Our feet were already standing at your gates, Yerushalayim (Jerusalem).
Yerushalayim, built as a city fostering friendship and unity.
The tribes have gone up there, the tribes of YHVH, as a witness to Israel,
to give thanks to the name of YHVH.
For there the thrones of justice were set up, the thrones of the house of David.
Pray for shalom (peace) in Yerushalayim;
may those who love you prosper.
May shalom be within your ramparts, prosperity in your palaces.
For the sake of my family and friends, I say, 'Shalom be within you!'
For the sake of the house of YHVH our God, I will seek your well-being."
Psalm 122
YHVH Shamah.
The personal name of Elohim (YHVH) combined with one of His attributes, Shamah (which means is there), is an amazing picture and assurance of the truth of the one true God's desire to dwell with His creation, His people.
Starting with the very first letter of the Word of YHVH and going through to the very last promise in Revelation, He shows us His desire to dwell in intimacy with His people.
Beresheet (Genesis) 1:1 begins with "In the beginning..." In fact, that is what the Hebrew name of the book means - "beresheet" means "in the beginning" and is the first word of the Scriptures. As you can see, "beresheet" begins with the Hebrew letter "bet" which means "house" (Hebrew reads from right to left). So even the first letter of the first word of YHVH's Word to us is talking about a dwelling place. Then He creates for us a dwelling place! And He desires to live with us in that dwelling place!
In the beginning, YHVH made mankind in His own image, and He walked with them in the garden that He created for them. He gave them instructions on how to have a full relationship with Him. He let them know what His standards were. They didn't keep His instructions, but even in their sin against Him, YHVH clothed them in a sacrifice of life-blood (the animals killed for clothing). From that point on until today and into eternity, YHVH has given His people instructions for dwelling fully in relationship with Him. Yet even in the midst of sin and rebellion, He has not rejected us but has given us everything we need to be made right with Him.
One of the most amazing things about YHVH Shamah is that He has chosen to dwell with us! During the dedication speech for the Temple of YHVH in Jerusalem, King Solomon reminded the people of this incredible fact…YHVH dwelling with us! “But can God actually live on the earth? Why, heaven itself, even the heaven of heavens, cannot contain you; so how much less this house I have built? Even so, YHVH my God, pay attention to your servant’s prayer and plea, listen to the cry and prayer that your servant is praying before you today, that your eyes will be open toward this house night and day – toward the place concerning which you said, ‘My Name will be there’…” 1 Kings 8”27-29
(Read more about what Solomon said about the dwelling place of YHVH in 2 Chronicles 6.)
And where exactly is this place where YHVH chose as the dwelling place of His Name? “You are to come to the place where YHVH your God will put his Name. He will choose it from all your tribes; and you will seek out that place, which is where he will live, and go there.” Deuteronomy 12:5
Where is this place?
“In Y’hudah (Judah) God is known; his Name is great in Israel. His tent is in Shalem (Yerushalayim), his place is in Tziyon.” Psalm 76:1-2
And where exactly within Yerushalayim and Tziyon has He chosen?
Ezekiel, in 43:7, was given a vision of the Temple in Yerushalayim: "'Human being, this is the place for My throne, the place for the soles of my feet, where I will live among the people of Israel forever. The house of Israel, both they and their kings, will never again defile My holy Name.'"If you read chapters 40-47 of Ezekiel, you can see the entire vision of this Temple, which is still to come.
After the Garden of Eden, where YHVH walked with man, and before YHVH's Temple was established in Yerushalayim, YHVH's presence was with His people day and night in a pillar of cloud and fire as He led them on their journey. In Exodus 25, YHVH instructed Moses to make Him a sanctuary, a tabernacle, a Set-apart Dwelling Place. "'Tell the people of Israel to take up a collection for me....They are to make me a sanctuary, so that I may live among them. You are to make it according to everything I show you....You are to make a cover for the ark out of pure gold....Inside the ark you will put the testimony that I am about to give you. There I will meet with you. I will speak to you from above the ark-cover, from between the two keruvim (cherubim) which are on the ark for the testimony, about all the orders I am giving you for the people of Israel.'"
Solomon built the first permanent Temple, the dwelling place that YHVH commanded him to build. It was destroyed by the Babylonians. And YHVH moved on the heart of the Persian King Koresh (Cyrus)to allow the Jews to return to Yerushalayim and rebuild the Temple. King Koresh even paid for it! "Here is what YHVH says, 'I say of Koresh, "He is my shepherd, he will do everything I want. He will say of Yerushalayim, 'You will be rebuilt,' and of the temple, 'Your foundation will be laid.'"'"
(Isaiah 44:28; see also Ezra 1)
Concerning YHVH's command to rebuild His Temple, Nechemyah (Nehemiah) reminded YHVH of His own promise to Moses, "'But if you return to me, observe my mitzvot and obey them, then, even if your scattered ones are in the most distant part of heaven, nevertheless, I will collect them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen for bearing my Name.'" (Nechemyah 1:9)
So the Dwelling Place of YHVH was built as a permanent dwelling for the second time, and yet this second Temple was destroyed in AD 70.
Is that the end of YHVH's dwelling with His people?
NO!!!
It is true that Yeshua Himself is the Temple (John 2:19), and it is true that as believers we are the temple of YHVH (1 Corinthians 6:19, 2 Corinthians 6:16). These two facts are so important and are an integral part of YHVH's plan for dwelling eternally with His people!
But does all of this mean that YHVH no longer has place for or need of His Chosen Dwelling Place in Yerushalayim?
As I search YHVH's Word, I see that this is not the case at all!
Jeremiah speaks of "in those days" (the day of the Lord, the end of time): "says YHVH, 'In those days, when your numbers have increased in the land, people will no longer talk about the ark for the covenant of YHVH - they won't think about it, they won't miss it, and they won't make another one. When that time comes, they will call Yerushalayim the throne of YHVH. All the nations will be gathered there to the name of YHVH, to Yerushalayim. No longer will they live according to their stubbornly evil hearts.'" Jeremiah 3:16-17.
Yeshua Himself, the Eternal Living Temple of YHVH, spoke passionately, lovingly and prophetically of Yerushalayim in Luke 13:34-35: "Yerushalayim! Yerushalayim! You kill the prophets! You stone those who are sent to you! How often I wanted to gather your children, just as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you refused! Look! God is abandoning your house to you! I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of YHVH!'"
Paul reminds us in Hebrews 12 how it is that YHVH through Yeshua dwells with us forever in His heavenly city: "On the contrary, you have come to Mount Tziyon, that is, the city of the living God, heavenly Yerushalayim; to myriads of angels in festive asembly; to a community of the firstborn whose names have been recorded in heaven; to a Judge who is God of everyone; to spirits of righteous people who have been brought to the goal; to the mediator of a new covenant, Yeshua; and to the sprinkled blood....Now, he has made this promise: 'One more time I will shake not only the earth but heaven too!' And this phrase, 'one more time,' makes clear that the things shaken are removed, since they are created things, so that the things not shaken may remain. Therefore, since we have received an unshakeable Kingdom, let us have grace, through which we may offer service that will please God, with reverance and fear. For indeed, 'Our God is a consuming fire!'"
And finally, in Revelation, John tells us about the revealed New Yerushalayim, YHVH's heavenly city where He will dwell with His people forever!
To the angel of the Messianic believers in Philadelphia is written, "I will make him who wins the victory a pillar in the Temple of my God, and he will never leave it. Also I will write on him the name of my God and the name of my God's city, the new Yerushalayim coming down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name." (Revelation 3:12)
In Revelation 11:19, we are given a glimpse of heaven during the events of the end of time: "Then the Temple of God in heaven was opened, and the Ark of the Covenant was seen in his Temple...."
And no greater picture of our eternal dwelling place is given anywhere else other than in Revelation 21! "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and old earth had passed away, and the sea was no longer there. Also I saw the holy city, New Yerushalayim, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud voice from the throne say, 'See! God's Sh'khinah is with mankind, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and he himself, YHVH SHAMAH (God-with-them), will be their God.'...One of the seven angels approached me and said, 'Come! I will show you the Bride, the Wife of the Lamb.' He carried me off in the Spirit to the top of a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city, Yerushalayim, coming down out of heaven from God....I saw no Temple in the city, for YHVH, God of heaven's armies, is its Temple, as is the Lamb....The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. Its gates will never close, they stay open all day because night will not exist there, and the honor and splendor of the nations will be brought into it."
YHVH Shamah...YHVH IS THERE! For eternity, His dwelling place is with His people!
This gives me renewed insight into the command to
"Pray for the peace of Yerushalayim"!
It also gives me even deeper understanding of YHVH's timeless commands, mitzvot, and guidelines for His people living in relationship with a Holy God, YHVH Shamah.
In His Eternal Presence,
Gina
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