A quick History of Jerusalem

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/27/2016 10:30 AM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  A quick History of Jerusalem

            In today’s SD I will quote from a sermon by John MacArthur which is entitled “The Future Glory of Jerusalem” which is on the second chapter of the book of Zechariah.  In the beginning of this sermon he gives a quick history of Jerusalem and that is what I want to quote for this SD.  Think about how important the city of Jerusalem is to our God as you read this history of that wonderful city.

            “Let me give you a little fast history, hang on. It first appears in Scripture as the city of Salem, ruled by a man by the name of Melchizedek. In Genesis 14 he is called the king of Salem. Most people assume the name Jerusalem or Salem comes from the Hebrew shalom, which means peace. Twenty centuries before Christ it existed as the city of Salem. The next time we see Jerusalem in history it appears as a Canaanite stronghold with an allegiance to Egypt. Soon after that we see it in reference to Joshua. This is 600 years after the Genesis record or 1400 years before Christ. Joshua in Chapter 10 sets his sights on this city as he conquers Canaan. And in Chapter 15 Joshua says that this territory, including this city, has been given to Judah when the land was divided among the tribes. But even though it was 1400 years before Christ that the city was said to belong to Judah, it wasn't until 1003 B.C. that David stormed Jerusalem, which was then a fortress of the people called the Jebusites and according to II Samuel 5, David took the city, which was later to bear the name the city of David. The city never really became much under David. It wasn't until David's brilliant son, Solomon, that Jerusalem reached its golden age.

“And under Solomon the wall was extended, an incredible palace was built, an amazing and marvelous wonder of the world the temple was accomplished, and Jerusalem became something astonishing, something astounding. But after Solomon the ages that flowed on brought no comparable glory to Jerusalem and by 586 B.C. or about 400 years after Solomon, the city was a rubble, destroyed by Nebuchnezzar. Nehemiah went back and rebuilt it but it remained rather insignificant from then on. Finally in 70 A.D. after the birth of Jesus Christ some 70 years the city was wiped out again and destroyed by the Roman army, as we saw last week. Jerusalem arose rather meekly from the ashes a little after 70 A.D., but by 132 A.D. whatever was left was crushed by the Emperor Hadrine from Rome. And until modern times even in our modern era Jerusalem has been kicked back and forth between the Turks and the Christian nations, the Moslems and the Christians kicking it back and forth.

“And finally in our generation the marvelous rebirth of the state of Israel has occurred, a miracle of sociology, a miracle of the perpetuity of a race of human beings. I dare say nobody has ever met a Jebusite, a Hivite, a Amorite, a Moabite or a Edomite, or any other ite around the Bible, but we sure have Israelites because God has preserved them in their own land. They've come back, but the hold it very tenuously don't they, surrounded by enemies. In fact surrounded on every side of them that is land they are locked in with literally bloodthirsty enemies and their hold is tenuous and they are always on the edge of war. Incredible as it is from Melchizedek in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis to 1977, the story of Jerusalem weaves its way through history. Cities come and go but not that city, it just continues. The city of Melchizedek, the city of David, the city of Christ, the city of Paul, the city of Salidine, the city of General Allenby, the city of Ben Guion, the city of Moshedian, it is ever the perpetual city and someday it'll be the city of the seat of David, the Lord Jesus Christ yet again.

“This final chapter hasn't been written. It's final hero hasn't arrived yet, but He will. For about 2,000 years now the Jews have been going to the Wailing Wall at one point or another to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, to plead with God to send a deliverer and break Gentile power, and I imagine if you were to go up to the wall, and you wouldn't dare do this, and pull out of the cracks the little notes that the Orthodox stick in the cracks and read them, they would say O God for the peace of Jerusalem. And God will answer. Jerusalem has not only been the center of redemptive history it will be the center of redemptive consummation in the great future that God has planned. It is, incidentally, sill to be the habitation of God. It is the only intended capitol for the kingdom and as Melchizedek was its first king so one after the order of Melchizedek will be its last king, but until then the Bible says Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles.

“In Daniel 9:26, listen to what Daniel said, "In that city," said Daniel, "even unto the end there will be war." Even until the end, they will never know peace until the Prince of Peace arrives. Oh there will be a false peace, won't there, set up by the anti-Christ, but not the real thing. In fact, the greatest war that the land will ever know hasn't happened yet, has it? What war is it, Armageddon, the plane of Megiddo? I couldn't help but think as I stood on the Mount of Ezralon and the stables and also on the other side on the stables of Solomon and looked over the plain of Megiddo, which Napoleon said is the greatest battlefield he's ever seen in the world, I couldn't help but think of what was yet to come when the book of Revelation says the blood will be as deep as the bridles of the horses for 200 miles, a blood bath that's inconceivable. And at the end of that great battle of Armageddon comes the Lord Jesus Christ. Apparently from what the Bible tells us the people who are fighting in the battle of Armageddon will all of a sudden will see Christ coming out of the sky and they'll turn to fight against Him and He'll destroy them and set up His glorious kingdom. When the delivered comes Jerusalem will be exalted. And you can't help when you're there but realize that, and I kept thinking to myself, "If they only knew what was going to happen here."

“Isaiah's call will be fulfilled, Isaiah 66:10. You know what he said? Listen. "Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, be glad with her all ye that love her. Rejoice with her for joy all ye that mourn her, for thus said the Lord, 'Behold I will extend peace to her like a river.'" The day is coming. Look with me at a couple of texts in Isaiah: chapter 1:26, And I will restore thy judges as at the first and thy counselors as at the beginning and afterward thou shalt be called the city of Righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed with justice and her converts with righteousness." There's coming a different day, a saving day. Look at 62 of Isaiah, and this is one of the great pictures of the future of the city of Jerusalem called Zion again here because it's of the significance of Mount Zion. 62:2, "And the nations shall see thy righteousness and all kings thy glory and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name, and thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God." Here is Jerusalem will be a sparkling jewel studded crown, tremendous thought. And verse 4 is so beautiful, "Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken, neither shall thy land any more be called desolate."

“Now go down to verse 11, "Behold the Lord has proclaimed until the end of the earth, say ye to the daughter of Zion, behold thy salvation commeth, behold his reward is with him, his work before him and they shall call them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord and thou shalt be called sought out, a city not forsaken." Will God forsake Jerusalem? No. It's a city not forsaken.

“Someday when Jerusalem is righteous, when Jerusalem is cleansed, when Jerusalem is washed of its shame and its pollution it will become what God originally intended it to be. It will become a holy city. In Isaiah 4:3, "It shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and he who remains in Jerusalem shall be called holy." Isaiah looks at the future and he says someday everybody there who is left will be holy, and that's the way it is at the beginning of Messiah's kingdom. Everybody there will be holy because all the ungodly and the unholy will have been judged. When the Lord, and here is the key in verse four, "When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and have purged the blood of Jerusalem from its midst by the spirit of justice and the spirit of burning. And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion and upon her assemblies the cloud and the smoke by day and the shinning of a flaming fire by night for upon all the glory shall be a defense and there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat and for a place of refuge and for a culvert from storm and from rain.

“God says there will come a day when everything's going to be different and I'll be there and my Shekinah will be there as it was in the wilderness and the light will be there and the fire will be there by night and I will be a refuge but it'll only happen, verse 4 says, after the Lord has washed the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the blood of Jerusalem. There's got to be a cleansing first, there's got to be a dramatic change in the nation Israel.

“And Jeremiah 30:9 says, "They shall serve the Lord their God and David their king whom I will raise up unto them." And of course that's a reference to the Messiah Christ. And he said this in Ezekiel 34:23, Ezekiel said, this is really a beautiful statement, he said, "I will set up one shepherd over them. He shall feed them and be their shepherd." There's coming a day then when there will be a washing and there will be a purifying and there will be a cleansing and they will be given a new king and a new shepherd none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.

“In Ezekiel 37:21, "Say unto them, 'Thus saith the Lord God, behold I will take the children of Israel from among the nations to which they are gone, and gather them on every side and bring them into their own land, and I will make them one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king to them all, and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all, neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things nor with any of their transgressions. I will save them out of all their dwelling places in which they have sinned and cleans them. So shall they be my people and I will be their God and David my servant shall be king over them and they shall all have one shepherd and they shall walk in My ordinances and observe My statutes to do them and they will dwell in the land I have given unto Jacob." And then the next verse 26, "I will make a covenant of peace with them and it will be an everlasting covenant and I will place them and multiply them and set My sanctuary in the midst of them forever, My tabernacle shall also be with them, ye I will be their God, they shall be My people, and the nations shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel and my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forevermore." Great promises! God has great plans for that place, restoration, salvation, cleansing, a delivering of their king and their Messiah.

“Isaiah 32:17 says, "And the work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever, and my people will dwell in a peaceable habitation," listen to this, "in sure dwellings and quiet resting places." Peace for Jerusalem. That must seem incredible to anybody whose ever been there. It's coming. We are in Zechariah believe it or not.

“And Zechariah 9:10 says, "And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem and the battle bow shall be cut off," in other words no more weapons of war, no more articles of war," He shall speak peace to the nations and his dominion shall be from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth."

“I'm telling you people that's the marvelous message to Israel. That ought to gladden the heart of every hoping Jew. God isn't finished. The glory of Israel is yet to come. There's will be a day when Jerusalem is glorious beyond anything we have ever dreamed, and that kind of message of hope would be thrilling to every Jew and to every Christian who holds in his heart a special place for that city because it's the city where our dear Lord was crucified and rose again. And this is precisely the message the Zechariah delivers to his saddened and humiliated people.”

4/27/2016 11:06 AM