THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEVEN JERUSALEM

© Carlos Padilla, May Pentecost 2013

Jesus Christ won us for Himself, in the Jerusalem down below, but He won us for the Jerusalem above … which is the mother of us all… Galatians 4:26. From these two cities of Jerusalem, the earthly one and the heavenly one – the latter being the one that will replace the former eternally – we can learn the prophetic strategy from their history to conquer spiritual victory in the other five Jerusalem which are symbolically inside, like concentric circles: our nation and its capital, our city or place where we live, our church, our family and finally our own life in the middle.

The keys to this strategy are in knowing who the inhabitants of Jerusalem are, which is revealed to us by Zechariah the Prophet 12:7 …The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah.

The house of David would be threshold of the temple of Herod, the priests, the Sanhedrin, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem would include the Romans, the gentiles; they were both the ones who killed the Lord, but they are different to Judah, according to the Text, because it speaks about the tents of Judah. But Zechariah reveals about other inhabitants of Jerusalem whom the captains of Judah say that they have their strength on Yahweh of the Hosts their God. Who are these inhabitants of Jerusalem, and which age do they belong to, whom the captains of Judah say in their heart that they have their strength in the Lord, their God, the same God Yahweh of hosts as theirs, the only God alive?. We know that Judah has not been in its land since the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman troops in year 70 b.C., as Jesus prophesized, until their prophetic return in1948, and we must take into consideration that Jesus Christ will also come when the Times of The Gentiles are fulfilled. We will see the rest below.

PROPHECY IN THE HISTORY OF JERUSALEM

We will now read a brief summary in the history of events in Jerusalem, that are full of prophetic and strategic information, for our times now and also for the end and the future and eternal City of Jerusalem, the heavenly one, that will come down to earth. From this brief summary, we will obtain the details about the strategy to win the seven Jerusalem.

Jerusalem has been called the capital of the world, the centre of the world, since it is the place where Jesus Christ was crucified and resurrected, and it will be the city from where the Son of God will reign over every nation. Prophetically, it is certainly the centre of the world, it is the Prophetic Clock of humanity. Everything that happens in Jerusalem affects the whole history of humanity, we can even see it today in the news.

The prophetic Jerusalem is, no doubt, worth being studied by every believer, especially when you are a disciple of Jesus Christ. The Bible, in Psalm 122, asks us to pray for it, it speaks about loving the city of our salvation: …Pray for the peace of Jerusalem they shall prosper that love thee.

Sometimes we forget that in the city of Jerusalem, on one of its mounts, where the Temple was built, was the place where Abraham went to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac, his firstborn with his beloved wife Sarah.

“Jebus” is one of the ancient names of the City. From the beginning (Joshua 15:63, Judges 1.21). The Jebusites remained in Jerusalem after the conquests of Israel, together with Judah and Benjamin, as inhabitants of Jerusalem. Once David conquers the city, he finally defeats the Jebusite inhabitants, it is established as the “City of David”. Later comes the victory against the Philistines. After that, David brings the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, followed God’s covenant with David (2Samuel 5, 6 and 7). When there were no enemies left is when David sins against God with Bathsheba. The man of faith must be always vigilant, cannot be idle, cannot leave his church in the conquest for souls and of Jerusalem. This is a call for the whole Church, not just for pastors and evangelists.

Isaiah 62:8-12 shows us in advance the prophetic vision of the Holy Supper, Jesus Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem, where strangers will no more pass through, where the house of Jacob will know that the Lord is their God, and the strength of the children of Israel, Who lives in mount Zion, the same mount where Jesus Christ the Messiah will come. And Micah 4:2 is threshold of the fruit of the Great Commission at the end of times, when it says that the Word of Yahweh will come out of Jerusalem, and that many nations will come to find God.

In its prophetic history, the city of Jerusalem has been destroyed many times, all of them due to the behavior of its inhabitants before God. Finally, Jesus Christ prophesized that the Temple and the city would be destroyed because they did not receive Him as the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God who was coming to give His life for us. But in God’s plan there is a final episode or dispensation for the Jerusalem below, before the one from above descends. This is from 1948 when Israel becomes a nation again, when Jerusalem is again the capital – although shared – of the state of Israel, and finally where the arrival of the Messiah is expected to establish the Kingdom of God for eternity.

Zechariah 12:6 is 1948, and 14:2 is Armageddon in Revelation 16:16, after Luke 21:24, to 24:47-49 the beginning of the Great Commission and the enduing of the Holy Spirit for it. Galatians 4:26 tells is about the Jerusalem above, it does not have a Temple, because it's Temple and the Lamb is the Lord Himself, who comes to our soul in the Spirit, the city of Revelation 21:10 and 22.

This is the first one of the two keys about the inhabitants at the end of time, it is Israel, the Jews, who are and will be the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the final event of all times, when they acknowledge Yahshua the Messiah, Jesus Christ, and say; Baruch Haba B'shem Adonai, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. It will not happen before they see once again the destruction of it as an imminent event due to the acts of the nations that will battle against her in Armageddon. While that happens – not before the 70^th anniversary of the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948, what the Bible calls a generation – the Church and the Messianic Jews forecast the Gospel to every nation from Jerusalem through television and the internet, evangelistic services are held in the Ancient City and concerts worshipping God, and the love of both for the City flows as well as it flows from them to Jesus Christ, the Messiah, for God and His salvation plan for all.

This is the second key about the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the ones who now have their strength on the Lord their God, those who will move to jealousy the house of David and the captains of Judah so they also receive the Messiah when they see Jesus Christ coming to save them in the battle of Armageddon.

PROPHETIC STRATEGY IN THE SEVEN JERUSALEM

1.- The one Above, the City of the living God, the mother of all. It is where the living God, the Son and the Holy Spirit live. Angels of the Lord, and every soul that has been saved by the grace of God, in the work on the Cross of the Messiah Jesus Christ, and this will be in eternity for us, and from eternity for God who created it. The strategy to be in it and to take others is the Great Commission and the Gospel.

2 .-The one below, is the prophetic city where we have seen the great prophetic events, and where the last battle of Armageddon and the coming of the Lord will take place. But according to Zechariah 12 we have the house of David, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah, whom He will free first, vss. 7&8. The victory over the enemy nations, Syria, Iran, Gaza, etc. is of Jesus Christ, Yahshua. Until then, we will carry on preaching the Gospel from Jerusalem but in our times, the strategy includes also Jerusalem.

3.- The nation where we live, and its capital, compared with the previous one teaches us about the prophetic fruits as strategy, in this first of the symbolic Jerusalems. Why call a nation Jerusalem? It is in this city where we find the keys to understand what has happened, what will happen and what God wants His people to see. Zechariah speaks, as we see in chapter 12, about the house of David, about the inhabitants of the city, and of Judah. These represent the history, the religion and tradition, and the society of a nation. A nation must change before God before history is over, reform its religion and change its society and education. All this, even though it won't be done totally, it can in part through the Gospel, in such a way that each nation, the survivors who love God come from year to year to worship the King, Yahweh and to celebrate the Feast of the Tabernacles, symbol of the brotherly friendship and love of God between those who love Him, Zechariah 14:16 or Revelation 21:24 where they will walk in the light of the New Jerusalem. The strategy of wining all the layers of a society that they might receive the blessing of God.

4.- The city where we live is, at the same time, the key of what do we do as Christians with regards to conquering the city with the Gospel, so that in that time, when Yahshua returns, will find, maybe, seven thousand that did not bow before a world opposed to God, in this relativist society of the 21st century. Therefore it is the mission of the churches to conquer their own house of David, their inhabitants, and their Judah. The strategy includes then its people, its government, its religion, its life, they are the battle fields so that the city may be blessed by God, and that their inhabitants see the grace of God for salvation.

5.- The church where we gather, or where we belong, as well as being the engine of the Gospel towards the city, the country and the world, within the capacity that each one has, is also a Jerusalem of which one needs to know its history very well, the inhabitants, and its Judah, in other words, the history of the church, her founders, its doctrine, its social work, pastors and elders, so that the strategy establishes those who are called, who will serve well, those that will be good friends and brothers, and those who will give a good testimony of Jesus Christ with their lives, those who will be the foundation of the family of the faith, where every Christian feels and enjoys being an integrant part of the Body of Christ.

6.- Everyone's family is the key of society, since Adam and Eve, a Jerusalem in scale which shares the same structural statements. Marriage, the father and the mother are key for the foundation of a Christian family with a life that honors God and enjoys a happy and spiritual life. In the fathers we see the house of David who founds it. All the members, parents, children, elders, are the inhabitants, the society of a family that needs the guidance of Jesus Christ. And its Judah must be based in the love to God and to the neighbor before its lineage, the belonging, the city or the nation. A family in Christ is the biggest blessing for the pillars of a healthy and holy society where God's blessing flows. Family is the strategic foundation of society and the world, if in Christ.

7.- Our own life, our own soul. The soul of the believer, that has to become a disciple. Jerusalem is also symbolically ourselves. Who reigns in our heart, who is our spiritual guide, our master in values of live, our model to follow?  If the answer is Jesus Christ, then we are a foundation for our family, for our church, for our city, for our nation and so that we may be in the New Jerusalem, influencing the house of David, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the captains of Judah, whichever lineage they may be, and they will say in their hearts that we have strength in our God, Yahweh, Lord of Hosts, in Jesus Christ, our Lord and King.

Abraham (Genesis 12) received the command of leaving his Jerusalem to find the new Jerusalem in the Promised Land. This same commandment we are also to fulfill because it comes from the light of God's strategy, to come out of the old life that we may live the new life by the hand of Jesus Christ, our Lord and best friend.

To win the Jerusalems is part of the mission of the Church, part of the Great Commission. With a mission philosophy from the Bible, based in the Gospel, with a sound theological preparation that edifies solid and brotherly churches, which also offer humanitarian aid as part of their mission based in God's mercy which we were told by the Master in Matthew 25:31-46, we can trust that the supernatural action of God will be guiding all the work for His glory and our blessing, and therefore inhabit in our life in the spiritual Jerusalem. The key Text provides the foundation, guide and strategy: