O Lord, Oh that the salvation of the Lord would come out of Zion! Oh that You would rise in mercy to heal Your ancient nation, To gather again the scattered bones, to breathe life into dry places, To lead the outcasts home!
“When the Lord restores the fortunes of His people, Let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad” (Psalm 14:7).
How long, O Lord? How long shall the holy city be trampled underfoot? How long shall the sacred ground be profaned by unbelief and war? You have set Your name upon Jerusalem Your covenant city Do not forget her walls. Do not forsake her stones.
“For Your servants hold her stones dear and have pity on her dust” (Psalm 102:14). “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May they be secure who love you!’” (Psalm 122:6).
Return, O Lord, in pity and power. Rebuild her broken gates. Let not the enemy mock Your promises. Let not Your people be forsaken forever. Show that You are the covenant-keeping God.
“Thus says the Lord God: I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone... and will bring them to their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel” (Ezekiel 37:21–22).
Let fall the throes of terror. Let Your saving grace depart like lightning from the east to the west. Roll back the veil of error. Open blind eyes and soften the feathered heart. “For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away” (2 Corinthians 3:14).
Tear the veil, Lord again. As You tore it once in the temple when the Lamb was slain, Tear it now in hearts across the nations. Let Israel behold her Messiah. Let her cry out, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on Me, on Him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for Him” (Zechariah 12:10).
Bring her sons from afar, her daughters from the ends of the earth. Let the dry bones rattle once more. Let the wind of the Spirit blow through the valleys of despair. Let joy rise from mourning. Let her Messiah be crowned with praise in the land of His inheritance.
“To give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit” (Isaiah 61:3).
And bind Your church to her again. Not in arrogance, but in awe. Not in replacement, but in reverence. For You have made one new man from the two, and Your promise still stands.
“If their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?” (Romans 11:15). “Do not be arrogant toward the branches… Remember, it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you” (Romans 11:18).
O Lord, Let salvation spring up from Zion, Let mercy flow like a river, Let the King return to the Mount of Olives. Let every eye see Him. Let every knee bow. Let Israel cry out again “The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation” (Exodus 15:2).
We wait. We ache. We hope. We believe.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
Amen.