Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem
Names and Titles of God (Intercessor ) Hebrews 7:25
25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
King James Version
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Mom and Dad finally, in their retirement years, got to visit London. As they were touring the British Museum, Dad stopped suddenly and exclaimed: "There it is!" as he pointed to The Rosetta Stone. Mom was not as impressed, but Dad was elated. He had always read about this artifact, and now he was seeing it in person.
While the message on the Rosetta Stone wasn't too important, the fact that it was in Three Languages WAS. One of the languages was Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics, which, up to the time of the Rosetta Stone's discovery, had been incomprehensible to historians. Now, it would be possible to translate the monuments and literature of the Ancient Egyptians, because, it turned out that the hieroglyphics were NOT symbols of words, but an actual phonetic alphabet.
Since most of the extant literature of Ancient Egypt were Funerary Texts, we learned a lot about what they believed about the Afterlife.
In many of the texts, there were illustrations of a scale of justice, with a heart on one side and a feather on the other. The feather symbolized TRUTH, and the heart was the soul of the Deceased. If the heart was heavier than the feather, it meant that the deceased carried a burden of sin. Nearly 100% of the time the heart was heavier than the feather. When that happened, the heart was tossed to a hungry crocodile-like creature just waiting around to gobble it up. Not a very hopeful scenario.
Lest modern people look down upon these ancient polytheists, be aware that some monotheistic religions have similar themes. In Islam, the final judgment weighs "good" deeds against bad. (What the religion considers "good" is another story!). In Judaism, one hopes that Bible Study, Good Deeds, and Charity will somehow substitute for the lack of a Temple in Jerusalem. Even some Christian Denominations try to balance the various sins against penitence, and make "Salvation" conditional upon what YOU do. (Now, Folks, this argument has been raging for at least 500 years, and it won't be solved today on this thread, so please don't even try!)
Fortunately, Today's Scripture Portion gives us some insight into this issue.
A very common answer to the question:
"Are You Going To Heaven?"
is:
"I Hope So."
How sad is that? Hoping that somehow your good deeds will outweigh the bad, that thoughts of Peace and Love will somehow overcome feelings of Envy and Greed, or that, somehow, through meditation, thought control, or strict adherence to a code of ethics, one will be able to overcome the very basest of instincts for self-preservation and survival of the fittest. Is isolation the answer? It's hard to be mean to people if you never have contact with them. How about self-punishment? As if beating yourself up either mentally or physically will solve anything! How on earth can a normal human being justify himself before a totally Righteous and Just God?
The answer of course, is that you CAN'T.
We all need Someone to Speak Up For Us. That's called "Intercession". This Passage says that Jesus is Forever making Intercession for us. It's constant. The Passage also says that, because of this, we are saved "completely".
That's the kind of Intercessor I NEED!
Come and Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.
For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. (Mark 4:22)
God Bless America.
Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.
Hallelujah and Amen
ML/LTOS