Heaven’s Heartbeat - Peace
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May all who love this city prosper.”
Psalm 122:6 NLT
City buses pass constantly through the German Colony in Jerusalem. Mom and I boarded one for the ten-minute ride to her office at Bridges for Peace, a Christian ministry helping Jewish people return home to Israel.
When the bus rolled to a stop, we stepped out of the bus onto the sidewalk. At that instant a massive explosion one block away nearly knocked us off our feet. Glass and metal, with boiling smoke, had instantly covered the entire area. Once we recovered and realized we were still intact, I urged Mom to go to her office quickly, and I would follow soon.
What I saw took my breath away. Both sides of the street, lined with cars, were a tangled mess of metal and glass. The windows on every building on both sides of the road were blown out. As police arrived, they moved me back and began setting up a tape barrier. The bomb had been detonated in a Mercedes Benz parked in the middle of the block.
Mom moved to Israel on September 29, 2000, one day after Arafat declared the second Intifada, killing over a thousand Israelis—most from suicide bombers on city buses full of civilians. Moms and dads, grampas and grandmas, students, and little ones. She lived in Israel for ten years and loved every minute of it.
Hannah, Amir, Mom and Micah at Bridges for Peace in Jerusalem
Mom, Micah and Joanne packing supplies in Israel
Mom at Neot Kedumim
The first time I landed in Israel was in 1985. And across all those years, I can’t recall a time when Israel wasn’t fighting for her very existence. This latest murderous attack by Hamas (the Hebrew word for “violence”) on October 7 is an apex event, signaling that this genocidal terrorist group are holding with their 1988 charter to obliterate every Jew.
Last Sunday, Pastor Gary Hamrick, delivered an exceptional and well-prepared message at Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, VA. presenting a clear Biblical perspective on Israel and the history of the Middle East.
The message is short, and I hope you find it helpful as you pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
My entire life, the geo-political religious system of Islam has informed the world through word and action what they are going to do.
As my brother Jack reminded me one time:
“When people tell you what they are going to do, believe them.”
On one of my trips to Israel, a public bus in Jerusalem was blown up by an Islamic suicide terrorist, killing dozens of civilians. That day I wrote in a GGN update appealing for prayer, in the letter I stated:
“We do not deify Israel or demonize Arab people.”
GGN has carried the Gospel and humanitarian supplies into many Islamic nations. It’s happening as I write this letter. We desire that Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:14 are fulfilled and all nations to be saved and come to know the saving power of Jesus. However, we are called by the Lord to pray for and bless Israel.
The dark-spiritual and unnatural evil and hatred of Israel and the Jews is demonically inspired.
Israel, and our nation and all nations must firmly respond to stop the advance of this system that is filled with hate and murder.
And God’s people must pray and not be silent, fearful, or disinterested.
Jacob Howland is Provost and Director of the Intellectual Foundations Program at the University of Austin. Read his compelling article here.
So here is my question to my fellow Christians: What do you tell people you will do?
Do you pray for the peace of Jerusalem? Do you bless the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?
Are you standing with the Apostle Paul when he declared that the Gospel is for the Jew first and that all of Israel will be saved?
And what about the apostle’s words in Romans 11:29, that God’s call and gifts toward Israel are irrevocable. Another translation says that calling is “under full warranty — never canceled, never rescinded” (The Message).
That’s a good thing. Just think about it—If God were to change His mind and not fulfill His multitudes of promises to Israel, how could you and I in His Church have any assurance He wouldn’t change His mind about us, too?
Do you comfort God’s people, Israel? When people tell you that “God is finished with Israel,” do you remind them that God scattered Israel over the earth, and it was God who brought them back to their original and ancient homeland in 1948—a phenomenon the world has never witnessed before?
Do you tell people that Jesus will return to Jerusalem just as He promised? Have you shown how Isaiah 62:7 informs us that God will not give Israel any rest until He establishes Jerusalem as the pride and praise of all the earth?
We hear a lot of political talk about climate change these days and how the earth is in peril. But in Jeremiah 31:35-37, our Creator declares that He is as likely to abandon the laws of nature as He is to reject His people, Israel:
This is what the Lord says, He who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the Lord Almighty is his name: “Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,” declares the Lord, “Will Israel ever cease being a nation before me.” This is what the Lord says.
In other words, He won’t do either. The earth will endure until that day when God finally pulls the curtains. And so will His love for Israel.
- Micah
