... the joy of the whole earth ... Mount Zion, the city of the Great King.
~ Psalms 48:1-2
Jerusalem
Jerusalem was, and is again, the capital of Israel, the land that God promised to the Jewish people as an everlasting possession. Jerusalem is obviously significant to Jews. Jerusalem is mentioned frequently in the Christian Bible, so it is not insignificant to believers in Jesus Christ. However, the Bible says that there will be a New Jerusalem. Christians might ask whether the New Jerusalem that is to come is more important than the Jerusalem that is the capital of modern-day Israel.
The word Jerusalem, in Hebrew, embraces the idea of peace. Jerusalem does not have peace today, but it will. God says that it is at Jerusalem, after great conflict, that His peace will finally come to the earth [Isaiah 2:2-4].
It is not human reasoning that has placed Jerusalem at centre stage in world affairs. Jerusalem is not on a trade route, by land, river or sea. Jerusalem is hidden away in a dusty mountainous area, in an obscure land that has little to commend it except a powerful spiritual pull.
Jerusalem, and its other biblical name, Zion, is mentioned close to one thousand times in the Bible.
God has placed Jerusalem in the centre of the world.
This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the centre of the nations, with countries all around her.”
~ Ezekiel 5:5
Some medieval maps placed Jerusalem at the centre of the world.
Jerusalem was, and is again, the national capital of God’s ancient covenant people – the Jews – now returning to the Promised Land. Jewish presence in Israel and Jerusalem is an offence to many Moslems.
But God chose Jerusalem.
God sent Abraham to Jerusalem – to Mount Moriah – to sacrifice Isaac [Genesis 22:2].
When God gave the Law to Moses, He said that a place would be chosen for His temple and for the altar [Deuteronomy 12:5-6].
Hundreds of years later King David bought the hilltop of Moriah and declared it to be the place of sacrifice for Israel [1 Chronicles 22:1].
David’s son, Solomon, built the Temple on that spot [2 Chronicles 3:1].
It was in Jerusalem that Jesus gave His life as a sacrifice for sin.
That is the significance of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the place of sacrifice. Jerusalem is where Israel’s Temple stood. Jerusalem is where blood had to be shed, to atone for sin. Jerusalem is where the priests and the High Priest ministered. And Jerusalem is where the shekinah glory of God settled in Israel.
The Jews disobeyed God. The shekinah glory departed. And the Jews were thrust out of the land of Israel.
In exile, the observant among them prayed three times a day toward Jerusalem. Nearly two thousand years passed and then God began to bring the Jews back to the Promised Land of Israel and to Jerusalem.
