And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites - 2 Sam 5:6
Now that David was king over all of Israel, he needed a capital city to reign from. Choosing a capital city is a big deal – not just any place will do. There are political, geographical, and military implications that play into the choosing of a capital city – the “heart, soul, and mind” of a nation. And, Jerusalem was an interesting choice:
Politically
Hebron, where David had ruled, would have offered more political and tribal support to David. Gibeah, where Saul had reigned from, would have sent the message that David did not hold any grudges against Saul or the Benjamites.
Spiritually:
Bethel, where Abraham had built an altar to the Lord, and where Jacob received confirmation of God’s covenant to the descendants of Abraham (the ladder dream), might have been a better choice.
Or Shechem, another significant city where Abraham erected an alter, and where Joshua assembled all of the people to reaffirm the covenant with God before entering the promised land – that would have been a better choice.
But Jerusalem actually was apparently God’s choice, with two significant events that give us a clue to why. Three events that have eternal significance: (click the link below to read the entire article)
Event #1 - Melchizedek
The first event is recorded in Genesis 14. In this account, an allied force of several Mesopotamian kings overran the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and they took Abraham’s nephew, Lot, captive. Abraham went after them, rescued Lot, and on his way back to the Negev he stopped at the Valley of Shaveh and met a man named Melchizedek.
Melchizedek was a unique man: He was the king of Salem (Jerusalem), but he was also the priest of the Most High God. This Priest-King blessed Abram, and Abram in turn gave a tithe to Melchizedek.
The Book of Hebrews, and Psalm 110, gives us a better understanding of exactly what happened there. In Hebrews 5 we read that God (the Father) said to David’s Lord (God’s Son)
So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: “You are My Son, today I have begotten You.” (Heb 5:5, quote from Ps 2:7)
As He also says in another place: “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek”; (Heb 5:6, quote from Ps 110:4)
So we’re told that there is a connection between to begotten Son of God, and this man Melchizedek Later in chapter 6, Jesus is identified as the Son who is the “High Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek”
…even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. (Heb 6:20)
Going back to Psalm 110, we read:
The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” The Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies! (Ps 110:1-2)
In other words, David, being a prophet, foresaw the day when a descendent of his, Jesus Christ, “The Lord,” would rule forever out of Zion, the city of Jerusalem.
The Temple of Jesus Christ
Going to the book of Ezekiel, who was an old Testament prophet during the Babylonian exile, chapters 40-45 describe an incredible temple that will be built at some time in the future:
In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was captured, on the very same day the hand of the Lord was upon me; and He took me there. In the visions of God He took me into the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain; on it toward the south was something like the structure of a city. He took me there, and behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze. He had a line of flax and a measuring rod in his hand, and he stood in the gateway. And the man said to me, “Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears, and fix your mind on everything I show you; for you were brought here so that I might show them to you. Declare to the house of Israel everything you see.” (Ez 40:1-4)
The next few chapters go on to describe in great detail a temple, one which has not yet been built. Interesting that there is more detail given about this temple than Solomon’s temple, Zarubbabel’s temple, even the tabernacle!
“And the glory of the LORD came into the temple…” Ezekiel 43:4
and then in verses 7:
And He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. (Ezek 43:7)
Micah 4:2 predicts about the time of this temple, on the mount of God:
“But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow into it.”
This temple is also known as “The Temple of the Messiah” for Zechariah 6:12-13 tells us:
“Behold, the Man whose name is The Branch and He shall grow up out of His place, and He shall build the temple of the LORD; Even He shall build the temple of the LORD; and He shall bear the glory; and shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a priest upon His throne…” (Zech 6:12-13)
So the first reason God chose Jerusalem as the capital is because one day, His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Triune God, will return again to the Mount of Olives with His saints and sit upon the throne of David and establish His Kingdom over all the earth in Jerusalem as the eternal Priest-King.
Event #2 – The Lord’s Sacrifice
The second event is recorded in Genesis 22, where Abraham offered up Isaac on a mountain in the Land of Moriah. In this touching account, God tested Abraham by commanding him:
“Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” (Gen 22:1-2)
Abraham took his son Isaac, two young men, and a donkey and they carried the wood for the sacrifice to the Land of Moriah. ,Again, the book of Hebrews gives us a divine commentary on this event.
“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it is said, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called,’ concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense” (11:17-19).
So Abraham, having faith, fully believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead, if Abraham killed him. As the father and the son walked together to the mountain with the wood on the son’s shoulders, and the knife and fire in the father’s hands, Isaac asks, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham solemnly responded, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.”
Abraham built an altar and bound his beloved son and placed him on it. As he was about to slay him with the knife, the Angel of the LORD stopped him with these words:
“Do not lay your hands on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me” (22:12)
Abraham lifted up his eyes, probably filled with tears, and saw a ram caught in a nearby thicket. He took the ram and sacrificed it in place of his son Isaac and named the place,
“The LORD will provide; as it is said to this day, ‘In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided’” (22:13-14)
Now fast-forward 2,000 years, the Lord Jesus was visiting the Temple during the Feast of Tabernacles when He had an encounter with the religious leaders. The topic of discussion was Father Abraham. They asked Jesus if He was greater than Abraham. Jesus answered in the affirmative and said,
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:56-58)
But what did Jesus mean by, “You father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad?” What day was he talking about?
His statement goes back to that day recorded in Genesis 22, when Abraham, the friend of God, somehow knew of the Person and work of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, Because he called the name of the place “The LORD Will Provide” which meant “In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” Abraham said to Isaac that God would provide a lamb as a burnt offering, and a ram was caught in the thicket. The ram was a substitute for Isaac, the ram died in Isaac’s place.
It is not until 2,000 years later that John the Baptist was at Bethany beyond the Jordan when he saw Jesus approaching him and said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).
Jesus was the Lamb that God would provide Himself.
So you see Jerusalem is not just another city, some place that people fight over. Jerusalem is the place that God chose to reveal His Son to mankind, And Jerusalem is the place where God will set up His son, the true King of Kings, to reign over all, forever!
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