There is no in-between in the eyes of God

Today we departed from the Sea of Galilee. We hit some incredible stops as we made the long trip down to Jerusalem for the evening. Jerusalem will be our home base for the last three days of the trip.

We started our day by having one last devotional by the Sea of Galilee. Terry read us the text from John 4:46 to 54. This is a story of an official who's son was very ill and near death. When the official heard that Jesus was in Galilee, he made the long trip to find Jesus and to ask Him to come and heal his son. Jesus responded to the man by saying, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." The official, looked to Jesus and said, "Sir, come down, before my child dies."

We all could only imagine the desperation that this official must have felt. When this man's son was near death, it didn't matter how much money he had, how much status he had in government, how many connections he had. When he came to Jesus to plead for the life of his son, he came with no ego and no pride. Terry taught us that this is how we must come to Christ, no ego, no pride, no agenda, no status. Jesus answered the man and said, "Go, your son will live." This man had a long journey back home and all he had was the word of Jesus that his son would live. As Terry concluded, this man had to decide, do I trust Him or not? This is the same decision we make in our lives today as we are sent on our way.

Our first stop of the day was the town of Nazareth. You will recall, this was the hometown of Jesus, where he grew up. You may also recall the lesson from a couple of days ago as we were reading from Luke 4 in the synagogue in Chorazin, the old Jewish village. In this passage, Jesus is reading from the scrolls of Isaiah in a synagogue in Nazareth. It is at this time that he makes the claim that He is the messiah. He goes on to say a couple of other things that make the religious leaders of the day angry. The text in Luke 4:28-30 says:

"When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, he went away."

We were able to walk around the cliff that is referenced in this text. It is a high cliff with a lot of sharp rocks along the way. The impact of the fall may not have killed you immediately, but the damage the sharp rocks would do definitely would. It would have been a painful death. It was a bit surreal to stand in the place that we know Jesus stood, with a mob of people attempting to kill Him.

We gathered at this place for a lesson. Terry read from Matthew 13:53 where the Bible tells us about Jesus going to speak at Nazareth. The people there reject Him as they say, "Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son?" We talked about how easy it is for us to become apathetic towards Jesus. Sometime, we feel like we know Him too well, maybe like the people of Nazareth did because He had grown up there. Many of us have grown up with Jesus in our lives. If we are not careful, we can become apathetic towards him and lose the awe for God that we must have. Terry said, "Apathy sometimes can be worse than hostility." In a marriage, when a couple is arguing, it means they are still communicating. But it is always really concerning when a husband and wife get to a point that they just don't care much anymore. We can't ever lose the awe of the God we love, He is not just the carpenter's son, He is the Word of God, who was there in the beginning, through Him all things were made, and without Him, was not anything made that was made (reference to John 1:1-5). We should treat Him accordingly.

We moved on to the mountain of Megiddo. The Hebrew language for Mountain of Megiddo is "Har Megiddo" which is where we get the word "Armageddon." We soon understood why. This mountain held evidence of 25 different civilizations dating back 7,000 years. The city / fortresses had been built 25 times and destroyed 25 times. You can see why this location was such a coveted spot for any authority structure. The city was right on the main artery that connected Egypt to Mesopotamia. If you controlled this area, you controlled the commerce that passed through, which means you controlled the taxes. The mountain overlooked the vast Jezreel Valley, which is flat and wide. It is the perfect place to march a large army. In the Bible, this city reached it's peak of glory in the time of Solomon and Ahab. The engineering and construction that occurred here is amazing. Also, there is a spot that splits the mountain range and looks to the east. When the sun comes up in the morning, it would have provided light directly onto a small portion of the land. It was on this spot that archeologists found 19 different holy structures. Each civilization built on top of each other, as you dig down, you find more and more.

In the book of Revelation, in chapter 16, there is a story of angels pouring out wrath and executing judgments. Verse 12 picks up with the sixth angel and tells of a great battle that will be held. Verse 16 says:

"And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon."

This blog isn't long enough to get into a proper explanation of the book of Revelation, however, it was chilling to sit in that place where battles have been waged for 7,000 years. Every American knows the word "Armageddon", to see the place that coined the term and to understand the significance of the place was incredible. In chapter 19 of Revelation, the battle that is described sounds a lot like God fighting for His people. In the prophecy of Isaiah, the same prophecy Jesus was reading in Nazareth where they tried to kill Him for what He said, has two prophecies. The first half of the prophecy is Jesus saving the world, the second is Jesus judging the world. The book of Revelation tells us the story of the second half of the prophecy with apocalyptic literature. Terry taught us that in Revelation, there are two feasts described. The first feast is the "Wedding Feast". This is where the lamb of Christ returns to gather his bride (the Church) for a wedding feast. This brings back the imagery of Chorazin that we discussed before, where the groom goes off to build a room for his bride and once it is ready he returns to marry her. This wedding feast is a joyful celebration between the bride and groom. The second feast is not pleasant, it is the result of judgement, the second feast talks about the birds gorging on all of those that were defeated by God in battle.

Sometimes it is difficult for us to talk about judgement, but Jesus is very clear on this topic. And logically, we need to be clear on this. As Terry taught us, "If there is no judgment, there is no justice. If there is no justice, there is no problem with my sin." If you continue this logic, if there is no problem with my sin, there is no reason for the cross.

We continued on to Mt. Carmel. This is the setting of the classic story in the Old Testament where God used Elijah to show His glory in the face of the hostility of King Ahab and his evil wife Jezebel. You can find the story in 1 Kings chapters 16-18. King Ahab ruled Judah, after Solomon and after the split into the two kingdoms. Ahab was a a great King in terms of the world's standards. But the Bible defines him this way, "And Ahab, the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him." Ahab had taken Jezebel for his wife, she was a princess from a kingdom in modern day Lebanon. In her home, they worshipped Baal and she was determine to stamp out the worship of God among the people of Israel. She had the priests and prophets killed and erected places of worship for Baal and other Gods. If you aren't familiar with this story, you need to read it in its entirety in 1 Kings. But if you are, you know that God used Elijah to demonstrate his power in an incredible way. As Elijah gathered the people there at Mt. Carmel for a proper showdown between our God and 950 prophets / priests of Baal and Asherah, he spoke these words to the people:

"How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, the follow him."

The text says the people did not answer him a word. They finally speak up, only when God clearly shows that He truly is the one true God. The people only spoke up when they saw a sign, a miracle. Terry challenged us by asking us how long will we waver, how long will we wait to speak up, what will it take to make us speak up, how long will we stand between two opinions when we must stand on the side of truth?

Terry quoted a poem by Martin Niemoller (which is on display at the National Holocaust Museum in Washington DC) which was written in the wake of how so many Christians continued to stay silent in the wake of Hitler's treatment of the Jewish people:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

There are many people in this world that don't have anyone to protect them, who don't have someone on their side. As Christians, we are not called to limp between two different opinions. The Bible is clear on the life we are meant to lead and the values for which we must stand. As Terry said, "We are called to stand up and speak for those who can't speak for themselves."

We finished our tour for the day by stopping on the Mediterranean Sea at an ancient place known as Caesarea. This marvel was built by Herod the Great. He began construction in 22 BC and finished in 10 BC. If you recall from our discussion on the desert fortress of Masada, Herod the Great was a genius. He also had a tremendous ego and was paranoid. Herod had nationalized much of the mineral production in Israel and had grown rich. He was supplying raw materials and other resources into Rome and he needed a major port to provide a place of commerce and trade that he could control. Caesarea became one of the three largest ports in the ancient world. It was lavish, extravagant, and hosted the world's first infinity pool. Herod build a personal palace for himself and his family that extended out into the Mediterranean. He wanted it to have a pool, but he didn't want to use the salt water, so he had fresh water brought in to create a fresh water pool that was literally on top of the Mediterranean Sea (it looks as crazy as it sounds). Herod has such an ego that he thought he could control nature. We will talk more about Herod tomorrow.

Caesarea would have been the place that Pontius Pilate would have stayed normally. At the time of Jesus' crucifixion, the only reason Pilate was in Jerusalem was because of the Passover festivals. This city had all of the glory of a Greco / Roman city. There was a theatron, a hippodrome, major port, aqueducts, columns, statues, etc. It was incredible from an architectural and engineering standpoint. The city was so glamorous, that to celebrate its construction being completed, Herod convinced everyone to have the Olympic Games held there. To entice the athletes, Herod committed to give prizes to the top 3 finishers, not just the winner. This is where we got the gold, silver, and bronze medals.

What hit us hardest was walking around the hippodrome, where chariots would race. In the first century on into the fourth century, this hippodrome was used to publicly execute the early Christians. The type of execution got incredibly brutal. Under the seats where the crowd would sit to see the show, you could still see evidence of two rooms. One room was to hold animals, the other room is where the Christians would go to await execution. Brothers and sisters of the early Church would literally be fed to lions in front of cheering fans. The sand in the floor of the hippodrome, sand like we stood on today, was there to absorb the blood.

As we stood in that hippodrome, thinking back to the ancestors of our faith who followed Christ to their death, the poem that Terry read at Mt. Carmel rang in our ears.

As Christians, we are not called to be silent. We are not called to limp between two opinions. There is faith or rejection, good fruit or bad fruit, light or darkness, awe or apathy, a wedding feast or a feast for the birds, joy or judgment, life or death. There is no in-between in the eyes of God.

The question for each of us is the same question that the official, in our morning devotional, who was concerned about his son, had to answer. As we go on our way, do we trust Him or not?