“Jerusalem In The Economy of God”
II Chronicles 6:6: 6 but I have chosen Jerusalem that My name might be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.
Jerusalem – God’s chosen place for His earthly presence with His chosen people, Israel
Jerusalem – The place of our Lord’s glorious, victorious resurrection
Jerusalem – The place of our Lord’s enthronement in His Millennial Kingdom
The New Jerusalem – The eternal dwelling place of the Holy Bride of Christ, the elect of God, chosen by Him before the foundation of the world, before time began – Titus 1:1-3; Ephesians 1:3-6; I Peter 1:3-6a; Colossians 2:9-10(9-15); 1:22-23.
Jerusalem first appears in Scripture in Genesis 14:18, in reference to the priesthood of Melchizedek, king of Salem (ancient Jerusalem). This time frame (1445-1405 BC) establishes the age of Jerusalem to be approximately 5,000 years. Scripture continues from Genesis 14 to Joshua 10:1-5 (1405-1385 BC) where Adoni-zedek is identified as the king of Jerusalem. In Joshua 10 Adoni-zedek has put together a coalition of four other pagan Canaanite kings and himself to go to battle against Joshua and the children of Israel. Joshua, in God’s enabling grace, was progressively defeating and exterminating the Canaanite enemies of God. Adoni-zedek obviously didn’t want to be next to fall before Joshua but, as revealed in verses 9-11, he was.
Following this reference to Jerusalem in Joshua 10, scripture references Jerusalem 158 more times before coming to our text in II Chronicles 6:6. I and II Chronicles, most scholars agree, were written between 450 – 430 BC, most likely by Ezra the priest (see Ezra 7:6-10). II Samuel 5:6-9 records David’s capturing of Jerusalem from the pagan Jebusites, stating in verse 9 “So David lived in the stronghold (Jerusalem) and called it the city of David.”
In II Chronicles 6:6 God declares His Sovereign order for Jerusalem’s place and purpose in His Holy economy on the stage of human history – that stage He predestined, foreordained and created (Titus 1:1-3; Genesis 1:26) on which He is accomplishing the securing of the Holy Bride He promised His Holy Son, our precious Lord Jesus Christ.
II Chronicles 6:6: 6 but I have chosen Jerusalem that My name might be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.
Is it not gloriously significant that God, in His Omnipotent, Omniscient Sovereign sinlessly pure Holiness determined, as revealed in our text, to select as the place of His earthly presence with His people Israel, a city founded by pagan, Canaanite Amorites and Jebusites (Ezekiel 16:3) for the purpose of worshipping and exhalting their pagan god Shalem (Jeremiah 10:8-9,10). This Sovereign choice of God pertaining to Jerusalem will have it’s final significance on the stage of human history as the place from which our Lord will reign and rule over this entire world in His glorious future Millennial Kingdom as revealed in Revelation 20:1-6.
Revelation 20:1-6: 1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time. 4 Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshipped to beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years was completed. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
Because of the repetitive rebellion of the children of Israel, God’s wrath on them has been evidenced in the chaotic history of Jerusalem. Jerusalem has been controlled over the centuries by multiple pagan rulers, being literally trashed on numerous occasions. II Chronicles 36:15-21 is one of many examples of God’s wrath on Israel and Jerusalem.
II Chronicles 36:15-21: 15 The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; 16 but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, until there was no remedy. 17 Therefore He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or infirm; He gave them all into his hand. 18 All the articles of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king and of his officers, he brought them all to Babylon. 19 Then they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its fortified buildings with fire and destroyed all its valuable articles. 20 Those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, 21 to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete.
The eternally significant explanation of the reality of the all consuming wrath of God poured out on Israel as seen here in Ezekiel 36 is that in the fullness of His Sovereign immutable Holiness, He will not tolerate even a “dot or tittle” of sin in His Holy place of dwelling, not on this earth nor in His Holy heaven – Revelation 21:10-27
Over the centuries Jerusalem has been captured and ruled at various times by Persian, Arab, and Turkish troops as well as the crusaders and British troops. In God’s Sovereign economy Jerusalem has been under Israeli control since 1967 when it was reunified under Israeli rule as a result of the Six-Day War launched against Israel by the Arab world. Prior to the Six-Day War, Jerusalem, from 1948 until 1967, was divided with Israel controlling the Western portion while Jordan controlled the Eastern portion. Israel’s present war with the Palestinian militants known as Hamas is simply the most recent of an ongoing series of conflicts between Israel and the Arab world.
Consider, if you will, that this present Israeli-Hamas conflict may well be the “beginning of birth pangs” that Christ spoke of in Matthew 24:8. Clearly God is providentially superintending (Psalm 135:6; Proverbs 21:1,30-31) the final demise of America in the West (Romans 1:18,28) and shifting the focus of the entire world back to Jerusalem and the Middle East, the original “center” of His created world as recorded in Genesis 1-3:24. This very obvious present shift in the world’s focus is a necessary element of God’s Sovereign plan to prepare the stage of human history for the rapture of the church (I Corinthians 15:50-58; I Thessalonians 4:15) and the beginning of a time of “great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.” as declared by Christ in Matthew 24:21. In God’s Holy economy the rapture of the church is the catalyst for the beginning of the seven years of tribulation as prophesied by Daniel in chapter 11:36-42 and foretold by Christ in Matthew 24:21. At the conclusion of these seven years our Lord will return in all His glory to establish His Millennial Kingdom (1,000 literal years) on this present earth (Revelation 20:1-6; Ezekiel 39:7; Habakkuk 2:14; Isaiah 2:3; 24:23; 35:1; Micah 4:7; Zechariah 14:4-10) where He, with the redeemed of His Father, will rule this world reigning enthroned in Jerusalem.
Zechariah 14:4-10: 4 In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. 5 You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him! 6 In that day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. 7 For it will be a unique day which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night but it will come about that at evening time there will be light. 8 And in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter. 9 And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one. 10 All the land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; but Jerusalem will rise and remain on its site from Benjamin’s Gate as far as the place of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses. 11 People will live in it, and there will no longer be a curse, for Jerusalem will dwell in security.
Finally, in considering Jerusalem’s place in the economy of God it would be remiss to fail to point out its final appearance in scripture – Revelation 21:10-27. Just as
II Chronicles 36 illustrates how God, in the fullness of His Holiness, allows no sin, no unholiness in His chosen place of earthly presence with His people Israel, even so does Revelation 21:10-27 graphically establish the eternality of this truth in its glorious fullness as described in God’s New Jerusalem – that future place of our eternal dwelling with Him in sinless, glorified perfection, free from the penalty, the power, and the presence of sin for infinite eternity as His beloved children, the bride of Christ – Revelation 21-22:
Revelation 21:10-27: 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper. 12 It had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names were written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. 13 There were three gates on the east and three gates on the north and three gates on the south and three gates on the west. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 The one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city, and its gates and its wall. 16 The city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width; and he measured the city with the rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal. 17 And he measured its wall, seventy-two yards, according to human measurements, which are also angelic measurements. 18 The material of the wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19 The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; 20 the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. 22 I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; 26 and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; 27 and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.“
Amen and Amen