Compelling Love

Psalm 122:6 exhorts, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.” Jerusalem is the city described in the Bible in which God’s presence and glory will continually dwell and shine forth over all the earth. Zechariah chapter 14 describes the coming day of the LORD in which He will intervene against the armies of the nations that have converged upon Israel, culminating in His victorious reign over all the nations of the earth. Isaiah 60 likewise prophesies that the light and glory of God will one day shine forth from Jerusalem to the entire world, declaring , “Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” (Isaiah 60:3 NIV)

God’s love for people of all nations is likewise expressed in John 3:16 (NKJV):

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Jesus, Yeshua reigns in the hearts and lives of all who believe in him, and he will one day physically reign from the New Jerusalem when he returns to judge the earth.

In Psalm 87, the sons of Korah describe Yahweh’s love for the “gates of Zion”, the glorious city of God. Those who know him amongst the nations will also be declared citizens of His holy nation.

Psalm 87 (NKJV)
1 His foundation is in the holy mountains.
2 The LORD loves the gates of Zion
More than all the dwellings of Jacob.
3 Glorious things are spoken of you,
O city of God! Selah
4 “I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to those who know Me;
Behold, O Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia:
‘This one was born there.’”
5 And of Zion it will be said,
“This one and that one were born in her;
And the Most High Himself shall establish her.”
6 The LORD will record,
When He registers the peoples:
“This one was born there.” Selah

In Psalm 117, the exact central chapter of the King James Bible, the Psalmist exhorts people of all nations to praise the LORD [Yehovah’]:

Psalm 117 (NKJV)
1 Praise the LORD, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples.
2 For great is his love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.
Praise the LORD! [Hebrew Hallelu Yah]

In Psalm 48, the sons of Korah likewise describe Jerusalem as “the city of our God” in which He dwells.

Psalm 48 (NKJV)
1 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised
In the city of our God,
In His holy mountain.
2 Beautiful in elevation,
The joy of the whole earth,
Is Mount Zion on the sides of the north,
The city of the great King.
3 God is in her palaces;
He is known as her refuge.

In Psalm 91, Yahweh promises to be the refuge and deliverer of those who set their love on him and dwell with him:

Psalm 91 (NKJV)
1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”

14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.”

Psalm 46 describes the glorious joy that will be reigning in God’s city:

Psalm 46 (NKJV)
4 There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;
God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.

10 Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
11 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

Revelation 21 gives details of the New Jerusalem from which Yahweh and Yeshua, Jesus will reign:

Revelation 21 (NKJV)
22 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.
24 And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. 25 Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). 26 And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.

Ezekiel 11 describes the citizens of this reborn nation of Israel, led by the Spirit, united in heart with Yahweh and with one another, walking in His statutes and doing them. They will be his people and He will be their God.

Ezekiel 11 (NKJV)
17 Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.”’ 18 And they will go there, and they will take away all its detestable things and all its abominations from there. 19 Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

David Krause, dhkrause@neteze.com, 8/23/2011