The New Jerusalem

July 25, 2017

The New Jerusalem

“I was glad when they said to me,

    “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

And now here we are,

    standing inside your gates, O Jerusalem.”

Psalm 122:1-2

As I read these opening lines in Psalm 122, I was remembering standing on the steps leading to the wall around the Old City of Jerusalem. A short time later our group walked to the Western Wall to pray. The Wailing Wall, as it is commonly called, is all that remains of the second Temple. The remains of the first Temple, King Solomon’s Temple, lie in ruins under the Dome of the Rock, just on the other side of the wall. For almost nineteen hundred years, Jerusalem was controlled by other nations, and the Jews were forbidden to go to the Western Wall. When control of the Old City of Jerusalem was won by Israel in 1967, at the end of the Six Day War, the celebration in Jerusalem was befitting the coming of the Messiah. Such is the love of the Jews for the Holy City of Jerusalem. When you arrive at the airport in Tel Aviv, you are greeted by a huge banner, “Welcome Home.” The sign could just as easily read, “Welcome Pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem.”

The psalmist longed for peace in Jerusalem. The bitter divide between Arabs and Jews remains today, accompanied by Christians fighting over their various holy sites. The psalmist calls upon the people to pray for peace and prosperity in Jerusalem. I hope all Christians will respond to the call of the psalmist, because I do not believe it is hyperbole to say that, if there were peace in Jerusalem, there would be peace in the world. Also, pray for peace in Jerusalem because one day all believers will be coming home to Jerusalem.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever” (Revelation 21: 1-4)

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

Copyright © 2017 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.