“Why should we pray for the peace of Jerusalem” asked a sincere, yet puzzled Christian believer in Richmond, North Yorkshire. “There will never any peace in that place”- she said wearily.
Shall we look at this prayer for peace together?
Psalm 122:1 A Song of degrees of David. I was glad when they said unto me. Let us go into the house of the LORD.
2 Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together:
4 Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD.
5 For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.
7 Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces.
8 For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee.
9 Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good.
INVITATION AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The writer of this Psalm was both glad and delighted to be invited to cover the miles which distanced him and his friends from Jerusalem. He came to the City and entered the Temple of the Lord, around which the City was built. His first impression of the city was of neatness and compactness; the whole place had a sense of style and design. So their feet stood within the gates of Jerusalem, together with thousands of people travelling from various parts of Israel. Many of them had gone up to the House of the Lord to give thanks to the Name of the Lord.
PLACE OF PURPOSE AND PRAYER
The City was the place of government and the pulsating life centre of the nation, in heart of the City stood the Temple of the Lord in all its magnificence. This splendid and sanctified building stood in the sunshine with warm winds coming up from the south. The climate of Israel was in the main very acceptable and enjoyable.
So we are made aware the Holy Place was of supreme importance for it was the very place where the people in times of worship met the Lord of mercy and grace, and the point where the Lord met his people with truth and peace.
HOLY PLACE OF HIGH PURPOSE
It was the place of high purpose.
A place where heart’s of men touched the heart of the God of their Father’s.
The City is the fixed location and place of the revelation of the love, purposes and ideals of God for his people. Importantly, also the place of realization, in the hearts and minds of all the people, of the order of peace and prosperity which is His Will for them.
FAITH STRONG EVEN WHEN CONDITIONS FALL SHORT.
History and geography waits for this to happen, for it has not yet, occurred, the City of God has not realized this hope and conception given to Israel and believers in the Psalm, but it will take place. Things are changing on every level of humanity for God is allowing it to happen. Our Lord Jesus Christ who ministered in Jerusalem and dramatically so in the Temple – His Father’s House and the House of Prayer is writing each new page of modern history. Jesus prayed in that place and we should pray today for Jerusalem we are encouraged still to pray for peace and prosperity of Jerusalem.
Why do we still do so, we do so in the soaring realms of the glory of the life of faith and spiritually this faith of ours enters into the spiritual experience of the high purposes of God
We pray though the actual conditions fall short of the high purposes of the Lord regarding the people and the land. In fact it is by our Christian faith giving us such high confidence that we move forward towards the day when it will surely actually and materially happen.
We have already by the power of the Holy Spirit understood this purpose and this promise regarding this coming world changing event in Jerusalem.
Let us keep asking, may we continue to pray knowing our high confidence will be rewarded in the outworking of the high purposes of the Lord.
