Boker Tov (Good Morning),
Last night, as we sat and watched the video from Steven ben-DeNun, who reported on the recent United States Supreme Court decision of refusing to recognize Jerusalem as a part of Israel, we sat and wept in our spirit. It was this morning, as I sat down to read our Psalm for the day, I noticed that it was Psalm 137. All day yesterday and even in the middle of the night last night, the one verse that kept coming into my spirit was Psalm 137:5,6, “If I forget you, O Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), let my right hand forget. Let my tongue cleave to my palate, if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.” As I read through Psalm 137 and came upon verses 5 and 6, Hebrews 12:2 was brought to my remembrance. It is one of my favorite verses, yet up until now, I had not realized the powerful message contained within it.
“Looking to the Prince and Perfecter of our belief, Yahushua, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the stake, having despised the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of Elohim. For consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and faint in your lives. You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” (Hebrews 12:2-4)
As I read this passage, it became very clear to me that the joy that was set before Him (Messiah) is Jerusalem. Immediately I thought of Matthew 23 where Messiah said Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how I have longed to gather you as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you would not. As I sat pondering this, Abba began making connections within my spirit. Psalm 137 is a parallel to Messiah having to endure the stake. He is pictured as the lyre that was hung on the branches of the willow tree where Zion’s captured were mocked by her captors saying, “sing to us a song of Zion.” They replied, “how can we sing the song of Zion in a foreign land?” Messiah’s Babylon was the stake, and it was on the stake that He suffered in the foreign land of our sin’s – being exiled from His Father’s presence. However, coming soon, will Zion sing again upon their lyres (Revelation 14) – because of what Messiah has done for her!
At the end of Matthew 23 leading into 24, Messiah speaks of the Temple being destroyed by the Romans. This is in parallel to the Babylonians in Psalm 137. He goes on to speak about what will come upon the earth in the end of days, where Edom (now a composite beast of Babylon and Rome) will attempt a third time to destroy Jerusalem, and bring it down to the ground. However, this time, the actions of the enemy will bring about the final redemption of Yahuweh’s people with the coming of His Son.
This brings much excitement to me, and I hope it does you as well. In this excitement and attitude of pondering these connections the Spirit was showing me, Rivkah was sitting on the floor in front of me with her Spirit Filled Life Bible opened to Zechariah. I leaned forward to stretch out my back, and reading upside down, my eyes fell upon this passage from chapter 8, “Behold, I will save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west. I will bring them back and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. They shall be My people and I will be their Elohim, in truth and righteousness.”
Immediately I said to Rivkah, “that’s it, that’s the answer!” The joy that was set before Messiah while He was on the stake was the joy of re-gathering His Father’s children to dwell in peace in Jerusalem. This is the core of Messiah’s death on the stake (behold! I will save My people). Messiah longs to gather Jerusalem again unto Himself. This is the joy that was set before Him as described in Hebrews 12:2 – that as He would despise the shame of being rejected by His own people, He would one day return unto them to gather them from the four corners of the earth, so that His Father, Yahuweh, can finally have His family! HALLELUYAH!
As I was talking with Rivkah about this exciting news, she read me the beginning passage of Zechariah 8, “Thus says Yahuweh of Hosts: ‘I am zealous for Zion with great zeal; with great fervor I am zealous for her.’ Thus says Yahuweh: ‘I will return to Zion, and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, the Mountain of Yahuweh of Hosts, the Set-Apart Mountain.’”
According to this passage in the Spirit Filled Life Bible, the word, zealous is the word qanah (kah-nah) Strong’s #7065: To be zealous, filled with zeal, full of emotion, to be passionate, also to be jealous or envious, to be highly possessive of something. The “Word Wealth” description of this word continues saying: “This is not a negative word, though, as it is the zeal of Yahuweh that will bring about the Messiah’s eternal reign (Isaiah 9:7). In the present reference, Elohim is either zealous with burning zeal for Zion, or jealous with burning jealousy, or perhaps, fanatic over His Jerusalem. Every nation has its plans for Jerusalem. Elohim too, has His plans (Zechariah 8:3-15), which must overrule all human schemes. “
Yes, every nation has it’s plans for the ‘eternal city’, yet as believers and lovers of Zion, we must pray for the peace of Jerusalem every day, including that the enemy’s plans will NOT usurp the will of Yahuweh.
Like the Father and the Son, we must be zealous over the joy that is set before them – the joy in returning to Zion to reign forever, where His children will be gathered unto Him. This brings us great joy and we wanted to share this with you this morning.
As you watch this special report, keep the joy of knowing, though the grievous news of Jerusalem’s division is clearly made evident, that our Redemption draws nigh!
As Messiah endured the shame of the stake, being despised and rejected, He saw the joy set before Him as the purpose for which He suffered – to provide a way for the re-gathering of His family once again – Jerusalem…His chief joy!
Shalom,
Derek and Rivkah