Why Must we Pray for Israel? Part 5

We talked about Jewish roots of the church and the religious leaders coming to revelation of Messiah so they can fulfill the mandate to invite Him back to rule and reign.

Another thing we need to pray for is the government of God.  We Gentiles know Jesus as Lord, as intimate lover, and friend.  Right now, all those concepts are a bit foreign to the Jewish people.  God is so holy, even His name must not be pronounced or spelled.  They do, however, look for Him to come as a King.  That concept is a bit lacking even now, in the Gentile church.  He is both Lord and King.  There is a need for the Church to understand His Kingship and pray for the restoration of the tabernacle of David, the governmental part of the kingdom, or sukkah which is broken down. 

"In that day I will restore David's fallen tent.  SUKKAH (Some translations say tabernacle) I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be,
Amos 9:12 so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name," declares the Lord, who will do these things.
Amos 9:13 "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills.

Amos 9:14 I will bring back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
Amos 9:15 I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them," says the Lord your God.

We’ve heard about David’s Tabernacle.  In this passage, tabernacle is not the best translation of that word.  It is sukkah.  A sukkah is a temporary shelter constructed for use in the fields at the Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot. Leviticus describes it as a symbolic wilderness shelter, commemorating the time God provided for the Israelites in the wilderness, after they were freed from slavery in Egypt.  During the feast of Tabernacles, it is common for Jews to eat, sleep and otherwise spend time in the sukkah. The sukkah itself symbolizes the frailty and transience of life and our dependence on God.

In this Amos 9 context, it is used contemptuously of a small ruined house.  Amos is saying that the sukkah of David, the house of David, which was supposed to be a royal kingdom, is broken down and ruined.  God is saying that He will restore that kingdom, and build it as it used to be.  We so often think of the Tabernacle of David as a spiritual thing.  We use that term in the House of Prayer movement.  I have used it to describe the 24/7 House of Prayer.  While I believe that is a crucial component, it only fulfills part of the restoration.  It fulfills the prayer and worship or the spiritual portion, but I believe God wants there to be a marriage of the natural and the spiritual for His Kingdom purpose.  Let me use some scriptures you may be familiar with, but have not looked at in the context of the Jewish restoration and the Tabernacle of David.

Scripture teaches that Jesus came first of all to the Jew.  Theirs is the covenant.  Even Simeon, when he prophesied over the infant Jesus stated in Luke 3:32 that he was a “light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel”.  In Isaiah 42:6 and 49:6, it says the same thing.  He gave Jesus as a covenant to the people and a light for revelation to the Gentiles that his salvation should extend to the ends of the earth.  Those are two very different things.  We don’t get the glory without revelation of the link with the plan of God for and through his people.  A fullness that we are not currently experiencing will happen when the Jewish people come into revelation.  We Gentiles will partake of the life as we are grafted into the plan of God.  Could one meaning of the key of David be an understanding and not a method?  Could it pertain to a mindset; a perspective that David had about the throne and Zion?  David was a priest, prophet and king.  Could the key of David also encompass those three elements?  If so, it will unlock a prophetic understanding of the kingdom.  It will give access to a governmental understanding of the kingdom and it will allow us to receive a revelatory understanding of the kingdom so that the way will be opened to the holy and reverential fear of Yeshua as King.

As far as the House of Prayer goes, I see this fullness proclaimed in the scripture most associated with the House of Prayer movement.  Isaiah 56:7 is most often quoted, “My house shall be a house of prayer for all nations”.  The fuller meaning is found as we begin at the beginning of Is. 56.  This is what the LORD says: "Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed.

This is talking about keeping justice and righteousness (which are the foundations of the throne of God).  It also says those who bind themselves to those things and to the Sabbath, are blessed.  It goes on to say, in verse 4, “to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant—to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.  And foreigners (Gentiles) who bind themselves to the Lord to love and serve him, to love the name of the Lord and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant,--these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer.  Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.  The Sovereign Lord declares—he who gathers the exiles of Israel: I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered.

so here, we are talking about those who would otherwise have no inheritance, i.e. the foreigner and eunuchs. One group has no inheritance because they are outside of the promises of the covenant, and the other group has no legacy and name to leave behind, because they cannot reproduce.  These are now being included in the house of prayer, because of their willingness to recognize and bind themselves to the covenantal promises.  In other words, instead of the focus being a house of prayer to pray for all nations, it becomes a house of inclusion for all nations as they take on and pray for what is on God’s heart; the fulfillment of the covenant.  We especially get this feeling because the scripture is talking about the Sovereign Lord gathering the exiles of Israel.  What has drawn them to be gathered together today?  It is a promise that in Israel, they would be a nation again.  The sovereign Lord is also gathering others to them.  It doesn’t mean that prayer will not be going forth for nations, it just means that the focus changes from the purpose being to pray for the nations, to one of the inclusion of nations in the plan of God to fulfill the covenant.

Another popular scripture we quote is Isaiah 9.  That passage is familiar to us because we read it at Christmas, “Unto us a child is born…and the government will be upon his shoulder.”   If we don’t stop there, we might quote further…  “Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.”  However, we often stop there as if there is a period, but in most versions there is a comma.  It states, “Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth and even forever.  The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”  Hence, this is also speaking of a kingdom and a king.  This child of prophecy is destined to be a king.

God made a covenant with Abram for a land with certain borders and a promise of offspring as numerous as the stars.  It was an everlasting covenant.  Scripture says it was between “Me and you and your descendents for the generations to come”.

Jesus is coming to take up His throne.  To be installed as King in Israel.  In that land there is a city.  It is called Zion or Jerusalem.  There are so many scriptures indicating it is the place where Jesus will have his throne.  From there, he will rule and reign.  The law will go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.  (Is. 2:3).

Next time we look at my favorite scripture...