Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem

The Bible pointedly instructs:

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May they prosper who love you. May peace be within your walls and prosperity within your palaces…’ For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.”
Psalm 122:6-7, 9 NASB

Since America’s founding, she has sought the good of Jerusalem and recognized Israel’s numerous contributions to our own faith and freedom. For example, John Adams declared:

“I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation….If I were an atheist of the other sect who believe (or pretend to believe) that all is ordered by chance, I should believe that chance had ordered the Jews to preserve and propagate to all mankind the doctrine of a supreme, intelligent, wise, almighty Sovereign of the Universe, which I believe to be the great essential principle of all morality and consequently of all civilization.”

And the relationship is increasingly reciprocal. For the past three years the Israeli Knesset has invited Christians to Jerusalem to join in prayer for a 3-day event called The Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast (JPB). This event has united Jews and Christians, Pastors, lawmakers, business people and intercessors from all across the globe. There have also been numerous JPB events held around the world in places like The Hauge, Ghana, London, Singapore, Uganda and Texas and Florida in the United States (see a video recap of the 2019 San Antonio, Texas event above).

Throughout our history, the United States has never wavered in support of the Jews and Israel. Yet today, certain members of Congress are vocalizing anti-Semitic slurs and even actions. One recent example is Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who introduced a measure calling for America to punish Israel (through the Palestinian-led “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” movement) just as we punished Nazi Germany in WWII:

“Whereas Americans of conscience have a proud history of participating in boycotts to advocate for human rights abroad, including … boycotting Nazi Germany from March 1933 to October 1941 in response to the dehumanization of the Jewish people in the lead-up to the Holocaust.”
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar

Thankfully, both Democrats and Republicans in the US House voted down her measure.

As Christians, we support Israel because of God’s promise that He will bless those who bless the nation formed from Abraham and Isaac, and also because the Bible makes clear that Christians are grafted by God into Jewish roots (Romans 11:11-24), with salvation being promised “to the Jew first and [then] also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16 NASB).

As Americans, we owe our founding principles to the Judeo-Christian Biblical values that shaped the constitutional rights and freedoms we enjoy to this day.

We can, therefore, echo the words of Israel’s longest-serving Prime Minister:

“Israel has no better friend than America. And America has no better friend than Israel. We stand together to defend democracy. We stand together to advance peace.”
Benjamin Netanyahu

Under God’s providence and as a result of His direct intervention, Israel and the Jews have survived millennia of persecution from many civilizations. Because the Bible promises that such efforts will continue to the end of time, we should join with the Biblical psalmist and pray:

“God, do not remain quiet;

Do not be silent and, O God, do not be still.

For behold, Your enemies make an uproar,

And those who hate You have exalted themselves.

They make shrewd plans against Your people,

And conspire together against Your treasured ones.

They have said, ‘Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation,

That the name of Israel be remembered no more.’

For they have conspired together with one mind;

Against You they make a covenant”

Psalm 83:1-5 NASB, emphasis added

America must never become part of any movement to punish Israel. May God Bless Israel—and thereby may God also Bless America! As God promised Abraham about Israel and the Jewish people: