It has been such a treat to be in Israel for the last few days. For those days, we have walked the paths of Jesus’ earthly ministry. We have been to The Mount of Beatitudes, Capernaum, Caesarea, The Jordan River, and the Sea of Galilee. Our feet had stepped where the feet of the Master once walked, and it has been quite humbling. Today we went to another significant site.
Okay time for a little Bible Study. Take you Bible out, if you would, and read the story of Peter’s Famous confession of who Jesus really is. It is found in Mark 8:27-30. The Ruins of Caesarea Philippi were once a place where Jesus walked and taught his disciples. Listen to the words of one Bible scholar, “From Bethsaida Jesus and His disciples came hither, and on the way Peter made his famous confession, after which Jesus began to tell them of His coming passion (Matt 16:13 ff; Mark 8:27 ff). Some think that on a height near Caesarea Philippi Jesus was transfigured.” (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
This city was the location of a spring that feeds the Sea of Galilee and later the Jordan River with natural water. It was a place of great value to the people, but it was a place that was given totally to idolatry. From its earliest existence, it had been a place of idolatry. And now Jesus walks the streets to give a new kind of spring…a spring of everlasting water.
From Caesarea Philippi we traveled south along the Golan Heights. We learned about the importance of the Golan Heights and event learned much about Israel battle for survival as a nation. Our final stop of the day was an overlook of the entire Sea of Galilee area. Directly across from this overlook was Tiberius, where we have been staying, and not far from us was another significant place. A little north of where we were at, there was a place referred to in the Bible as the land of the Gadarenes. I will not say anything further about the place, but leave it up to you to find out what happened there. If you know, just leave a comment below.
I want to let you know that I am in the process of setting-up a picture site that you can see all the pictures. So this entry will not have any picture. Hopefully, I will have it set up by tomorrow. He are changing hotels tomorrow as we transition our attention away from Galilee toward Jerusalem. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.
1 comment:
The Gadarene man was the man possessed by demons ("My name is Legion..." in Mark 5:1-20), showing us the beautiful picture of our God's sovereign and powerful love to both find and deliver us from our sin and destruction. Thank you for reminding me of that!
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