Worshipping Jesus on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem

It has now been a couple of weeks since we returned home from Israel. This has given me some time to ponder all that I saw, heard, and experienced while in that amazing land. There is so much that I could share with you, but let me tell you about one particular moment where Julie and I worshipped the Lord together.

We were on the Temple Mount, which is currently under the control of the Muslims who are living in Israel. After the 1967 War, where Israel defended itself and defeated numerous hostile Islamic nations attempting to wipe it from the face of the map, a decision was made that allowed the Muslims to continue to control the Temple Mount area. I believe that decision has been regretted ever since that day. In fact, the day that we went to the Temple Mount, we were told that the Muslims will not allow any Bibles to be brought onto it and they prohibited us from having any Christian symbols visible on our clothing. If someone in our group was wearing a shirt with Cross on it, or even the name of a Christian church, that had to be covered up with a jacket.

I have to admit that all of this grieved me very much, especially when I remembered that this Mount was the place where Abraham offered up his son Isaac in the book of Genesis. It is the place where King Solomon once built an incredible Temple and dedicated it to the worship of Yahweh, the one and only living and true God. In the place of that great Temple now stands a Mosque that is commonly known as “the dome of the rock.” Probably you’ve seen pictures of it on the Internet. In my opinion it is one big, gigantic, eye–sore on top of the Mount. To make it even more frustrating, the Muslims chose to write in Arabic a phrase that completely encircles the mosque which says, “There is one god and he does not have a son.” Yes, this is a statement pointed directly at Christians who believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Savior of the world.

All of this grieved my soul while I stood upon the Temple Mount with our group. It was in this moment that I thought to myself, “I have been prohibited from having my Bible up here, but I still have my phone, and I still have Internet access. So, I am going to worship the Lord Jesus Christ on this Temple Mount. If I get arrested, then I get arrested.” But, I just felt so strongly that I needed to worship Christ in that moment. Together Julie and I opened up my phone to YouTube and I brought up a song entitled The Lord Is My Salvation sung by a group known as Shane and Shane.

Here are some of the lyrics of this song:
“The grace of God has reached for me, And pulled me from the raging sea, And I am safe on the solid ground, The Lord is my salvation! Who is like the Lord our God? Strong to save faithful in love, My debt is paid, and the victory won, The Lord is my salvation!” As this song played atop that Temple Mount, tears of thankfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ poured from my eyes. I sang to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world for our sins right underneath the shadow of sign that said, “There is one god and he does not have a son.”

The day is coming when the name of Jesus will be worshipped on this Mount by multitudes of worshippers. I can’t wait! Here’s the link to the song on YouTube. I encourage you to listen to it and allow it to minister to your soul - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFkGH64pMMw