The Covenant of Peace

The Bride

Who is the bride?  We, from Christian backgrounds, have always been told that the bride is the Church.  This comes from Paul’s words in Ephesians 5:25 (NASB) Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. We know that the word “church” comes from the King James translation of the assembly or, in Hebrew, could be the word edah, which means an appointed meeting, an assembly or congregation.  These are the people that attend the appointed times or moedim, YHWH’s seven feast days.  The first time this word is used in Scripture is at Mount Sinai when YHWH tells them how to celebrate the Passover.  Exodus 12:3 (NASB) “Speak to all the congregation (edah) of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household.  They are officially called the edah when they are celebrating a feast.  This word comes from the root word that means “witness”.  There is another word used in Hebrew to describe the “church” and that is kahal, which also means an assembly or congregation.  The first time this word is used is in Genesis 28:3, when Isaac gives Jacob a blessing, saying, (NASB) “May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company (kahal) of peoples.”  The kahal would be the descendants of Jacob.

The Hebrew word for “bride” sounds like a similar word in Hebrew – kallah, although it is not using the same Hebrew letters. This word means a bride, maiden or betrothed. This word comes from the root word kalal, which means to put a crown on.  How does one, according to the Word, become a bride?  The answer is contained in the Hebrew root word for bride, again this word is kalal and can also mean, according to Strong’s, “to make perfect”, or without spot or wrinkle just as Paul told us in Ephesians.  How is this done?  Again, Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:26 (NASB) so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word…”  She must be cleansed by the washing of water with the Word.  Just as Yeshua, the living Torah, washed the feet of his disciples in John chapter 13, we were given a picture of walking out the commandments in the Torah.  When Peter protested, Yeshua said to him in John 13:8…“If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”

We can see how the congregation could be the bride, however, we will also see that it might just be more than people here.  In the book of Revelation, John is given a vision of the bride.  Revelation 21:9-11(NASB) Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper.”  He is not describing people here, but instead, is describing a city – the New Jerusalem.  He also says in Revelation 21:2 (NASB) And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.  The bride, in these verses, is a city.  A perfect city.  Revelation 21:27 (NASB) and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.  She will be without spot or wrinkle because nothing unclean will ever be in her.  This goes back to all of the laws in Torah that describe what is clean and unclean.

When we are given the dimensions of this city, we can tell that it is a cube.  Revelation 21:16 (NASB) The city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width; and he measured the city with the rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal.  We believe that the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle was also a cube.  2 Chronicles 3:8 (NASB) Now he made the room of the holy of holies: its length across the width of the house was twenty cubits, and its width was twenty cubits; and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to 600 talents.  The entire room was overlaid in gold just as the New Jerusalem will be.  Revelation 21:18 (NASB) The material of the wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass.  This New Jerusalem is a picture of the holy of holies.  Rashi, a Jewish sage said, "On the day the Tabernacle was finished (kallot), Israel was like a bride (kallah), entering the marriage chamber (huppah)."  Many believe that the New Jerusalem will be the bridal chamber just as the holy of holies was thought to be, but, is it possible that she is the actual bride?

There is much Scripture evidence that YHWH looked upon the city of Jerusalem as a bride.  Ezekiel 16:3, 7-8  (NASB) ‘Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem, “Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite, your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite…..“I made you numerous like plants of the field. Then you grew up, became tall and reached the age for fine ornaments; your breasts were formed and your hair had grown. Yet you were naked and bare. Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love; so I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine,” declares the Lord GOD.  The story of Oholah and Oholibah in the book of Ezekiel are other names for Samaria and Jerusalem.  Ezekiel 23:4 (NASB) “Their names were Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister. And they became Mine, and they bore sons and daughters. And as for their names, Samaria is Oholah and Jerusalem is Oholibah...  This same story goes on to show that Jerusalem and Samaria had become harlots.  Ezekiel 16:15 (NASB) “But you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot because of your fame, and you poured out your harlotries on every passer-by who might be willing.

Can the land commit harlotry?  According to the book of Hosea, yes, she can.  Hosea 1:2 (NASB) When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the LORD.”  Both Samaria and Jerusalem committed harlotry and were tried as harlots.  Yes, it was the people in the land that were sinning, but the land, I believe, was supposed to vomit them out.  Leviticus 20:22 (NKJV) ‘You shall therefore keep all My statutes and all My judgments, and perform them, that the land where I am bringing you to dwell may not vomit you out. Just as a high priest gives an unfaithful wife wormwood to drink, these two places were given cups of wine to drink that YHWH mixed.  First, Samaria commits harlotry, but then Jerusalem is soon to follow.  Ezekiel 23:11 (NASB) “Now her sister Oholibah (Jerusalem) saw this, yet she was more corrupt in her lust than she, and her harlotries were more than the harlotries of her sister.  Moving down to verse 31 and 32 ‘You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand.’ “Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘You will drink your sister’s cup, which is deep and wide. You will be laughed at and held in derision; it contains much. Does this mean that Jerusalem will receive an extra-large cup that contains double or that she will receive the cup twice?

Jerusalem was certainly tried as a harlot in the year 70 A.D. when Titus came in with the Romans and burned the city.  According to the Torah, if the harlot is a daughter of a priest, she is to be burned. Leviticus 21:9 ‘Also the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by harlotry, she profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire.  Jerusalem suffered terribly during this time.  Both the Bible and the historian Josephus recount the horrors that took place in Jerusalem.  Many of the prophecies in the book of Revelation took place during the siege and because of this, there are people that believe that all of the seals, trumpets and bowls of wrath have already taken place, never to be repeated.  Yes, Jerusalem was Mystery Babylon, but, let’s take a look at these “cups” again.

The book of Revelation also talks about the “cups”.  Revelation 18:2-6 (NASB) And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird.  For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.”  I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues;  for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her."  If this is actually two different cups, it is possible that the first cup would have been the three month siege that Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon laid before taking Jerusalem captive in 597BC.  The second cup would have been in 70 A.D. by the Romans.

Are there other “cups” given to other places that might also have the seals, trumpets and bowls of wrath delivered to?  According to the prophet Jeremiah, after YHWH promises the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem by Babylon, there are other cups that Jeremiah is to take to the nations.  Jeremiah 25:15-26 (NASB) For thus the LORD, the God of Israel, says to me, “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. They will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.” Then I took the cup from the LORD’S hand and made all the nations to whom the LORD sent me drink it: Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and its kings and its princes, to make them a ruin, a horror, a hissing and a curse, as it is this day; Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes and all his people; and all the foreign people, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines (even Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron and the remnant of Ashdod); Edom, Moab and the sons of Ammon; and all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon and the kings of the coastlands which are beyond the sea; and Dedan, Tema, Buz and all who cut the corners of their hair; and all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign people who dwell in the desert; and all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam and all the kings of Media; and all the kings of the north, near and far, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the earth which are upon the face of the ground, and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.

So, did Jerusalem drink from the cup twice?  It sounds like it.  It sounds like she was tried as a harlot, or as mystery Babylon twice.  Isaiah 51:17-19 Rouse yourself! Rouse yourself! Arise, O Jerusalem, You who have drunk from the LORD’S hand the cup of His anger; The chalice of reeling you have drained to the dregs. There is none to guide her among all the sons she has borne, Nor is there one to take her by the hand among all the sons she has reared. These two things have befallen you; who will mourn for you? The devastation and destruction, famine and sword; how shall I comfort you?  Could “these two things” be the two cups?  Once during the siege by Babylon in 597B.C. and once during the siege by the Romans in 70A.D.?   Isaiah 51:22-23 (NASB) Thus says your Lord, the LORD, even your God Who contends for His people, “Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of reeling, the chalice of My anger; you will never drink it again.  “I will put it into the hand of your tormentors, who have said to you, ‘Lie down that we may walk over you.’ You have even made your back like the ground and like the street for those who walk over it.”

Jerusalem was judged as a harlot on two separate occasions.  This would make sense if she was the bride.  She was even tried as the daughter of a priest and burned with fire.  The book the Songs of Solomon can make any person blush, but if you read it as if the woman is a city, many things begin to make a little more sense.  Songs 4:12-15 (NASB) "A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a rock garden locked, a spring sealed up. Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, henna with nard plants, nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all the trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, along with all the finest spices. You are a garden spring, a well of fresh water, and streams flowing from Lebanon.”  This is not a description that one would normally give a woman.  Instead, could this be describing a place?  Perhaps, Jerusalem.

Before YHWH brings judgement upon her, He always cautions His people to leave before it happens.  Revelation 18:4 (NASB) I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues.. Jeremiah 51:6 Flee from the midst of Babylon, And each of you save his life! Do not be destroyed in her punishment, for this is the LORD’S time of vengeance; He is going to render recompense to her.  So, if Jerusalem is the bride, who are the people that live there?  They are His children.  Ezekiel 16:3, 20 ‘Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem… “Moreover, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to Me and sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter? Man was formed from the dust of the ground.  We are told by Paul that through Yeshua, we are now citizens of Israel.  Ephesians 2:17-19 (NASB) AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household…  We become children of the land of Israel through the promised seed – Yeshua.  It is as if our bodies were formed from the dust of the ground there.  The word for ground in the Hebrew is adamah and the word for man or mankind is adam; both words mean to be red.  Man and the land or the ground are intrinsically linked.  Why?  The word adam can also be two words.  The aleph, which means first and the word dam, which means blood.  Adam was the first blood.  We can also see this with the word for ground, adamah.  Again, the aleph – first, dam – blood, and the heh – means revelation or spirit.    The ground is the “first blood revealed” or “first blood in spirit”.  This is why the blood of Abel cried out from the ground.  This is also why the blood of animal is to be poured upon the ground during a sacrifice.  The blood of man and even beast are linked with the dust of the earth.  I don’t think we truly understand how deep all of this runs, but for now, let’s look at the “New Jerusalem”.

Who is this new bride, or this New Jerusalem?  Through Yeshua, our citizenship will be in the New Jerusalem.  Paul describes her.  Galations 4:22-28(NASB) For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise. This is allegorically speaking, for these women are two covenants: one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar. Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother. For it is written, “REJOICE, BARREN WOMAN WHO DOES NOT BEAR; BREAK FORTH AND SHOUT, YOU WHO ARE NOT IN LABOR; FOR MORE NUMEROUS ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE DESOLATE THAN OF THE ONE WHO HAS A HUSBAND.”  Who is the Jerusalem above that is free that is our mother?  Remember, John describes her as she comes down to the earth out of the heavens in Revelation 21:2 (NASB) And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.   Let’s take a look at what Isaiah says.  Isaiah 49:14-22 (NASB) But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me. Your builders hurry; your destroyers and devastators will depart from you. Lift up your eyes and look around; all of them gather together, they come to you. As I live,” declares the LORD, “You will surely put on all of them as jewels and bind them on as a bride. For your waste and desolate places and your destroyed land—Surely now you will be too cramped for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you will be far away. The children of whom you were bereaved will yet say in your ears, ‘The place is too cramped for me; Make room for me that I may live here.’ Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has begotten these for me, Since I have been bereaved of my children and am barren, an exile and a wanderer? And who has reared these? Behold, I was left alone; from where did these come?’” Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations and set up My standard to the peoples; and they will bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.  It will be the same Jerusalem, but just like us, she will be cleaned up.  We, her children, will be her adornments. She did not give birth to us physically, because we were birthed in other nations, but she is our mother.  Isaiah 4:2-5 In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel.  It will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem. When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning, then the LORD will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy.  The Hebrew word for canopy here is chuppah.  This is the cover commonly used over the bride and groom in a Jewish wedding.  She will be a bride again, but this time, she will be different.  She will be without blemish or wrinkle.  She will be worthy as a bride this time because like us, she has been ransomed or redeemed.  Isaiah 52:9 (HNV) Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Yerushalayim! For the LORD has comforted His people, he has redeemed Yerushalayim.

Yes, He already has a plan of redemption for the land, but what has to happen first?  Repentance.  Just like us.  How does a piece of land repent?  YHWH tells us in 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NASB) “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.  Remember, we are created from the dust, so when we repent, it is as if the land also repents.  Genesis 2:7a (NASB) And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground…  He tells us also that He will stay in His place until this happens.  Hosea 5:15  (NKJV) I will return again to My place Till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”  Personally, I believe that this is different than personal repentance.  This is standing in as Israel and confessing our sins over the last 2,700 years that we have been in exile and not allowed to return to the land.  He is still waiting.  Then what happens?

As we read what Paul wrote in the book of Galations, he was quoting the prophet Isaiah.  Let’s see what the original writing says. Isaiah 54:1-13 (NASB) “Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child; break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed;  for the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous than the sons of the married woman,” says the LORD.  “Enlarge the place of your tent; stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not; lengthen your cords and strengthen your pegs. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left. And your descendants will possess nations and will resettle the desolate cities.  Fear not, for you will not be put to shame; and do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced; but you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. For your husband is your Maker, Whose name is the LORD of hosts; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, Who is called the God of all the earth.  For the LORD has called you, like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even like a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,” says your God.  For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will gather you.  In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you,” Says the LORD your Redeemer.  “For this is like the days of Noah to Me, when I swore that the waters of Noah would not flood the earth again; so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you nor will I rebuke you.  For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, but My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, and My covenant of peace will not be shaken,” says the LORD who has compassion on you.  “O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires. Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies, and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones. All your sons will be taught of the LORD; and the well-being of your sons will be great.  It sounds like she will be much bigger than the current Jerusalem.  She will stretch out to the right and the left and the place of her tent will be enlarged.  Perhaps she fills the entire earth.  But notice, He is telling the current Jerusalem that she will have a new body.

Just as we will receive new bodies without flesh, Jerusalem will be “born again” also.  She will be covered in precious stones and her streets paved with gold.  YHWH condemned sin in the flesh, so flesh will no longer be permitted in the New Jerusalem.  Romans 8:3-4 (NASB) For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  How was flesh formed?  From the dust of the ground.  Notice that this new city will not have dust for its foundations, but rather jewels.  Streets will no longer be from dirt, but solid gold.  Revelation 21:18 -21 (NASB) The material of the wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass.  The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst.  And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.  No dirt here.  Isaiah 52:1-2 (NASB) Awake, awake, Clothe yourself in your strength, O Zion; Clothe yourself in your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for the uncircumcised and the unclean will no longer come into you. Shake yourself from the dust, rise up, O captive Jerusalem; loose yourself from the chains around your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.  This Jerusalem will be free.  She is free from sin. Now, she is ready to receive the New Covenant, the Covenant of Peace.  This is why we ask for the peace of Jerusalem.  Psalm 122:6-7 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:  May they prosper who love you.  May peace be within your walls, and prosperity within your palaces.” 

Isaiah 62:1- 3(NASB) For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet, until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, and her salvation like a torch that is burning. The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory; and you will be called by a new name which the mouth of the LORD will designate. The New Jerusalem will have a new name. Isaiah 62:3-6 You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.  It will no longer be said to you, “Forsaken,” nor to your land will it any longer be said, “Desolate”; but you will be called, “My delight is in her,” and your land, “Married”; for the LORD delights in you,  and to Him your land will be married.  For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons will marry you; and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you.  On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; all day and all night they will never keep silent. You who remind the LORD, take no rest for yourselves;  and give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. This is our job.  Remind YHWH by asking for the peace of Jerusalem. Notice that the New Jerusalem will be a virgin again.  Just as Mary gave birth to Yeshua, the promised seed, while she was a virgin, so will the New Jerusalem give birth as a virgin.  We take no rest for ourselves until she is a praise in the earth.  Isaiah 62:12(NASB) And they will call them, “The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD”; and you will be called, “Sought out, a city not forsaken.”  Remember, she is inscribed on the palms of His hands.  Isaiah 49:16 (NASB) “Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.

Why is the land of Israel and specifically, Jerusalem, so special?  Other lands, YHWH calls “the land of your enemies”.  We can see this when the people of Israel are taken captive and dispersed into the nations.  Leviticus 26:41 (KJV)…I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies… So, what is it about this specific place?  YHWH placed His name there.  YHWH is speaking about Solomon when He says in 1 Kings 11:36 (NASB) ‘But to his son I will give one tribe, that My servant David may have a lamp always before Me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen for Myself to put My name.  We can see that He had also placed His name on Shiloh when the tabernacle was there.  Jeremiah 7:12 (NASB) “But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I made My name dwell at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.” Just as a wife takes on her husband’s name, so does the land.  We also know that He placed His name upon the people, the children of Israel.  This is no different than with mankind.  The wife and the children take on the husband’s/father’s name.  This land means so much to Him, but it doesn’t mean He won’t punish her.

Zechariah 2:3-5,8, 10, 12, 13 (KJV) And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him,  and said unto him, “Run”, speak to this young man, saying, “Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein:  for I, saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her….For thus saith the LORD of hosts; after the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. …Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD….And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.  Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation.  The word for “apple” in this verse in Hebrew literally means “pupil”.  The word for “touch” means to reach out, to strike, to smite and to injure.  The God of the universe says of Jerusalem that anyone that strikes or injures this city, strikes or injures the pupil of His eye.  A very dangerous place to be in.  We know that He uses other countries to teach her lessons over and over, but afterwards, He punishes them.  Jeremiah 25:11-12 (NASB) ‘This whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. ‘Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the LORD, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation.  And again in Jeremiah 50:17-18 “Israel is a scattered flock, the lions have driven them away. The first one who devoured him was the king of Assyria, and this last one who has broken his bones is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. “Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as I punished the king of Assyria.

Yes, He punishes Jerusalem and the land of Israel when she goes against Him, but, just like His people, He never forgets them.  Have you ever heard of YHWH’s song?  The word for YHWH’s song, in Hebrew, looks like this: שִׁיר־יְהוָה.  It becomes one word, shayir, meaning song and YHWH.  When other people sing another song TO Him, the words look different in the Hebrew.  No, I believe, this is a specific song that is YHWH’s song.  It is spoken of in 2 Chronicles 29:27 (KJV) Then Hezekiah commanded them to offer the burnt offering on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD also began, with the trumpets and with the instruments of David king of Israel.  What is this song?  Because Hezekiah knew the words, it must be someplace else in Scripture.  I believe it is in the book of Psalm 137:1- 6 (NASB) By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst of it. For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, and those who plundered us requested mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How shall we sing the LORD’s song In a foreign land? This is where, I believe His song begins. If I forget you, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget its skill! If I do not remember you, let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth—If I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.  How far does it go?  I don’t know.  It is interesting to see that here, it’s not just written as שִׁיר־יְהוָה.  Here, it is written as אֶת־שִׁיר־יְהוָה. Here, it includes the aleph-tav.  In fact, the word “song” is sandwiched between YHWH’s name and the aleph-tav, which we know to be Yeshua.  Of all the things He could sing about, He sings about Jerusalem.

Current day Jerusalem is very important.  For it will be her that will be “born again” and transformed into the New Jerusalem, where His name will dwell .  Revelation 3:12 (NASB) “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.  And she will be the bride, beautiful and new, without spot, blemish or wrinkle.  Amen!