Can you share some thoughts on the topic of Jerusalem?
This text is from a letter written by David Gooding in 1993.
Herewith, as you requested, are a few observations on the topic of Jerusalem.
Its historic significance (see 1 Chronicles 11)
When King David, after having been king over the two tribes, was eventually invited by the ten tribes to become king over all Israel, so uniting the nation when it had been divided for many years, it was a stroke of genius on his part to cement that unity by leading the armies of all Israel against Jebus, and turning it into a capital city for the whole united nation. Jebus had originally been conquered in the days of Joshua and Caleb; but before Israel could occupy it the Canaanites came back and they had lived there ever since. So, in that sense, Jebus had not been possessed by any particular tribe of Israel. It was, therefore, a city that could now be acknowledged by all the tribes as belonging to them all; whereas, if David had taken one of the already existing cities of Israel and exalted that to be the capital, it would have provoked jealousy on the part of the other tribes.
In providing the nation with this new capital city, David gave the nation a heart. Everybody in every tribe could feel that he or she belonged to this city and the city belonged to them. And, in addition, they called it the city of David because, at this stage in history, the other thing that held the nation together was their love and devotion to David as their God-appointed leader. They called Jerusalem, then, the city of the great King (see Psalm 48:2).
From that time onward the city of Jerusalem and the Davidic monarchy served as a centre and heart for the whole nation, until the nation divided once more at the time of Rehoboam of Judah and Jeroboam of Israel. From then onward it continued as a centre for the two tribes. Then, after the exile, it became once more the centre for Judaism, both in Palestine and throughout the widespread Diaspora. To this very present day, Jerusalem is the heart of worldwide Judaism, even for Jews who have no intention of going and living in Jerusalem.
The prophetic aspect
Because Jerusalem and its Davidic monarchy were not only the heart of Israel but also central to God's revealed purposes for the nation, it is understandable that the major prophets—such as Daniel (see ch. 9) and Ezekiel—concentrated a great deal of their prophecies on Jerusalem city. The destruction of Jerusalem and the apparent disappearance of the Davidic line raised enormous questions for those Jews who really believed in God and his unbreakable promises. By that same token, the promise of the restoration of Jerusalem city and of the Davidic monarchy were necessarily major planks in God's programme for restoration.
In Isaiah in particular, Jerusalem city is often addressed under the form of a woman or a mother, and distinction is made between the city qua city and her inhabitants, who are regarded as her children. Our Lord spoke in similar terms when he wept over Jerusalem city, and said 'How often would I have gathered thy children together...' (Matthew 23:37). His eventual prophecy that Jerusalem would be 'downtrodden of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled' (Luke 21:24) must, of course, be read against that background.
Jerusalem as a prototype of 'the Jerusalem above' (see Galatians 4:26)
Here once more is to be found the theme of Jerusalem as the centre of unity for all the people of God. Jew and Gentile, both justified on the grounds not of the law but of faith, are the true spiritual children of Sarah, who is a prototype of the Jerusalem that is above.
Hebrews 12 makes the point that, in the same sense as Israel coming to Mount Zion in the course of their wilderness journey before they entered into the promised land, so we, while we are still here on our earthly pilgrimage, can be described as having already come to the heavenly Jerusalem, and in a certain sense already have happy, sweet communion with those whose race is run.
The eternal city that shall come down out of heaven 'as a bride adorned for her husband' is said to be the new Jerusalem (see Revelation 21:2). This will be the great reality of which all other Jerusalems were but prototypes. This is the city that has the foundations, whose builder and maker is God. It is the city which Abraham looked for; and if, for a moment, we compare this with the life of Abraham and Sarah as expounded in Galatians 3 and 4, we see exemplified the basic principles of justification, covenant promise and inheritance by faith that will eternally form the basis and foundation of the great heavenly community.
The eternal city also has twelve gates, and on those gates are the names of the children of Israel. In the Genesis record of the life of Jacob we are told how his sons got their names, and we are also made aware of those experiences that are necessary to transform the Jacobs of this world into princes with God. It was Jacob who was given the vision of the gate of heaven, and when we remember that a gate in an Eastern city was not merely the entrance and the exit but the place where the elders sat to govern and administer the city, then the life of Jacob and the second half of the book of Genesis provide very understandable lessons on how the people of God must be trained to take up office with Christ in the government and administration of the universes of God throughout the ages of the ages.
Wild thoughts! But, like wild strawberries and blackberries, they can be mixed in with other better cultivated fruits to form an edible bite.
Greetings,
