Psalm 122:6-9 (New Living Translation)
Pray for peace in Jerusalem.
May all who love this city prosper.
O Prince of Peace, come.
O Jerusalem, may there be peace within your walls
and prosperity in your palaces.
O Prince of Peace, come.
For the sake of my family and friends, I will say,
“May you have peace.”
O Prince of Peace, come.
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek what is best for you, O Jerusalem.
O Prince of Peace, come.
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The word Jerusalem keeps coming up in Bible reading over the past year and staying in my thoughts. Isaiah 66:13 is especially meaningful to me as you may imagine.
The word Jerusalem teaches a precept: Jireh = worship and awe of God, in Spirit and in Truth (brings us into the state of) Shalom = God’s peace and all blessings)
“Beginning in Jerusalem…” (Luke 24:47 ) The church begins in Jerusalem.
Facing toward Jerusalem, is accepting the need to crucify the flesh (conditioned learned responses) and live our lives God’s way, according to His word and will. God’s way is the way of healing and redemption, the way to freedom and peace. Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem and accepted God’s will, the costly fulfilling the Father’s plan that meant his death, and so we as the Church must crucify our sinful flesh, and rise to life in the Spirit with God’s help…our dying is continual, daily, helped by the power of the Jesus’ Cross and Resurrection
Ascending to Jerusalem (see Psalms of Ascent) symbolizes leaving natural and earthly state and entering into God’s presence, into worship, to learn to live in His ways and His blessings.
We enter the gates of Jerusalem by thanksgiving and praise.
We wait in Jerusalem for God’s presence and power.
We remain, abide, live in Jerusalem (in God’s truth, love, life, in right worship, thanksgiving and praise)
There in Jerusalem, in worship and awe the Church/human soul finds her fulfillment – union with God. In Jerusalem, she dwells in God’s peace and all blessings.
Isaiah is also full of references to Jerusalem.
Isaiah 62 instructs us to pray until God establishes Jerusalem.
One of my favorite passages Isaiah 66:10-14 which tells us that in Jerusalem (as we worship) God fills, satisfies our deepest most basic needs, that He comforts, nurtures, tenderly loves us, as a mother cares for an infant…restoring us to rejoicing and flourishing…when our life and relationships did not, and they really cannot. Only worship and union with God can fill our emptiness and heal, deliver us from evil and pain.