Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem
Many believers like to quote
the part of Psalm 122:6 which says “Pray for the peace
of Jerusalem”. Especially when
the enemies, once again, attack Israel many will pray for the peace of Jerusalem and claim that
they are being obedient to this verse. But is that a
prayer that has any merit and is that really what the
Lord wants us to do?
First we need to understand
why
Israel is constantly at war
and why Jerusalem has not had peace for thousands of
years now. Israel is surrounded by enemies as
part of God’s judgment on them. Right in the beginning
when the Lord brought
Israel out of Egypt He set blessings
and curses before them. He would bless them if they
served Him and obeyed Him and judge them if they did
not. The Lord said: “…if you do not obey Me, and do not
observe all these commandments, and if you despise My
statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that
you do not perform all My commandments, but break My
covenant, I also will do this to you: …you shall be
defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign
over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you”
(Leviticus 26:14,15,17). Almost every prophet confirmed
this message. God spoke through Isaiah: “…let Me tell
you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away its
hedge, and it shall be burned; And break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down. I will lay it waste; It
shall not be pruned or dug, But there shall come up
briers and thorns. …the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel” (Isaiah 5:5:7). Jesus Himself
said: “And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and
be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until
the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (Luke 21:24).
Thus to pray for Israel to
have peace with it’s enemies when the Lord is determined
to fulfill His word and promises, is clearly to pray
against the will of God and that surely cannot be a
prayer He will ever answer. But an even bigger danger is
that those who are so desperately seeking peace for Jerusalem on man’s terms, could easily fall
into the trap of setting up or hailing the Antichrist as
“God’s man for the hour”. This is because the Antichrist
will finally appear to bring peace to
Jerusalem but it will be a temporary peace of
three-and-a-half years which will only serve to set Israel
up for the battle of Armageddon. Every time someone
begins to negotiate between
Israel and it’s enemies, I hear
Christians praying prayers of support for the politician
who is trying to bring about a cease-fire and peace. It
seems that in their zeal for the peace of
Jerusalem, they
are unaware of the fact that they may in fact be praying
for God’s blessings on the Antichrist because one of
these mediators will indeed be the Man of Sin! So it
seems to me that many of the prayers for the peace of Jerusalem are quite
dangerous.
The fact is that Jerusalem will not have
peace as long as it rejects the Messiah – Jesus Christ.
In the Old Testament, the Lord brought judgment on Israel whenever she strayed from
serving Him. So why should He bless her and give her
peace when the nation, more than ever, has become
estranged from God. Today Israel
is a purely secular state with a majority of leaders who
do not even acknowledge Yahweh, let alone Jesus. Why
then should God bless a nation that continues to reject
Jesus as the Messiah and persecutes those who preach
Him as such?
When will Israel
have peace? Jesus said: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and
stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to
gather your children together, as a hen gathers her
chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!
"See! Your house is left to you desolate; "for I say to
you, you shall see Me no more till you say, `Blessed is
He who comes in the name of the Lord!' " (Matthew
23:37-39). Yes, the Lord is still reaching out to
Israel and pleading with them
to come to Him, but to this day Israel rejects His overtures.
Israel will not have peace until they
recognize Jesus as their Messiah and say “Blessed is He
who comes in the name of the Lord”. Will that ever
happen? Yes it will, but not before Israel
is brought to its knees and almost destroyed at the
battle of Armageddon. Instead of turning to the Prince
of Peace, they will turn to the Antichrist and Satan and
instead of bringing them peace, the forces of Hell will
seek to wipe
Israel off the face of the earth.
(Revelation 12:13-17). But even then, the Lord will
protect some Jews. Only when they look upon Him that
they pierced and mourn and repent for their rejection of
the Messiah will He finally bring them peace.
The Lord will set up His
Kingdom for 1,000 years. Jerusalem
will be the capital of the Kingdom and Israel will be at the highest levels
of this empire that will rule the whole world. For the
first time since David and Solomon’s reign, will Jerusalem finally have peace. This will last
for a thousand years at the end of which, Satan will
incite a rebellion against the King which is followed by
the descent of New Jerusalem which will be at peace for
all eternity.
So should we pray for the
peace of
Jerusalem? Well, let me ask you
this: Did Jesus ever pray for the Peace of Jerusalem?
Not exactly in those terms. What He did pray is: “[May]
Your kingdom come.” (Matthew 6:10). As you can see, this
is the same thing: Jerusalem will have peace when the Kingdom
comes and not a moment before!
But, the main thing we
should be praying for is the Kingdom. The peace of Jerusalem is a consequence of the arrival of
the Kingdom and not an objective in itself. Thus the
many Christians who want to help Israel on a social and political
level without giving them the Gospel are working
contrary to the Kingdom. Praying for the Kingdom (and
thus the peace of Jerusalem) without preaching the Gospel of the
Kingdom is an empty gesture. If we pray for the Kingdom
to come, then we must be willing to work towards the
establishment of that Kingdom through bringing souls
(Jew and Gentile) into that Kingdom.
Just like David, I yearn for
the peace of Jerusalem, but more than that, I long to see
the Prince of Peace ruling from David’s throne and the
fulfillment of the Scripture that says:
“How beautiful upon the
mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, Who
proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things,
Who proclaims salvation, Who says to
Zion, "Your God
reigns! (Isaiah 52:7) – Shalom!
Anton Bosch
anton@ifcb.net
3310
W Magnolia Blvd
Burbank,
CA, 91505
Tel
818 846 5520
www.burbankchurch.org