A Sovereign God and Death

Let’s talk about it. I just finished watching the story, “Flame On”, about the death of the son of J.J. Jasper on KLOV radio. It is a compelling story and it speaks of the sovereignty of God. I believe in the sovereignty of God even more than the sovereignty worshippers. To me, God is so sovereign, in His Word, that He can use His foreknowledge of man’s response to Him to make a decision about what to do with that man before the man is even born. For some, that means that God was dependent on the man to show Him what to do. But we know that God made the man and gave Him a free will, just like Adam and Eve. Yes, God knows what the man or woman will do, but He does not make the choice for them. He is powerful enough and so omniscient as to be able to sovereignly work His will while still giving us a free will. My God is bigger than their God.

So, God knows the length of our days. I know that is true. But J.J. and his wife tell of a friend that says that it would not have mattered if they had carried there son around on a feather pillow all day, he still would have died. Is that true? 2 Kings 20:1-11 is one story from the Bible where God’s prophet tells the king: God says to get ready for you are about to die. Look at these verses-

“In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’ ”

2     Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying,

3     “Remember now, O Lord, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4     Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him, saying,

5     “Return and say to Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of your father David, “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord.

6     “I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.” ’ ”

7     Then Isaiah said, “Take a cake of figs.” And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

8     Now Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord the third day?”

9     Isaiah said, “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps or go back ten steps?”

10     So Hezekiah answered, “It is easy for the shadow to decline ten steps; no, but let the shadow turn backward ten steps.”

11     Isaiah the prophet cried to the Lord, and He brought the shadow on the stairway back ten steps by which it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.

So, God was so sovereign that He knew that Hezekiah would pray and cry out to Him; or God is not all knowing. Without this prayer and crying out to God by Hezekiah, he would have died. God knew that he would cry out and pray and so God sent the prophet back not only to let him know about the additional 15 years, but to even give the king a verifying miracle for his miracle. Somehow God changed the natural path of the sun or the earth to make the sun go back on the steps. If asking for the miracle was not enough, Hezekiah also asked for a miracle to prove that what God had promised would come to pass. Now all of this comes from an Old Testament king that does not have Christ in his life or the power of the Holy Spirit. Hezekiah prayed to a sovereign God that had already announced his impending death and he was granted two miracles- 15 more years and a confirming miracle that required the alteration of the laws of nature. God knew about the additional 15 years that would come because of Hezekiah's prayer and weeping. This is not a surprise at all for an all powerful, all knowing, sovereign God.

March 1st Jerusalem Part Two

After Jesus had been taken by the temple guards to the home of Caiaphas for the mock trial that would happen there, it is believed that Jesus was taken to the basement of the home while the counsel made a plan to do Him in. In the Psalms and in Zechariah there are messianic verses about being alone in a pit while He would wait to die. This pit was a cistern in Caiaphas’ basement. The picture is from the floor of the cistern looking up through the hole they used to lower Jesus in and then take Him out. You might be able to see a Byzantine era cross carved on the side of the hole. He would have been waiting here after His disciples had abandoned Him, and His back had been beaten with sharp reeds, splashed with salt water, and then covered with olive oil. All of this before the Romans ever got to see Him. The last picture is the floor inside Antonio’s Fortress at the Temple mount. This is the actual floor layer where Jesus would have been beaten by the Roman soldiers. As we stood on this spot, away from the crowds, in the silence of the moment, it was easy to imagine the scene from the Passion of the Christ when Jesus was beaten, had His beard ripped out, and was mocked by the Roman soldiers. His blood was spilled on this stone floor, and all along the path to Calvary. Why did He do it? He did it so that you and I could be redeemed from the penalty of our sin. He did it because He loves us. He did it for His Father in Heaven to restore the fallen creation. Jesus is coming again to receive His reward for what He has done to save us. He will come in the air with His bride, and make His true triumphal entry- and if you are a true believer, you will be there too.

Jerusalem March 1st Part One

Today we left our hotel for the old city and started in a graveyard on the Mount of Olives cross from the Temple Mount looking over toward the Eastern Gate. It is the famous picture that includes the Islamic site of the Dome of the Rock (not included). The picture is of the wall on the eastern side, where Jesus is going to come when He returns in the sky with His bride and the angels. His white robe will be bloody with the wrath He has poured out on those that have persecuted and martyred the Jews and Christians who belonged to Him. He will stop His horse on the Mount of Olives and when He dismounts the mountain will split in have from north to south creating a new valley and a new river. In the picture you may notice all of these white things on the ground by the gate. Those are the graves of Moslems that were put there to make the site unfit for a holy man like Jesus to come through. How foolish to think that if Jesus is truly the Messiah that this will be able to stop them. Notice that they have also blocked the eastern gate shut. That was foolish as well since Saladin the Magnificent who had the city walls restored in the 16^th century did not put the gate back where the original gate was placed. If you look to the left there is a small structure with two Islamic arches. It is believed that the original gate is right about there and from 11 to 18 feet underground. You might be looking on from your horse as the Mount of Olives splits apart and a river gushes across washing away the cemetery and removing the dirt down to the original eastern gate- just a thought.

On the Mount of Olives is the Garden of Gethsemane. You will notice that these old trees have new branches on them. The trees were dead as far as anyone knew, since they had been dated back to the time of Christ. The new growth started in 1948 when Israel became a nation again. It sounds kind of unlikely, but good miracles always sound unlikely; don’t they. We had a special time as a group in the garden with singing and scripture readings. We divided up to pray by the olive trees in a private garden area that our tour had the honor of using. It was very moving for everyone to think that we were praying where Jesus had prayed on the night before His crucifixion. Even the clover that grows in the garden area is special. If you take a close look when you pick it, it has little random red specks on it like it had been splashed with the blood that Jesus sweat as He prayed about the cup He was about to bear for you and me.

Monday February 28th Part Two

From here we continued on to Nazareth, which is a city that is large and predominately controlled by the Moslem population of the area. The traffic in the old city was very difficult, but our driver eventually go us to the site of a synagogue which was also built over the site of the synagogue that was in operation when Jesus was growing up there. Just outside of town we saw the mound and ruins of the town where Jonah was born according to 1 Kings 14:25. We entered the valley of Megiddo often referred to as Har- Megiddo. Sound familiar? You guessed right- the valley of Armageddon from Revelation 16:16. This valley is 20 miles long and 10 miles wide. The name actually comes from the city of Megiddo further down the road. This was a city that was occupied by Canaanites until the city was destroyed. Many years later Solomon had the city rebuilt as a military outpost in the north for one of his chariot units. The spring that God used to test the men of Gideon for battle was along the road. God used the spring Herad to see how many of the men would remain to fight with Gideon. Those who lapped the water like a dog were sent home and those who cupped it in their hands to drink while still holding their sword were kept. Three hundred men were left from 32,000 so that the battle could be won by the Lord and it would be a miracle that would bring Him glory. We arrived at Mount Carmel and had the opportunity to go up to an observation level to see the main area of the valley of Megiddo, or Armageddon.   Right in the middle of this vast valley in front of us was a landing field for Israeli fighter jets. We were told that the landing field “moves” so that it is not a stationary target. The jets do not take off from that field either. In the interior of the hillsides the jets emerge full speed into the air. This is a beautiful agricultural area just like the rest of the Galilee region. But the Word of God says that it will be the most horrific battlefield in history. The description is given as having blood in the valley to the depth of the bridles of the horses. Our guide is convinced that the time is short. One of the requirements is that the Euphrates River by dried up so that the kings of the East may come. He said that the Moslem nations have already build a dam and may dry up the Euphrates at will. He also believes that the Kings of the East do not include China (usually included because of their enormous army). He believes that the army foretold will come from the Islamic nations that have more than 600 million citizens in the neighborhood of Israel already. That would mean that the changes in the middle east area preparing the area for leadership that will once again move for the annihilation of Israel- a radical Islamic promise. Certainly we will have much more to talk about, but it is the end of a very long day as Liz and I sit in our hotel room at the Ramada Inn, in Jerusalem.

Monday February 28th Part One

This morning we left Tiberius on the Sea of Galilee headed to Capernaum. On the way, we stopped at Tabka, the site of Jesus feeding the 5000 men plus many more women and children. They believe that this was the site because this was the main area of the Lake that had grass on it during that period of history. This story from Matthew 14:19ff. talks about the grassy area where Jesus would do His miracle. Notice the difference between this and the miracle of the 4000 plus in Matthew 15:32 where Jesus does not want to send the people away because it has been three days and it is such a desolate place. That miracle would have happened on the east bank of the Sea of Galilee near Capernaum instead. This also seems to be the site where Jesus met Peter and the other disciples after the resurrection where He restored Peter with the questions, “Peter do you love me?” You remember that the disciples had gone fishing and had a miraculous catch at the instruction of someone that was cooking breakfast at the shore.

We moved on down the road a short distance to the location of ancient Capernaum. There we saw a synagogue from the 4^th century that was almost entirely toppled, but beneath its foundation was the foundation of the synagogue where Jesus had read from Isaiah. Jesus basically headquartered his ministry from this city. In Matthew 4:12 ff. you see this location as the fulfillment of the prophecy listed from Isaiah 9:1-2. Capernaum gave Jesus time to relate to the gentiles because there were many gentiles in the city whom He could teach along with the Jews to which He had been sent. The man in this picture is our 70 year old tour guide that has been leading tours for 40 years and fought in the 6 day war of 1968.

Last Posts of Sunday

In the city of Tiberius is a large facility for baptizing people in the Jordan River. People are offered the opportunity to be baptized by leaders in their group if they like. First, Gwen decided that she wanted to be baptized in the Jordan River. She then was joined by Bobby and Liz. If the video clip would run, you would hear Liz scream when she come up from the water. I was wearing waders and it was cold. I suppose that’s what happens when you are baptized outside in February, in northern Galilee! Internet speeds are too slow to send video now. Maybe from Jerusalem where we will be going tommorrow. Lots of pics and videos from all of the places mentioned. Have to wait to send them along.

Sunday continued

We moved further north toward the ancient city of Dan up in the mountains. This part of the country has seen most of the war over the years since 1948. One was specifically, the Yom Kippur war of 1973, was war that was fought against unbelievable odds. The Israeli’s had less than one hundred tanks in the area and held off or destroyed over 500 Soviet tanks being driven by Syrians. The Israeli’s fought without night vision for three solid days without additional food or water. The location of the battle is called the Valley of Tears. We saw a movie about this miraculous event at the kibbutz that served us lunch. A kibbutz is an agricultural cooperative that also branches out to serve as restaurants and other tourist needs. We moved on to Dan and saw the water source for the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River. This was an incredible alpine looking area with cold water from the snow melt of Mount Hermon running through in streams all around us. King David wrote Psalms about his experience in this area when he reflected on his experience near Mount Hermon. Among the verses would be Psalms 42:6, 89:12, and 133:3; and David’s experiences range from depression to celebration. As we traveled higher we were on the Damascus road, the same road where Saul, soon to become the Apostle Paul, had his saving encounter with the risen Lord. As we approached Mount Hermon, the wind picked up and the temperatures dropped. It is believed that here Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James, and John, with Moses and Elijah attending from Heaven. We came to the highest point as we drove past Israeli soldiers and tanks overlooking the country of Syria and a large Syrian city that lay just below their outposts. But, even here, there grape vines, and apple trees woven into the scenery of kibbutz facilities and designated mine fields. But now it is time to go back down below sea level to our hotel in Tiberius. Yes, the Sea of Galilee is also below sea level, just not as far below as the Dead Sea.