Jerusalem

 

In Jeremiah 51:47-49 the prophet predicted the ruin of Babylon at the hands of the Medes and Persians. Before that happens, Judah will have been in Babylonian exile for 70 years. While there they were not to forget God. And so here, those that had not been slain by the sword of Babylon are told to “let Jerusalem come into your mind.” God also told Ezekiel, “Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem ” (21:2). The captive Jews longingly waited for the time when they could go back to their beloved city; it was to be in their minds. But the admonition to “let Jerusalem come into your mind” has some implications for God’s people today! No – not the literal city; it probably means little to us today except for historical interest. But the name “ Jerusalem ” is used in at least three different ways in the Bible. Let us look at them and be reminded that we too should “let Jerusalem come into your mind.”

First, there is the literal city. Some earliest mentions of are to be found is writings as far back as 1450 BC, where it is called Uru-salem, “city of Salem. Biblically it was formerly called Jebus  (Josh. 18:28 ). David had been anointed king and ruled from Hebron for the first seven years of his reign. He then took the city from the Jebusites and reigned from there another 33 years. It was in Jerusalem where Solomon built the temple, and was the city of a long line of the kings of Judah . Finally, because of Judah ’s idolatry and stubborn refusal to repent, God destroyed it, using the Babylonians. But this is not the Jerusalem we today should “let come into our mind!”

Jerusalem is used in another way in the Bible. The prophets looked to a new, spiritual kingdom under the Messiah, Jesus Christ. In Zechariah’s third vision (Zech. 2:1-5) he sees “ Jerusalem ” about to be measured! But the literal city did not have to be measured; it had well defined boundaries, surrounded by walls. But there was a “ Jerusalem ” that would be a city “without walls …” It would not need them, for God would be its protection. It would be a city whose “walls will be called Salvation, and thy gates peace” (Isa. 60:18). This “ Jerusalem ,” of course would be the kingdom of God under Christ; the church.  This  study  would be of a scope too vast to undertake in this short article. But we ask, “when do you let this Jerusalem come into your mind?” Is the only time you think of it on Sunday, or perhaps Wednesday night? Do you wonder during the week how things are going with it? Is your mind so filled with mundane things that no room is there for the kingdom of God ? And so we urge: “Let Jerusalem (the church) come into your mind.”

Finally, there is a third usage of the name in the Bible. “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name” (Rev. 3:12). This “new Jerusalem” is from heaven! See also Revelation 21:1-2, again a reference to heaven! Note the description of how it will be (Rev. 21:10). What is your mindset toward this great “ Jerusalem ” (heaven)? Is it some ethereal, far off place to merely dream about? Do we truly believe that such a place is real? Do we have Abraham’s attitude toward it – a “city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:10 ? In short, how often do we think about heaven; after all, that is where our citizenship is (Phil. 3:20 )!

And so we urge all: “Let Jerusalem come into your mind!” Don’t be so distracted by worldly things that there is no room in your mind for God’s great kingdom – either the church now or heaven later! That ought to occupy our minds above everything else!   - Bill Moseley