“O Lord, according to
all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be
turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because
for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem
and Your people are a reproach to all those around us.
“Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his
supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on
Your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline Your ear and
hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is
called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications
before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great
mercies.
“O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not
delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are
called by Your name.”
Daniel
9:16-19
Note: When God's
people rejected God's Word and relied on idols and or their
own strength, God withdrew His blessings and allowed enemy
forces to conquer their holy city. But -- through the
generations -- whenever they turned back to Him with "all their
heart," He restored them and led them in His victory.
See
Chart: Old Testament Cycle
God's prophecies
and promises
"...there shall
be left in it a remnant who will be brought out, both sons
and daughters; surely they will come out to you, and you will see
their ways and their doings. Then you will be comforted concerning
the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem, all
that I have brought upon it. And they will comfort you, when you see
their ways and their doings; and you shall know that I have done
nothing without cause that I have done in it,' says the Lord
God." Ezekiel 14:22-23
“He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry;
When He hears it, He will answer you.
And though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the
water of affliction,
Yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore,
But your eyes shall see your teachers.
Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, 'This is the
way, walk in it,”
Whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the
left."
Isaiah 30:19-21
"For God will save
Zion and build the cities of Judah,
That they may dwell there and possess it.
Also,
the descendants of His servants shall inherit it,
And
those who love His name shall dwell in it."
Psalm 69:35-36
"So
the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with
singing,
With everlasting joy on their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness; sorrow and sighing shall
flee away.
“I, even I, am He who comforts you."
Isaiah 51:11-12
“At that time
Jerusalem shall be called The Throne of the Lord, and all the
nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the Lord, to
Jerusalem. No more shall they follow the dictates of their evil
hearts."
Jeremiah 3:17
"The
Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me [Jesus],
Because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the
poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives....
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord,
that He may be glorified.”
Isaiah 61:1-3
"Do
not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed
the servants of our God on their foreheads.” And I heard
the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four
thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel
were sealed..."
Revelation 7:3-8
Ancient
Israel's sin and idolatry
"Why has this people
slidden back, Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding?
They
hold fast to deceit, they refuse to return.
I listened and
heard, but they do not speak aright.
No man repented of his wickedness, saying, ‘What have
I done?’
Everyone turned to his own course, as the horse
rushes into the battle.
Even the stork in the heavens knows her
appointed times;
And the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow observe the
time of their coming.
But My people do not know the
judgment of the Lord." Jeremiah
8:5-7
"Everyone deals falsely.
They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, saying, ‘Peace,
peace!’ when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had
committed abomination? No! They were not at all
ashamed; nor did they know how to blush."
Jeremiah
6:13-15
God's judgment
"My people would not heed My voice, and Israel would
have none of Me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn
heart, to walk in their own counsels. Oh, that My people
would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! I would
soon subdue their enemies...." Psalm 81:11-14
"Hear this now, O foolish
people, without understanding,
Who have eyes and see not, and who have ears and hear not:
Do you not fear Me?’ says the Lord. ‘Will you not tremble at My presence...?
...
But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart;
They have revolted and departed.
They do not say in their heart, 'let us now
fear the Lord our God,
Who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season...
our iniquities have turned these things away,
And your sins have withheld good from you."
Jeremiah
5:18-25
"...behold, I begin to
bring calamity on the city which is called by My name
[Jerusalem], and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be
unpunished...."
Jeremiah 25:1-29
“...they will fall by the
edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem
will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled."
Luke 21:24
Hope and Restoration
“Behold, the days are
coming, says the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the
house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. And it
shall come to pass, that as I have watched over them to
pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to
afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,
says the Lord."
Jeremiah 31:27-28
"For I will set My eyes
on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I
will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and
not pluck them up. Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that
I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their
God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart."
Jeremiah 24:6-7
“The wolf also shall
dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them....
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea."
Isaiah
11:6, 9
"Be glad then, you
children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God;
For He has given you the former rain faithfully,
And He will cause the rain to come down for you...
So
I will restore to you the years that the swarming
locust has eaten,
The crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust,
My great army which I sent among you.
You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
And
praise the name of the Lord your God, Who has dealt
wondrously with you;
And My people shall never be put to shame.
“And it shall come to
pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.
And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out
My Spirit in those days.
And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood and
fire and pillars of smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the
Lord shall be saved.
For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance,
as the Lord has said,
among the remnant
whom the Lord calls."
Joel 2:23, 26-232
"When I have brought
them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’
lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations,
then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent
them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back
to their land, and left none of them captive any longer. And
I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have
poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the
Lord God.”
Ezekiel 39:27-29
"Behold, I am going to
make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around;
and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against
Judah. It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem
a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely
injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered
against it.…
"...in that day
that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against
Jerusalem. And I will pour on the house of David and on the
inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication;
then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will
mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as
one grieves for a firstborn."
Zechariah 12:2-3,
9-10
"...blindness in part
has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has
come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
'The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away
ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them,
when I take away their sins.”
Romans 11:25-27
"Put on your
beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city! ...
Loose yourself from the bonds
of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion!"
Isaiah 52:1-2
The heavenly
Jerusalem
“He who overcomes,
I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more.
And I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God,
the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God." Revelation 3:12
"I
saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the
first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I,
John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of
heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle
of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be
His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God
will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more
death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the
former things have passed away.'
"Then He who sat on the throne said, 'Behold, I make all
things new.'"
Revelation 21:1-5
