01-29-06-Missions for A New Year
Israel, what is it about this small piece of ground in the Middle East that attracts us to it? What makes the city of Jerusalem so beautiful? We have all seen pictures of Jews gathered at the Western (Wailing) Wall. What does that mean to us in 2006? We just saw how God is working through Dugit ministries in Tel Aviv to reach the Jews and Arabs with the message that Yeshua (Jesus) is their Messiah. Today I want to look at why we support this ministry personally and as a church and why I love Israel and her people.
Psalm 122:6-7
(NIV) Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.”
(NASB) Pray for the apeace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who blove you. “May peace be within your awalls, And prosperity within your bpalaces.”
(NLT) Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May all who love this city prosper
(KJV) Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.
(NCV) Pray for peace in Jerusalem: “May those who love her be safe.
(ESV) Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! “May they be secure who love you!
The very first thing we are told to do in this verse is to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Regardless of your political persuasions, as a Christ-follower we have the responsibility to pray for Israel. This is not an option but a command from God. The verb that is used here is an imperative, which means it is a command. It is like saying to your dog, “Sit!”. You expect the dog to obey and sit down. God expects His people—Jew and Gentile—to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
Not only is there the imperative in this word, but there is the imploring us to pray. We should ask God to bless His people. God loves His people and anything God loves we should love. Therefore, because of our love for God, we should pray for His people. In fact, this verse ends by saying there is a blessing for those who love His people—but more about that later.
Pray 7592 שָׁאַל, שְׁאָלָה [sha’al, sha’el /shaw·al/] v. A primitive root; TWOT 2303; GK 8626 and 8628; 173 occurrences; AV translates as “ask” 94 times, “enquire” 22 times, “desire” nine times, “require” seven times, “borrow” six times, “salute” four times, “demand” four times, “lent” four times, “request” three times, “earnestly” twice, “beg” twice, and translated miscellaneously 16 times. 1 to ask, enquire, borrow, beg. 1a (Qal). 1a1 to ask, ask for. 1a2 to ask (as a favour), borrow. 1a3 to enquire, enquire of. 1a4 to enquire of, consult (of deity, oracle). 1a5 to seek. 1b (Niphal) to ask for oneself, ask leave of absence. 1c (Piel). 1c1 to enquire, enquire carefully. 1c2 to beg, practise beggary. 1d (Hiphil). 1d1 to be given on request. 1d2 to grant, make over to, let (one) ask (successfully) or give or lend on request (then) grant or make over to.[i]
We are not praying for trivial things, but for God to give His people His peace. When we think of peace, we think of an absence from war. Granted, Israel would welcome such an absence of hostilities with the Palestinians and Arab nations. But the Hebrew word for peace, “Shalom”, is a powerful word that has much more meaning in it than just the stopping of hostilities. It means “welfare, harmony, safety, health, wholeness, soundness, tranquility, contentment, prosperity, completeness, fulfillment”. It is the primary word used in the Hebrew language as a greeting—much as we would say, “I Hope everything is going well for you!” Expecting that everything about you is going well. To greet someone with “Shalom” is to wish them the very best for them and their family. It means that you desire for them to walk in God’s blessings.
Peace 7965 שָׁלֹום [shalowm, shalom /shaw·lome/] n m. From 7999; TWOT 2401a; GK 8934; 236 occurrences; AV translates as “peace” 175 times, “well” 14 times, “peaceably” nine times, “welfare” five times, “salute + 7592” four times, “prosperity” four times, “did” three times, “safe” three times, “health” twice, “peaceable” twice, and translated miscellaneously 15 times. 1 completeness, soundness, welfare, peace. 1a completeness (in number). 1b safety, soundness (in body). 1c welfare, health, prosperity. 1d peace, quiet, tranquility, contentment. 1e peace, friendship. 1e1 of human relationships. 1e2 with God especially in covenant relationship. 1f peace (from war). 1g peace (as adjective).[ii]
There is an interesting play on words in this verse. Jerusalem means the city of peace. Its name comes from the word for peace” shalom” (salem). So we are to pray that the city of peace will be what its name means—a city of peace. Unfortunately, Jerusalem has been a city of great turmoil and trouble most of its days—especially today, when it is a divided city. So we need to ask God to bring peace to this troubled city.
“Ultimately, to pray for the peace of Jerusalem is to pray that the Prince of Peace (Jesus) will soon establish His kingdom upon this earth with Jerusalem as His Capital (Isa 62; Zech 2).”[iii]
At the end of the verse, there is a blessing pronounced upon those who pray for the peace of Jerusalem. It is that we may prosper. Now, this is not talking about money. The true meaning of the word that is used for prosper is “safety, security, rest, being at ease.” This does not mean that if we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, we will automatically become rich. No, what it means is that we will have the rest, safety, and security of knowing that we are in agreement with God about His people.
Prosper 7951 שָׁלָה [shalah, shalav /shaw·law/] v. A primitive root; TWOT 2392; GK 8922; Five occurrences; AV translates as “prosper” three times, “safety” once, and “happy” once. 1 to be at rest, prosper, be quiet, be at ease. 1a (Qal). 1a1 to be or have quiet. 1a2 to be at ease, prosper.[iv]
Gen 12:2 (NIV) I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Galatians 3:8-9 (NIV) The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9 So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
God told Abram that He would bless those who blessed him and curse those who cursed him. All of history bears out that this is true. No country could stand against Israel when God was on their side (see the book of Joshua, 6 Day War, etc). I will be bold to say that I believe one of the reasons America has been such a great nation is because she has stood with Israel. Woe unto America if we turn our back on Israel! Let’s be honest, would we rather be on God’s side or against Him? In the words of Joshua, “…choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, . . . But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (John 24:15 NIV).
(REW) Pray (ask God) for the peace (shalom) of Jerusalem (the city of peace): they will be at ease (at rest) who love God’s people.
Why do we support Israel personally and as a church? Because, we believe that to bless God’s people is one way to show that we love God. We have been commanded to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (and all of Israel, I might add). As we do so, we will be at ease because we will know that we are on God’s side.
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a Ps 29:11; Jer 29:7
b Ps 102:14
a Ps 51:18; Is 62:6
b Ps 48:3, 13; Jer 17:27
v v: verb
TWOT Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament
GK Goodrick-Kohlenberger
AV Authorized Version
[i]Strong, J. (1996). The exhaustive concordance of the Bible : Showing every word of the test of the common English version of the canonical books, and every occurence of each word in regular order. (electronic ed.) (H7592). Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship.
n n: noun
m m: masculine
TWOT Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament
GK Goodrick-Kohlenberger
AV Authorized Version
[ii]Strong, J. (1996). The exhaustive concordance of the Bible : Showing every word of the test of the common English version of the canonical books, and every occurence of each word in regular order. (electronic ed.) (H7965). Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship.
[iii]KJV Bible commentary. 1997, c1994. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
v v: verb
TWOT Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament
GK Goodrick-Kohlenberger
AV Authorized Version
[iv]Strong, J. (1996). The exhaustive concordance of the Bible : Showing every word of the test of the common English version of the canonical books, and every occurence of each word in regular order. (electronic ed.) (H7951). Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship.