Download B. Prayer with a `Specific Purpose`

THE BATTLE FOR
JERUSALEM
DATE: 9/12/10 am
TEXT: Psalm 122:1-9 (v.6)
INTRODUCTION:
When medieval mapmakers drew up their maps of the then
known world,
They placed Jerusalem at the center
In the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, there is
an inscription that reads, “This is the center of the earth”
An ancient Jewish rabbi wrote:
“As the navel is set in the center of the human body,
so is the land of Israel the navel of the world…
situated in the center of the world, and Jerusalem in the
center of the land of Israel…”
Both the medieval mapmakers and the Jewish writers were
right when they said Israel and Jerusalem are the center of
the world
The Bible says in Ezekiel 5:5 - “Thus saith the Lord God;
This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations
and countries that are round about her”
The Battle for Jerusalem Psalm 122:1-9
Not only is Israel and Jerusalem the center of the world,
But they have been the focus of the world’s attention for
years
When you pick up your newspaper, the headlines have
something to say about Israel and the Middle East
Each evening, they are on all the news networks
The question that I want to ask and try to answer is,
“What is going on in Israel?”
Over the years I have watched with interest, the efforts to
bring peace to the Middle East
I have listened to the talk shows and what people are
saying about the situation
I’m convinced that most of the so-called experts are
missing what the real issue in the Middle East is
The issue is more than Political, It’s Theological
So, what is going on in Israel and the Middle East?
The answer to that question is simple and straightforward
There is “A Battle for Jerusalem!”
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Because of these events that have been unfolding in Israel
and the attention it is getting
I felt led to try and help folks understand a little better
what is going on and what is behind it all
To start, let me say that the primary source for my
information is the Bible
I believe that the only way you can truly understand what
is happening, is to see what the Bible says about the
situation
The Bible is the foremost authority on the past, present,
and future of Israel and the city of Jerusalem
So, in order to really understand what is happening and
what will happen, the Bible must serve as our guide
It would be impossible for me to say, all that should be said,
in just one sermon
However, I believe we can look at our text, Psalm 122:6 and
form a basic understanding of what is going on
Let’s pray and look at what I’ve titled
“THE BATTLE FOR JERUSALEM”
~~~OPENING PRAYER~~~
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First let’s look at I. THE “PRAYER ASKED FOR”
In most Bibles you will find a heading to Psalm 122 with
this inscription: “A Song of degrees of David”
This indicates that David is the author of the Psalm
It was David that had established Jerusalem as the Holy
City of the Hebrew people when he took the city from the
Jebusites
In Psalm 122, he writes of the beloved city of the Jewish
people, and asks that prayer be offered for it
Let me point out a couple of things about the prayer for
which David asks
First, it’s:
A. Prayer for a ‘Special Place’
God says things about Jerusalem that He does not say
about any other city
For example:
In Psalm 48:2 God calls Jerusalem –
“the city of the great King”
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In Isaiah 48:2 God calls Jerusalem –
“the holy city”
In Psalm 46:4 God distinguishes the city from all
others and calls it –
“the city of God”
The most important city in the world is not
Washington, New York, London, Paris, or Moscow
It’s Jerusalem!
WHY?
It is the city of the great King
It is the Holy City
It is the city of God
It’s these characteristics that make it the most important
city in the world (past, present, and future)
In Psalm 122 David spoke of the importance of the city
to the Jewish people
First, he speaks of the ‘Spiritual’ Significance
He describes the city in v.4 as the place –
“Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of THE
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LORD, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks
unto the name of the Lord”
Jerusalem was place where the House of the Lord
was built
This was the place where they came yearly to
worship and offer sacrifices to God
He also speaks of the ‘Political’ Significance
He says in v.5 - “For there are set thrones of
judgment, the thrones of the house of David”
What Washington, D.C. means to the United States
of America …
Jerusalem meant to the Jewish people
It was in Jerusalem that Israel’s king sat on the
throne and justice was administered
When David asks for prayer for the city of Jerusalem,
He was asking for prayer for a place that was very
special
To himself
To the Jewish people
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And to God
The prayer that is asked is for a ‘Special Place’
Furthermore, I want to point out that he was asking for:
B. Prayer with a ‘Specific Purpose’
Effective prayer always has specifics in mind
David is doing more than just asking the people to
pray
He is asking them specifically to pray for Jerusalem
The word “pray” that is used,
Describes the kind of prayer that is earnest and has a
specific request in mind
As the king and as the national leader, David sends
forth the plea, “Pray for Jerusalem” (a plea that even
reaches to us today)
He is asking specifically, that specific prayer be offered
for the city of Jerusalem
Yet, we see that his request for prayer was even more
specific than just praying for Jerusalem
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He asks that prayer be offered for “the peace of
Jerusalem”
The name Jerusalem means, “city of shalom” or
“city of peace”
He is asking that we pray for peace in the city of
peace
THE “PRAYER ASKED FOR”
David’s request for the peace of Jerusalem leads us to a
second thought
II. THE “PEACE ABSENT IN”
From a human perspective, if ever there was a city with an
inappropriate name, it is the city of Jerusalem
As I said earlier, Jerusalem means city of peace
Throughout history, Jerusalem has been anything but a city
of peace
Jerusalem may be a city that has had its share of Glory,
But it is also a city that has had its share of Grief
Instead of a city of Tranquility, its history has largely been
one of Turmoil
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It was David looking through the eyes of God and seeing
the turbulent future of his beloved city,
That leads him to request, that prayer be offered for the
peace of Jerusalem
Let’s think of:
A. Jerusalem’s ‘Past’ Turmoil
Jerusalem, the city of peace, has known more war,
more bloodshed, more tears and terror than any other
city
It has been conquered and re-conquered by the
Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Crusaders, and
Ottomans
Ill. Let me share with you a few examples of
Jerusalem’s turmoil
In 587 B.C. the city was captured by the Babylonians and the
Temple destroyed
Many of the Jews were carried away into Babylonian
captivity
It would be 70 years before a remnant of Jews would return
to the city
In A.D. 70, the Romans under Titus, entered and ransacked
the city, destroyed the second Temple, leaving only the
Western Wall (oftentimes called the Wailing Wall) …
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So many Jews were slaughtered, it is said that their blood
flowed in the streets
In A.D. 313, Hadrian, a second century Roman emperor, barred
Jews from the city
Many Jews fled to Mediterranean ports only to be sold into slavery
In 1099, the Crusaders stormed into the city under the sign of
the cross. Once again the streets ran with blood as the
crusaders slaughtered more than 40,000 people and set fire to
mosques and synagogues. In one example of the Crusaders
perverted religious crusade to claim the city for Christ, 969
Jewish men, women, and children were herded into a
synagogue and burned alive.
For nearly 2,000 years there was no nation of Israel
And the Jews were scattered throughout the world
But then in 1948 Israel was once again established as
nation
But no sooner was Israel reborn as a nation than five
Arab armies attacked Israel with the intention of
pushing “the Jews into the sea”
Situated in the middle of the whole affair was the city
of Jerusalem
From that day until the present, five wars have been
fought in Israel
While the nation has greatly prospered,
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It has been the scene of constant strife and turmoil
And in most cases, the City of Jerusalem has been at
the center of that strife
Jerusalem’s ‘Past’ Turmoil
B. Jerusalem’s ‘Presence’ Turmoil
At the present, things are as tense and as serious as they
have ever been
When we pick up a newspaper and turn on TV we read
reports of suicide bombers and see images of Israeli
tanks and soldiers moving throughout Palestinian
territories
The amount of news coverage is but one indication of
how serious the strife and turmoil is
What’s behind the lack of peace in Jerusalem and Israel
at the present?
If you read the papers and listen to the newscasts you
would think that the present escalation of events in the
Middle East is to be blamed solely on Israel
I’ve listened to the arguments explaining what is
happening, and time and time again I have heard
someone refer to Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple
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Mount on September 28, 2000 as the event that ignited
the present escalation of violence in the Middle East
Ill. Let me cite just one, a report by Physicians for Human
Rights of Boston is quoted as saying:
“The current crisis was ignited on September 28, when Israel’s
Likud Party leader, Ariel Sharon, visited Haram al-Sharifa or the
Temple Mount, a Jewish site sacred to both Jews and Muslims.”
Yet, I submit unto you that the turmoil in Israel is not
due to Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount,
But goes back much farther than September 28, 2000
The real issue behind all the turmoil in the past and in
the present goes back to two boys that resulted in two
nations and two religions
Look with me in Genesis 16
Let me set the background for these verses
Abraham and Sarah were childless
But then God appeared to Abraham and told him that
he would have a son and that he would be the father
of a great nation and that his seed would multiply as
the sands of the sea and the stars in the heavens
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The problem began when the years went by and
Abraham and Sarah had no children
Instead of waiting on God and letting God fulfill His
will in His own way and time,
Sarah came up with the idea of Abraham having a son
by her servant Hagar (the handmaid from Egypt)
The result was a boy born that was named Ishmael
Abraham now had a son, but it was not the son that
God had promised as the chosen seed
Notice vs. 11, 12 and what God said to Hagar and
what He said about her son, Ishmael
We read: “And the Angel of the Lord said unto her,
‘Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son,
and shalt call his name Ishmael (God that hears);
because the Lord hath heard thy affliction.”
Now pay close attention to the next statements:
“And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against
every man, and every man’s hand against him; and
he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren”
God said that Ishmael would be a wild man
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The words “wild man” literally mean, “wild ass or
donkey”
God described how he would fight with everyone “against every man”
And every man would fight with him “every man’s hand would be against him”
In other words, Ishmael would be a troublemaker
causing problems and picking fights with everyone
Finally God said “and he shall dwell in the presence of all his
brethren”
What God was saying is that he would live where his
brethren lived,
But would be a constant source of hostility
One translated the statement; “He will have conflicts
with his relatives”
Now notice with me Genesis 21
In time Abraham and Sarah would have a child; the
son that God promised
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We read in vs. 1-3 - “And the Lord visited Sarah as
he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had
spoken” “For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a
son in his old age, at the set time of which God had
spoken to him” “And Abraham called the name of
his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to
him, Isaac”
Isaac was the son that God had promised in Genesis
15:4 and who would be his heir
So we have two brothers, Ishmael and Isaac
Yet, it was not long before the nature of Ishmael
God had spoken of began to show itself
Notice Genesis 21:9 - “And Sarah saw the son of
Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto
Abraham, mocking”
In other words, Sarah saw Ishmael laughing and
picking on Isaac
From the very beginning there was strife,
A strife that would be felt for centuries to come
What am I talking about?
From Isaac came the Jews, the people of Israel;
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And from Ishmael came the Arabs; some of whom
we now call the Palestinians
From the time of Ishmael, the Arabs have been
living in conflict with the Jews
If you want to know why there is turmoil in the
Middle East, you have to come back to these two
boys
This is where the problem started
The conflict in the Middle East is a powerful reminder
to not take things in our own hands,
But let God do His work His way and in His own time
and by His own methods
That first strife between these boys was but the
introduction to two major sources of division between
the Israeli’s and the Palestinians that is at the heart of
all the conflict in the Middle East
The first is geographical
Who owns the land that we call Palestine?
Both the Israeli’s and the Palestinians trace their
lineage back to Abraham
Both Ishmael and Isaac were the sons of Abraham,
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So who is the rightful heir?
God promised Ishmael and Isaac that He would
make great nations of them both,
But God made His covenant with Isaac, the child of
promise (Romans 9)
In doing so, the title to the land of Palestine was
passed from Abraham to Isaac, from Isaac to Jacob,
and so on
In short, the land belongs to Israel
The second thing that is at the heart of all that is going
on is theological
From these two boys came two religions
From Isaac came Judaism, the religion of the Jewish
people
From Ishmael came Islam—the Islamic religion
In my opinion, this is the heart and soul of the
turmoil in the Middle East (past and present)
It is the major reason for the conflict going on and at
the heart of the battle for Jerusalem
We hear a lot about peace in the Middle East
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I have several reasons for believing that there will
never be peace in the Middle East until the Prince of
Peace returns and reigns upon the earth
One of the reasons is the Islamic religion
No matter what the Arabs say about peace, their
religion demands that they defeat both Jews and
Christians
Islam’s theology insists that Islam triumph over
everything else
That’s why, if you were to visit an Arabic city, the
Islamic prayer tower is the highest point in the
settlement
Muslims believe that it is the will of Allah to rule the
world
The Islamic religion looks upon everyone that is not a
Muslim as an “infidel”
Do you remember Osama bin Laden referring to the
United States as infidels?
Islamic law also stipulates that to fulfill Muhammad’s
task, every “infidel domain” must be considered a
territory of war
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It’s my opinion; America’s support of Israel and the
teachings of Islam were behind September 11th
Muslims believe that there can be no peace with
Christians or Jews, or any other non-Islamic people,
And if that peace must be made, only a truce is
permissible,
And that “for a maximum of ten years as an expedient
to hone our swords, whet our blood, and strengthen our
will” the Qur’an says (which by the way wasn’t written until
the 7th & 8th c.)
Ill. I fully agree with Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director of
the International Christian Zionist Center: “Because of the
humanistic and mainly secular mindset of the West, also of the
major part of Israel’s population, the following will be difficult
to accept and digest, and that is: The chief reason for the Middle
East conflict is not so much a secular political one, but a
religious Islamic one!”
Furthermore, at the center of the Islamic Jihad (Holy
War) are Jerusalem and specifically the control of the
Temple Mount
The spot where Solomon’s and Herod’s Temple stood
is both holy to Muslims and Jews
At the present the Temple Mount in under Muslim
control and on it sits the Al Aksa Mosque where it is
believed Muhammad ascended to heaven
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One of the reasons Sharon’s visit to the holy site was so
protested is the Muslims believed his presence there
would defile the Islamic holy site
What is happening in Israel at the present?
It is a battle for Jerusalem!
Ill. Do you remember in July of 2000, when Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat came
together at Camp David with President Clinton in an effort to
reach a peace agreement?
Before both men was a copy of a peace agreement that had been
years in the making
The Israeli’s had made remarkable concessions
The measure of the concessions was probably one of the reasons
Barak lost the next elections in Israel
Israel would relinquish nearly all the West Bank occupied in the
1967 war, including the Jordan Valley
They would set up joint patrols with Palestinian security forces
and as well, recognize the right of Palestinian refugees to return
to the “State of Palestine” and to accept a number of refugees
into Israel
In return, the Palestinians would “demilitarize” their land
They would allow Israel to maintain three reinforced battalions
and other forces on the West Bank within military compounds
The Israeli’s would also operate three early-warning stations and
three air-defense units on the West Bank until May 2007, or until
peace agreements had been achieved between and other Arab
foes
Then President Clinton asked a question:
What about Jerusalem?
Barak was willing to make concessions never before considered
by an Israeli prime minister
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He did not want to divide the city, but he was willing to consider
the idea of a neighborhood swap—exchanging Palestinian
neighborhoods for Israeli ones
When Clinton took the idea to Arafat, the Palestinian leader
became enraged
He and his delegation were further enraged over a casual
suggestion Barak had made that in exchange for giving the
Palestinians de facto control over the Temple Mount, the
Israeli’s could build a small synagogue on the northeast corner of
the holy site
Arafat glared at Clinton and said, “These arguments are
explosives and will set off massive fires in the region…Do you
want me to throw the region into a new age of religious
conflicts?”
THE “PRAYER ASKED FOR”
THE “PEACE THAT IS ABSENT IN”
I repeat: What is going on in Israel is –
A BATTLE FOR JERUSALEM
In closing let me share with you one more thought that
is found in our text and say just a brief word
Notice with me:
III. THE “PROSPERITY ASSOCIATED WITH”
Why should we pray for the peace of Jerusalem?
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We read why, in Psalm 122:6b - “They shall prosper that
love thee”
I believe that the one reason God has blessed America is
because she has been a strong supporter of Israel …
And has stood at Israel’s defense since she became a
nation in 1948
I believe the Bible and our text tells us that those who love
Jerusalem will prosper
I don’t care what you hear others saying …
It will be a sad day in this country’s history when we turn
our back on Israel
As Christians and American’s we should pray for the
peace of Jerusalem
CONCLUSION:
Now let me sum up all that I have said and make it all
relevant to each of us here today
I have been talking about what is happening in the Middle
East
More than anything else, more than what I have already
explained,
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What you see happening in the Middle East is the
preparing of events for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ
Acts 1: 9-11 - “And when He had spoken these things,
while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received
Him out of their sight”
“And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as He
went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;”
“Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing
up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from
you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have
seen Him go into heaven”
The growth of the Islamic religion and the flexing of their
muscles in the past few years …
And the escalation of tension and war in the land …
Are but the setting of the stage for our Lord’s return
This Bible tells me Jesus is coming soon
The newspapers and newscasts tell me He is soon to come
What is happening in the Middle East is a loud
announcement that Jesus is soon to come
As Christians, we must be serious about living for the Lord
We must give ourselves to His will and do His work
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Time is running out for doing what we should do and
must do
For those of you who are unsaved,
You need to realize that time is growing short and your
opportunity to be saved is coming to an end
If you are not saved, be saved! Be saved today!
What is happening in the Middle East has all the
indications that Jesus is coming soon
Psalm 122:6 – “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall
prosper that love thee”
INVITATION
THE “PRAYER ASKED FOR”
THE “PEACE THAT IS ABSENT IN”
THE “PROSPERITY ASSOCIATED WITH”
THE BATTLE FOR JERUSALEM
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