A Passion for Jerusalem
My wedding band is the only piece of jewelry I wear daily. This simple gold band – free of adornment, inscription, or date – remains affixed to my hand 24-7-365.
Why? The ring’s constant presence signals my life-long unique covenant commitment to my wife. Yom Yerushalayim reminds us that God bears a similar reminder of His love for Jerusalem and desire for her flourishing.
For those unfamiliar with Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day), it’s an Israeli holiday and a minor Jewish religious holiday:
It is celebrated annually on 28 Iyar on the Jewish calendar (this year June 4-5).
It marks the reunification of Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War.
The original 1948 United Nations Partition Plan for the land created a Jewish state and Arab State (under Jordanian control) and made Jerusalem an international city. After 10 years the residents of Jerusalem were to vote on a referendum determining which country they would be a part of. But the War of Independence saw the Israelis take West Jerusalem and the Jordanians took East Jerusalem, the Old City, and the entire West Bank. Jordanians forced the Jewish people out of the West Bank and Jerusalem, destroying half of Jerusalem’s 58 synagogues. The Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives was desecrated, its headstones used for construction projects.
On June 7, 1967, during the Six Day War (fought against Egypt, Jordan, and Syria), Israel captured and reasserted national sovereignty over East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Standing at the Kotel (the Temple Mount’s Western Wall) Israeli Minister of Defense, Moshe Dyan, is quoted as saying:
This morning, the Israel Defense Forces liberated Jerusalem. We have united Jerusalem, the divided capital of Israel. We have returned to the holiest of our holy places, never to part from it again. To our Arab neighbors we extend, also at this hour – and with added emphasis at this hour – our hand in peace. And to our Christian and Muslim fellow citizens, we solemnly promise full religious freedom and rights.[1]
On July 30, 1980 the Knesset approved the Jerusalem Law calling the reunited city the capital of Israel, and in 1998 passed the Jerusalem Day Law, making the day a national holiday. The Chief Rabbinate of Israel declared Jerusalem Day a minor religious holiday to thank God for the victory in the Six-Day War and for answering the 2,000-year-old prayer of “Next year in Jerusalem.”
Under Israeli sovereignty Jerusalem remains the home of Jews, Muslims, and Christians who are free to worship as their consciences dictate.
As important as Yom Yerushalayim is today, its relevance transcends modern geopolitics – it reminds us that Jerusalem matters to God.
God’s loving commitment to Jerusalem is so intensely intimate He personifies it. In Isaiah, as Jerusalem reels from God’s righteous discipline and fears her ultimate abandonment, God speaks tender words of comfort and assurance to her:
Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. “Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me (Isaiah 49:14–16).
Under harsh enough circumstances, even a mother’s love for her child may be limited by her own need for survival. Not so God! Nothing can undermine His commitment. As a wedding band marks our commitment, so too God marked His hand as a reminder of His unfailing love for Jerusalem.
Why this over-the-top expression of commitment? The city of Jerusalem is at the center of God’s commitment to restore to humanity what we lost in the garden. A brief overview of Scripture makes this plain. Jerusalem is…
the center of Melchizedek’s priesthood and worship of God Most High (cf. Gen. 14:18, Ps. 72:6, Heb. 7 and 8).
the place where God provided for Abraham a ram in Isaac’s stead (Gen. 22:2, 2 Chron. 3:1).
the place God would choose to set His name and dwell among His people (Deut. 12:5, 11, 21, 14:23-24, 16:2, 6, 11, 26:2; 2 Chron. 7:12&ff).
the place of God’s Temple, His footstool and dwelling place (2 Chron. 7).
the place to which Messiah was brought for His circumcision and identification as the promised Messiah (Luke 2:22-38).
the place Yeshua’s necessary sacrificial death, burial and resurrection happened (Luke 9:22, 24:7).
the place from which Yeshua ascended to heaven and will return (Acts 1:4-11; cf. Zech. 14:4).
the place at which God’s Spirit was poured out and from which the gospel went out to the world (Acts 1:8, 2:1-4, 8:1, 11:19).
the place to which the nations will come to worship God in the future (Isa. 2:1-4, Jer. 3:17, Ezek. 14:16-19, et al.).
the place from which Messiah Jesus will reign over the earth bringing in a time of peace (Isa. 11:6, 65:25).
the ultimate dwelling place of Messiah in the new heavens and earth (Rev. 21-22).
the place God will glorify Himself through its ultimate blessing (Isa. 60:21).
We can confidently say that Jerusalem matters to God because it’s at the center of His plan to redeem the world. The peace we so crave now will only come through Messiah’s return and Jerusalem’s establishment as His dwelling place.
May Yom Yerushalayim find us, Jewish and Gentile followers of Messiah, rejoicing in Jerusalem. Not simply because it is back in Israel’s possession, but because it is at the heart of God’s gracious plan for humanity’s blessing.
Join the Life in Messiah family as watchmen on the wall who, “…All day and all night they will never keep silent. You who remind the Lord, take no rest for yourselves; And give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth” (Isaiah 62:6–7).
Let us adopt God’s passion for Jerusalem, asking Him daily to hallow His name through the establishment of His kingdom and will on earth (Matt. 6:9-10).
As we do, we will become so kingdom-minded we will be of earthly good!
Written by Dan, Life in Messiah board member
Want a quick refresher on Jerusalem’s history throughout the millennia? Check out this five-minute video: https://youtu.be/2mR2W43t6tI.
Since David captured Jebus and made it his capital (2 Samuel 5), Jewish people always inhabited Jerusalem except when occupying powers forbade them. See Psalm 137:4-6 as an example of Jewish longing for the Holy City.
As Jerusalem is once again reeling in pain due to the ongoing war, will you join us in praying for her peace? (See Psalm 122:6.)
Endnotes:
[1] https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/statement-at-the-western-wall-by-defense-minister-dayan accessed 5/16/24 9:31 EDT.