THE LORD SPOKE (November 6)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Ezekiel 5-7

Ezekiel 5:5 - “Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations”

Ezekiel goes on to speak of the horrible punishment that will fall upon Jerusalem (5:8-12) including God’s frightening words, “I will withdraw my favor” from her (vs. 11). But take careful note, He does not withdraw His presence and He does not withdraw His favor forever.

Many old maps (see the illustration of a map from 1580) showed Israel as the “center” of the nations. In the center of Israel is Jerusalem. The Old City is the center of Jerusalem today. In the center of the Old City lies the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The center of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is occupied by a large chapel known as the Catholicon and in the center of this chapel is a golden urn called the Omphalos - the “belly button” of the earth!

Okay, okay - so that stretches belief for most people. But, even if you’re not Roman Catholic, you must recognize from many Bible passages the centrality of Jerusalem:

• Psalm 137:5-6 - “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.”
• Isaiah 62:1 - “for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet till her righteousness shines out”
• Psalm 102:14 - “her stones are dear to your servants; her very dust moves them”
• Psalm 68:16 - “the mountain where God chooses to reign, where the Lord himself will dwell forever”
• Psalm 122:6 - “pray for the peace of Jerusalem; may those who love you be secure”
• Zechariah 2:5-9 - “I myself will be a wall of fire around [Jerusalem]...declares the Lord”
• Psalm 76:2 - “his dwelling place in Zion”

What is most striking here are the references like Psalm 68:16 which tell us that God Himself will dwell in Jerusalem forever (see also Ps. 132:13-14). Though He is omnipresent, His presence is focalized in a few significant locations - between the cherubim in the Holy of Holies in the ancient Tabernacle and Temple, on the Throne in heaven, and in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is (not just was) near and dear to His heart. It is near and dear to our hearts because of all of salvation history which played out on her streets. Every step you take in Jerusalem, you’re walking on 5000 years of history - much of it biblical.

It’s not wrong to let your thoughts dwell on Jerusalem. Near the close of his book, the prophet Jeremiah said, “Remember the Lord in a distant land, and think on Jerusalem.” (Jer. 51:50).


Psalms 101-102

Is God a Zionist? - part 2

One of the fundamental elements of Zionism is the rebuilding of Zion, which is something we’re told the Lord Himself will do in Psalm 102:16. It was a hope written down for “a future generation” (Ps. 102:18) but the promise was of a time when Jerusalem would be shown favor. Her appointed time would come. As Isaiah put it, “her hard service has been completed...her sin has been paid for...she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins” (Is. 40:2-3). So Isaiah says, “Comfort, comfort my people...speak tenderly to Jerusalem.”

Are we there yet? Probably not, but the handwriting is on the wall. This is not something that will happen multiple times. Isaiah tells us that God will “reclaim the remnant” a second time (Is. 11:11), not a fifth, tenth, or more. Though the timetable could still be very protracted, what has happened in Israel in our generation is the beginnings, at least, of the fulfillment of prophecies regarding Zion.

There are three elements that must be in place in the end times and we’re close but not quite there yet on all three:

1. The Jewish people must be back in the Land. Today approximately one third of the world’s Jewish population is living in Israel. That’s not yet even a majority, but it is a significant beginning and cannot be undone if God’s promises are literal and meant to be believed. God will only do this a second time, the first having been in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah when He brought them out of the Babylonian captivity.
2. Jerusalem must be the capitol. The Jewish people have always maintained this and the government of modern Israel declared it from the very start in 1948 by locating the Knesset there. After the Six-Day War in 1967, it was repeated and given even higher priority and visibility. Nevertheless, not one nation recognized it unequivocally today. No foreign embassy is located in Jerusalem (they’re all in Tel Aviv). Jerusalem is indeed still “trodden on by the Gentiles” (Lk. 21:24).
3. The Temple must be rebuilt. Visibly - on the ground - this is yet only a distant hope. There are numerous plans and ideas of how and when it might be done. But that’s part of the problem. There is, as yet, no single, unifying, agreed upon plan. A large majority of the Jewish people don’t even think about it or have any desire to proceed. And that’s quite understandable, given all the other more immediate problems they are facing.

God, who loves Zion and has promised to rebuild it, has His own timetable. We cannot know the day nor the hour when these things will come to pass but one thing is sure, we’re closer now than we’ve ever been before.