hope, both now and then, again, Forever and Ever, and then Forever!

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/t4uUDJ2oGzw