JERUSALEM, JERUSALEM - oh where, oh where is your peace?
JERUSALEM means 'city of peace', but it does not live up to its name.
Jerusalem is well accustomed to perennial unrest.
'God can no more forget Jerusalem than a mother can forget a child. (Isaiah 49:13-18)' ~ Don Carson
Is not the new Jerusalem the highest goal of all Christians?
In the New Testament book of Acts the gospel of Jesus the Christ saw Jerusalem as the hub from which the Apostles and disciples spread the Gospel.
Jesus entered Jerusalem as the 'messianic King', and proved it the 'holy city' - the city of salvation.
Jerusalem is the most significant city in world history. It shall survive time.
Jesus 'fought' satan above Jerusalem on the highest point of the Temple in His second temptation. (Matthew 4:5) Its own people brought false worship to the city three millennia ago. Upon the Temple Mount, the holiest site for the Jews, stands a Muslim mosque, but the time awaits when this Jerusalem shall be no more.
So, where is her peace? Is she mis-named? God forbid!
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven ... now the dwelling of God is with men ... I am making everything new ... nothing impure will ever enter it ... (extracts from Revelation 21)
The Last Word:
'The holy city, the new Jerusalem becomes the focal point for the existence of all the redeemed in the new heaven and new earth.' ~ Don Carson