Psalms 122:5-7 For thrones are set there for judgment, The thrones of the house of David. 6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you. 7 Peace be within your walls, Prosperity within your palaces.”
Last week, we discussed the significance of Jerusalem in the culmination of the age. Here, we’ll continue to scratch that surface. The word “Jerusalem” is so rich with meaning that a single devotion will only begin to unpack it; there are so many etymological approaches. But most agree that the root letters at the end, שלם (shalem) spell a Hebrew word requiring numerous English words to fully comprehend including, “perfect”, “complete”, “sound”, “whole”, “harmony”, “peace”, etc. In addition, the concept of payment is present, as לשלם (leshalem), “to pay”, also suggests “reward”.
There are two options of meaning for the letters at the beginning of the name, Yerushalayim, “ירה” (yara, with the letter “hey” ה at the end), means “to throw, cast, or shoot; to cause (cast) a particular effect or result by means of many small elements or impulses”, (e.g. arrows, words, instructions, raindrops, etc.)”. From this, we infer that Jerusalem is a place where peace, wholeness, fulfillment, and completion (shalom) are cast or released (yara) through a patient, repetitive process of instruction, a softening produced by a “rainfall” of God’s word, or a piercing of sin and ignorance by “arrows” (of truth), etc. These processes describe the spiritual history and unique identity of Jerusalem, a central place of God’s self-revelation. Also, this name testifies that the first appearance of the Prince of Peace (Sar Shalom) there was preceded by an extended process of patient and repeated prophetic revelation cast over centuries.
An alternative root beginning the name “Yerushalayim”, ירא (yara’ with “aleph”, (א) instead of “hey” (ה), means “to revere”, “to give heed”, “to be in awe”, or “to fear”. In this case, the name “Jerusalem” carries an exhortation to heed, revere, or be in awe of (Yara) perfection, wholeness, and peace (shalom) and, therefore, God Himself, who is the Author of all these. Both of these beginning roots express true characteristics of the “Holy City”.
Additionally, within “Yerushalayim”, we find the Hebrew word “Yerusha”, meaning “inheritance”, the legal transfer of property across generations. This makes reference to the verses above concerning judgment and prosperity. In Jerusalem, there are thrones of judgment set in the house of David [Ps. 122:5]. Here, we see a prophetic reference to the judgment seat of Christ, David’s royal successor, Yeshua (Jesus). At His throne, all the works of men will be judged, assessed, and rewarded with an inheritance in the age to come [Romans 14:10; 2 Corinthians 5:10]. Yerushalayim thus holds a promise for prospering as believers who, understanding its significance, serve faithfully and endure to become co-heirs with Messiah and reign with Him [Romans 8:17; 2 Timothy 2:12 ]. Finally, “May they prosper who love you”, [verse 6], reaffirms the prosperous reward for all who love and appreciate YHVH’s Holy City and its purpose in history and eternity.
So much of the Gospel message of Messiah is found in the name of the city where it happened, Jerusalem. Here, the raindrops, the water of God’s Word, repeatedly and patiently fell onto both the fertile and fallow soil of men’s hearts. Here YHVH’s prophetic “arrows” repeatedly pierced both the tender and hardened hearts of men, in the hope of repentance for acceptance in God’s Kingdom. Here, the awesome nature of God Himself was revealed in His Word and Personal Image, Yeshua the Messiah. Finally, in Yerushalayim, perfect redemption and peace with humankind were fulfilled and completed by the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Yet, before this took place, Yeshua gave a final word to His beloved Jerusalem; “You shall see me no more until you say, ‘Baruch haba b’shem Adonai’, (‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD’) [Matthew 23:37-39], a most serious word of warning and hope in light of His rejection by Israel. In this light, praying for the peace of Jerusalem takes on a dimension of significance that includes Israel’s final redemption and acceptance of their Messiah and becomes a “last days” participation in the Lord’s eternal purposes, with the expectation of rejoicing with Him for Israel’s salvation and the fulfillment of Jerusalem’s eternal destiny.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]As we discussed last week, the word for “sign” in ancient Hebrew is “oht”. It was used in Genesis to designate God’s covenant sign with Noah, (the rainbow). And we see now the same word again, in Exodus, identified with the deliverance of the Jewish people from the tenth plague, when the angel of death passed through all Egypt to strike the firstborn. Anyone under the “sign” of the blood was spared.
Yesterday we wrote about one of the greatest moves of God … the Moravian Revival. When the community was in complete disarray, Count Zinzendorf focused on how they could live together in love despite their differences. He called all the men together for an intense study of the Scriptures to focus on how Christian life in community was portrayed. These studies combined with intense prayer convinced many of the believers that they were called to live together in love and that their disunity and conflict were contrary to the clear calling of Scripture.
In the late 1800s, an awakening in South Africa led by Andrew Murray was a powerful move of God. Studying that revival yields essential insights concerning the events occurring now throughout the United States. As the spirit of God began to move in Cape Town, Murray compared the SA revival with past experiences of revivals in Europe. He decided that the intense “emotionalism” was a false experience of God and charged in to break up the meeting. Stepping out of the church, he encountered his father standing and weeping. His father rebuked Andrew, “How dare you stop something that I have prayed to happen for 30 years!”
Revivals, that is, genuine Divinely ordained seasons of the activity of God among men, have a universally unusual character. Normal activities and behaviors give way to the tangible influence of God’s Holy Spirit, whose inspiration brings a freedom of expression, emotion, conviction, worship, and other variations from normal experience.
During the Catholic inquisitions, as millions of Christians were being killed by the Jesuit Priests for apostasy, throughout Europe, Christians were fleeing. In Bohemia alone, there were an estimated 4,000,000 Christians before the Jesuit inquisition, and ten years later, only 800,000 people remained in Bohemia – all of whom were Catholic. These terrible events prepared the ground for one of the greatest moves of God that have ever been recorded, the Moravian Revival, which lasted for over 100 years. Gustav Warneck, the German Historian of Protestant Missions, testified, “This small church in twenty years called into being more missions than the whole Evangelical Church has done in two centuries.”
I love to study past revivals and in studying them, there are two recurring themes that stand out:
First, that He has often used obscure and unknown individuals to lead revivals, and that even these men whom He used so powerfully never considered themselves to be “special”, but often wanted to stay out of the limelight.
During the Great Depression, poverty swept across America like a whirling tornado, ripping up dreams and scattering hopes to the wind. One such poverty twister hit a small part of Texas where a man named Yates ran a sheep ranch. Struggling even to keep food on the table, Yates and his wife did all they could to survive. Finally, they had to accept a government subsidy or lose their home and land to the creditors.