The Upper Room

These are pictures I took of the Upper Room in Jerusaleam, the traditional site of the Last Supper that Jesus shared with His disciples.

The Gospel of St. John, chapter 13, begins what many call the Book of Passion. Chapters 13 -19 describes the events of Jesus' last night on earth before the crucifixion. These events take place in less than 24 hours. In addition to instituting the Lord's Supper, Jesus also instituted The Order of the Basin and towel. He never intended for footwashing to become an ordinance to be observed in the churches. We have no command in the New Testament from Jesus or the apostles to do so because an ordinance is a picture that preaches the gospel.

In Baptism, we have the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ and our identification with Him when we are converted to faith in Christ. (By the way, immersion only is baptism according to the New Testament. Sprinkling and pouring are never mentioned in the New Testament in connection with baptism. Nor is baptism salvific; that is baptism does not save, nor help save anyone. It is faith in Christ and His shed blood as full payment for our sins that saves. The water has never atoned or covered one sin).

In the Lord's Supper, we have the broken body and shed blood of Christ portrayed and our reception of Him (John 6:53) when we participate. The ordinances are for Christians only.

Underground Jerusalem

This is one of the most striking scenes that I witnessed in Jerusalem, and I admit that I felt a little guilty as I turned around quickly and snapped this picture of these Jewish ladies who were so occupied in their early morning devotions. The scene is beneath the Western Wall in Jerusalem. I guess I was intruding into their "quiet time" but the reason I could not resist is because their devotion so struck me that I wanted to be able to share what a sense of consecration they have.

To tell you the truth, their devotion puts many of us to shame. Many of us would rather sleep in than make the trek to a holy place, then scurry about our busy day and leaving our appointment with God to a more convenient time. Unfortunately it seems that personal, private, quiet time alone with God so seldom arrives. I'm not talking about the capsuled, memorized, "just really" kind of prayers, but that which we should call meditation. Staying long in the presence of God and thinking deeply about what we have read in the Scriptures seems to be a dying art. We don't hear as many sermons as we should on meditation today but if we practiced it more I have a feeling we would have much more peace in our souls. If we were truly focused on God we could forget everything else for the time being to the point that we would not even notice a bunch of foreigners passing by.

Signs in the Resurrection Garden

These are two of the signs that are found in the Garden where Jesus was buried and rose again.
The first is a quotation from the book of Romans 1:4 and the other is a quote of the book of John 19:40-43 which is shown in three languages; English, Hebrew, and Greek.

Even though Jesus experienced a humiliating and excriciatingly cruel death the Father saw to it that none but loving hands touched the dead body of His Son. Not only was the tomb empty when Jesus arose from the dead,it was also empty when Jesus was hastily prepared and buried in the tomb. This way, no one could say that it was someone besides Jesus who arose. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the divine and majestic proof of His Messiahship. It is inconceivable that Jesus would have been resurrected had He not been just who He said He was, The Son of God.

The Empty Garden Tomb

This is a picture I took of the Garden Tomb, the site of the burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There are many reasons to believe that this is the actual and not just the traditional site of the resurrection.

The resurrection of Jesus is mentioned over 100 times in the New Testament and is the basis of all Christian doctrine. It does matter that the resurrection actually took place because that is what makes Christianity unique among the ancient world religions; it is the only one whose founder is still alive. Christ died and rose again just as He said He would, Mark. 8:31.

The New Testament never speaks of the possibility of the resurrection, but the fact of the resurrection. But the resurrection was not without a purpose; there was a divine design because God the Father had some things to demonstrate. He did not just give us mere words, He proved Himself by His actions.

1. The resurrection proves that Jesus is the Son of God...ROM. 1:3,4

2. The resurrection proves that God the Father was satisfied with Jesus' sacrifice of Himself on the cross as the full payment for the penalty of sin...I JN. 4:10

3. The resurrection means that we can be justified before God the Father...I COR. 15:17

4. Why the resurrection of Jesus Christ is important:

A. It fulfills God's promises...Acts 13:32,33

B. It establishes the deity of Christ...Rom. 1:4

C. It furnishes justification for those who believe...Rom. 4:23-25

D. It assures every Believer of their own personal bodily resurrection...I Cor. 15:51-57

E. It insures the future judgment of all...Acts 17:31.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the hope of the Believer, and the basis of our faith. If one could disprove the resurrection, then the Christian faith would crumble and go away. But I caution you, many have set out to disprove the resurrection and through their intense study became committed Christians!. The Bible can stand up to the closest scrutiny one may give it (provided, of course, that the study is done with an honest and opened mind) but the Bible is living and powerful and it will change you before you ever change it.

Golgotha

This is a picture I took of Gordon's Calvary, also known as "Golgotha, the place of the skull." It is also called "Skull Hill" because if you look closely you can see cave openings in the side of the cliff which resembles a skull. Perhaps time and erosion over the past 2,000 years have done a job on its original appearance but the site is still dramatic, and spiritual even after all these years.
Many times during the course of His earthly ministry Jesus told His disciples of the true and ultimate reason He came into the world, and that was to die for the sins of mankind. However, He never spoke of His death without also speaking of His resurrection as well, Matt. 26:28; Mk. 8:31; 9:31; 10:33,34; Heb. 9:28.

To redeem mankind from the bondage of sin Jesus had to die in our place to pay the penalty because the wages of sin is death, Rom. 6:23. The cross was no afterthought or "plan B" for God for Jesus was "the Lamb (Jn. 1:29) slain from the foundation of the world", Rev. 13:8. God always knew what He would have to do because He knew what mankind would do. God's judgment on sin was foretold first in Genesis 3:15 when He announced that the woman's seed would bruise the serpent's head. This meant that Jesus, the seed of a woman, would break Satan's power by His willingness to be the only vicarious and sacrificial atonement for the sin of mankind.

This atonement becomes effectual for us when we repent of our sins and place our faith in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of our sins.

Qumran: Site of the Dead Sea Scrolls

This is a photo I took of one of the caves at Qumran. Qumran is situated some 50 kilometers north of Masada on the NW shore of the Dead Sea. (Which is referred to as the "Salt Sea"in the Bible) At Qumran also are the ruins of the ancient site of the mystical Jewish sect called the Essenes. The Essenes left Jerusalem and went into the desert to escape Roman tyranny, to prepare for the end times, and to set up their own community. Excavations at the site revealed that this sect lived in their communal lifestyle from the 2nd century B.C. to about 70 A.D. (As you can see, I'm not PC; none of that C.E and B.C.E junk for me!) The Essene Community was well organized, but simple. They lived in deliberate poverty, and shared all things in common. They rejected the temple priesthood, drew up their own solar calendar, and set strict laws on what was pure and impure. Some of their beliefs and practices, such as baptism and belief in a life of purity and cleanliness were based on early Christian beliefs.

The Essenes were responsible for producing the Dead Sea Scrolls. Written and hidden in many of the surrounding caves these treasures remained hidden for 2,000 years. Then, in 1947, an Arab shepherd boy searching for some lost goats threw a rock into one of the caves (probably the one pictured above) and heard the sound of clay jars breaking. Inside the jars were found the scrolls. Subsequent and intense searches of the caves yielded hundreds of manuscripts written in Hebrew and Aramaic and complete and partial copies of every book of the Bible except Esther. Included in the find was a complete copy of the book of Isaiah and the Apochcrypha. These scrolls and manuscripts of the scriptures are essentially identical to the scriptures we have always held even though they are a thousand years older than any copies which were known until 1947, and they substantiate our belief that the Bible is true.

The Dead Sea Scrolls prove once again that archaeology proves the Bible every time, and the Word of God, rightly divided, will increase our faith every time.

When Our World Caves In

September 11, 2001,...Katrina,...and a senseless shooting at an Amish Schoolhouse are tragedies that test our faith and tax our understanding. If our God is a God of love and is sovereign why do bad things happen to good people? If God is all-powerful He could prevent tragedies from happening. And if God is "Love" then He would love us too much to allow these things to come to pass.

Recently a "panel of experts" (made up of a Hindu, a Muslim, a Jewish Rabbi, and Roman Catholic priest) on Larry King Live offered such comments as;

"This world is not the place of ultimate justice or settling accounts"

"This is the place of testing faith or revealing the lack of it" and

"This world is not the place of reward, but of suffering, which moves men to act in faith and love."

Jesus was once asked to make some sense of two tragedies of His day, but His answer was not the expected one.

"There were present at that season some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell ye, nay, but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you nay, but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Luke 13:1-5

I. EVIL AND SUFFERING ARE REALITIES OF LIFE; NO ONE IS IMMUNE

The Roman governor sent soldiers to slay Galileans while they were worshipping and a tower fell on 18 people and killed all of them. The causes of these tragedies were human evil and human error. We should be saddened but not surprised when bad things happen,...it is the natural result of living in a fallen world. We could add another cause, natural disasters, Matt. 24:4-7. After all, Jesus said this is the way it will be. Humanity is cursed in that we are born with a sin nature which we inherited from our first parents, Adam and Eve. The earth is also cursed, and what was once lush garden is now producing thorns and thistles. When Adam and Eve sinned it was no small event, it was a cosmic catastrophe which ushered in sin, suffering, and death into the world. Even the earth was cursed and now we are plagued by wars, earthquakes, hurricanes, famines, etc.

II. DO NOT ASSUME THAT THOSE WHO SUFFER ARE WORSE SINNERS THAN YOU ARE

The Jews of Jesus' day and the superstitious of our time believe that good things happen to good people,and bad things happen to the bad people. Call it karma, luck, or good vibes if you want, but there is a good Greek word for that kind of thinking,...hogwash!

The Bible teaches that suffering does not prove someone is wicked, and blessing does not mean that a person is righteous, Eccl. 8:14. The story of Joseph tells us that God is great enough to take the evil, and turn it to good, (Gen. 50:20) because He is sovereign in all things. Therefore, there is no such thing as luck, chance, or coincidence. You cannot believe in luck and the sovereignty of God, the two are mutually exclusive.

Besides, no one in their right mind would want God to rid the world of all evil in one fell swoop. In the novel, Robinson Crusoe, Crusoe was talking with Friday about God, the devil, good and evil. Friday asked, "But if God much strong, more than the devil, why God no kill the devil so make him no more do evil?"

"You may as well ask why does God not kill you and me when we do evil things," replied Crusoe.

Were God to remove all the evil from the world He would have to remove all of us too because "There is none righteous, no not one" and "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3:10, 23.

III. GOD HAS DEALT WITH THE PROBLEM OF EVIL AND SUFFERING

God the Father judged sin and suffering at the cross in Jesus Christ, II Cor. 5:21

And this is precisely where Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam all fall short. Mere religion cannot deal with the sin problem, only Christianity can do this. That also points out to us that when tragedies occur the important question is not, "Why do bad things happen?" But rather, the question to ask is, "Would I be prepared to die, if a similar tragedy happened to me?"

Suffering and death are reminders that God takes sin seriously. At the fall, even the earth was cursed but it will also be redeemed, Romans 8:22,23. As Philip Yancy wrote,"The earth is not our mother, it is our fallen sister."

Because of the fall we are all sinners, and because we are sinners we must all repent or we will likewise perish eternally. Acts 20:21. Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, turning from sin to God and trusting in Christ is the plan of salvation and the only escape from the bondage of sin.

The Wailing Wall

This photo was taken last spring and it is of our tour group at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Of course we were not praying that God would send Messiah, we were praying that many more would recognize that Messiah has already come, redeemed His people by His death on the cross, and that through faith in Christ they will be ready to meet Him when He returns to earth again.

Creation

While we're talking about the creation, let me throw this in. I found this paragraph in "Show Me God" (Vol. 1, Fred Heeren, Day Star Publication, 1997; p.130). I quote ver batim;

"Part of the reason that the Bible writers had a higher view of the universe was that they alone,among all the ancients, (emphasis mine) believed in a God who had created the universe - not a magical, eternal universe that gave birth to the gods. Only the Hebrews were true monotheists, and only they believed in a God who existed before the universe was created. Recognizing this, Fred Hoyle writes that "the general concept of gods located fairly and squarely within the Universe was common in ancient times throughout the Near East. The Hebrew departure from this position was evidently very great.""

Of all the creation accounts we have from the ancient texts, this fact alone convinces me that only the creation story found in the Book of Genesis is credible.

The Wailing Wall

This is the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. I have no way of knowing how tall it is, but judging by the gentleman praying there I estimated it at being about 70 feet high. The stones were quarried and set there without any mortar at all. The largest stone in the wall is an impressive 44'8"x14'x11' and weighs an estimated 268 tons. It is very Impressive indeed.

It is Orthodox Jewish custom that men and women worship separately, even at the Wailing Wall. Both men and women are required to wear head coverings.

It is also traditional to write down prayer requests on slips of paper and place them in between the stones of the wall. It is thought by worshippers that a prayer request placed in the wall has favor before the Lord because He chose that location for the temple. Therefore, it must have divine significance for the Lord.

As you know, Israel became a nation again in 1948, but it wasn't until1967 that she recaptured the wall in the 6 Day War. The following was written about the wall by a paratrooper on that occasion. It is very poignant in describing what these young men must have felt when they first saw and touched their hard won prize.

The Paratroopers are Crying

by Haim Hefer

This wall has heard many prayers

This wall has seen many walls fall

This wall has felt wailing women's hands

and notes pressed between its stones
This wall has seen Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi trampled in front of it

This wall has seen Caesars rising and falling

But this wall has never before seen paratroopers cry.

This wall has seen them tired and exhausted

This wall has seen them wounded and scratched-up

Running towards it with beating hearts, with cries and with silence

Pouncing out like predators from the alleyways of the Old City

And they're dust-covered and dry-lipped And they're whispering:

If I forget you, if I forget you, O Jerusalem

And they are lighter than eagles and more tenacious than lions

And their tanks are the fiery chariot of Elijah the Prophet

And they pass like lightning, And they pass in fury

And they remember the thousands of terrible years in which we

didn't even have a wall in front of which we could cry.

And here they are standing in front of it breathing deeply

And here they are looking at it with sweet pain

And the tears fall and they look awkwardly at each other.

How is it that the paratroopers cry?

How is it that they touch the wall with feeling?

How is it that from crying they move to singing?

Maybe it is because these 19-year-olds

were born with the birth of Israel

Carrying on their backs...2,000 years.