Which way to go?
While the events of the last few days were fascinating, what we really came here for was to trace the steps of the people of the Bible and experience firsthand the land in which they lived. Today we truly did that. We started the day by doing something that everyone that begins a journey should do: we consulted a map. This map, however dates back to about 500 A.D. and it has been used by pilgrims to the Holy Land for centuries. The picture above is just a small section of the map that shows the Jordan River flowing into the Dead Sea. The fish on the right is swimming back upstream to get away from the sea that is so salty that nothing can live in it. Each tile in this map is no larger than the finger nail on your little finger.
The Madaba Map is a mosaic on the floor of St. Georges Church in Madaba, Jordan. It is very beaten up and has endured earthquakes, but one is still able to make out all of the holy places in the middle east located on the remains of this map. The church is filled with modern mosaics (which the town members now famously construct) like this one showing Christ raising Lazarus from the dead.
Mt. Nebo
Because Moses "struck the stone" in the wilderness when God had commanded him to speak to it, he was not allowed to enter into the Promised Land. God did, however, take Moses to the top of the highest mountain in the area, Mt. Nebo, so that he could see with his own eyes the place which the people he had lead for 40 year would now inherit. While it was a bit hazy when we were there one could just make out the Jordan river which the people of Israel will cross to enter into the Promised Land.
From the lookout point on the mountain Pastor Dressler read the account of the the Israelites crossing the Jordan river from the book of Joshua chapters 3 and 4, and then read the last chapter of the book of Deuteronomy which describes how Moses looked out on this mountain before he died and was buried by God.
From the Highest to the Lowest
From the top of Mt. Nebo we decended down a harrowing set of switchbacks into the lowest place on earth. The area where Israelites crossed the Jordan is not far at all from the Dead Sea, some 400m below sea level. This is also the place where John the Baptist was baptized in the river when Jesus came by and asked to be baptized. We read from this account in Matthew chapter three at the traditional site of the Baptism of Jesus, and then moved on to the present location of the Jordan River. (It has relocated itsef a few hundred meters in the past 2000 years due, in part, to earthquakes.) Here is a short video of us hanging out on the banks of the Jordan River:
The Madaba Map is a mosaic on the floor of St. Georges Church in Madaba, Jordan. It is very beaten up and has endured earthquakes, but one is still able to make out all of the holy places in the middle east located on the remains of this map. The church is filled with modern mosaics (which the town members now famously construct) like this one showing Christ raising Lazarus from the dead.
Mt. Nebo
Because Moses "struck the stone" in the wilderness when God had commanded him to speak to it, he was not allowed to enter into the Promised Land. God did, however, take Moses to the top of the highest mountain in the area, Mt. Nebo, so that he could see with his own eyes the place which the people he had lead for 40 year would now inherit. While it was a bit hazy when we were there one could just make out the Jordan river which the people of Israel will cross to enter into the Promised Land.
From the Highest to the Lowest
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