John 14:9
“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
The dear sages who compared Jerusalem to matriarch Sarah could not have foreseen the extent of their analogy; so many have written about this. In the midrash of the barren woman, Hashem inspires the prophet Isaiah with the messianic future of his dear city. So many have looked at Jerusalem just as Isaiah saw her! They saw a barren woman sitting on a heap of ashes, ostracized and rejected by her husband because of her many infidelities (Isaiah 54; Jeremiah 26:6).
One of the legends I like the most is the one of the weaning of Isaac. When it was time for Isaac to be weaned Abraham called in a great feast (Genesis 21:8). Rumors circulated about this old man who just sired a child. People even suspected that it was actually Abimelek’s child, the Pharaoh who had kept Sarah captive (Genesis 20:2). People also could not believe that Sarah, at her age, had ever lactated. So the point of the feast was to vindicate the miracle God had performed. Great Sheiks came from all around in great caravans and pomp to attend Abraham’s feast. To prove herself, Sarah nursed her son, and then offered to nurse every baby in the camp. She did, and the story goes on to say that every child Sarah nursed eventually became a ruler, and a person of great integrity. Also, in order to erase any doubt that the child was truly Abraham’s, God had made the face of Isaac similar to that of his father, so that he who saw the son saw the father. Sounds familiar doesn’t it (John 14:9)?
Look now at our mother Sarah. Just as Sarah was, twice Jerusalem was conquered and taken captive by foreigners, first by the Babylonians, and the second by the Romans, captivity which recently came to its end with the re-establishment of the State of Israel. Looking into Sarah’s life, let us see now the future of Jerusalem.
After the return from her second captivity, Isaac, the fore-shadow of Messiah was born. Sarah, who barren till past the age, finally bore fruit. In the same manner, we can see Jerusalem, one of the oldest city in the world, a city that has been used, abused, rejected, redeemed, to be rejected again and re-redeemed, pride itself of a new vibrant Messianic community rising all over in Israel: the ‘remnant of the seed of the woman’ (Revelation 12:17) preparing the way for the soon return of the King.
The same miracle that rejuvenated Sarah to conceive Isaac and lactate happened again in our days. A whole country was re-born in a day with a new generation of messianic believers preparing the way for the soon-coming of the King who will rule the earth in the justice and righteousness of the Father. Will they become the kings of integrity ‘nursed’ to rule in the Jerusalem of the World to Come? May it be soon Abba, even in our days!
Those who would try to interfere with the miraculous plan of God are playing with the unstoppable spiritual and natural forces that created the heavens and the earth. May they beware!
“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
The dear sages who compared Jerusalem to matriarch Sarah could not have foreseen the extent of their analogy; so many have written about this. In the midrash of the barren woman, Hashem inspires the prophet Isaiah with the messianic future of his dear city. So many have looked at Jerusalem just as Isaiah saw her! They saw a barren woman sitting on a heap of ashes, ostracized and rejected by her husband because of her many infidelities (Isaiah 54; Jeremiah 26:6).
One of the legends I like the most is the one of the weaning of Isaac. When it was time for Isaac to be weaned Abraham called in a great feast (Genesis 21:8). Rumors circulated about this old man who just sired a child. People even suspected that it was actually Abimelek’s child, the Pharaoh who had kept Sarah captive (Genesis 20:2). People also could not believe that Sarah, at her age, had ever lactated. So the point of the feast was to vindicate the miracle God had performed. Great Sheiks came from all around in great caravans and pomp to attend Abraham’s feast. To prove herself, Sarah nursed her son, and then offered to nurse every baby in the camp. She did, and the story goes on to say that every child Sarah nursed eventually became a ruler, and a person of great integrity. Also, in order to erase any doubt that the child was truly Abraham’s, God had made the face of Isaac similar to that of his father, so that he who saw the son saw the father. Sounds familiar doesn’t it (John 14:9)?
Look now at our mother Sarah. Just as Sarah was, twice Jerusalem was conquered and taken captive by foreigners, first by the Babylonians, and the second by the Romans, captivity which recently came to its end with the re-establishment of the State of Israel. Looking into Sarah’s life, let us see now the future of Jerusalem.
After the return from her second captivity, Isaac, the fore-shadow of Messiah was born. Sarah, who barren till past the age, finally bore fruit. In the same manner, we can see Jerusalem, one of the oldest city in the world, a city that has been used, abused, rejected, redeemed, to be rejected again and re-redeemed, pride itself of a new vibrant Messianic community rising all over in Israel: the ‘remnant of the seed of the woman’ (Revelation 12:17) preparing the way for the soon return of the King.
The same miracle that rejuvenated Sarah to conceive Isaac and lactate happened again in our days. A whole country was re-born in a day with a new generation of messianic believers preparing the way for the soon-coming of the King who will rule the earth in the justice and righteousness of the Father. Will they become the kings of integrity ‘nursed’ to rule in the Jerusalem of the World to Come? May it be soon Abba, even in our days!
Those who would try to interfere with the miraculous plan of God are playing with the unstoppable spiritual and natural forces that created the heavens and the earth. May they beware!
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