Daily Lesson for Monday 11th of March 2024

Psalms 122:1-9 expresses the pilgrims’ excitement upon their arrival at Jerusalem. The pilgrimages to Jerusalem were joyful occasions when God’s people joined together three times during the year to commemorate God’s goodness toward them in the past and present (Deuteronomy 16:16). Jerusalem was the center of the nation’s life because it contained “the Testimony of Israel” (Psalms 122:4, NKJV) and the thrones for judgment (Psalms 122:5). “The Testimony of Israel” refers to the sanctuary that was at times called “the tabernacle of the Testimony” (Numbers 1:50, NKJV) and contained the “ark of the Testimony” (Exodus 25:22, NKJV). The thrones set for judgment depict the judicial system in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 8:15). Pilgrimage was thus the time when one could seek and obtain justice. Faithfulness to God and administering justice to people were never to be separated.

Praying for the peace of Jerusalem invokes God’s blessings upon the city and its inhabitants, and it unites the worshipers, causing peace to spread among them (Psalms 122:8). Jerusalem could be the city of peace only if peace existed between God and His people, and among God’s children themselves. Thus, prayer for the peace of Jerusalem conveys an appeal to God’s people to live in peace with God and one another. In Jerusalem’s peace, the people will prosper (Psalms 147:12-14).

The psalm teaches us that the prayer for the well-being of the community of faith should be the main subject of the prayers of God’s children because only the strong and united people of God can proclaim the good tidings of God’s peace and salvation to the world (John 13:34-35).

Praying for the peace of Jerusalem is still a privilege and responsibility of the believers because it keeps alive the hope in the end-time coming of God’s kingdom of peace, which will embrace not only the city of Jerusalem but the whole world (Isaiah 52:7; Isaiah 66:12-13; Revelation 21:1-27; Revelation 22:1-21).