We see all over the news how President Trump has established the new US embassy in Jerusalem and they have celebrated it’s opening yesterday, May 14, 2018. This is a very significant event in history because yesterday marked the 70th year Israel became a nation, and for 70 years the US embassy has been promising to establish it’s presence in Jerusalem the capital of Israel, but never did it. Prior to becoming a nation in 1948, Israel has been under many empires and many nations. Finally around 1947 after WWII with many Jewish lives lost through the Holocaust, the UN proposed to establish a nation for Israel. On May 14, 1948 the State of Israel was proclaimed. Yesterday marked the 70th year Israel has become a nation. I also find this very interesting because the children of Judah were in exile during the time of the Babylonians for 70 years. God had told prophet Jeremiah that after 70 years He’s going to visit them and will bring them back to the land they loved, especially Jerusalem. {See Jeremiah chapter 29} The Bible tells us to,
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. {Psalm 122:6}
If you are a Christian and love the Lord and believe His word, and especially if you want God to bless you, we need to pray for Israel. The establishing of this embassy in Jerusalem is plainly telling the world, especially the Arab nations, that the United States recognizes Israel as a nation and that as a nation they have a right to choose where they should place their capital. When God chose King David to be the next king after king Saul, he made Jerusalem the capital of Israel. God told king David,
But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel. {2 Chronicles 6:6}
Not only does the Bible tells us to pray for Jerusalem and its peace, God will also prosper those that love her. It’s so important to pray for Israel and love the capital of Israel, Jerusalem because this is the heart of God. This is where He chose to put His name and to die at the cross to save the world from sin, in Jerusalem outside the city walls. This is also where the king of Israel, king Solomon built God His temple. Without the children of Israel and what they have gone through with God, we wouldn’t know who Jesus Christ is today. Without their history and their suffering in the wilderness with Moses and the laws that are written in the Bible, we wouldn’t even come to understand the love of God we experience in our lives today. We owe a lot to them simply because they had to go through the hard way to enter into the presence of God. Imagine the fear they experienced dealing with a God that sent fire from heaven when He was angry and killed you if you offered the wrong fire at the altar. You can read all about that in the books of Leviticus and Numbers. The children of Israel went through a slew of plagues and punishments because the God they served is holy and perfect and hates sin. He is still holy and perfect. He still hates sin. He hasn’t changed. But how can we have God in our lives today without getting killed and always watching our p’s and q’s? God saw He needed to come up with a solution to this problem called sin. He needed to bring peace to the soul of men and bring them back to Him. The children of Israel in essence went through the hard times with God, so that today we can experience a better and more loving side of God they never saw. Imagine that. Today we can experience God through Jesus Christ and His love for us because the children of Israel suffered so much because of their sin. God came up with the solution all right – made Himself a body through Jesus Christ and died on the cross, and became the sacrifice that Israel needed to be reconciled back to God. Good news for us today because we find out that not only did God die for them, He died for us also. He decided to give Himself to the whole entire world. This is exactly what He had said to Abraham, that He will bless the whole world through him. He told Abraham,
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. {Genesis 12:3}
Through Abraham the world is going to experience the blessings of God. In essence through the children of Abraham, the nation of Israel, the rest of us will experience God. Through Jesus Christ, who is the son of David, the Son of God, we can experience the forgiveness and remission of sin and find favor in the eyes of God.
I feel the Lord has placed this burden in my heart to remind us, His people, the Gentile nation, the extended family of Abraham, to pray for Israel. May the Lord bless you as you remember His people, the nation of Israel today in your prayers.
A Song of degrees of David.
I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together: Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD. For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee. Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good. {Psalm 122:1-8}
Prayer
Lord Jesus, our Father in heaven, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we come to You and look to You. You are our God and our Savior today and we love You. We thank You for Your great sacrifice at the cross at Calvary to save us from our sins and to deliver us from the hold of Satan’s power. I thank You ever so much Jesus for loving us today and giving Yourself to the whole world today so that whosoever will come to believe in You will not perish but have eternal life.
Lord Jesus we come to You and we lift the nation of Israel to You. We do not understand everything Lord and wish there was already peace in the whole world today, but nevertheless we come to You because You are the Prince of Peace and with You all things are possible. Please Jesus, bring peace to Your nation of Israel today, Your people, Your first love, the children of Abraham. Please Jesus, bless them and help those that do not understand yet in that nation, that You are the Messiah that has come already. I pray that they may to come to know You and experience You, the loving Father who forgives sins and cleanses us all from all our unrighteousness. Without You Father we are lost. Without You Lord Jesus, we are nothing. We ask for Your peace and Your grace upon Your people today and also upon the Arab nations today because they too are a people that need You and You gave Your life for them also. There is so much unrest in that part of the world Father, especially now with the establishing of the new US embassy there in Jerusalem. I pray please bring Your peace there. We ask all of these things in Your most sweet and lovely name, Jesus. Thank You, Father. Amen.
