Before leaving this earth, Yeshua cried out: “O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” Matthew 23:37
“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced;” Zechariah 12:10
“And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will remove ungodliness from Jacob.” Romans 11:26
The Hope, “Hatikva”
(Israel’s national anthem)
As long as the Jewish soul
is yearning deep inside the heart,
And looks onto the East,
with eyes watching toward Zion,
Then our hope – the two-thousand-year-old hope –
is not lost: To be a free people in our land,
The land of Zion and Jerusalem.
God was angry with His people for disobeying Him and turning to other gods. He had to discipline and punish them, temporarily, like a good loving father. He sent them out to exile from their homeland, Israel, to the nations of the world. But promised to bring them back to their land, the Land of Promise He gave to Abraham and his descendants, Isaac and Jacob (Israel) for an everlasting possession. This promise/prophecy repeats itself throughout the scriptures more than any other prophecy.
As a loving father who has to discipline His children, He always reassures His people of His everlasting love, as He said to Israel: “This is what the Lord says: “ I will come to give rest to Israel… I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness… I will build you up again, and you, virgin Israel, will be rebuilt. Jeremiah 31:1,2,3
God has always used the nations to discipline His people Israel, but they overdid it in measure and cruelty, which was not the intention of the Lord, and He is angry with them: “Proclaim this word: This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion. And I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are at ease; for while I was angry but a little, they furthered the disaster.‘” Zech. 1:14-15
Israel becoming a nation again in the Land of Israel
The prophet Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 66:8: “Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children.”
The rebirth of the State of Israel is truly unique. On one day— May 15,1948, one day after the declaration of Israel’s independence by David Ben Gurion, Israel was voted in the UN as the State of the Jews and became an official functioning nation with its own army, navy, air force (all very small at that time), parliament, police force, medical, education and financial systems, etc. History knows no other nation that has had a similar rebirth after thousands of years of exile. God is faithful to fulfill His promises.
Jerusalem is the most special city in all of history. Many nations and peoples have conquered Jerusalem: Assyrians, Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Mamelukes, Turks, British, and Jordanians. Jerusalem is also called: The Lord’s City, The Holy City, The Eternal City, Salem, Mount Moriah, Jebus, the City of David. There must be a deeper meaning to this than just physical. It’s a spiritual battle.
What makes Jerusalem so important?
Because God, The God of Israel has declared that Jerusalem shall be His Throne (Zechariah 8:3). He said that He will reign in Jerusalem forever. For the LORD has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his dwelling place: “This is My resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it. Psalm 132:13-14
There are more scriptures where God is talking about Zion/Jerusalem as His chosen place to dwell and reign from. “Jerusalem” is mentioned in the Bible more then 800 times. “Zion,” which is another name for “Jerusalem,” is mentioned 152 times.
Although most of the nation was in exiled from their land, the Jews did not forget Jerusalem or the Temple Mount. Their daily prayer was for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. The traditional Jewish prayer book contains the following passage:
“Because of our sins we were exiled from our country and banished from our land. We cannot go up as pilgrims to worship Thee, to perform our duties in Thy chosen house, the great and Holy Temple which was called by Thy name, on account of the hand that was let loose on Thy sanctuary. May it be Thy will, Lord our God and God of our fathers, merciful King, in Thy abundant love again to have mercy on us and on Thy sanctuary; rebuild it speedily and magnify its glory.”
“Jerusalem,” wrote historian Martin Gilbert, “is not a ‘mere’ city. It holds the central spiritual and physical place in the history of the Jews as a people.”
For more than 3,000 years, the Jewish people have looked to Jerusalem as their spiritual, political, and historical capital, even when they did not physically rule over the city. Throughout its long history, Jerusalem has served, and still serves, as the political capital of only one nation – the one belonging to the Jews.
Jerusalem, in Hebrew Yerushalaim, meaning – Yeru (they will see) Shalem, or Salem – (peace, wholeness) The city was originally a Jebusite city called Salem. The King of Salem, who was a priest of God Most High had a Hebrew name, Melchizedek – Melch (king) Tzedek (righteousness). (Genesis 14:18)
Abraham came to Salem (now Jerusalem), to the Valley of Shaveh, just south of present-day Jerusalem. “Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High….” (14:17-18) Abraham received a blessing from him there.
A few years later, God tested Abraham’s faith and told him to take his only son Isaac to be offered up to Him. Abraham had other sons from his foreign concubines, but as far as God was concerned, Isaac was his only son – the son of promise: “Through Isaac shall your seed be named,” (Gen. 21:12.) Also, Isaac, was a direct ancestor of the Messiah Yeshua. God told Abraham exactly where to go, up to Mount Moriah, known today as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (very near the place where Yeshua would be crucified.) After he passed the test successfully, Abraham called the place, Yehwa Yeraeh – the Lord will be seen, (Genesis 22:14.)
Jerusalem, is the place where the Lord, the Prince of Peace will be seen. And in the end-time, when Yeshua establishes His kingdom and will rule and reign from Jerusalem, He will bring peace to mankind and the world, as it is written in Isaiah 2:
“The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
“Now it will come about that In the last days The mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways And that we may walk in His paths.
“For the law will go forth from Zion And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war.”
Read more details: History of Jerusalem.