Yahshua was sitting on the mount of Olives, the Holy City in the tableau before him. A discourse with his disciples and some Jewish leaders was ongoing. He tongue-lashed them over their hypocrisy and double standards. He lamented in deep sorrow, weeping over the Holy City's many lost opportunities and the storms yet to visit the city. He cried out:

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say,  'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" 
 (Matthew 23:37 - 39, NIV).
      
Jerusalem, capital of Israel since the days of King David. Jerusalem, an ancient city whose peers (Nineveh, Thebes, Babylon, Tyre etc) have long since passed into oblivion! Jerusalem, undoubtedly the world's oldest continuously inhabited city, with over 3,000 years in existence and counting! Jerusalem, a city central to the origins of the three Abrahamic faiths - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Jerusalem, almost synonymous with violence, strife, exile, cruel sieges, and occupations over vast periods of time!

So then, what is it about this Middle Eastern city that elicits, nay, stirs so many different emotions, making it one of the most emotive subjects on God's good earth?! Why is Jerusalem causative to so much desolation, bloodshed, tears, joy, hope etc, down through the corridors of time?! We will try to look at some of the issues here. And this short, humble piece is by no means an exhaustive attempt at this vastly important, transcendental subject!

In Ezekiel 16:3, the Bible gives us the origins of this mysterious city - "... your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite..." Jerusalem was therefore originally a Canaanite city. And since Canaan was a son of Ham, Jerusalem was, if you will, a black city! By then, its name was Jebus (1Chronicles 11:4). King David then conquered its Jebusite inhabitants, and -  attracted by its strategic location and geographical centrality among the tribes of Israel, made it his capital.

Jerusalem, however, has many other names given by the prophets whom God sent, time and again, to her, bearing various messages. It was also called Ariel (Isaiah 29:1), Hephzibah (Isaiah 62:4), Oholibah (Ezekiel 23:4), and Zion (2Samuel5:7). Names here bear the different characterization assigned to the city at different times.
But then, as if these names were not enough, different peoples also had their own names for this city! To the Egyptians, it was Urushalimum, to the Romans  Hierosolyma, to the Arabs Al-Quds etc. In fact, sick and tired of the "troublesome" and rebellious inhabitants of that part of his empire, the Roman Emperor Hadrian renamed the city, by imperial decree, in 135AD. He called it Aelia-Capitolina (after the Roman deity Jupiter- Capitolinus). The Province of Judea, the Jewish homeland, he renamed Palestina (after the Philistines - a tiny ethnic minority living along Israel's Mediterranean coast). However, Hadrian's anti-Semitic notions were interred along with him at his death! The name "Jerusalem" simply outlived his spiteful designs.

In the Hebrew tongue, the name Jerusalem roughly translates to "City of Peace". This city of destiny, however, is yet to live up to its billing. Jerusalem has, down through the ages, been riven with much strife amid the clashing of armies, debilitating sieges, the razing down of its walls and citadels, and the two-time destruction of Adonai's Temple at its heart. Foreign armies have clashed over Jerusalem 16 times, destroyed the city twice, besieged it 23 times, attacked it 52 times, captured and recaptured it  more than 40 times!
No other city in the world has had such a tumultuous history. Indeed, according to Yahshua, Jerusalem was to be; "...trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled." (Luke 21:24).
Babylonians, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Ottomans, Mamelukes, Sejlukes, Franks, Crusaders, Saracens, the British and various other Gentile peoples have all - at one time or the other - held sway over Jerusalem. These stormy strivings are far from over: the Arabs now want Jerusalem for the capital of a future Palestinian state; the Vatican wants it for the headquarters of the Catholic Church (and have been at the forefront of a push to have it declared an "international city"), amid other foreign interests.
Jerusalem's geo-political, religious and strategic significance is of such magnitude that the prophet Ezekiel described it as the "city in the centre of the earth..." (Ezekiel 5:5).
It was also foreseen as the "The City of Truth..." (Zechariah 8:3, NIV). Meaning the liberating truth of God's word and its implications for Mankind is only available from that sacred city.
On his part, the prophet Isaiah bade it "...rise, shine..." in a world full of spiritual darkness (Isaiah 60:1 - 2). He also saw it as the city from whence God's word would go forth into the world during these last days (Isaiah 2:1-2).
His contemporary, Micah of Moresheth, was of a similar prophetic view (Micah 4:1-4).
  Jerusalem has further been described as the city where God Almighty's Name is to be found (2Chronicles 6:6). It is therefore indestructible!

As the headquarters of Elohim's Church here on earth, the city has been described as a lactating mother with nourishing milk for all her children! (Isaiah 66:10-11 as read alongside 1 Peter 2:2). Indeed, "her very stones move her children to tears" (Psalm 102:14). Such has been the case, as witnessed when many devout Jews arrive at Jerusalem's "Wailing Wall" for the first time...
According to Isaiah, God has "placed watchmen on her walls", whose charge is never to be silent, day or night till Jerusalem is divinely established as the joy of all the earth! (Isaiah 62:6 - 7).
Isaiah has also described Jerusalem as the "city of our festivals" (Isaiah 33:20). It is therefore a city central to Elohim's overall plans for the salvation of mankind. The festivals in question here, are the annual holy convocations laid down in Leviticus 23. These festivals foreshadow the theocratic liturgical calendar to be in use during Yahshua's coming Kingdom (please read Isaiah 66:22-23, Zechariah 14:16-17, Colossians 2:16 etc).

Thus, Jerusalem is the spiritual font or gateway from whence God's blessings upon his people are commanded. Said the Psalmist "... for there, the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore." (Psalm 133:3). On Mt Moriah (where King Solomon's Heykal was built), the patriarch Abraham declared; "...on the mountain of the LORD, it shall be provided." (Genesis 22:14). Abraham's statement remains true for all children of God down through the ages up to the present. This is the exact same spot where King David sacrificed some animals to Adonai so that a plague over Israel would stop.              (2Samuel 24:18 - 25).

No wonder then, this city evokes such a vast array of different emotions! It is a city unlike any other! It is a city whose importance transcends the mundane territorial interests of man. It is a city clearly marked out for a much loftier position among cities than most of us could ever imagine.
In looking at Jerusalem, we puny humans must come to terms with the fact that God's own sovereign designs are indelibly etched  into the city's place in history, the present, and in the Coming Age.

In fact, Jerusalem's survival down through the centuries,  against insurmountable odds is a forceful echo of God's own character.
Jerusalem's survival lies not in impregnable walls, bustling commerce, being at the center of great trade routes, the immensity of population or size, an abundance of waters, grain, or any other such considerations.  No, compared to ancient long gone peers such as Nineveh, Memphis, Babylon, Thebes or Tyre - Jerusalem simply did not match the grandeur, wealth, secure defenses or such advantages as enjoyed by those metropolises. Yet she has survived and outlived them all!
Compared to the big, flourishing cities of today - Big Apple New York, London, Chicago, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Buenos Aires or Hong Kong - again Jerusalem does not command the advantages that these proud Gentile cities have. Yet they do not capture as much attention on the world stage as this improbable Middle Eastern city!
No, Jerusalem is Jerusalem, not because of some temporal qualities, but because of its solid connection with the Sovereign of the Universe (the Melech ha Olam). God's enduring qualities of unconditional love, boundless grace, forbearance, his tender mercies, his providence among other traits in His character can all be seen mirrored in Jerusalem's winding story. 
Jerusalem has lived and thrived because God has upheld her cause and has always purposed that Mankind shall learn of Him through this remarkable Jewish city.

The best, however, is yet to come! Declares Isaiah: "O afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will build you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with lapis lazuli.
I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones..." 
(Isaiah 54:10 - 11, NIV). 
The city will, at Yahshua's Second Coming become "a royal diadem in the hand of God" (Isaiah 62:3, NIV). The  angel Gabriel informed Mary that Yahshua will be given the throne of his father David (Luke 1:31-33). This prophetic statement can only mean that Yahshua's soon-coming Kingdom shall be headquartered in Jerusalem!
Pointing to the city's central role in that same much-awaited Kingdom, Yahshua admonished the Jews that they should "...not swear by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King..." 
 (Matthew 5:35).
Such is the magnitude of this city's importance that it will actually be at the heart of the final cataclysmic events that will bring the current Age to a close. Says the prophet Joel: 
"In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat..." 
(Joel 3:1-2, NIV). This military confrontation will be the Third World War (also known as Armageddon). At its conclusion, Yahshua comes back to earth (Zechariah 14:4) and ushers in the Kingdom of God!

O what glad tidings! The name of every child of God spiritually connected to this city shall be recorded in God's register of the peoples: "... this one, and that one, were born in Zion..." 
(Psalm 87:6 ).
The righteous shall then reign on the earth with Yahshua (Revelation 2:27, 11:15, Daniel 7:27)! And that, in an everlasting Kingdom!

Words fail me, dear reader, for indeed no human can conceptualize the splendor of those, yet future times! The question is: just how prepared are we, for these apocalyptic, seismic shifting events? Have you thrown in your lot with Jerusalem yet?! If not, the time to do so is now! Blessings.

Pst Kennedy Chang'andu