David Jeremiah - The Golden City
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and his new wife, Devora, sailed wide-eyed into the port of Joppa, which is in Israel. They had dreamed forever that they would be able one day to step into the Holy Land, and now their dream had come true. They arranged to get from Joppa to Jerusalem by an overnight horse cart, and they approached the city of Jerusalem just as the sun was coming up. They noticed that the gate had been closed to the city, but just as they got there, it started to open. It seemed almost miraculous to them. But when they entered into the city, they were very confused. They thought, where are the Jerusalem people? Where is the spirit of holiness we expected? Was this the city which had so many centuries of conflict and plunder and massacre and misery? Was this the city from which men from all over the world had fought? Was this the city which the prophets had preached, which had been destroyed and reconstructed 18 times? The city didn't seem right.
You see, the year was 1881, and Eliezer and Devora were among the first Zionist Jews returning to the land that would later once again be called Israel. In the years to come, Ben-Yehuda would almost single-handedly do the impossible. He resurrected the Hebrew language from antiquity and made it the language of the Jews once again. In fact, Ben and Devora had a son, and they told Ben that he would never hear another language in their house but Hebrew. And Ben Zion was raised hearing and speaking only Hebrew. He didn't play with other children. He became the first native speaker of Hebrew in modern times and Eliezer and his wife believed if their own son could learn the language, the whole nation can learn the language.
Unfortunately, Ben-Yehuda didn't live long enough to see the state of Israel become official, but Yehuda and his wife were very loved people because of the gift they had given to the nation. When he died, 30,000 people came to his funeral. So what drew the Zionists back to Jerusalem? Why is Israel today such a magnetic place? It's a very conflicted city. For 3,000 years, it's been at the forefront of geopolitical struggles. Even today, it's the centerpiece of the world's three major religions. It's ground zero for international political maneuvering. For generations, Jerusalem has been a place of pilgrimage and pillaging, miracles and mayhem. They're being shot at from the north and shot at from the south and rockets coming in from everywhere, hated by many of their neighbors, but loved and respected by many of us.
The longtime mayor of Jerusalem, a guy named Teddy Kollek said, "Jerusalem has been the center of Jewish hope and longing, and no other city has played such a dominant role in the history, culture, and religion of the world". Without Jerusalem, the land of Israel is a body without a soul. Why does this desert city charm people when they go there? I have to honestly tell you, whenever I go to Israel, we start out in the northern part of Israel by the Sea of Galilee, and we stay in Tiberias for a little bit. Then we come down and we spend between three and five days in Jerusalem. We stay in a hotel right in the center of the city. And periodically when I go out of that hotel to walk around in the city, I feel like I'm in some sort of a spell or something. It's like an aura that's around you. I never have understood that until I began to really read what the scripture says about Jerusalem.
The Bible tells us that Jerusalem has a big badge on it that says, "God's City". Listen to 2 Chronicles chapter 6. Here's God speaking. "Since the day that I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I have chosen no city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house, that My name might be there, nor did I choose any man to be a ruler over My people Israel. Yet I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name may be there". The reason Jerusalem is special to me is because it's God's chosen city. Of all the cities of the world, and you know how many there are, God chose Jerusalem as his city. And because it is God who established the city, Psalm 87:3 says, "O city of God, what glorious things are said of you".
You may not realize how prominent this city is even in the Bible. It's mentioned in the Old and New Testament 811 times. The next closest city is, like, in the 200s. Eight hundred times Jerusalem is mentioned. And the Bible intimates that if you are born in Israel, if you are born in Jerusalem, there's a special blessing attached to you. Here is Psalm 87 from the Living Bible. "But someday, the highest honor will be to be a native of Jerusalem! For the God of heaven above all gods will personally bless this city. When he registers her citizens, he will place a check mark beside the names of those who were born there".
So you get born in Jerusalem, God puts a check mark next to your name. I don't understand all that, but I believe it and I know it's just another reminder to us of the importance of Jerusalem and a reminder to us that we should learn everything we can about this city as we head toward the future. Of course, Jerusalem is an Old Testamently prophesied city, but it is also a New Testament city, and it's a city that was loved by Christ. I put it this way, Jesus was a Jerusalem boy. He loved Jerusalem. He first visited the city when he was an infant, when he was dedicated to the Lord in the temple.
Remember, Anna and Simeon prophesied about him. Then when he was 12 years old, Jesus went to Jerusalem again during the Passover, and he didn't want to come home, so he stayed three days longer, and his parents left and didn't know that he wasn't with them. They got almost all the way back home, and one of them said, "Where's Jesus"? And they found out that they had left him. And he was sitting among the aristocracy and the intelligentsia, answering all of their Bible questions and their Christian questions like he was an adult because he was really a brilliant child. When he was baptized, he was taken to Jerusalem. He and others around him spent many days in Jerusalem, as you read in the Gospels.
But listen to this. He was arrested in Jerusalem, he was tried in Jerusalem, he was crucified in Jerusalem, he was buried in Jerusalem, he was resurrected in Jerusalem, he ascended from Jerusalem, and one day, he's coming back to Jerusalem, and he's gonna put his feet on the same place from which he ascended, the Mount of Olives. Jesus loved Jerusalem. There's no question about it. When Jerusalem was in hard places, we read of Jesus's lament over them. He said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing"!
Though Jesus died in Jerusalem, don't forget that he was resurrected there, and one day he will come back. The first place to feel the soles of his feet will be Olivet on the eastern side of the Golden City. Now, what I'm about to tell you is information about Jerusalem that, I'll be honest with you, I did not know a lot of this until I studied it in the last couple of weeks. It's interesting that it can be tucked away in the scriptures, and you know a little bit about it, but you don't understand it. And if you don't take time to dig it out, you can't figure out what's going on. Jerusalem is a conflicted city, a chosen city, a Christ-loved city, but it's also a city that's gonna be changed.
That brings us to the golden age, the Millennium that we're studying in these days. I want to tell you about three things that are gonna happen in Jerusalem when Jesus's feet touch Mount Olivet. First, when he comes back and his feet touch the ground, he will trigger an amazing earthquake. This is spoken of several times in the Bible, but let me give you just a couple of the verses. Zechariah 14:4 says, "On that day, His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two".
The Mount of Olives is a 2.2-mile-long ridge on the eastern flanks of Jerusalem, and every time I've taken groups to the Holy Land, we stand on the Mount of Olives and look out over the Kidron Valley at the golden walls surrounding the old city, one of the most beautiful sights in the whole world and it's a breathtaking view to stand on the Mount of Olives and see Jerusalem in the horizon. That's not all that's gonna happen. There's gonna be an earthquake and aquifers from underground will erupt and form a river. So get this picture now: Jesus comes back, His feet touch on the Mount of Olivet, the mountain is split in two, and in the ravine that is split, water starts to come up and develops huge sources of H2O. Zechariah tells us about that. He says, "On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea, and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea in summer and in winter".
In other words, the river will divide at some point south of Jerusalem, and half of it will go to the Mediterranean Sea, and the other half will go to the Dead Sea, and it will transform the Dead Sea from a dead sea to a living sea. If you've ever been to Israel and to the Dead Sea, you know it's the lowest point on the earth. And the Dead Sea is called the Dead Sea because it's dead. There are a few microscopic insects that live in the sea, but that's it. The prophet Ezekiel devotes an entire chapter to describe this. And he said, "I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east".
And then according to Ezekiel, this river will grow stronger and wider, and this is what it says. "This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down to the desert where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh".
Did you know that? That's what's gonna happen. According to Ezekiel, there will be a day in the Millennium where the Dead Sea will be a fishing paradise. Listen to this. Ezekiel 47, "Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim. There will be places for spreading the nets. The fish will be of many kinds, like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea. Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail". Can you imagine the change that's taking place just because Jesus is back with his people, with his angels to set up his kingdom? But there's more.
The power of Christ's return will trigger an earthquake, it will unleash a river, but it will also elevate the city of Jerusalem like it was on an elevator. The entire city will be lifted up, and to this city, everyone will look. It is an amazing story. Isaiah hinted at this when he said, "'Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow into it". Zechariah 14 says, "The whole land from Geba will become like the Arabah. But Jerusalem will be raised up high from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate, from the Corner Gate, and from the Tower, and will remain in its place. It will be inhabited. Never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure".
These verses tell us that the Lord will bring to Jerusalem and her surrounding regions on that day an elevation of the city of Jerusalem that will make it the highest city in the world. The area on top of Jerusalem that day will be ten miles, and Ezekiel's temple will be created on that, on the top of that mountain. And if you want to read about Ezekiel's temple, it's in Ezekiel 40 through 46. Six chapters tell you about what's gonna happen. Some surprising things. Out of the midst of this desert will rise up this incredible mountain upon which will be the city of Jerusalem and the temple of Ezekiel.
What an amazing thing's gonna happen when Jesus comes back. In other words, the very geography of the Promised Land is going to be altered at the Second Coming of Christ. The Mount of Olives will be fractured, opening a wide and accessible lane for the residents to flee the city for safer places. And the foundation of the city will shift to such a degree that rivers of healing water will flow throughout the city, and the elevation of the city will rise as the surrounding countryside levels out. So you say to me, "Dr. Jeremiah, why would that happen? Why such changes"? Because the King has returned. Jerusalem will no longer be a fortress surrounded by people who want to take it out. It will be a beacon on a hill, elevated over large flat plains, an invitation to come and see the King.
Let me suggest that in a spiritual sense, what happens when Jesus comes back to set up his reign and rule in Jerusalem is what happens to us when Jesus comes to set up his reign and rule in our hearts. What is it the Bible says about us? When we let Jesus sit on the throne of our lives, he creates living water flowing from us. John 7 says, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow out from him. And by this he meant the Spirit whom those who believed in him would receive".
So on that day, Almighty God is gonna shake up Israel. On the day you were saved, he shook up you. And you should allow what he's doing in your life to have its perfect way, so that wherever you go, you take with you the influence of the Lord Jesus Christ. One day, this Israel will become the capital of the whole world. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel now, and we moved our embassy there, as you know, back in 2017. But the prophet Jeremiah said that when Jesus comes back and he sets up his kingdom, "At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the Lord, and all the nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the Lord".
And Zechariah says, "Many nations will be joined to the Lord in that day, and they shall become My people. And I will dwell in your midst. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you. And the Lord will take possession of Judah as His inheritance in the land, and will again choose Jerusalem". Ladies and gentlemen, even though it doesn't seem so, Jerusalem is at the center of our world. Without Jerusalem, none of the things the Bible says are gonna happen will happen. It is a changed city. It is a capital city. It's a continuing city. Almost all the Christ-centered events in the future will take place in Jerusalem. Without Jerusalem, these events would be impossible.
I remember when 1948 happened and the Jewish people returned to their land, it was like somebody turned a key in the prophetic clock and opened the door to a lot more things than what we had known of before. I believe that when our embassy went back to Jerusalem, another key was turned in the prophetic clock. We are seeing things happen in our day, you and I, that have never happened before, and we read about them in the Bible, and it's an amazing journey to watch God unfold, as he promised he would, the future of the Middle East. The city of Jerusalem has a great future. One day, Jesus will be seated on the throne, the whole world will be under his subjection, and the city of Jerusalem will be the capital of the whole world. That's what the Bible teaches.
You know, I don't wanna leave without telling you some things that kind of touched my heart as I was studying all of this to present it to you. I wanna end this message by showing you how Jerusalem challenged me right now. Over the last few years, and especially these last few months, I've considered this, and I wanna conclude this message with two challenges for all of us. First of all, in our own hearts, no matter who we are or what our background is, if we're Christians, we need to determine to love Israel. We should determine to love Israel and its capital city.
Here's what the psalmist said, "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you, Jerusalem. Peace be within your walls, prosperity within your palaces. For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will now say, 'Peace be within you, Jerusalem. Because of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.'" There are some instruction for us. What our attitude should be about Jerusalem, what our attitude should be about the Jewish people. God prospers those who love Jerusalem. Let's pray for the international safety of Israel. When you pray in your prayer time, make sure Israel's on your prayer list. Modern Israel's been forced to maintain a continual state of warfare throughout its years. Someone has said, Israel is like living in a very nice house in a very bad neighborhood. And that's where they are, and they need our prayers.
Secondly, I don't know if you have ever thought about this, but there's a lot we can learn from Jerusalem and from Israel. Everybody knows the Jewish people are smart, and they're good at what they do. For instance, all over the world, people are always talking about how we would not have water problems if we could learn how to desalinate the ocean. Well, the Israelites know how to do that, and they've done it, and they've used the desalinated water from the ocean to grow crops in the desert. And now the Bible says that in the future, the desert in Jerusalem and in Israel will be like a rose. It's starting to be like a rose.
Every time I go there, I travel to places where I've been before that were desert places, and now they have tarps over the land because they're growing crops there, and they're doing it with desalinated water because they have figured all of that out. And that's just one illustration. But they're also interesting people. I never have understood why they are so hated. It has to be the fact that they're the nation that brought Jesus into the world. Joe Lieberman, who was a Democratic senator, he ran for vice president in 2000, and he became the first Jewish candidate to ever be on a presidential ticket.
Joseph Lieberman wrote a book called "The Gift of Rest: Rediscovering the Beauty of the Sabbath". And he said, "I love the Sabbath, and I believe it's a gift from God that I wanna share with everyone". He said that "Although the Jews keep the Sabbath, the real truth is the Sabbath has kept the Jews. When people ask me, 'Joseph, how can you stop all your work as a senator and observe the Sabbath every week?' And I answer, 'How could I do all my work as a senator if I didn't stop and observe the Sabbath every week?'" Every Friday, if detained at the Capitol building, Joseph Lieberman walked the 4 miles home, accompanied by a U.S. Policeman and another police car alongside for extra security. He said one day, "Jews like me don't ride in cars on the Sabbath. We walk".
Many of the officers who accompanied him on his journey home were evangelical Christians. Many of them have talked about their discussions with this great man. They relished his conversations. Along the way, Joseph Lieberman always stopped at the Safeway in Georgetown to buy flowers for his wife, Hadassah, and treats for the family. Once he got home, the family gathered, lit the Sabbath candle, read the scripture, enjoyed supper, attended worship at the nearby synagogue. Lieberman wrote, "the truth is that we and the world will survive just fine if we stop working or shopping, stay home with our families on a day each week. Our lives will continue. Our careers will go forward. Our families will flourish. We live in a culture of hard work where people are desperately in need of rest, not just rest to recharge our batteries so we can work harder, but to recharge our souls so we can live better".
Sounds like something a Christian would write. "For me," he said, "the answer to that need has been the Sabbath. It has anchored my life, revived my body, restored my soul, and I know it can do the same for you". Now, we as Christians don't observe the Sabbath. We observe the Lord's Day. But many of the things that he said about the Sabbath could surely be said about this day. First of all, I congratulate all of you. You're in the synagogue on Sunday. You're in the church on Sunday. You know, one of the sad things that's happening during your lifetime and mine is that church attendance is going down all over our nation in the major denominations, in the independent churches, even now in many of the large evangelical churches.
We do not realize, men and women, how important it is that this day is set aside. And what do we call it? It's the Lord's Day. It's not our day. It's the Lord's Day. And when we set aside this time to come and honor the Lord, we not only honor the Lord, but the Lord honors us. You want God to bless you in your life? Be a man or a woman of the church. The Bible tells us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, and especially as we see the day of the Lord drawing near. I know that so many things have cropped up on the Lord's Day to take away the rest.
I remember as a parent when our children were in sports, it was kind of back then that they started moving all of their games to Sunday, and we didn't know what to do. And I know that many of you are in the same place. Sometimes you have to give a little, but you never can lose the priority of church. Just as the Sabbath was so crucial to Joseph Lieberman, so should the church be to us who are God's people, and even more so because we live on the other side of the cross. We know the Messiah has come and, as we have been learning, he's coming again. When he comes again, he will set all things right. What was taken out of us in the curse will be reversed.
I want to ask you a question today. If you're excited about King Jesus reigning someday on the earth, is he reigning in your heart? There's a little phrase that I ran across in studying. It goes like this, "Already but not yet". What does that mean? He's already here but not yet. He's coming here. I know most of you believe the yet part of it, but is he already here? Is he the King of your life? You say, how do I know that? Well, is he sitting on the throne? Is he calling the shots? Or are you the one doing all of that? When you become a Christian, you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. He wants to be not just a resident in your life, he wants to be the president of your life. And he will become that if you allow him, if you invite him.