Psalm 122:6-9, “6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
"May those who love you be secure. 7 May there be peace within your walls
and security within your citadels."
8 For the sake of my brothers and friends,
I will say, "Peace be within you."
9 For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek your prosperity.”
We live in a world that is directly opposed to the things that would promote peace or would seek to understand the language of peace. Although our world desires peace and preaches it on the airwaves and byways the reality is that it is not peace. Peace can only exist when it comes in contact with a source, and the lack of a source is the problem that our world is sadly leading itself into the fiery pit. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, this is not an option we are given this is a command, pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
There is perhaps no greater thing wrong in Christianity today than our lack of acceptance of our Hebraic foundations. Some would like to say that the Law was totally done with and over with. Yet if that is true then we are not connected to Abraham through faith in Christ and thus deny the clear New Testament teaching of Paul in Galatians 3:23-29, “23But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
As we can see the modern view of opposing one’s biblical roots would be to directly deny the source from which our salvation came from. This is perhaps the greatest struggle with modern Christians today in the 21st century world that we live in. We would rather view our roots as abolished and done with, as the Law done with. Yet the conflict that would present in light of Romans 7:21-24, “21I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Are you starting to feel the heat of what is being said?
The opposition to Israel starts with Satan, and his hatred of the Jewish nation. Satan will seek to destroy the nation of Israel during the Tribulation and has since the dawn of time through chaos and confusion, in one shape or another has tried, deliberately to destroy God’s nation through persecution, killing, war and holocaust. Yet the Jewish nation has survived and the message of the Jewish nation goes forth to the world. In fact Jews live all around the world. I’m not advocating Judaism here, as a born again believer in Christ I believe firmly in Christ as my Lord and Savior but I have over the course of my young life, have been in all of the modern popular denominations who refuse to teach the reality of the truth that is being presented to you before. I am of course speaking of bible churches as well since they all claimed to be of biblical heritage. My only question to the American church and all those who will not pray for the peace of Israel is this in the form of a statement.
If you do not pray for the peace of Jersualem then you are not really seeking God’s face, for God stands on Israel side, for that is His nation, while discipline is His, it is not ours, our choice is to stand on Israel’s side, because our Lord does, because He loved the Jews and the message of the Gospel was first for the Jew and then the Gentile. Jesus was Jewish not Catholic, nor any other denomination. The problem that we are facing is not a new problem in Christianity or any other sect which claims the name of Christ.
The problem goes back to the early church in fact during the time of Paul’s writing of the Book of Romans. Romans 11:15-25, “ 15For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
16For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, 18do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19You will say then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in." 20Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.” 24For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
25For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.”
The heart of the Apostle’s argument lies in the resembling influence that Paul never saw the nation of Israel and the church whom Christ purchased with His own blood as separate, but cohesive. Since Jesus in Matthew 5:17-20 stated that the standard of the Law was fulfilled through Him, “"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” The reality is that now as Paul stated in Romans 7:21-24 earlier quoted now what we have to understand is that the intent of the Law is to lead us into a relationship with Christ. The intent of the Law through the working of the Holy Spirit then draws us towards Christ, not us to Christ, since no man can draw Himself towards God, for none has saught the face of God except those whom God has drawn to Himself and to Himself through faith in the blood of Jesus Christ which atones for the sins that humanity has occurred.
Yet since this is the case, that the standard of the Law through the blood atonement of Christ was fulfilled then we have a major problem with the modern view that the Christian church is presenting to the world. The problem is that is it just heresy and ought to be corrected because the reality is that we are leading those who come to faith, or who are in the faith astray from the very foundations of the faith from whence the church was founded upon as Christ as the Chief Shepherd, and bedrock of.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem is not a cushy statement it is a command to pray in obedience to God’s redemptive work within our world. It is not something that we should say, “Look I can do it another day.” It is something that we need to do today, more than ever we need to stand upon the foundations of our faith, for those very foundations are the one’s that the biblical bride of Christ are built upon, not the man made traditions that our church system is advocating today, but the reality that God through Christ reconciled the breech that existed so that we ourselves would fufill the one dream of which He himself did not fufill in direct relation to Himself. God gave us a dream that He wants fulfilled and that dream exists within the confines of unity in the Body of Christ.
Yet this dream is not based upon the understanding of false religion that puffs ups itself, it is built upon the Word of God, and not the man made Word of God either that is propagated throughout these Christian sites online, but the real powerful Word that is able to liberate souls from bondage and give them the peace that suprasses all understanding. What the Christian church needs to understand more than ever is that the reality and our focus has gone amiss into the fabrics of paganism and selfish pride. We want a “Word from the Lord”, well the Word of the Lord is not being wielded as a Sword but as a lamb who goes to battle only then to be slain, but the reality is that if the Word of the Lord is a Sword and the Sword of the Lord is the Word of God, since Christ is the Word of God, then something is direly wrong with our system don’t you think?
If the Word of God is able to piece marrow and flesh then why not the hearts of those who call themselves prophets yet don’t really preach the prophetic message of the Lord that He has in this day and age through the understanding and nature of the Word of God? I am telling you that many prophets are merely false prophets who want to tickle your errors who have no bible understanding. I will name names here including the Elijah list with its seemingly endless prophecies on almost every subject that affects society. This popular Christian online list not only is false but the mere fact that it supposed prophets proclaim a merely daily toast to a word of knowledge ought to bring into question the validity of its message itself.
If you really want to adopt the attitude of Christ then do it, don’t play games for the Word of the Lord is piercing and able to penetrate to the heart of the matter. If I were something then the Lord would not use me in the way that He has placed me in the operation of the giftings He has placed within me to edify His Body. Please understand me, I am not against prophecy, for I believe firmly in prophets, and prophecy in relation to today, in fact God has used me throughout my lifetime in the Prophetic function and office which He has bestowed upon me. Yet it is not about me, or anything it is surely about the Lord and His Word to His people. If your called to preach, don’t preach the message of conformity, preach the Word of the Lord which dwells in the sacrifice and death of Christ sacrifice, that it is only through His blood sacrifice that we can be made right and thus sanctified able to enter into a personal relationship with His Son Jesus Christ.
Going back to praying for the peace of Jerusalem, it all connects. When we understand that the Law’s standard thus fulfilled by Christ then we can understand that the intent of the Law is to draw us towards Christ, and towards Christ so that we can grow in Christ, and thus accept the fact that as believers in Messiah we are then grated by faith into Israel by faith in Christ as Abraham, as our spiritual father. It is not a conversion it is an acceptance of one’s heritage as you would be Norwegian, Irish, or whatever nation your ancestors came from. Your spiritual ancestry resides within Christ, and not within the man made system that is proclaim a false gospel of conformity.
As Gentiles we are the branches and Israel is the Olive Tree of which the Apostle Paul speaks of in Romans 11:15-25, “ 15For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
16For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, 18do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19You will say then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in." 20Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.” 24For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
25For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.”
The root of our faith is Christ whose sacrifice made it possible for us as Gentiles to come into the Olive tree which is Israel. Yet the reality is that if we want to claim spiritual ancestry going back to Abraham as Paul states in Galatians 3:29, “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” The promise was this that through faith in Christ we are grafted into Israel which according to Paul then would be the mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” It is significant that Paul usage the expression that he did in the quoted verse previously because in many ways the church has become ignorant because it refuses flat out to accept its roots and adopt the nature of which Christ wishes, and to which the Apostle Paul pleaded with the Roman believers to adopt.
There is much talk these days in scholarly circles and in non-scholarly circles as well in the modern Messianic movement, as to who is right on this topic. In fact we can clearly see from the above that it is impossible for one to be a Christian and call himself a “Baptist, Pentecostal, or any other denomination”, because denominations in themselves view themselves as a system apart from the true church of which Christ Himself purchased and it is only through His blood that it is then possible for us as the Body of Christ called to faith through the Word of God, brought near by the Blood sacrifice of the Passover Lamb the Lord Jesus, that it is possible even for us to have this conversation today and enjoy the eternal life of which He has offered to us.
It is only then appropriate to see us either as Gentiles those who have come to faith in Christ apart from being Jewish, but still then inherit the promise according to promise given to Abraham, that his seed would be as Genesis 15:5-8 states, “5No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. 6I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. 7And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. 8Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God." Or then as Jews who already have the promise yet accept the Messiah’s sacrifice and become completed Jews.
The reality is that in light of what we have seen from God’s Word that we ought to pray for the peace of Israel, because that is where our faith’s heritage is spiritually and where God promised Abraham, the promise to which through the blood sacrifice of Christ; we now have and are then able to enter into as a result of Christ’s sacrifice and as our model then Abraham’s obedience causing us to have a model so as to reflect the nature of obedience of which God desired and had with Adam in the Garden of Eve.
What we have then seen today is important in retrospect. What we have seen is that in praying for the peace of Jerusalem, what we are in effect doing is elminating the bunds that man has put in place in terms of denominations. God’s Word is not a respector of denominations as we have seen today. God is not interested in what we can do through religious institutions, but in what we do and how we handle His holy name, and His sacrifice.
As believers in Messiah, we ought to have an interest in the affairs of Israel, because it is God’s nation, and as believers in Christ then we are also grafted into that nation and adopted spiritually as Jews as again the Apostle Paul stated in Romans 2:25-29, “ 25 For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? 27And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? 28For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.”
May our focus no longer be upon the denominations that we belong too, but to our spiritual heritage, and may we all I plead with you as your brother in Christ, pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and break down the barriers that separate us through denominations so that we can fulfill the prayer of Jesus in John 17:20-23, “20 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will[1] believe in Me through their word; 21that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.” So that, as Jesus said in Matthew 24:14, “14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” May our focus be upon the Word of God, and may its truth pierce us this day and everyday as He seeks to guide us as our Messiah said in John 14:26-31, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. 27Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 28You have heard Me say to you, "I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said,[5] "I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I. 29"And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. 30I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. 31But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.” So that we as believers would do, John 15:17, “17These things I command you, that you love one another.”
May we all my prayer is do Psalm 122:6-9, “6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
"May those who love you be secure. 7 May there be peace within your walls
and security within your citadels."
8 For the sake of my brothers and friends,
I will say, "Peace be within you."
9 For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek your prosperity.” Thus in doing, so may we honor and glorify the Lord who gave up His life, so that in Him we could have life itself everlasting and rejoice in Him.
May God bless you all with a fresh revelation of His love for you today. Know that I am praying for each one of you everyday.
Praying for the peace of Jerusalem,
Pastor Jenkins
