Hello, this is Pastor Steven Anderson from Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona,
and today I want to talk about Psalm 122, verse 6, which reads,
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, they shall prosper that love thee.
A lot of people will quote this scripture unto Christians and say we need to pray for
the peace of Jerusalem.
If we want to prosper, we have to love Jerusalem.
Now first of all let me say this, there is a prayer that I think would be appropriate
to pray for those that are living over in Israel, and that is that they would be saved.
Since 99% of them reject the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior, we should do like the apostle
Paul said in Romans chapter 10, verse 1.
He said, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.
If they're going to have the peace which passeth all understanding, it's only going
to come through salvation, which only comes through believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
So that is the prayer that would actually make sense if we prayed that the people in
Israel would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved and have peace.
But a lot of people will twist this scripture and try to use this to say that we need to
just pray for the prosperity of Jerusalem, seek their good, and that they would be protected
from all their enemies and that they would win the victory over there in the Middle East
and be blessed by God.
That is not what this passage teaches because if we read it in its context, it says, pray
for the peace of Jerusalem.
They shall prosper that love thee.
Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces.
But look at the next two verses.
For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, peace be within thee.
Because of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek thy good.
So people are just isolating that one phrase, seek their good, and they're not even realizing
the reason that we would seek their good is because of the house of the Lord our God.
But here's the problem.
They don't have the house of the Lord any longer.
The Old Testament temple was destroyed and in the New Testament the Bible makes it clear
that the local church is the house of God.
That we as God's people, when we assemble together, make up the house of God in the
New Testament.
Not a physical building that was destroyed in AD 70.
So the Bible says because of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek thy good.
So my question is, why would we seek their good when the house of God is no longer there?
Why would we seek their good when they don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and are therefore
under the wrath of God?
The only thing that we should seek for them is that they would be saved, which would be
good for them.
But when people have a lot of prosperity and things go well for them, they're less likely
to get saved.
So why would we pray for God to give material prosperity and bless them militarily that
they would be secure and winning the battle over there when they're not saved and they
don't have the house of God and they are not our brethren and companions because they're
unbelievers.
So we need to be careful how we interpret this passage in Psalm 122 verse 6.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem should be a prayer that they would believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and be saved.
Not a prayer that they have material prosperity or that they defeat their physical enemies
in the Middle East.