King David who reigned in Israel for 40 years probably never saw this day coming, but he did encourage those reading his words to “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6a).  As people of God, both those of Jewish descent and those who follow Jesus ought to pray for the peace of this great city.  It seems that the whole of history revolves around this one city.  There are three major groups that inhabit this great city: Jews, Christians and Muslims.  If there is currently any peace in Jerusalem it is tenuous at best.

The one sentence phrase in Psalm 122 is in the context of a “Song of Ascent.”  Psalms of Ascent were 15 Psalms that were probably sung when either the Jews were ascending to Jerusalem for the prescribed feasts or the 15 steps that were ascended into the temple.  Whatever the reason the truth remains truth as we read in this Psalm.  Going up to the “house of the LORD!” is the immediate context of David’s Psalm; maybe this is what David meant by a song of ascent?

Read the whole of this wonderful Psalm by the Psalter of Israel.  “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD!’  Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!  Jerusalem – built as a city that is bound firmly together, to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.  There thrones for judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David.  Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!  May they be secure who love you!  Peace be within in your walls and security within your towers!  For my brothers and companions’ sake I will say, ‘Peace be within you!’  For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good.”

Why should we pray for the peace of Jerusalem?  First is the promise to Abraham long ago before Abraham was even named Abraham.  Genesis 12:1-3 begins to unfold the greatest story ever told as God unveils through this chosen man redemption history.  “Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.  And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

For the next few chapters as God unfolds His promises to Abram, soon to be Abraham.  Finally in chapter 17:8 we read; “And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojourning, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.” (Emphasis mine)  The Abrahamic Covenant is complete as it is promised to this “friend of God” but yet not fulfilled in history.  However, it will be, but it is in God’s time and in His perfect will.

The Psalmist in 105 puts this covenant in very clear terms and it is a truth that both Jews and Christians ought to rest and rejoice in.  Verses 7-11 read this way: “He is the LORD our God; His judgments are in all the earth.  He remembers His covenant forever, the word that He commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant that He made with Abraham, His sworn promise to Isaac, which He confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, ‘To you I will give the land of Canaan as your portion for and inheritance.’” (Emphasis mine)  God has not forgotten His promises to Abraham and to the great nation Israel.

This promise continues in the New Testament with Paul the apostle in his letter to the Romans.  “I ask, then, has God rejected His people?  By no means!  For I myself am an Israelite, a descendent of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.  God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew” (Romans 11:1-2a).  Later in verse 29 Paul tells the church and the world that “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”  God’s eternal promise still stands and the reason is that the Abrahamic Covenant was for all nations and that includes people of Gentile nations.  And so until the number of Gentiles that God has appointed in His sovereign grace the world continues to stupefy the world audience.

Much more could be written about the everlasting covenant promised to Abraham/Israel from God, but it would become a book and not simply recorded in a blog.  So everything that is occurring in the Middle East and especially in Israel it is not out of God’s control and eternal plan.  God’s sovereignty is so far above our understanding that those of Jewish and Christian backgrounds must trust that God knows what He is doing.

To my brothers who are Jewish my prayer is that you will receive your Savior who has already come to fulfill all of the Jewish Scriptures.  Followers of Jesus ought never to look down upon those who gave us the Scriptures and the Messiah but pray for them and befriend them.  They have much to teach us and I pray it is reciprocal.

 

Thanks to our Guest Contributor:

Pastor Ray Peters

Harvest Alliance Church

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