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In his visit to Israel yesterday, President Trump visited the "Western Wall" ---the first sitting US President to ever do so.
And he visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher---one of the holiest sites in Christianity.
His visit marks the first time a US President has visited Israel during their first presidential trip abroad.
These actions by the president reflect his depth of commitment to Israel, and his understanding of its importance to America.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sarah, along with his cabinet, Israel's president, government ministers and Knesset Members were all present when President Trump arrived.
Netanyahu said in his remarks at the airport, "Never before has the first foreign trip of a president of the United States included a visit to Israel."
He said, "Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for a powerful expression of your friendship to Israel."
Upon landing, Trump spoke of the "unbreakable bond" between the US and Israel.
"On my first trip overseas as president," he said, "I have come to this sacred and ancient land to reaffirm the unbreakable bond between the United States and the State of Israel."
He said, "We love Israel, we respect Israel, and I bring the warmest greetings from your friend and ally, all of the people of the United States of America."
Netanyahu pointed out that in Saudi Arabia the previous day, Trump "delivered a forceful speech on terrorism and extremism, calling on forces of civilization to confront the forces of barbarism"---adding, "For 69 years, Israel has been doing just that---We've manned the front lines of civilization."
Trump's visit to Jerusalem was on "Jerusalem Day," a national holiday that marks Israel's reunification of Jerusalem after the 1967 Six Day War and the establishment of sovereignty over the eastern sections of the city, which include the Old City, Western Wall and Temple Mount.
All sites of significance to biblical Christians.
Netanyahu agrees with the attempt to bring peace to the Middle East---He told the president, his nation and the world, "Israel's hand is extended in peace to all our neighbors, including the Palestinians."
However, he then defined what "peace" will look like: "The peace we seek is a genuine one, in which the Jewish state is recognized, security remains in Israel's hands, and the conflict ends once and for all."
Every American president should be expected to work for peace in the Middle East---all Christians are instructed to "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem."
Ultimately God Himself will bring true peace to Jerusalem.
President Trump's recognition of this Truth stands in stark contrast to that of the past 8 Obama years.
Ironically, President Jimmy Carter, who identifies himself as a "born again Christian", also seemed to lack this level of commitment to Israel.
President Trump's going to the Western Wall was equally significant given its history.
This is from a current Jewish textbook:
When Rome destroyed the Second Temple in 70 AD [as Jesus had predicted] only one outer wall remained standing. The Romans probably would have destroyed that wall as well, but it must have seemed too insignificant to them; it was not even part of the Temple itself, just an outer wall surrounding the Temple Mount. For the Jews, however, this remnant of what was the most sacred building in the Jewish world quickly became the holiest spot in Jewish life. Throughout the centuries Jews from throughout the world made the difficult pilgrimage to Palestine, and immediately headed for the Kotel ha-Ma'aravi (the Western Wall) to thank God. The prayers offered at the Kotel were so heartfelt that gentiles began calling the site the “Wailing Wall.” However that title never won a wide following among traditional Jews; the term “Wailing Wall” is not used in Hebrew.
The Western Wall was subjected to far worse than semantic indignities. During the more than one thousand years Jerusalem was under Muslim rule, the Arabs often used the Wall as a garbage dump, so as to humiliate the Jews who visited it.
For nineteen years, from 1948 to 1967, the Kotel was under Jordanian rule. Although the Jordanians had signed an armistice agreement in 1949 guaranteeing Jews the right to visit the Wall, not one Israeli Jew was ever permitted to do so. One of the first to reach the Kotel in the 1967 Six-Day War was Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, who helped revive a traditional Jewish custom by inserting a written petition into its cracks. It was later revealed that Dayan's prayer was that a lasting peace "descend upon the House of Israel."
The custom of inserting written prayers into the Kotel's cracks is so widespread that a refrain in a popular Israeli song says: “There are people with hearts of stone, and stones with hearts of people.” A Rabbi in Jerusalem says that the Hebrew expression “The walls have ears” was originally said about the Western Wall.
President Trump, the first sitting US President to ever do so, visited the Western Wall.
When he approached the Wall, he paused for about a minute with his hand on the ancient stones of the Wall.
Then, wearing a black skull cap, the president pulled a slip of paper from his jacket pocket and placed it in a niche in the limestone wall.
Rabbi of the Western Wall Shumel Rabinowitz said he and Trump recited two Psalms.
Psalm 122:6-7
6. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you.
7. Peace be within your walls,
Prosperity within your palaces.”
Be Informed. Be Prayerful. Be Blessed.