BELIEFS AND TEACHINGS
Jerusalem must be important to God, for it is named 810 times in the Bible. This city can be categorized into three eras:
Salem
Jerusalem (Yerushalem), the earthly city
The New Jerusalem that has its origins in heaven
SALEM
The first mention of this place is in Genesis 14:18 in the aftermath of a local war in which two groups of kings fought against each other. In this skirmish, Lot, Abram’s nephew, living in Sodom at the time, was captured and taken away by Chedorlaomer and his allied kings, Tidal, Amraphel, and Arioch.
When Abram (later, Abraham) learned that his nephew was captured, he armed his 318 household servants and pursued the kings and their captives as far as Dan and Hobah, west of Damascus. Though Abram was not a military man, he devised a plan to defeat Chedorlaomer and the other kings by dividing his men into several groups and attacked them at night. He was successful, for not only did he free Lot, but he also took back the people of Sodom and all the goods that had been taken as booty when Chedorlaomer and the other three kings captured them (Gen. 14).
When the king of Sodom was freed, he told Abram that he could keep all the goods that had been taken when they were defeated in the initial battle with the four kings. Abram declined to accept anything that was regained in the battle. He told the king of Sodom that he had vowed to God that he would take nothing; otherwise, other people would think that the king of Sodom was the one who had made him rich when Abram knew that it was the God of heaven who had greatly blessed him (Gen. 14:22-24).
Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of the Most High God, came out from his city and blessed Abram in a prophetic manner. Recognizing Melchizedek as a priest of God, Abram gave him a tithe of all he had (Gen. 14:18-20).
Many people may not know that God had His loyal followers scattered around the ancient world, still only a relatively short time after the Great Flood. Abram was 58 years of age when Noah finally died at the grand age of 950 years. Much later, Jethro was a priest of God in Midian, a nation antagonistic to the Israelites. He became Moses’ father-in-law and gave Moses helpful advice on how best to judge the people of Israel (Gen. 18).
So even at this early stage in Salem’s existence, God knew that He had His people there, cared for by the priest Melchizedek. This man’s case was unique in that in an age when a man’s ancestry and descendants needed to be known, Melchizedek’s ancestry and his descendants are not mentioned at all. However, the book of Hebrews refers to Melchizedek as a type of Christ: “. . . called by God as High Priest ‘according to the order of Melchizedek’ ” (Heb. 5:10). Further, in Hebrews, it states: “Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually” (Heb. 7:3).
It is important to note that the word ‘Salem’ means ‘peace.’ While Jerusalem, Salem’s successor as an earthly city, has had anything but peaceful existence in its long history, the New Jerusalem will be the center of the eternal home of the saved, the center of peace (Rev. 21, 22). The concept of peace is retained in the extended name by which we know Jerusalem, which means ‘City of Peace.’
The only other mention of the name Salem in the Old Testament is in Psalm 76:2, a psalm of Asaph, where this poetic form was used for the place that had long become Jerusalem. This reference shows the link between Salem and Jerusalem.
We do not know when God decided that Salem would become Jerusalem and a special place on earth for Him and His people. An indication of this, though, is that several times before its occupation by the Israelites, God referred to a place where His “name shall be known.” The earliest occasion of a reference of this nature is recorded in Exodus 20:24, although this is more of a general statement than a specific reference to the city. More relevant are several passages in Deuteronomy 12:4-14. These verses are redolent with meaning when we match them with the time of the dedication of Solomon’s Temple, its dedication and the filling of that place with God’s presence and the offering of many sacrifices to celebrate that historic occasion (ref. 1 Chron. 5:1–7:11).
Jerusalem has had a checkered history for hundreds of years and more than one name change. As the Bible indicates, Salem was known, but this may have been a contraction of the full name we know as Jerusalem, or more correctly, Yerushalem. ‘Shalem’ is linked with God’s name, and ‘yeru’ means ‘to lay’ (a foundation) as is used in Job 38:6 when talking about the foundations of the Earth set by the Creator.
As can be learned from Scripture, not many years after the encounter with Melchizedek, it was on one of the hills of this place (Mt. Moriah), early in the history of Jerusalem, that Abraham offered his son Isaac (Gen. 22).
Early in Israel’s occupation and their battles in Canaan, Joshua had defeated Ai, and because of that, the people of Gibeon had sought peace with Israel. At that time, the king of Jerusalem was, interestingly, a man named Adoni-zedek, who may have been a descendant of Melchizedek, referred to earlier in this article. Adoni-zedek was fearful that the Israelites would attack and defeat them, so he appealed to four other local kings to help him (Josh. 10).
Historically the Jebusites, a branch of the Amorite tribe, occupied Jerusalem. The men of Judah attacked this place again after Joshua’s death, defeating the Jebusites, although they re-settled it sometime later and renamed the city Jebus. It was not until shortly after David was anointed king over all Israel that he defeated the Jebusites. At that time, David made the stronghold of Zion his ‘city’ and built greater Jerusalem around it (2 Sam. 5:6,7; 1 Chron. 11:4-9).
From that time, this strategic place was thereafter known as Jerusalem, so later, we will turn our attention from the time of its conquest by David until the final coming of Christ after the millennium (Rev. 20:1-3; 21:1, 2).
THE EARTHLY JERUSALEM
Jerusalem has had a disconcerting history throughout its existence, quite contrary to the meaning of its name.
In 605 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar’s army destroyed Jerusalem and its temple and took most of its citizenry to Babylon, where they were captives for 70 years. About 50 years later, King Cyrus of the Persian Empire approved the return of a party to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.
Alexander the Great, ruler of the Greeks, controlled Jerusalem from 332BC, but the Romans defeated the Greek army and its allies in the battle of Corinth in 146 BC.
It was in the year 37 BC that King Herod remodeled the second temple. During Jesus Christ’s ministry, He wept over this city whose history could have been vastly different if Israel had obeyed God as Moses had challenged them to do before they entered the Promised Land (Matt. 23:37-39; Deut. 27:11–30:20).
Undoubtedly, the most significant event in earthly Jerusalem’s earthly history did not occur within the city but outside the wall. That was, of course, the crucifixion of Christ who thus became the Saviour of the world (Heb. 13:12, 13).
The almost utter destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman army in AD 70 marked the end of Jerusalem as a functioning city and the center of Jewish worship and rituals for a time.
JERUSALEM AS WE KNOW IT
Since Jerusalem’s destruction, various powers have controlled Palestine and the place known as Jerusalem, including the Persians, Arabs, Turks, Crusaders, Egyptians, Mamelukes, and Mohammedans.
The Ottoman Empire ruled Jerusalem and much of the Middle East during the period 1516–1917. After World War I, Britain took control of that area, staying until Israel became an independent state in 1948.
Today the Temple Mount is the holiest place in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam. Jerusalem is also a very important place for Christians as it was there that Jesus taught in the temple and was crucified outside the wall.
While modern Israel has a strong military force and significant support from the US, it is not expected that Jerusalem will be a place of real peace for well into the future. What ‘peace’ exists is a forced peace.
Until the Jews and the Palestinians can live in harmony, there will be frequent border skirmishes and worse, whether reported or not. These only serve to continue the hatred between these two groups, both of whom trace their ancestral lineage to Abraham.
THE NEW JERUSALEM
Information about this purpose-built city is found principally in the book of Revelation chapters 21 and 22. However, there are intriguing references to the heavenly Jerusalem in Paul’s letter to the Galatians and the book of Hebrews.
In Galatians 4:21-31, Paul contrasts people who operate under the two covenants. The first, an ‘earthly’ covenant, based on performance, is likened to the offspring of Hagar. Paul says this covenant corresponds to “the present city Jerusalem” (v. 25), in other words, the Jerusalem of Paul’s time. He then immediately says, “but the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother” (v. 26, emphasis mine). Here the other covenant is referred to that includes the “children of promise” (v. 28). Paul concludes his argument in verse 31, where he says, “Therefore brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman but of the free woman.”
This last reference is linked with verse 26. In reading these two references together, we can see that in spiritual terms, those who live by the second or new covenant are effectively children of Jerusalem that will descend from heaven (Rev. 21:2).
Considering now the passage in the book of Hebrews, 12:22, Paul, in writing to the Christians who have come out of Judaism, states that they are not in the fearful state of their ancestors who were gathered before Sinai when God spoke to them (vv. 18-21), but they “have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.”
So we see in these passages that the early church was not only well aware that ‘their’ Jerusalem would come to its end but that they could look forward to an infinitely more wonderful Jerusalem that would come down to this earth from heaven, purposely made by God for that majestic event, to be His dwelling place forever after.
A thoughtful reading of Revelation 21 reveals that the New Jerusalem will be a city like no other. Its dimensions are staggering, and it is not made of humble timber and stone but gold. Its gates are of pearl, not born out of irritation in an oyster shell but made directly by the word of God. Its impact on the waiting saints will be one of awe and intense emotion, for John says that it will be “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev. 21:2).
We know how beautiful a bride appears as she approaches the man of her choice. If ever a woman looks beautiful, she looks even more so on her wedding day. Do we read into that description that God will put some ‘special touches’ on the city that will be the home of the saved?
The question for each of us to ask is this: will I be a citizen of that heavenly Jerusalem? It should really be an easy question for us to answer, shouldn’t it?
William J Ackland, 2019