The Lord's Care For Jerusalem

The focus of this charter is the promises the Lord made to Israel. The burden of the word of the Lord is a prediction. It is like a weight that will be pressed upon the people, and will be very pressing to all the enemies of Israel, like the talent of lead in chapter five verses seven and eight. For Israel it is for their comfort and benefit.

The purpose of this chapter is to assure the people the Lord has both the authority to make these

promises and the ability to fulfill them. He is the Creator of the world and the Creator of mankind. He has an incontestable irresistible dominion. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain and keeps them in their place and will do so till the end of time when the heavens shall be rolled together like a scroll. He lays the foundation of the earth and keeps it firm and fixed on its own basis, or rather on its own axis, though it is founded on the seas (Psalm 24:1-2), though it is hung upon nothing (Job 26:7). He is the ruler and the judge of earth and its inhabitants. Those who say “The Lord has forsaken the earth deceive themselves. If He forsakes the earth it would sink into outer space. He forms the spirit of man within him. He fashions the hearts of mankind and they are in His hand. He casts them into what mold He pleases so He can serve His own purposes with them.

From the time of her creation, the enemies of God and His kingdom bear a great deal of malice and ill-will to Jerusalem, and are determined to destroy her. But they are preparing ruin for themselves. The Lord declares, “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around.” The enemies of the Lord and His people believe the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah will be like a cup of wine which they can easily and with great pleasure drink. But,

Jerusalem will be like a cup of poison. In that day the Lord, “will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.”

Throughout the ages there has been a succession of enemies making war upon Israel and the Church. Those that are for keeping up and advancing the kingdom of sin in the world look upon Jerusalem and the Church as the great obstacle to their designs, and their goal is the destruction of both, but they will find it harder to do than they think. God will have a church in this world in spite of them. The church will outlast her enemies because she is built upon a rock. The stone, cut out of the mountain without hands will not only keep it, but it will fill the earth (Daniel 2:35). It

will break into pieces all who oppose it as the stone smote the image (Daniel 2:35).

Those that make a jest of religion, and sacred things, will find them a burdensome stone. They will bring upon themselves an insupportable sinking load of guilt. Our Savior seems to allude to these words when he speaks of Himself as a burdensome stone to those that will not have Him for their foundation stone, which shall “fall upon them and grind them to power” (Matthew 21:44).

Verse four - “In that day, declares the Lord, I will strike every horse with bewilderment and his

rider with madness. But I will watch over the house of Judah, while I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.”

The Lord promised “In that day,” when the people of the earth are gathered together against Jerusalem He will make the horses of the enemy unsuitable for service. The horses and their riders shall both forget the military exercise to which they were trained, and, instead of keeping ranks they shall both grow mad, and destroy themselves. Israel’s army will overcome the enemy’s cavalry; and those who put their trust in their military power shall be frustrated. Jerusalem will be re-peopled and replenished (verse 6). The natives of Jerusalem will not incorporate in a colony in some other country, and build a city there and call it Jerusalem and see the promises the Lord has made to them fulfilled there. They shall have a new Jerusalem upon the same foundation, the same spot of ground, with the old one. They will be able to defend

themselves, and yet shall be under divine protection. The Lord Himself will defend, not only Jerusalem but every inhabitant of it. He will not only be a wall of fire about the city to fortify it but He will encompass particular persons with His favor as with a shield so that no part of the besiegers shall touch them. He does this by giving them strength and courage to help themselves.