14. Misused Terms – Jerusalem

LESSON 14: CONTINUING SOME TERMS OFTEN MISUSED IN POPULAR PROPHECY: JERUSALEM 

What is “Jerusalem”?   JERUSALEM= “THE CITY OF GOD”, “THE HOLY CITY”. *

 A. “PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM”, OFTEN MISUSED:

             1. Read: Psalm 122:6: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; they shall prosper that love thee.”  How does this apply today?

                a. Trace the history: Hebrews 11:8-16, 39-40.  Reference Genesis 12, 21, 23.

             2. Read: The Double City. “Mountain of the Lord’s House”, “Foundation (dwelling) of Peace”, or Jebus, a threshing floor and winepress. 

             The Heavenly Pattern: The tabernacle of Moses was to be made after the pattern of the heavens, Exodus 25:9.  The Temple was made according to the ‘Pattern’, 1 Chronicles 28:12, 18-19. 

             When Judah went into Babylonian captivity, the glory of the Lord departed from the Temple, Ezekiel 10:18, leaving it “Jebus”.

             3. Read: Revelation 11:8: The fallen City is called Sodom and Egypt. It shall be “trodden”, Jebus.   Read: Luke 21:24; Revelation 14:20.  When Jesus departed from the Temple that day, Jerusalem became Jebus.

            B. “WHERE GOD CHOOSES TO PLACE HIS NAME”

             1. Read: Deuteronomy 12:1-6.  Deuteronomy 12:5: “… But unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put His name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come…” 

             They were not to worship just anywhere, as on the high mountains or hills or under every green tree, as the heathen did.

             [Further references to “Where God chooses to place His Name” are: Deuteronomy 12:11, 14, 18, 26; 14:23-25; 15:20; 16:2, 6, 7, 11, 15, 16; 17:8, 10; 18:6; 26:2; 31:11; 1 Kings 14:21; Nehemiah 1:9; Psalm 132:13; Jeremiah 2:12; Zechariah 1:17; Ephesians 2:22.]

             2. Read: Revelation 3:12:  The “City of God” is New Jerusalem: “Where God Chooses to Place His Name”.

             3. Read: Revelation 14:1: God has placed His Name in the foreheads of His saints!  A spiritual mark, opposing the “mark of the beast”.  (No physical marks: Leviticus 19:28; Deuteronomy 14:1.)

             4. God always wanted to dwell with His people: 

a. In the Garden of Eden – Genesis 2:8. 

b. In the Tabernacle in the wilderness –Exodus 25:8-9; 29:43-45. 

c. At Shiloh – History: Judges 18:31; 1 Samuel 1:3, 24; 2:14; 3:21; 4:3; 14:3; Forsaken: 1 Kings 2:27; Psalm 78:58-60. 

d. In Solomon’s Temple – Glory: 2 Chronicles 6:18, 41, 7:1-3.  The glory of the Lord departed from it: Ezekiel 10:4, 18.  Jeremiah 7:12, 14; 26:4-6, destruction of Solomon’s Temple foretold.   

e. In Zerubbabel’s Temple – Zechariah 8:3, 8; Haggai 2:7, 9; Malachi 3:1. 

f. The Church of God in Jesus Christ – Matthew 12:6; 27:51; Luke 21:5-6; John 2:19-21; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 6:19-20.] 

5. Read: 1 Corinthians 3:16-17: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” 

6:19-20: “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (20) For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

 6. Read: Acts 15:13-16: The Church, including the Gentile believers, is the rebuilt “tabernacle of David which is fallen…”

            C. GOD’S NAME = HIS AUTHORITY, HIS CHARACTER, AND HIS IDENTITY: 

             1. Read: Authority of His Name: John 14:13, 14; 15:16; 16:23-26.

             2. The Bride of Christ, His Church: Revelation 19:6-9; 21:1-3, 9-11. PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM.

 


* See Revelation in Conntext, pp. 249-252, “Jerusalem, a Double City”, and pp. 210-211 “Where God Chooses to Place His Name”, and commentary on Revelation 3:12 “Temple”, pp. 535-538. Also commentary on Revelation 14:8, “Babylon is Fallen”, pp. 269-271, and “Jerusalem, That Great City”, pp. 271-275,

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