Believers in the Creator around the world join the people of Israel in celebrating the rebirth of Israel on at least two days in the year: Independence Day, and Jerusalem Day.
Independence Day is the official birthday of the modern State of Israel. But that is secondary to Jerusalem Day. Why? Because Jerusalem is destined to be the center of the whole world. “For the Law will go out from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” (Isa. 2:3)
Israel’s independence meant the release of the Jewish people from a stateless condition, where they had no choice but to adopt another country as their own. Once again, we were able to determine our own national identity and destiny. But Jerusalem? To again possess “the city of the Great King” (Ps. 48:2) as our nation’s capital was both a physical and spiritual liberation.
It’s perhaps no coincidence that both these milestones are celebrated between two of the Creator’s holy “appointed times”: Passover and Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks). On Passover we left behind the life of a slave to become a nation; and on Shavuot we received the Torah at Sinai, a body of righteous laws which would bind us together as a nation. No other nation has this kind of calling, which is physical and spiritual at the same time.
It’s definitely no coincidence that the Hebrew word for “independence” (atzma’ut) is very close to the word for self-identity (atzmaiyut). Independence Day embodies the first, while Jerusalem Day points to the second. The nation of Israel has no sense of identity without having access to the place where the GOD of Israel has set His Name for all time:
“I have consecrated this house which you [Solomon] have built, by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there always.” (1 Kings 9:3)
“And He said to me [Ezekiel], ‘Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever.’” (Ezek. 43:7)
That’s why the Jews in Babylonian captivity refused to sing “one of the songs of Zion” while cut off from the city that made them who they were:
“How can we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land? If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.” (Ps. 137:4-6)
Notice what the LORD of all the earth declared when the first Temple was built: it’s exactly the same as His declaration in the vision of the last Temple that is not yet built! He does not shorten “forever” or change His mind. He doesn’t care about the global declaration that the Temple Mount now belongs to others and has a different name, or that Jerusalem does not belong to the Jewish people.
And neither should we. Rejecting the lie doesn’t even take faith, only a basic knowledge of Middle East history.
King David officially bought the Temple Mount from the previous (Jebusite) owner, paying full price for it (1 Chron. 21:18-25). When the Jewish exiles returned from Babylon to rebuild the city, they answered the skeptics and mockers: “The GOD of heaven will make us successful; therefore, we His servants will arise and build. But you have no part, right, or memorial in Jerusalem.” (Neh. 2:20) And when they did succeed, they praised the Creator so loudly that “the joy of Jerusalem was heard from far away.” (Neh. 12:43)
For thousands of years, Jerusalem has not belonged to anyone EXCEPT the Jewish people. When no one else gave a thought to the neglected, ruined city, it was ONLY the Jewish people who said every year, “Next year in rebuilt Jerusalem.” At every Jewish wedding, the groom repeats the solemn oath of Psalm 137 to never forget Jerusalem, before breaking a glass under his foot.
The slanderous outcry today that Israel is “Judaizing Jerusalem” is as silly as accusing the sun of “solarizing the sky”. What could be more natural, and more proper, than for both to be exactly where they are supposed to be, in obedience to the Creator’s decrees?
And yet the Creator declares that even the sun which He set in the sky will not be able to outlast His connection with Jerusalem: “Then the moon will be ashamed and the sun be put to shame, for the LORD of armies will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem.” (Isa. 24:23)
The holy Scriptures testify that the One “who dried up the sea… for the redeemed to cross over” at the Exodus is the One who will enable “the redeemed of the LORD [to] return and come to Zion with joyful shouting.” (Isa. 51:10-11) He is also the One who promises to listen to “the foreigner” who is not from the people of Israel, when he “prays toward this house,” so that the nations will revere and love Him as Israel does (1 Kings 8:41-43).
From north, south, east and west, the believers among the nations who turn toward Jerusalem to pray are meeting in the Spirit and uniting their hearts across the miles. That experience is even greater for those who can physically come to the city of the Great King. We are practicing for the End of Days: “And many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let’s go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the GOD of Jacob; so that He may teach us about His ways, and that we may walk in His paths.’” (Isa. 2:3)
Jewish tradition teaches that a heavenly Jerusalem will descend at the End of Days, to unite with the earthly city and impart holiness to it. It is an acknowledgement that the Jerusalem which we see today is not yet holy in the way that it someday will be, based on Scriptures like these:
“Awake, awake, clothe yourself in your strength, Zion; clothe yourself with your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city; for the uncircumcised and the unclean will no longer come into you.” (Isa. 52:1)
“Then you will know that I am the LORD your GOD, dwelling on Zion, My holy mountain. So Jerusalem will be holy, and strangers will no longer pass through it.” (Joel 3:17)
“The LORD says this: ‘I will return to Zion and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of armies will be called the Holy Mountain.’” (Zech. 8:3)
The modern restoration of the Land and its Capital City are therefore signposts for the soul, telling us that everything the Holy One has promised – physical AND spiritual – will come to pass:
“Now it will come about that in the last days, the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it.” (Isa. 2:2)
Thus, Jerusalem Day reminds us that the city’s liberation is not yet complete. We await the Messiah, who will reign from that place on the “unique day which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night.” (Zech 14:7) May we see it in our days.
Be blessed by the Most High from the Land of Zion and Jerusalem,
