Psalm 122:1–9 finishes with a plea for prayer, specifically for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6).

The history of Israel is a sad testimony to the fact that God’s church has only ever been but a poor reflection of the heavenly city. The tribes of Israel only came together to worship in Jerusalem for a few generations before there was a division into a northern and a southern kingdom. (see 1 Kings 12:1–33). Similarly, King David who reigned in Jerusalem was happy to forsake the justice of God when it did not accord with his own desires. He committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband Uriah murdered (2 Samuel 11:1–27).

When Jesus walked on earth, he wept when he saw Jerusalem. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing (Luke 13:34). Jerusalem was the city where God’s temple was found, where God’s tribes were meant to be united, where God’s king was meant to rule with justice. So often it was instead a city of blood, bribes, and adultery, a city that refused to listen to the prophets of God and refused the justice of God’s king.

When we look at God’s church today, we see the same challenges. Where the church is meant to be a place of peace and security, a foretaste of heaven, so often it is not. There is fighting, disunity, sin. We need God’s help if we are going to be the church that he wants us to be. We need God the Holy Spirit to create the right desires in our hearts. We need God to help us to love our brothers and sisters who are different from us. We need God to help us submit to Christ as King, to unite us in his truth and keep us from being led astray by wolves (Acts 20:29). That’s why we must pray for the peace of Jerusalem, for the help of the Holy Spirit, for the peace and unity of God’s church.