The REAL reason why Jerusalem is important
How people do such evil things in God’s Name! Is there any single
small sliver of land where this has happened throughout history more than the Levant
– Israel included? This Land is one of the most blood-soaked pieces of earth in the
history of our existence.
It is my belief that there are very dark spiritual powers at work in our Land. This Region of Earth is so dense with spiritual oppression the spiritually perceptive immediately discern it especially when they leave the place. The aim of these said evil powers has always been to subvert God’s plan of
redemption for mankind, both before Jesus crucifixion and after His
resurrection. Once Jesus came and willingly laid down His life, the plan
of the Enemy failed once and for all.
However, the Enemy’s goal is to discredit the Most Holy Name and anything remotely associated with it. Consider the Holocaust (which was aimed at the Jewish People who were far from the Land) and the Nabka, (the displacement of the Palestinians, many of whom were descendants of Jews and Ancient Israelites, from the Land). The Holocaust and the Nabka are two tragedies whose shadows have created a black hole that both the Palestinians and Israelis seems to be stuck in. Generations of cyclical violence and a narrative that enforces guilt, hatred, racism, and war. The continual violence committed against Palestinians and the theft of their land, along with the world’s simmering Anti-Semitism dating back millenia are both intertwined. This decades long low-intensity war with occasional flareups are the signatures of the one Jesus called the Thief, who comes only to Steal, Kill and Destroy.
The Enemy is in fact working on both sides of the divide contrary to what most people believe (Christian Zionists, Jews and Muslims included) and his aim to stir wars, genocide and ethnic cleansing – as long as this happens, and as long as blood is spilled, and people become more brainwashed and estranged from the True God in their thinking, this is what the Enemy strives for. Satan's aim is to twist the world's perception of the Land and what it really stands for as a way of discrediting God and His Love and the Ultimate Expression of His Love seen so clearly by all in the Gospel - Jesus, Crucified.
However, the Enemy’s goal is to discredit the Most Holy Name and anything remotely associated with it. Consider the Holocaust (which was aimed at the Jewish People who were far from the Land) and the Nabka, (the displacement of the Palestinians, many of whom were descendants of Jews and Ancient Israelites, from the Land). The Holocaust and the Nabka are two tragedies whose shadows have created a black hole that both the Palestinians and Israelis seems to be stuck in. Generations of cyclical violence and a narrative that enforces guilt, hatred, racism, and war. The continual violence committed against Palestinians and the theft of their land, along with the world’s simmering Anti-Semitism dating back millenia are both intertwined. This decades long low-intensity war with occasional flareups are the signatures of the one Jesus called the Thief, who comes only to Steal, Kill and Destroy.
The Enemy is in fact working on both sides of the divide contrary to what most people believe (Christian Zionists, Jews and Muslims included) and his aim to stir wars, genocide and ethnic cleansing – as long as this happens, and as long as blood is spilled, and people become more brainwashed and estranged from the True God in their thinking, this is what the Enemy strives for. Satan's aim is to twist the world's perception of the Land and what it really stands for as a way of discrediting God and His Love and the Ultimate Expression of His Love seen so clearly by all in the Gospel - Jesus, Crucified.
I say all this because too many people who call themselves "Christian" are caught up in the ways of the world's thinking about Jerusalem (and many other subjects to). But Jerusalem IS important and specially important. Yes, it is the site of the First and Second Temples, the Temple built by Solomon and the latter being built by the Jews who were exiled by the Babylonians but returned (cf Nehemiah, Ezra). And on the other hand, it is important to many Muslims. And of course it has always been a treasured place for the Christians.
But how is it that today rocks and stones make people kill each other? That is all what Jerusalem is when the people are removed. A city of ancient and modern buildings built surrounded by rocky, olive-tree filled hilltops.
Is that why Jerusalem is important? Because of its religious sites?
Consider Abraham and how "he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God."and how he was "longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called [his] God, for he has prepared a city for [him]." (Heb 11:10,16)
How we have strayed when he get bogged down in these conflicts and raise the banners of men and politics, the game of nations. The Truth is that God loves Jerusalem (for its people, of all stripes and colors, yes) but also for a hidden and deeper reason.
You see, Jerusalem's prophetic name is Zion - "Tziyon" in Hebrew. It means the "Burnt Place". Sounds accurate when you think of the wars and how many times this city has been destroyed. But that is not even what Zion really refers to.
In fact, the story starts with Abraham who led his son, his firstborn heir up the Mountains of Moriah. There he put the wood of the sacrifice on his young son who asked innocently 'where is the lamb?' to which Abraham painfully replies 'God will provide the Lamb'. And indeed, God did! But you know where this was... precisely in Zion.
A millenia or so later, the Temple of Yahwe was built and there for many centuries the sacrifices would happen, day after day, month after month, and year after year.
Abraham and Isaac's story on Mount Moriah was the beginning of the sacrifices that would occur on this mountain. The Temple sacrifices would then continue the story. And it was all just a prelude, a foreshadowing of the Ultimate Sacrifice that would fulfill the Prophetic Name that Abraham gave that Mountain "B'Har Yahwa Yireh" on the Mountain of Yahwe He Provides (see Gen 22:14).
Where is this Mountain? Jerusalem.
And what did God Provide there? He Provided His Son! Who was burnt for all to see on the Cross. This spot on Earth is the Anti-Thesis of Eden. In Eden Adam was placed in utter comfort. But on Mount Moriah, the Hill of the Skull, the Second Adam was Pierced and Sacrificed. This Yeshua was the Lamb of God that finally took away the Sin of Adam - past, present and future - that all who hope in His Name, the Name of Yeshua, would be relieved and free of guilt and full of eternal life and be given the blessing of becoming children of God the Most High.
That is the ONE reason why Jerusalem is important. The Place where Sin was Paid for once and for all. The Place where the Messiah, God Himself in the Flesh would say "It is Finished!" And the Day will come when all those in Jerusalem shall themselves see the Pierced One, Jesus, and lament and return to Him.
Maybe, just maybe we are about to see this come to be.
Just as Daniel prayed with his face to Jerusalem, so we ought to pray with our spiritual eyes and heart toward the spiritual Jerusalem and what Zion represents - the Lamb of God crucified. There is no other way to pray to God but to pray from seeing the Cross because that is the basis of His Relentless Grace and Love coming down to you in infinite and unceasing abundance. Pray with you hearts open to this. In this spot of prayer, there is no need to take off your shoes, for you are now the Temple itself, the Holy Place, the Dwelling of the Most High. There is no need to cling to guilt because you are Forgiven Forever, made Righteous Forever and made Holy to the Lord Forever. Amen and Amen.
But how is it that today rocks and stones make people kill each other? That is all what Jerusalem is when the people are removed. A city of ancient and modern buildings built surrounded by rocky, olive-tree filled hilltops.
Is that why Jerusalem is important? Because of its religious sites?
Consider Abraham and how "he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God."and how he was "longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called [his] God, for he has prepared a city for [him]." (Heb 11:10,16)
How we have strayed when he get bogged down in these conflicts and raise the banners of men and politics, the game of nations. The Truth is that God loves Jerusalem (for its people, of all stripes and colors, yes) but also for a hidden and deeper reason.
You see, Jerusalem's prophetic name is Zion - "Tziyon" in Hebrew. It means the "Burnt Place". Sounds accurate when you think of the wars and how many times this city has been destroyed. But that is not even what Zion really refers to.
In fact, the story starts with Abraham who led his son, his firstborn heir up the Mountains of Moriah. There he put the wood of the sacrifice on his young son who asked innocently 'where is the lamb?' to which Abraham painfully replies 'God will provide the Lamb'. And indeed, God did! But you know where this was... precisely in Zion.
A millenia or so later, the Temple of Yahwe was built and there for many centuries the sacrifices would happen, day after day, month after month, and year after year.
Abraham and Isaac's story on Mount Moriah was the beginning of the sacrifices that would occur on this mountain. The Temple sacrifices would then continue the story. And it was all just a prelude, a foreshadowing of the Ultimate Sacrifice that would fulfill the Prophetic Name that Abraham gave that Mountain "B'Har Yahwa Yireh" on the Mountain of Yahwe He Provides (see Gen 22:14).
Where is this Mountain? Jerusalem.
And what did God Provide there? He Provided His Son! Who was burnt for all to see on the Cross. This spot on Earth is the Anti-Thesis of Eden. In Eden Adam was placed in utter comfort. But on Mount Moriah, the Hill of the Skull, the Second Adam was Pierced and Sacrificed. This Yeshua was the Lamb of God that finally took away the Sin of Adam - past, present and future - that all who hope in His Name, the Name of Yeshua, would be relieved and free of guilt and full of eternal life and be given the blessing of becoming children of God the Most High.
That is the ONE reason why Jerusalem is important. The Place where Sin was Paid for once and for all. The Place where the Messiah, God Himself in the Flesh would say "It is Finished!" And the Day will come when all those in Jerusalem shall themselves see the Pierced One, Jesus, and lament and return to Him.
Maybe, just maybe we are about to see this come to be.
And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. (Zech 12:10)So what does this mean for the believer?
Just as Daniel prayed with his face to Jerusalem, so we ought to pray with our spiritual eyes and heart toward the spiritual Jerusalem and what Zion represents - the Lamb of God crucified. There is no other way to pray to God but to pray from seeing the Cross because that is the basis of His Relentless Grace and Love coming down to you in infinite and unceasing abundance. Pray with you hearts open to this. In this spot of prayer, there is no need to take off your shoes, for you are now the Temple itself, the Holy Place, the Dwelling of the Most High. There is no need to cling to guilt because you are Forgiven Forever, made Righteous Forever and made Holy to the Lord Forever. Amen and Amen.
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