[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text
version below transcribed directly from audio]
What an honor to be here for this incredible
ceremony.
Mr. Prime Minister, Secretary Rubio, all of the wonderful people who made this
possible by their generosity, contributing to something that is historic and
something that is a living memorial of what God has done.
It was 4000 years ago, here in this city, on
Mount Moriah, where God chose His
people. He not only chose a people, but He chose a place, and then He chose for
the people in this place a purpose. The people were the Jewish people. The place
was Israel. And the purpose was to be a light to the world,1 and to show that we
don’t have to look for God, because He is looking for us. And that is what so
separates the long history of why this city is so important. It’s also a
reminder to us that this little bitty sliver of real estate on the vast planet
Earth is the most contested piece of land in all of human history, not because
of just those who want it, but because of those who don’t want the Jewish people
to have it.
But tonight, something is extraordinary that we celebrate, for 3000 years ago,
David established his kingdom here; and 2000 years ago, the world, through the
Romans, decided we’ll get rid of the Jews. And they destroyed this place. And
they scattered the Jewish people across the planet.
But that wasn’t the end of the story.
Tonight, we’re sitting here because the
story is not just alive. It’s more alive than perhaps it has been in the 4000
years that God chose His people, His place, His purpose; and it is an
extraordinary thing to behold.
Tonight, I’m reminded of
the day that the Embassy
was dedicated in 2018. I was so grateful to President Trump for
making
the bold
and courageous decision that despite all of the opposition across the planet, he
was going to move the U.S. Embassy to Yerushalayim, as he should. Other
presidents promised it, but they always found a reason to back away. President
Trump made a promise, and he kept the promise.
And on the day that we were here, and I was overwhelmed with emotion as I sat at
the dedication of the Embassy having moved to Jerusalem, there was a young man
in the crowd, and he was exuberant. He was an American, and he was looking
around and he said, “Wow, I’ve been waiting 20 years for this to happen!”;
Sheldon Adelson, who, along with his wife, Miriam, who is here tonight -- major
contributors to this incredible excavation; Sheldon, who I absolutely adored,
because he was one of the funniest men I’ve ever known. When the young man said,
“Wow, I’ve waited 20 years for this!” Sheldon, in his very dry way, just looked
and said, “Son, we’ve been waiting 2000 years for this.”
What a great reminder that the Jewish people are a patient people. And tonight,
there’s something extraordinary, truly extraordinary to celebrate. It was David,
the king and the psalmist who said in
Psalm 137 in
verse five, “If I forget you,
O Yerushalayim, may my right hand forget its skill.”
The Jewish people never forgot that this was their land, their home, their
undivided, indisputable, indigenous capital from eternity. And tonight,
something truly extraordinary happens. It is often said that history is to a
civilization what memory is to the individual. If any of us were to wake up
tomorrow and not remember where we lived, or who we were, or who that woman is
that is living in our house because we didn’t know her to be our wife -- amnesia
is a horrible thing to have, because one is disoriented, lost, completely unable
to make a connection just to the simplest things of life. But history is to a
civilization what memory is to the individual. And tonight, this is a
celebration of the history of Yerushalayim.
There is a verse in the New Testament in Luke,
verse 40 of chapter 19, and it
says this, “If the crowds keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”2 If the crowds
don’t acknowledge it, the stones will cry out. Tonight, the stones are crying
out. The crowds may say it, but the stones absolutely and 100% validate that the
Jewish people not only belong here now, but they have belonged here for 4000
years, since the time God said to Abraham, this is yours, take good care of it,
and you’ll be a blessing to the people around the earth and even to those of us
who aren’t even Jewish. He says, “Those who bless Israel will be blessed, and
those who curse Israel will be cursed.”3 And I come here tonight because I’d
rather have a blessing than a curse.
I recognize that this extraordinary excavation is not just dust and stone. It is
a living speech in which God is crying out through the very stones to say to the
world: This magnificent excavation, this extraordinary piece of archeological
mastery, is a validation and a truth, and it is shouting from the top of the
mountain that this is indeed the eternal home of the Jewish people, the Jewish
State, and the people who rightly belong here. And tonight, the rest of the
world comes to say, "Welcome home, and may no one ever, ever attempt to take
your home from you. It is yours."
And those of us who are not Jewish, we thank you for giving all of us a
foundation of morality and decency and civilization upon which our own faith is
built; for without yours, we don’t have one.
As I often tell my Jewish friends, you can be Jewish; you don’t need me. But I
cannot be who I am in my faith without the debt of obligation that I owe to you
for having listened to God and been willing to be obedient to Him when He called
you to this place as His people for his eternal, everlasting purpose. And I
salute you and join you tonight in the celebration of this wonderful,
magnificent, incredible reminder that God never has been finished with Israel,
and He never will be. This is the eternal home that He has chosen.
God bless you all.
1
Isaiah 49:6: ""It is too small a thing for you to be my
servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I
have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my
salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” (NIV)
