To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Jerusalem Today and Tomorrow
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Sat, 21 Oct 2000 09:50:23 -0500

--- Forwarded message follows---

To: UMJCWeeklytorah@egroups.com
From: "Sam Richardson" <samr@umjc.org>
Subject: [UMJCWeeklytorah] Sukkot, 5761

JERUSALEM TODAY AND TOMORROW

Zechariah 14 Sukkot 5761

When we remove the Torah from the ark during our morning services, we
recite the words Ki mitzion tetse Torah, ud'var Adonai mirushalayim
-"for out of Zion shall go forth the Torah, and the word of the LORD
from Jerusalem." With these words we receive the Torah, prophetically
enacting the day when all nations will receive God's instruction from
his capital in Jerusalem.

And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the
LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and
shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it.
And many people shall go and say, Come let us go up to the mountain
of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us
his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go
forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:2-3)

In the haftarah reading for the first day of Sukkot, Zechariah also
sees a vision of Jerusalem as the locus of divine sovereignty over
all the earth, the source of universal blessing. "And it shall be in
that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem ... And the
LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day the LORD shall be
one, and his name one" (14:8-9).

This destiny is rooted Jerusalem's very beginnings. The Temple Mount
of today's news is Mount Moriah (2 Chron. 3:1), where Abraham bound
Isaac as an offering. When the LORD provided the ram as a substitute,
he laid the foundation for the entire sacrificial system that would
be established there. Abraham named the place Adonai-Yireh, the Lord
sees, or shall be seen. The mount is the place where God will reveal
Himself. Yireh, according to the Midrash (Genesis Rabbah 56:10), was
combined with the older place-name Shalem (Genesis 14:18) to make
Yerushalayim -Jerusalem. Torah designates this as the place for
sacrifices to be offered, the place where three times a year,
including Sukkot, all the males of Israel were to gather before the
LORD. In the restoration of all things, Jerusalem will again be the
place of revelation, not just for Israel, but for all nations.

But before Zechariah unfolds his vision of Jerusalem tomorrow, he
seems to describe Jerusalem today. In light this week's events, it is
difficult to ignore the words Zechariah 12:2 that Jerusalem would
become a "cup of trembling" to all the peoples around it. Today's
struggle involves the whole land of Israel, but it is clearly a
struggle over Jerusalem, the insoluble issue of the peace process.

One Israeli Messianic Jewish leader sent out this report immediately
after Yom Kippur:

The unity that we were experiencing in our fellowship was in stark
contrast to what was going on in the city of Jerusalem and in the
Land of Israel all around us. Just one mile away from our place of
worship there were outbursts of hate and violence that this city has
not known for over fifty years or even more.

The demon of nationalistic hate has been released on both sides. It
is an ugly hate that shouts slogans like, 'death to the Jews' and on
the other side, 'death to the Arabs.' It is an ugly thing to burn
synagogues and mosques. It is an ugly thing to shoot at residential
areas with intent to kill as many Jews as possible. We heard orders
given on the Palestinian Television station to go out and kill Jews
and make the body count rise because this is the only way that the
El-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem, Jaffa, Haifa, and the whole land of
Palestine can be Arab again.

Jerusalem tomorrow is the source of universal blessing; Jerusalem
today is the cup of trembling. The two Jerusalems are intrinsically
related: because Jerusalem tomorrow is the locus of divine rule,
Jerusalem today is the locus of great strife. The promise of God's
rule galvanizes opposition on a cosmic level, opposition that would
seek to delay the fulfillment of the kingdom of God.

The skyline of modern Jerusalem recounts this story. The Roman defeat
of Jerusalem in 70 CE was not complete until troops ascended the
Temple Mount, the ancient heart of Jerusalem, gained control of it,
and leveled the temple. The Mount was laid bare as a sign of Israel's
defeat ... and of Roman supremacy over any claim of divine
sovereignty. The Temple Mount laid waste was a continuing sign to
Israel that they and their God had been subjugated to Rome.

For a time, a Roman temple stood on the Temple Mount, but after the
Christianization of the Empire in the fourth century, it lay bare
again. A new focal point was created, the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre. This structure enshrined the site of the crucifixion and
resurrection of the Messiah, and it dominated the entire city,
redefining Jerusalem. In the eyes of the Church, Jerusalem was no
longer significant as the city of the Great King, from which he would
rule in a future millennial reign, but only as the site of the
passion of Christ, which ended the significance of Israel and the
Jewish people forever. The Church that was born through that passion
now saw itself as embodying the Kingdom of God. The Church of the
Holy Sepulcher replaced the Temple Mount in the theology of the times
and in the very appearance of the city.

The Muslim conquest of Jerusalem in the seventh century changed its
appearance again. The Church symbolized its replacement of the old
Israel by leaving the Temple Mount forsaken and raising up a new
center. Islam symbolized its triumph over Israel and the Church by
building a its own shrine upon the Temple Mount, the Dome of the
Rock, which has dominated the skyline ever since.

The Jewish restoration to the land of Israel did not remove the Dome
as the focal point of the Old City, but it brought it under Jewish
rule, an intolerable anomaly to the Muslims. And it re-ignited the
ancient conflict over the holy city, which is at its root a conflict
over the Kingdom of God. The most recent outbreak of violence began
after Israel's opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the Temple
Mount. Sharon's visit in turn was precipitated by Arab attempts to
gain sovereignty over the Temple Mount. Underlying the political
struggle is the ancient cosmic struggle against God's purposes for
Jerusalem tomorrow.

How are we to respond? David's plea, and the attendant promise, still
stand: "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May they prosper who love
you" (Psalm 122:6). We may ask, however, how we can pray for peace
when the scriptures foretell war. Does not Zechariah declare that the
Lord "will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle" (14:2)?

The answer is two-fold. First, prayer is our responsibility; the
timing of the end of this age is God's. We are to pray for peace, not
only for Jerusalem, but as Paul instructs, "I exhort first of all
that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be
made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may
lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence" (1
Tim. 2:1-2). Second, we are to pray for shalom, the peace from above
that brings wholeness, restoration, and order. We hope that there
will be a temporary peace in response to our prayers, but we hold to
the greater hope that Messiah the prince of peace will appear. It is
he alone who can bridge the gap between Jerusalem today and Jerusalem
tomorrow.

(c) 2000, Russ Resnik, rebrez@Adat-Yeshua.org

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