My Jerusalem

On the day of His ascension, the Lord Jesus told His apostles, not to depart from Jerusalem until the Fiftieth (50) day; and on that day the Holy Spirit will come. When the Holy Spirit comes, He will fill them with power. When they receive power then they will be able to witness to Him, i.e., you will serve Me, you will speak of Me, or tell people of Me.

In other words, you cannot be a witness to Me, to be My servant, or speak of Me, unless you receive the power of the Father; And you cannot receive the power of the Father unless you wait in Jerusalem. You may think, ‘what does this have to do with me? These words were for the apostles!’ No, these words are for us!

Often times when someone is far from the church for a while and when they start to come, they go to the priest excitedly and say, “Father, I want to serve. Please find me a service I can do.” Then you’ll notice that the priest does not answer hastily, and is not excited in return. You’ll notice that the priest does not say, “great … get started preaching and evangelizing to the multitudes.” Why doesn’t the priest respond thus? Because the priest knows that before you can serve there are prerequisites: Before you can serve you must receive the power of the Father; and you cannot receive this power so long as you do not remain or dwell in Jerusalem.

What is Jerusalem?

Jerusalem is my soul, your soul and everyone’s soul. The Lord Jesus when He told His apostles to preach, He told them “Jerusalem,” i.e., preach inside of yourself in My Name. Then He told them, “Judea,” i.e., to be a servant to your household; then He told them “Samaria,” i.e., preach or serve outside of your household. Finally, “to the end of the earth.” You cannot preach to the end of the earth before you reach yourself; otherwise, you would be a hypocrite. For instance, someone would look at a deacon in the church and say to another, “that deacon uses the filthiest language!” Then the hypocrisy of that deacon seemingly serving God is a stumbling block to serving others.

Jerusalem is me. That Jerusalem, the Lord said not to leave. What does that mean, don’t leave myself? It means that the real work in the spiritual life is between me and myself, rather than me and someone else. Jerusalem which is yourself must be clean. This reminds us of the Lord Jesus’ visit as a baby to Egypt. The first thing the Lord Jesus does when He visits a soul is to destroy the idols and cleanse. Like how His mere passage thru Egypt destroyed the Egyptian idols nearby. The point that I want to make clear is: if the first part—this cleansing—is Christ’s doing, then the second part is up to you.

Without Christ you can do nothing, even repent; even this you cannot do without Christ. He is the One who begins all action. He said, “without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). You can do nothing without Me, after Me it is your turn to work, I’ll work with you, but you must work. I entered, destroyed the idols in your life, and caused you to taste the sweetness of life with Me, therefore, it is your job to remain in your Jerusalem, to cleanse it everyday.

Cleansing Jerusalem:

How does that relate to me? To repent everyday, for repentance is cleanliness, repentance is to cleanse. Therefore, my role is to repent everyday. A parable in the Bible will clarify this point. The Lord Jesus said,

When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first (Matthew 12:43-45).

Who was it that cast out the unclean spirit at first? Can a possessed person cast out a demon from himself? It is God who casts out the unclean spirit thru the prayers of His servants and saints. This is Christ who enters and cleanses Jerusalem at first. Whether it is a servant from church who talks to you; you attend a liturgy and find yourself in tears; you attend Holy Week and find that you mourned; or you saw a religious movie and were moved by the passion of Christ … one way or another He will bring you back at first. But thereafter, the responsibility is mine. If I did not maintain the cleanliness of that heart then I will become worse than I was at first. A person comes to the priest excited and says, “Father, I have repented. I tore or broke or I threw a brick at the television … from tomorrow I will be a new person….” But the priest sits there and prays, “Lord help.” The priest is cautious because he knows that this one is not one to remain in Jerusalem, but is excited by some emotions of repentance that moved him or her, or finally felt God, but then wait a few months and you will see that he or she is worse than they were at first. Our repentance is not like this! Repentance is a daily process! Christ begins, but I must continue. This is why Christ told the palsied man, “sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you” (John 5:14).

Why can’t we feel any depth in our spiritual lives? First, because we do not have this care for our Jerusalem. Second, because we are all extremely distracted and because we are thus we do not have this care for Jerusalem that is within us. Do not depart from your own Jerusalem! Cleanse your heart every day. A story is told of a young monk who went to an elder in monasticism and told him, “my father, tell me a word of wisdom from your years of experience in the wilderness that you have lived.” The elder monk replied, “my son, since I have come to the wilderness years ago, not one single night has passed without me sitting alone for one hour to give account of myself.” He has to cleanse his Jerusalem because Jerusalem is like an expensive home that I cannot let dust and trash accumulate in, making it difficult to clean the next day. That young monk then asked, “what else?” The elder monk looked at him and remained silent.

It is not by an abundance of words. This step can be enough for the salvation of your soul if you perfect it in practice. Before you sleep, or before you pray, examine how many times in that day you got enraged as you drove, how many times you cursed, or how many times you lied, or how many times you swore, etc… and offer repentance, cleanse your Jerusalem. Because if you are clean and God came to take your soul tonight then you will go to heaven. This is my Jerusalem. There is nothing that I could possess that is worth more than my Jerusalem. “The end of your faith—[is] the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:9). The salvation of your soul means the salvation of your personal Jerusalem.

The Foundation of Jerusalem:

This part is only between you and God, and unseen by everyone else. There is a part that is instrumental although not seen. A tall tree can be standing due to one root that is unseen. We could have large fervent prayer meetings, with hymns and praises, but the unseen role is my personal prayers regularly to God that add to the strength of those meetings. I speak to God all day and the Church crowns all this talk with God by celebrating the holy liturgy. But some go to the liturgy and stand there distracted, crack their knuckles, or their back, look at their watch, and these demonstrate the missing link, that unseen personal prayer time with God, the neglect of Jerusalem. The spiritual life is not the Bible Study meeting that I attend at it’s regularly scheduled time, but it is your private time with your own Bible in your own Jerusalem, so that Christ converses thru that Bible with you personally. This is the spiritual life. This is the depth. This is what Christ said, if you want My power, do not depart from Jerusalem.

Today we priests often ask someone “how are you doing,” and get these responses: “Bored” or “tired of life.” Why? Because there is no Jerusalem! There is no quiet time with God! If television offered hundreds of channels; if a newspaper or magazine covered all the stories, they are incapable of giving you a hint of the joy that God can give you. God is the Source of our joy and without that Source there can be no true joy.

A person can have depth and spirituality because of his or her care for Jerusalem, for example, their sitting to converse with God privately. God requires depth from us. Christ says a frightening verse, “unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,” who knew so much and memorized so much but never had a relationship or dialogue with God, “you shall by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:20).

Therefore, Jerusalem must be cleansed regularly. You must spend some time with yourself and God. There must be depth in your spiritual life, time in your Bible that is not read. Often times people are impressed by the numbers that attend a certain church meeting, but the question is, how many went into the depth with God, in their Bible reading and in their prayer. But realistically, when you come home from church, what do you do? Do you turn on the television? Do you search for a place to go pass some time?

The Walls of Jerusalem:

Every time we pray psalm 50(1) we recite, “build the walls of Jerusalem” [v. 18]. What is the meaning of this? Perhaps it was clearer in David the Prophet’s days, because Jerusalem at that time had broken down walls. Enemies of Jerusalem could easily enter into the city and destroy it from the inside. When I pray that psalm and ask for God “to build the walls of Jerusalem,” I mean to ask God to build a wall between the world and me. This wall that God builds is a strong wall that circumscribes my life so that anyone who sees me will know that I am a child of God, the salt of the earth and light of the world. That people may see the light coming from me and say, “I wish I knew his or her God.” This is your mission in the world, that people may see the light that is in you and glorify your Father in heaven [Matt. 5:16]. “If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” [Matt. 6:23].

A tall, strong wall between the world and me!

If we were riding in a boat in the sea, so long as we had a supply of fresh drinking water then we are well. But if a board broke off from the bottom of the boat and seawater started to come into the boat then we will surely sink. As long as the world’s influence is let in then we are ruined.

The rite of building a Coptic Orthodox Church requires that a wall be built surrounding it, because that wall represents a declaration of faith that there is a separation from it and the world. But today there are those who take communion in church during the day and with the world during the night. This is the dilemma that should not be. Around the Jerusalem that you are not to depart from there must be a wall and a very strong wall. When we take in the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are the vessels that carry Him. We are the throne He sits upon and we are the altar that He descends upon. If this is so, how is it that we can let our eyes wonder to behold this thing or that? How is it that we can do so without repenting?

At every inappropriate look, say within you, “build the walls of Jerusalem. At every thing that I hear or song that I sing, I must remember, “build the walls of Jerusalem.” There must be a strong wall between the world and me. Even between engaged couples, there must be a wall between one another. Today the word purity has become old fashioned or foreign to our understanding. Build the walls of Jerusalem! You need to put boundaries between yourself and the ways of the world. Even if the whole world cheats or steals, I do not. If the whole world takes bribes, I do not for my conscience is Christ’s. We have the example of Athanasius who was told, “the whole world is against you” and he replied, “and I am against the world.” For my Christ is stronger than the whole world that I live in.

Unfortunately today, however, worldly thinking controls our thoughts. Females are always concerned about the clothes they buy, not to mention what they buy and wear at weddings and parties. What impresses her is the way of the world and acceptance of the world. No longer is the virtue and purity of the Virgin Mary what impresses her. Where are the walls of Jerusalem Ladies? Where are the walls of Jerusalem that are being destroyed? And what about you men? What about the jokes that should not be uttered or heard by the ears of Christ? Where are your walls my friend?

Be sure that if your wall is not there, then the enemies will enter, rob and destroy you. Therefore, be sure my dear to have a wall. You are not of the world, you are from kingdom of heaven. You may be here as an ambassador from heaven to spend 60, 70 or even 80 years and then returning. How can you speak a language that is not your language? How can you do evil when evil is not your nature that you took in baptism? How can you defile your body by impure touches when you take in you the true body and true blood of Christ? Remind yourself always that you have a wall! I wish to see the Christians who are always reminding themselves at the provocation of sin, “build the walls of Jerusalem, my Lord have mercy!” “Build the walls of Jerusalem, my Lord forgive.” Without that wall, you are just a street like any street that anyone walks thru. But even worse are you, because you took what others have not, yet, you are indifferent to His value.

My beloved [reader], you are something very great. The psalm describes Jerusalem as a city fortified by her God who dwells in her. Do you truly experience the power of your God in you or are you mere talk? Are we just repeating psalms without understanding what we are saying? I beg you dear [reader], decide that you will have a spiritual awakening and commitment that between you and sin is wall.