Reflections on Israel - The Dead Sea

The Dead Sea. The name couldn't be more true to its characteristics. The sea itself has a one-third salt to water ratio. Nothing living can be found in the sea and it sits at the lowest part of Earth, more than 400 meters below sea level. Floating in the dead sea was a surreal experience in itself as it takes very little effort to keep your head above water. Though, the deeper meaning to the Dead Sea lies within the context of the story of Moses and the Israelite's.

After 40 years of wandering the desert, the Israelite's were finally on the threshold of the promised land, just to the west of them past the dead sea and the Jordan River. Moses had gone up to Mount Nebo to plead with God to let him lead the people into the land. Though, due to his sin, God would not allow him to go(Deuteronomy 3:21-29).  Instead God told Moses to have Joshua lead the people across the Jordan River, directly north of the Dead Sea, and into the promised land. This story does not seem to have much meaning at first, until you see its greater context.

Moses is a representation of the spiritual leaders throughout the world. A person of great significance, moral standard, and considered a righteous person. Though, not even he, or others such as Mohammad, Buddha, Moses, Abraham, Krishna, or any current or past world leaders, not even ourselves, have the ability to save us and to bring us into Heaven(the promised land). We have to go down to the deepest and lowest place on Earth to die, to pay the price for what we have done wrong. We have to be cleansed of our sin(the living water from the Jordan River), into a place where nothing that has life can live, not even our guilt and shame. Only until we have died to ourselves can we be raised into a new life and into the promised land. As Jesus said, "For whoever wants to save their life will lose it(by trying to find some other way around the Dead Sea), but whoever loses their life for me will find it(Following Jesus through the Jordan River so that our sin can be cleansed into the Dead Sea)"(Matt 16:25).

Though, how? How can we do this? Someone has to have first lost their life in the Dead Sea and come out alive in order to lead us, to cleanse us of our sins.  Who could do this? Only Jesus would have the power, being fully human and fully God. Someone with the power to lead us out of death and into life. To be the living water to cleanse us. How can this metaphor be so close to the crossing of the Israelite's? The significance is in the word and name of Joshua. In Hebrew, Joshua, is another pronunciation of the name Jesus.  So even by reading the story of the crossing of the Israelite's through the Jordan River at the northern tip of the Dead Sea, we have a leader that God chose to do it. Not even a great person such as Moses had the power, only someone appointed by God, someone who was God Himself, a beacon in history that pointed towards Jesus himself.
John 14:5 reads, "Jesus answered, 'I am the way(across the Dead Sea) and the Truth(only real answer to our meaning on Earth), and the life(whom all good things were created from). No one comes to the Father(the promised land..Heaven) except through me.'"

This story could only point to one conclusion, one major event in history and a plan that God had put in place way before the beginning of time. The coming life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Because He died on the cross and took our sin with him into the Dead Sea and came out of it alive and into the promised land, we will as well if we believe in Him and what He did for us.  Let the washing of the living water(Jesus) cleanse you from your sin and send it into the dead sea so that you can enter the promised land(Heaven).

Reflections on Israel - Caesarea Maritima and the Hippodrome

Paul had a unique experience that allowed him to connect with the gentiles(non-Jews) such as ourselves. He was born a Roman citizen while being raised in a Jewish family. He was the top of the top of his class, a soon to be famous Pharisee(Philippians 3:4-6). Yet, God changed his life and revealed His glory to him through Jesus(Acts 9:1-19, 1 Corinthians 15:8).  While Paul was in captivity in Caesarea Maritima, awaiting his trial and ultimate sending to Rome, he had a view of the Hippodrome from the cell in Herod's castle by the sea(behind the picture shown below). He could view and witness the events of the races that took place. To hear the sounds of the chariots, to see the crowds cheering, and witnessing the rewards that each winner received. Paul, through his experiences that God put him through, was able to connect to us in a way that a normal Jew could not.

Even in our culture today, racing and winning is ingrained in us, the sports we play and the teams we follow. We understand what it means to run a race. It is through these experiences that Paul could use races to connect with non-Jews. To run the race set out for us. To leave all we know behind and to strain to what is ahead. To see and know God above any worldly pleasures and allowing us to leave all that is behind, straining to what is ahead, pressing toward the goal, and to win the prize for which God has called us to through Jesus Christ(Philippians 3:12-14).

Run the race to win, don't aim for anything less. It demands our utmost, our very lives.  Even in sorrow, in loss, in heartache and persecution, it is the goal that is set for us that keeps us going. To know that the end of this life is not the end, but only the beginning of eternity with God. It is in this that Jesus said that to follow Him you have to pick up your cross daily(Matt 16:24) and to carry within you the death of Jesus in order to bring life to others(2 Corinthians 4:12). Let others see the love of Jesus Christ in you through your actions. This is the race that God has called us to as disciples of Jesus.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Reflections on Israel - The Desert

The desert land is something so very different up close compared to only seeing pictures of it. The barren land is a reminder of how empty, how different it is, in relation to the world we live in. To stand at the edge and understanding its true implications can change your soul.

The Israelites were made to wander the desert land for forty years prior to entering the promised land. Jesus spent forty days in the desert before starting his ministry. So what makes the desert so important?  Why the desert?

The implications are simple. In the desert, in the wilderness, we have only one choice, that is to rely on God for our every need. We will only be able to get what we need day by day.  We cannot look ahead and save for the following weeks. Each morning we will have to trust God for what we need. The Israelites had to learn this as they were molded into a people that God could use to enter the promised land and inherit it.

All of us will go through a time in the desert. We should never shy away from this or run from it. We should bear the desert in our lives every day. To remind us how much we need to rely on God for our every need. You can be moved away from the desert, but never should the desert leave you. It is in this place, this barren land, that our faith in God grows. As a famous quote goes, God builds character, not comfort.  And true character and faith in God can only be built in the desert.  So yes, God will send us to the desert many times in our lives, though He does this to grow us, to prepare us for what He has planned in our lives.  Do not be afraid of this, God will provide for you during this time. And He will create something better in you, something more like Him. As Psalm 22:1-5 says:

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

    Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?

2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,

    and by night, but I find no rest.

3 Yet you are holy,

    enthroned on the praises of Israel.

4 In you our fathers trusted;

    they trusted, and you delivered them.

5 To you they cried and were rescued;

    in you they trusted and were not put to shame.