Red Line Crossed

Starting on December 4th, we were told President Trump planned to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. His pronunciation from his position as the leader of the free world aligns with the platforms of both major political parties in the US and keeps with his campaign promise to recognize Israel’s claim on Jerusalem as capital city. President Trump is announcing publicly the official US position.

The world disagrees with him. UK’s PM Theresa May supports a two-state solution and would rather Israel’s capital be decided by the world, not Israel. President Erdogan of Turkey, who by the way claims to be god and demands worship as such, called the decision a “Red Line for Muslims.” The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s current monarch called the decision a flagrant provocation that would further destabilize the Middle East. Erdogan followed with threats to end contact with Israel. Palestinian President Mahmood Abbas threatened to cease ties with the US. And King Abdullah of Jordan, himself highly beloved and respected by his people and the caretaker of Muslim artifacts in Jerusalem, warned against the destabilizing effect such a decision could cause.

But other than the fact that the city sits in the dead center of the country of Israel, or on the Armistice Line if you ascribe to the notion of a Palestinian State, what is the real importance of the city? Why does any conversation about that piece of real estate draw the attention of the world and two of the largest major religions on Earth?

Jesus Christ!

It seems God’s decision to have Jesus born to Mary in Jerusalem has the potential to upset over half the population within days of celebrating Jesus’ birth over two thousand years after the fact. Muslims claim Jerusalem as the capital of an Islamic Palestine (which is different from the Islamic State of Iraq and AlSham’s claim) and Jews claim it as the capital of Israel. Jews built Solomon’s Temple there before God split the veil and Roman’s destroyed the second one, and Muslims built the Dome of the Rock which stands there today. World leaders would rather nobody claim it so they can worry about non-Israeli issues since much of the world is anti-Semitic anyway.

But who is right? Who gets to claim Jerusalem as their Holy City?

Well, they both are, and neither is.

Jerusalem was named the single place for gathering and worshiping God by the Lord himself, as declared in Psalm 122 and 125 and in Zechariah 8:3. The book of Zechariah (12:9) also declares God will destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. However, in Revelation 21 Paul is given a vision of the “New Jerusalem” which replaces Heaven and Earth at the End of Days.

My point is that Jerusalem is holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims because whether they admit it or not, all three major religions worship the same God. The Father of Abraham, the creator of Israel, the one who blessed Ishmael and Hagar with freedom, the King of Kings and one true living God is so associated with Jerusalem that we’ll go to war over something we all agree upon. And the whole time we’ll disagree while saying the same thing.

The official stance of Hamas, a terrorist organization that claims Jerusalem as the capital for Palestine, has issued orders for all-out war in Israel after this Friday’s prayers.

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6, ESV)

That’s everyone’s challenge today.