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chose Jerusalem as His city, to become eventually the capital of
the whole world. But when He removed Judah (the Jews) from their
land, He said: "I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have
removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen,
Jerusalem." (II Kings 23:27.) God turned His back on Jerusalem. He
said it would be "trodden down of the Gentiles."
It has been, most of the time since 585 B.C. And today it
is heap upon heap of Gentile rubble and filth. All this is going
to have to be cleaned away before it can be made, after Christ's
coming, the capital city of the world. Then for a thousand years
it will be the most beautiful, clean city of splendor on earth.
Briefly, let me tell you how it started. The first seven
and a half years of King David's reign, Hebron was the capital
city. This is a few mlles southwest of Jerusalem. But God had
chosen Jerusalem to become the capital. It is recorded in
11 Samuel 5: "And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against
the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land.... David took the
stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David.... And David dwelt
in the stronghold, and called it the city of David.... And David
became greater and greater, for the Eternal, the God of hosts, was
with him. And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and
cedar trees; also carpenters and masons who built David a house" (a
palace).
That city of David was the original Jerusalem. Later,
Solomon rebuilt, or greatly enlarged, the palace. Solomon also
built the Temple. The Temple was probably the most glorious,
costly building ever constructed on earth. It was built on a
rectangular plateau, Mount Moriah, high above, and directly
adjoining the city of David on the north. As the city of Jerusalem
grew, it spread to the west and north of this Temple Mount -- or
Mount Moriah. Near the center of this Temple Mount is a large
rock. It was on this rock that Abraham built an altar, when God
tested him to see if he would obey even to sacrificing his own son
(type of God sacrificing His Son Jesus). This also was the rock
used as a threshing floor by Ornan the Jebusite. At God's command,
King David purchased this from Ornan. This same rock was the
site of Solomon's Temple. Also of Zerubbabel's temple in the days
of Ezra and Nehemiah. That Temple was remodeled, renewed and
greatly enlarged by Herod -- the Temple in Jerusalem during Jesus'
lifetime. It was destroyed in 70 A.D.
That same rock is in the very center of the present Moslem
mosque, called the Dome of the Rock.
On the south side of this Temple Mount a great massive
stone wall was built from the ground below at, or just north of the
City of David. This wall was perhaps 50 feet or more high. The
original inhabited part of Jerusalem was far below at that point.
Long after Solomon's palace and the Temple had been destroyed,
Gentiles built other buildings on the rubble. Succeeding
generations built on that rubble. As a result, the surface at this
site of the original Jerusalem and City of David is perhaps 40 to
70 feet higher than it was when David first built his palace there.