From the Editor Jan/Feb 2015

Dear Friends,

Although I don’t do it much anymore, I love traveling. I remember the first time I saw Paris. All I wanted to do was sightsee. I had studied French for what seemed like forever, thanks to a mother who was fluent in the language and believed summers were made for summer school. And though I can’t speak a word of it today, I did back then and wanted to visit all the places I had read about.

The first time I saw London, all I wanted to do was sleep. Suffering from acute jet lag and frustrated that I could barely understand a word of British English, I wanted to forego the sightseeing and proceed directly to a bed and breakfast, even though it was 8 A.M.  Sleep, at that point, seemed way more attractive to me than Big Ben.

But the first time I saw Jerusalem, all I wanted to do was cry. No other city compares to it. Its rich history dates back to the days of Abraham, who was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac on Mount Moriah. It is the city from which King David ruled over all of Israel and the city from which Jesus Christ will rule the world.

If you don’t believe in Bible prophecy, look at Jerusalem. It bears in its body the bruises and blessings of God’s faithfulness to His Word. Over approximately 3,000 years, it has been conquered by the Israelites, Romans, Muslims, and Christians.

Yet it has only been the capital of the Jewish people. And only to them did God give the command to build a Temple on Mount Moriah where everyone could worship Him. In the future, “Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lᴏʀᴅ of hosts in Jerusalem” (Zech. 8:22). And the Jewish people will lead them:

Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ of hosts: “In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you’” (v. 23).

So this issue of Israel My Glory is devoted to the incomparable city of Jerusalem—past, present, and future. Elliot Jager’s article on Naomi Shemer’s moving song “Jerusalem of Gold” may even make you want to cry, or at least log on to the website he mentions and listen to it.

No city on Earth is like the Lord’s Jerusalem, the city of the great King.

Waiting for His Appearing,
Lorna Simcox,
Editor-in-Chief