Why Pray For Israel?

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. (Ps 122:6, KJV)

I end every podcast about the war in Israel with this verse and I figured it would be a good idea to explain why. You see, Israel and the Jews are in yet another fight for their very existence and they need God’s help to prevail as they always have. As believers who are grafted into them we are told in this verse to support them in prayer. In a teaching by Chosen People Ministries we see why this is important:

It's important that we keep a watchful eye on Jerusalem as prophecy unfolds, however, we should even more so pray for the peace of Jerusalem as Psalm 122 exhorts the reader. Let me give you five reasons why we should pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

The first reason is literally obvious:

We should take Scripture literally unless we have a strong reason to believe that the writers are using some type of metaphor or grammatical device, causing us to seek a different word meaning than the one that's obviously used. Psalm 122 is all about a literal Jerusalem, the current capital of Israel, and the future capital of Messiah's Kingdom. This is the spiritual home of the Jewish people, where the temple stood and where sacrifices and worship took place. And it was, of course, built by the great King Solomon. We should take this Psalm literally and enjoy the blessings of God's Word as we obey what He actually said and not the meanings we personally attach to it.

Its An Eternal City

The second reason is about the city of Jerusalem itself which God will always use:

The City of Jerusalem holds a very important place in Scripture. The word "Jerusalem" is used 806 times in the Bible, 660 times in the old and 146 times in the new. And additionally there are some references to the city that occur as synonyms like the word "Ariel", which means lion.

We see that King David was told about the city and its future prominence:

In 2 Samuel 7, the Lord speaks to David through the Prophet Nathan, telling the King that he would build a dynasty of Jewish kings from his descendants, and that along with a palace for David, the Lord would also one day build a house for Himself, a more permanent home for the Ark of the Covenant, and a place which would become the center of Israel's worship, a national identity, all of which would be located in the city of Jerusalem. So ultimately, Jerusalem would become the capital of David's everlasting kingdom when his greater son, the Messiah Himself, rules on His rightful throne and a renewed and restored Jerusalem at His second coming, and what His Kingdom promises to Israel are fulfilled.

If we trust God to keep his promises the city of Jerusalem needs to exist now and in the future:

A new Jerusalem will come down from heaven and will be the eternal home for all who believe and worship the Lord Yeshua. As the Apostle John wrote, "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."

Praying For Protection

Now Israel and its people are under relentless attacks. God wants us to pray for the end to that:

When we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, we're praying for the end of terror and missile attacks, the end of the hostility that exists between Israelis and Palestinians, between Hezbollah and Iran and Israel and the Jewish people and Iraq.

Peace will come for the whole region if we pray. However, there’s much more to this prayer:

We're really praying for peace in the whole area. And we're praying for the return of the Messiah.

Now that really ups the ante for why God commands us to pray this way. Another aspect of this for the Jews individually:

Most importantly, we're asking for the Lord to bring personal peace to those who live in the Holy Land, no matter which part of it they live in, by accepting the Prince of Peace Yeshua as their Messiah and Lord as Jesus said, "Peace, I leave with you my peace I give to you not as the world gives to you do I give to you. Do not let your heart be trouble or let it be fearful."

The Jews are a wayward, secular people now. They are truly a prodigal son needing to wake up and come back to the father. We certainly can’t support their ungodly actions and beliefs, but we need to pray for their repentance and ultimate acceptance of Jesus.

Now there's a fourth reason why we should pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Verses With Promise

The second part of the verse tells us what God will do for us if we interceded for His chosen people:

We should pray for the peace of Jerusalem because it gives us personal peace and fulfillment. In fact, the root of the Hebrew term used for "prosper", "they shall prosper," the promise is "shalah," which can easily be translated as "put to ease" or "quiet". The prosperity described in Psalm 122 is a quality of soul, enabling those who love Jerusalem to enjoy a similar personal peace as enjoyed by God's chosen city. We can personally enjoy what Jerusalem will enjoy communally. "Shalom" and "shalah" have a similar impact on us, peace, ease of soul, quietness of heart.

The teaching then refers to another promise by God for Israel and more promises:

This may be linked to the promise of God actually, in Genesis 12:3, another promise where those who bless Israel will be blessed. "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. And through you all the families of the Earth shall be blessed."

Whenever we do right, whenever we pray for Jerusalem, we ourselves are blessed.

Of course, the opposite is true if we curse Israel, so for those antisemitic folks that promise isn’t something I would bring on myself. But I digress.

Fulfilling Prophecy

The last reason we’re told to pray for the peace of Jerusalem is we will be part of the second coming of Jesus:

If we bless Israel, then we're participating and bringing God's promises to the Jewish people, which directly impacts the Gentiles. As Israel has chosen to be a blessing to the Gentiles, to be a bridge of redemption to a broken and sinful world. When we bless, rather than curse the Jewish people, we are engaged with God's plan for world redemption.

Do you want Jesus to come back? If so pray the prayer of Psalm 122:6:

Praying for the peace of Jerusalem is in reality, praying for Jesus to return. As the ultimate peace we long for, will only come when He takes His rightful throne in Jerusalem and reigns forever.

Are you getting all of this? The ultimate peace Israel can ever receive is accepting Jesus into their lives:

Therefore, sharing the Gospel with Jewish people enables a Gentile believer to bring God's ultimate blessings to His chosen people and to a friend or relative who is Jewish. Praying for the peace of Jerusalem is a way of asking God to implant His peace in the heart of both Jews and Gentiles by personally accepting the Prince of Peace, Jesus the Messiah as Lord of their lives.

Loving What God Loves

We close with this point because it's at the heart of lifting God’s people in prayer:

May they prosper who love you. The Psalmist tells us that love is and should be the motivation for our prayers for God's Holy City. In other words, if we love Jerusalem, then we will pray for Jerusalem. If we love the God of Israel, we will pray for the people of Israel.

With so many people saying they love Jews but not Israel, this verse flies in the face of that notion. Jerusalem is a city that’s the capital of Israel. Both were created by God for His purposes. We need to pray for the nation as well as the people:

And knowing the reward is not the reason for prayer, or for blessing the Jewish people, it's because of our love for Jerusalem and the Jewish people that we pray and that we bless.

Do you love God? Then pray and love for His chosen nation and people:

And the reason so many followers of Jesus, the Messiah, both Jews and Gentiles, love the nation of Israel and the city of Jerusalem Is because they love the God who created the nation of Israel and love the Messiah of Israel. You cannot possibly love Jesus and not love His chosen people. And this love leads to prayer and blessing, which ultimately brings blessing and peace to the believer and to the entire world.

I know that this will not make me popular online or with some of my fellow believers who think these verses no longer apply to modern day Israel. Some even say they hate Israel now. I’m not going to do that. I fully intend to bless them and pray for them. And I encourage you to do this as well.