Page 60 - Shalom: The Peace That Comes From Being Whole

to God’s plan. God Himself will take to the
Valley of Judgment those who divide His land
(Joel 3:1,2).
Psalm 122 also reveals a higher and eternal
union, or wholeness, for Jerusalem.

Heavenly Jerusalem
and
Earthly Jerusalem
When I began going to Israel in the early
1980s, I was amazed at how aware the Jews
are of the heavenly Jerusalem. In shops every-
where, I saw paintings of both cities, the heav-
enly Jerusalem painted just above the earthly.
This surprised me. For I thought there was
more in the New Testament about heavenly
Jerusalem than in the Old.
Eventually I learned that the Hebrew name
for heavenly Jerusalem is Yerushalayim shel
ma’alah, “Jerusalem on High.” Many Jews be-
lieve it parallels earthly Jerusalem, which they
call Yerushalayim shel matah, “Jerusalem that is
below.”
One day I went into one of the four oldest
synagogues in Jerusalem. There, just above
the ark which holds the Torah scrolls, was a
large wall mural of heavenly Jerusalem over
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