And We Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem1

And We Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem

               Yesterday, July 31, 2024, the news was filled with the reports of two very important and deadly enemies of Israel being killed.  One was the high commander in Hamas.  The other was a high commander in Hezbollah,  the person responsible for the missile attack in northern Israel that killed 12 children playing soccer.           

Several days ago, the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, addressed a joint session of the Congress of the United States.  According to CBN News, protesters were out in force, tearing down American flags, replacing them with the flag Hamas wears. The Capitol and surrounding areas were in total lockdown with sidewalks blocked off.  During his speech to Congress, Netanyahu addressed the protesters directly. “When the tyrants of Tehran…are praising, promoting, and funding you, you have become Iran’s useful idiots.”  He went on to accuse the protesters of standing for a cause they don’t begin to understand.  They are completely blind to the truth and reality of what they do.

               And, of course, the major news media also are totally blinded to the truth and reality of what is happening and why it’s happening.   But we, Christians who have been called by God to follow Jesus, understand who Israel is and why we need to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.  We see why our nation needs to support them in this war against evil, this war that is inspired, provoked and incited by Satan.  We need to focus on who God declares Israel to be.  We need to pray not only for Jerusalem and Israel but also for every Jewish person in every part of the world, including our own nation.

From the beginning…

Genesis 12:1-3 (Messianic Jewish Family Bible)

Then Adonai said to Abram, “Get going out of your land, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.  My heart’s desire is to make you into a great nation, to bless you, to make your name great so that you may be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, but whoever curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

Isaiah 33:2,3,5,6 NLT

               But Lord, be merciful to us, for we have waited for You.  Be our strong arm each day and our salvation in times of trouble.  The enemy runs at the sound of Your voice.  When You stand up the nations flee! Though the Lord is very great and lives in heaven, He will make Jerusalem His home of justice and righteousness.  In that day He will be your sure foundation, provide a rich store of salvation wisdom, and knowledge.  The fear of the Lord will be your treasure.

Isaiah 45:17 and 46:3,4

               But the Lord will save the people of Israel with eternal salvation.  Throughout everlasting ages, they will never again be humiliated and disgraced.              

               Listen to me, descendants of Jacob, all who remain in Israel. I have cared for you since you were born. I will be your God throughout your lifetime – until your hair is white with age.  I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.

Isaiah 62: 6,7,8

               O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls; they will pray day and night, continually. Take no rest, all you who pray to the Lord.  Give the Lord no rest until He completes His work, until He makes Jerusalem the pride of the earth.  The Lord has sworn to Jerusalem by His own strength: I will never again hand you over to your enemies.

Psalms 122 NLT

I was glad when they said to me “Let us go into the house of the Lord.”  And now here we are, standing inside your gates, O Jerusalem.  Pray for peace in Jerusalem.  May all who love this city prosper. O Jerusalem, may there be peace within your walls and prosperity in your palaces.  For the sake of my family and friends, I will say “May you have peace.”  For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek what is best for you, O Jerusalem.

I Chronicle 29:18  “O Lord, the God of our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, make your people always want to obey You.  See to it that their love for You never changes.

Psalms 125:1,2  “Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever.  As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds His people both now and forever more.”

n Luke 24, we find the story of the two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus, grieving, disappointed and dispirited, when they are joined by someone they didn’t recognize.  This was the afternoon of the very day that Jesus stepped forth from the tomb.

Towards the ending of this story, after Jesus gave them a very thorough review of the Holy Scriptures, revealing all that would happen to Yeshua, the Messiah, He sat with them to eat.  And when He “broke the bread”, “Suddenly, their eyes were opened and they recognized Him”.  And, as suddenly, He disappeared!

But that wasn’t the end of the story!  Upon recognizing Jesus, and after recovering from their shock, the two disciples rushed back to Jerusalem.  And I’m sure that now they were anxiously excited, rejoicing as they hurried along road just traveled, anxious to share this great news with the other disciples who were still in hiding in a locked in the room “for fear of the Jews”. 

When they arrived, in the very midst of this grieving and frightened bunch of disciples, trying to share their exciting news, Jesus Himself appears right in their midst!

He spoke to them, showed them His flesh-blood-and-bone resurrected body!  With love, He chastised them for their unbelief.  In verse 45, Luke records – “Then He opened their minds to understand the scripture”.

               Here is the key to praying for the peace of Jerusalem, for praying for all Jews everywhere!  “He opened their minds to understand the scriptures”! 

Our prayer for Israel today, and every day, should be that the Holy Spirit of the Living God will open the heart and minds of every Jewish person, in Israel and every part of the world, to understand the scriptures and to recognize that Jesus – Yeshua – is truly the Messiah for whom they have long waited.  This is the only way that true peace – God’s shalom – will come to Jerusalem and to Israel – or to any other part of this world.

Psalm 83  A song. A psalm of Asaph. It was the Holy Spirit of the Sovereign Lord that inspired Asaph to pray this prayer of deliverance for Israel perhaps 3,000 years ago!

Make this our prayer for the deliverance of Israel from all of its enemies, near and far, and for the peace of Jerusalem. LORD Your will to be done!

O God, do not be silent!  Do not be deaf. Do not be quiet, O God.

Don’t you hear the uproar of your enemies? (Not just in Israel or in the nations surrounding Israel but in every nation, including this nation!)  Don’t you see that your arrogant enemies (and all the influencers who incite and enflame) are rising up?

They devise crafty schemes against your people; (propagating, promoting lies and inciting unspeakable evil) they conspire against your precious ones.  “Come,” they say, “let us wipe out Israel as a nation.  We will destroy the very memory of its existence.”

Yes, this was their unanimous decision.

They signed a treaty as allies against you—

these (modern day) Edomites and Ishmaelites;Moabites and Hagrites; Gebalites, Ammonites, and Amalekites; and people from Philistia and Tyre.  Assyria has joined them, too, and is allied with the descendants of Lot. 

Do to them as you did to the Midianitesand as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River. (read again Judges 4 – Lord, as You have done in former times, deal severely to all who attempt to destroy Israel.)

They were destroyed at Endor, and their decaying corpses fertilized the soil.  Let their mighty nobles die as Oreb and Zeeb did. Let all their princes die (all those who follow Satan and carry out his war against You and against Your people) like Zebah and Zalmunna, for they said, “Let us seize for our own use these pasturelands of God!”

O my God, scatter them like tumbleweed, like chaff before the wind! As a fire burns a forest and as a flame sets mountains ablaze, chase them with your fierce storm; terrify them with your tempest.  Utterly disgrace them until they submit to your name, O Lord.

Let them be ashamed and terrified forever. Let them (all who refuse to bow before You) die in disgrace.  Then they will learn that you alone are called the Lord, that you alone are the Most High, supreme over all the earth.

In Jesus name, Your will be done in Israel and in all the earth!