Efficiency: The Israeli police just called, then came past and thumbs-upped me from the street outside – ensuring that the quarantine regulations are being adhered to.
They have to do this to every individual who flies in from abroad. Quite a manpower demand – but after earlier months of hit-and-miss strategies saw Covid-19 numbers drop then climb again and get totally out of hand, things seem to be working well. Every day sees a really worthwhile decrease in new cases.
So, as much as I want to get out of here, to walk Jaffa Street, wander the Old City alleyways and stand at the Bedrock of the Mountain of the Lord, I’m okay to wait. Mostly. 🙂
The air outside is cool, the trees green and rustling, the birds cheerful; from every side the sounds of Jerusalem suburban life: children playing, deliveries at the adjacent fruiterers, cars and lorries noisily passing by. In the distance, an ambulance siren – Hadassah Hospital at En Karem is not far from here – and, occasionally, an airliner crosses the pale-blue sky.
One might be forgiven for wanting to steep in the peacefulness – to forget that all is not well.
Far from it, of course.
But first, there’s this incontestable truth: God’s sovereign plan for Israel – as impacted by what is happening out at the far reaches of the wider world, across the desert sands of the Middle East, and here in the midst of this Land – is certain. What He has purposed, what He set out long ago to do for all of mankind, through this Land and this people, He is doing.
Nothing can derail Him. Nothing can thwart Him. Nothing will win against Him. This is sure.
With this conviction, then, I’ll get on with my observations as I look out from Jerusalem’s walls at these three concentric circles; four, in fact: The whole world; the Arab-Islamic world; the Christian world, and the Jewish state.
First tomorrow, some remarks about what is happening in the Land. Painfully, inside Israel, there is turmoil. In so many ways it’s a terrible mess.
I’ll get to the Jew first; then to the Arabs.
Tomorrow.