Leen Ritmeyer - The Power of Bible Places and their Lessons for Us - Class 3 - Galilee of the Gentiles

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1. 0:01

   This is the 2010 Ontario Winter Bible School. Our speaker for the second session is Brother Lane Rittmeyer from Cardiff, Wales. His theme for the week is The Power of Bible Places and their Lessons. For us. This is his third class and the subject for this class is Galilee of the Gentiles. Our reading was taken from John chapter one verse 43 through John chapter 2 verse 11. Dear brother and sisters and young people, for those of you who were here for the first class may remember that the land of Israel could be divided into 4 different geographical regions.

2. 0:43

   We looked at the coastal strip which was dominated by the Philistines, and then we looked at the central mountain range. That’s where most of the holy sites were located, where able men to to Shechem. The Tabernacle stood in Shiloh, Jerusalem, the place where the Temple was built. And then we indicated was that Jordan Valley.

3. 1:04

   We spent some time there last night and in the second-half of our talk today, we’re going to look at that Jordan Valley as well now in the. We want to. Look at the life of the Lord Jesus Christ through the Gospel of John in chapter 1. Just pick out one verse in verse 28. Very first 26 for connection there was John the Baptist answering the Pharisees, saying, I baptised this water, but there stand this one among you whom he know not. He it is who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoes let it I’m not worthy to lose.

4. 1:44

   These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan where John was baptizing. And the next day Jesus, John sees Jesus coming unto him. It is, behold, the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world. And that’s where Jesus was baptized in Bethabara. But we’re talking much more about Bethabara in our one but last talk. So from Bethabara, you can see here on the map, Jesus had to come all the way down from from Nazareth and he was baptised here in Bethabara, very close to where Sodom was located. He was tempted in the wilderness and then he went back up to to Nazareth presumably.

5. 2:25

   Then he continued journeying. He went to Cana 1st and then he went to Capernaum. So Cana we have been reading in this chapter one first of all about Nathaniel. And Philip found Nathaniel, said, we found him of whom Moses in the law. And the prophet said, right, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph, and Nathaniel came from Cana. That is where he lived.

6. 2:56

   You can go to John chapter 21 and verse 2 and it says that very specifically that Nathaniel was from Cana in Galilee. So what do we know about Cana in Galilee? A very important place. And it’s, I call it the city of two signs. Now some people say to talk about the 8 signs of John, but only the first one is mentioned and the second one specifically as the second sign.

7. 3:21

   Now, if you go to Cana, you’ve got the choice of places to go to. You can go to Franciscan Cana or to Greek Orthodox Cana. You can go to the Chapel of Nathaniel. That is what Christian tradition has done for us. Been in these churches patio, you see icons and you don’t learn anything at all from Cana.

8. 3:40

   But there is also a site called Khirbet Khanna and I believe that is rather this site on quite an interesting hill. A few excavations have taken place there and looking on top from the satellite picture, you can see the outline of the city of Cana. There’s some S structures here. There’s a synagogue or a church and some lower houses.

9. 4:04

   You can see an excavation going on and that is most likely the place where Cana was located. You can look across the Natoffa Valley and there on the hill is Nazareth. So it was in view of Nazareth and it was kind of the natural way to explore the horizons for Jesus to go to as he did as a young man. Well, there’s here’s some walls that belong to houses of the 1st century AD.

10. 4:31

    I just wonder how long it will be before they say, oh, this is the House of Nathaniel. That’s how you work in archaeology. But there’s also a synagogue here and also a synagogue here. So it was a Jewish place where Cana, where Nathaniel lived. Now, three things happened there in Cana. Important science were given there first of all. We have Nathaniel under the fig tree, then we have the water turned into wine, and then Jesus and the nobleman’s son. So what do we know about these incidences? It’s really an amazing thing that if you think of Nathaniel living there, Philip coming to him, he says we have found him of who Moses in the law and the prophets did write verse 45, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph as a typical Jew. He says, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Now Philip says come and come set unto him, come and see. Now the name Nathaniel, it’s the name of our second son, by the way, means a gift of God, and Jesus called him in a very special way, and there’s a lot.

11. 5:47

    To teach us because what does Jesus say? Just a one sentence in verse 48 before Philip Caldy, when thou was under the fig tree, I saw thee. As somebody says to you, I saw you sitting on a tree. Would you react like this? Rabbi? Thou art the Son of God. Thou art the King of Israel.

12. 6:12

    Just because he sat on a fig tree and Jesus knew that. It gives an. Insight into the mind of Nathaniel and why Jesus called him. He was working, probably, you know. Digging up the ground of the fig tree, perhaps watering the fig tree, looking after it, cutting out their branches, doing his daily work. We all have our daily work to do. Remember Bob Lloyd one saying.

13. 6:39

    About the work of a housewife. The Sisters. Work in the. Kitchen, he says because your hands are in the sink doesn’t mean to say that your brain must be there. Also, because Dan and Nathani was working with the fig tree doesn’t mean to say that his brain was in the fig tree. His brain was somewhere else completely because he made. He was.

14. 7:03

    Thinking, but then. He was thinking about the fig tree. I’d like you to go to Proverbs chapter 27 and verse 18. And then I. Believe we know what he was thinking about

15. 7:26

    South Proverbs 27 and verse 18. It’s a fantastically interesting proverb where it says. He who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit. And that’s why Nathaniel was working. He was working, looking after the tree as he said, putting out the branches, perhaps irrigating it so that he may get fruit. But then it says but.

16. 7:54

    He who looks after or waits for his master, he’ll be on it. And if he was thinking about this proverb, so Valley was doing his daily work. He was thinking about the Scriptures. All the time. Let me say that if you’re an accountant that you must stop doing your accounting and thinking about the Scriptures.

17. 8:13

    But if you can, in whatever situation you find yourself, make those biblical connections. He was working with the fig tree. But what does the Bible say about the fig tree? Who should tent? The fig tree will eat its fruit and who? Waits for his Master will be honoured. He was waiting for the Master. He was waiting for the Messiah of Israel to come and just by that one sentence with Jesus said when you’re under the fig tree, I saw that clinched him, the matic. Jesus could read his mind, He was waiting for his Master and Jesus presented him as the Master. So it it shows pregnancy so that we need to be thinking about the scriptures all the time.

18. 8:55

    So there’s substance to the promise of God to David. I will set up thy seat after he which shall proceed out of thy bells, and I’ll establish his Kingdom. I’ll be his father, and he shall be my son. And so the greatest son of David, who would sit on the throne, was also the son of God, and that Nathaniel.

19. 9:11

    Believed that and he was waiting for him and therefore Jesus called him because he was fully convinced that Jesus was that master that he had been waiting for. So it teaches us that whatever we are doing at any given time, whenever the opportunity arises, we should be thinking on God’s Word and making the right connections.

20. 9:32

    You never know what kind of answer you may get. Now the other two events took place in Cana of Galilee. The 1st and the second. Miraculous signs were given there, but the word for a sign comes from the Greek same, Mayan and it. It’s kind of a miracle or something that is done in confirmation of something else.

21. 9:56

    So what were the signs and what did they confirm then? Chapter 2 of John and 1st 9:00. We read that at that wedding feast, there were six stone water jars. The kind that were used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, as it says there in verse 6. And those stone vessels have been found in the excavations, in many excavations.

22. 10:23

    You can see they’re on on the right. They’re about so high. They contain about 20 or 30 litres of waters. And they used to ceremoniously wash their hands and and their feet. Ring came from a long journey. According to the tradition of the Jews. So those vessels represented the tradition of the Jews and they were empty.

23. 10:47

    They didn’t work because the tradition of the Jews can’t give you salvation at all. And therefore. Jesus told them in verse 7 to the servants fill the water pots with water and they fill them up to the brim.

24. 11:08

    But Jesus at at another place he says you’ve had go of the commands of God and you hold on fast onto the tradition of men as the washing of pots and of cups. Very important in Jewish life. But Jesus changed that water into wine, into new wine. If you go to Luke chapter 5 then we can see what that wine represents.

25. 11:43

    He says in chapter 5 and verse 37 and verse 38. If verse 36 for connection, you speak also a parable to them. No man puts a piece of new garment upon an old. If otherwise, then both the new makers of rent and the piece that was taken out of the new agrees, not just the old.

26. 12:03

    No man puts new wine into old bottles, else the new wine will burst the bottles and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles, and both are preserved. No one, having drank old wine, straightway desires new. Free says the old is. It’s easier. It was easier to just wash your hands and your feet and you think you’re all right, but to have new wine in yourself.

27. 12:29

    The wine of the new covenant demands from us that we are new creatures and that is what he was teaching. He was showing he was the mediator of the new covenant and that was expressed in that new wine, changing the water into wine and interestingly, the servants who. Drew the water. They knew where the water came from. Like it says in the vasudevra, Those that that are the drawers of water they rehearsed.

28. 12:57

    The mighty acts of Yahweh. So that new wine represents a new covenant, and to be take part of it, as the Apostle Paul explains, if we are in Christ, we must be a new creation. The old is fading away and the new one has come. So that was the the first sign which these did in Cana was then to take away the old covenant of the Jews, which was empty in any case, and to present them as the new covenant represented by that new wine. That was the first sign which Jesus did in Cana of Galilee. If you go to chapter 4 we can see the He went later back again to Cana just reading John chapter 4 verse 46. So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, same place where he had made the water vine, and there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.

29. 13:58

    When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judea into Galilee, he went unto him and besought him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said unto him, Except you see signs and wonders, he will not believe. The nobleman says unto him, Sir, come down, hear my child die. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way, thy son liveth. And a man believed the word that Jesus had spoken to him, and he went his way, not like Zacharias, who didn’t believe the Angel.

30. 14:28

    And now as he was going down, his servants met him, and told him to say, Thy son liveth. Then inquiry of them the hour when he began to amend, and they sent him yesterday, the 7th hour, the fever left him. So the Father knew that was at the same hour in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy Son liveth, and himself believed, and his whole house.

31. 14:47

    This again the second sign that Jesus did when he was come out of Tutia into Galilee. So the first sign was to bring the new covenant and the second sign was to make some. He was about to die alive again. And it’s the essence of what we believe by the sisters. We believe, as we remember every Sunday, by the drinking of that cup of.

32. 15:10

    Wine that Jesus has. Is the mediator of that new covenant. And if you follow him, then we can be saved. And then he comes back the second time, like he came back to the second time to Canaan. He was raised the dead. That’s why it was happened. It’s why it happened in Canaan. But you ask, well, why must those two sides be done in the same place in Canaan?

33. 15:34

    Why can’t we have one in Canada and 1:00 in? Cardiff, where we live, so I think that the Hebrew comes to our help. The name Cana is very closely related to the first son of Adam and Eve called Cain when in chapter 4 of Genesis. In the first one he said I’ve gotten or purchased a man, Yahweh.

34. 16:01

    The word Cana in Hebrew means purchased and we know that Jesus has purchased us through his blood. The references, you know them very well indeed. And so it was essential premises that that second sign was done in cana as well because the dead will be raised only if they are part of the new covenant. Jesus came first to bring the new covenant and the purchased one that respond to the blood of the covenant. They the second time when Christ comes, they’ll be raised. So the secret is in the name Kayla a very important place. The meaning means the purchased ones. And so we should do all our bread, our best bread, and sisters, that when we take that cup of that new wine that we also believe the right.

35. 16:57

    Things that, as Tim said this morning, that we study the Scriptures so that we know what to believe. And as we understand how we are purchased by the blood of Christ and how we must change our life to live a life like the Lord Jesus Christ, because by his life I’ll be saved by following him. And then when he comes back the second time, he will raise us from the dead.

36. 17:19

    That is the power of that place in Canaan. After he went to Canaan, he went to Capernaum, as we’ve just been reading in chapter 2 of of the chapter. Now Capernaum means the place of comfort. Kfar Nahum it’s called in Hebrew. Kfar is the name for a village and Nahum. It’s called a. Person’s name.

37. 17:45

    We don’t know who it was. Don’t think it was the Prophet’s name, but the. Name Name means. Comfort, the village of Comfort, and that is why Jesus went to live there. So we can imagine that he came there. He must have. When he came back, after he was baptized, he went to Nazareth.

38. 18:02

    He passed by suffrage where he was had been working all his life and then he was in Cana. From Cana he went to Capernaum. Now Capernaum is on a very important Rd. that goes from the north. From Damascus the Viamaris passes by Capernaum and then goes down by Bachemis, go through Megiddo all the way down to Egypt.

39. 18:24

    So the location of Nazareth is very important and you can walk actually from Cana to to Capernaum as my wife and I doing here. And you walk here over a past, you can walk over the Jesus Trail. Nowadays it takes you four days to walk from Nazareth to Capernaum. So you go through the horns of Hathi through this valley and there is Capernaum at the north eastern corner of the Sea of Galilee.

40. 18:50

    Now it was an important harbour. Excavations have shown that these Piers at low water level can still be seen. There’s a synagogue here and what most people point out as the House of of Peter. So along the shoreline we can look back at the Horns of Hathan is the valley that comes from Capernaum, from Nazareth and Cana.

41. 19:13

    And then you can walk in down here. But you can still see the remains of the harbour here, these stone piles coming out where the ships were anchored and coming to Capernaum. But this is what it looks like today. Is the Franciscan monastery here, the excavations in a monstrous museum built over the House of Peter. It must have looked something like this when Christ went to live in Capernaum, a harbour city with all those Piers coming out where the boats could be anchored, warehouses along the sign, a House of of toll where you had to pay some taxes, where Matthew the tax collector came from, a synagogue and the houses all around.

42. 19:54

    That is the village where Jesus went to live. He made it his home. Here you can see the synagogue of Capernaum made his white limestone blocks, but that is a Byzantine synagogue. But next with is the school room, the madrasah where all the Jewish boys. Go to school, they learned Hebrew to read and to write, and these would have been to a similar school in Nazareth as a Jewish boy. But below the white synagogue of the 4th century, there’s a black wall of Baselt that belonged to the synagogue. Of Capernaum from the time of Christ. And inside you can see the inside walls and some of the walls that belong to that synagogue. So we know that Kapeni was a large fishing village located on the North Shore of the Sea of Galilee, about 3 miles southwest of the place where the River Jordan entered the lake. We’ve seen it later on.

43. 20:52

    So it’s the village of Comfort. And that is where Jesus spent some time and he made it his home. Actually. Now it is located, as I said earlier, on an important Rd. that goes from Damascus all the way down to Egypt called the Viamaris. It was a major trade route connecting Egypt via Caesarea and Damascus even Miss Mesopotamia.

44. 21:14

    If you go to Matthew chapter 4, you see how useful that location was, because in Matthew chapter 4. We read there in verse 24 that Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and preaching the Kingdom of the the gospel of the Kingdom and healing all men of sickness and all men of disease among the people.

45. 21:49

    And his fame went throughout all Syria. How did it get there? Through the road that passed by in a Capernaum. It was a trading route. So people heard the gospel being preached in in that, in Capernaum, in the surrounding villages, and they took it with them all the way into Syria. So it was an important location for preaching the truth. If you want to preach the truth, there’s no point sitting some on the North Pole because you can only preach to Penguins. Go to a place where people come together and speak to them. That’s why Jesus chose Capernaum, because it was a very suitable starting point for his preaching circuit. He made at least three recorded circuits that all started and ended in Capernaum.

46. 22:33

    So there was a Roman Garrison. And the the the the commander the sent too. He had even built a synagogue for the Jewish people. So it is a place where Jesus lived after he was rejected by. Nazareth not that he didn’t own his own house. We can read here that after he left Nazareth, he came and dwelt a Capernaum which is upon the seacoast in the borders of Zeblon and Naftali.

47. 22:59

    It. A sort of fulfillment of another prophecy, the prophecy of Isaiah saying the Lent of Zebulon and the Lent of Naftrai by the way of the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. Now what does that mean in the time frame of the prophecy of Isaiah himself? You see, in the time of Isaiah we have the coming up of the great Assyrian Empire under Tiglak.

48. 23:31

    Tiglak Paliza, the 3rd pool was by the way his royal Babylonian name. He founded his empire, and in the face of that threat, Resin of Damascus and Menachem of Israel, they made a a pact. And they paid tribute to Tiglak Paliza. Go to 2nd Kings 15 and verse 19. Second Kings 15 We see then the original background of this prophecy of Isaiah Chapter 9, in the days of Pika, king of Israel. That’s exactly the time of the prophecy of Isaiah. Came Thiklar Paliza, king of Assyria, and took Ion Abbabed, Mahaka, Janova and Kaigis and Khatzour and Gilet and Galilee, all the land of Naftali, and carried them away captive to Syria.

49. 24:27

    And Hoshiya, the son of Elah, made a conspiracy against Pika, the son of Himalayan, smote him and threw him and reigned in his dead. That happened in the 20th year of Isaiah, now earlier. Menachem. So I should have read verse 19. Paul the king of Shi came against the land, and Menachem gave Paul 1000 talents of silver that his hand might be with him to confirm the Kingdom in his hand. And Malachim exactly the money of Israel, even all the mighty men of wealth, each men 50 shekels of silver to give to the king of Assyria.

50. 25:00

    So the king of Assyria turned back and stayed not in the land. But then later on, that’s the first I first read in verse 29 and 30. Sorry for that. Pica And Rezian wants to make the pact with Assyria, but against Assyria. But Ahas who was then king of Judah refused. In verse 37 of the same chapter it says in those days Yah began to send against Judah resent king of Syria and Pika the son of Rabbaniya and Jotham slapped his father. If you look at the map here, what happened was because Judah king Ayas didn’t want to join an anti Assyrian alliance. The Syrians now.

51. 25:41

    Came together with Menachem of Israel here. From here they came into Israel and they started to besiege Jerusalem and that is when Ayas appealed to Tiglak Paliza for help. In chapter 16, you can read in verse 7 there’s to help him out against Syria and Israel. In verse 7, Ahaz sent messengers to Tigler Paliza, king of Assyria, saying, I’m thy servant and thy son come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me.

52. 26:21

    They became turncoats and now went against Judah. So Ahaz took the silver and the gold that was found in the House of Yahweh and at the tragedy of the King’s house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria. And the king of Syria hearkened to him. For the king of Syria went up against Damascus and took it and carried the people captive, took her and slew resin.

53. 26:43

    So King Ahas, he saved his skin for a while, but that came at a price because later on the king of Syria made him pay a huge amount of money and. As you can see here, he came in after all and took the whole of the northern part of Israel and actually came to Jerusalem as well.

54. 27:05

    And we know that at that time, Geng Ahaz died. And his son Hezekiah, he kept the people of Judah free from the Assyrian ascendancy. And that may have been a direct fulfillment of Isaiah Chapter 9. Let’s go to Isaiah 9 now that we read about that prophecy. Just nevertheless the dintness shall not be such as was in a vexation when at the first He lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun.

55. 27:44

    And the land of Naftri was the first invasion of the Syrian, but after it did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. That’s the prophecy in Matthew, which has been mentioned here to indicate that Jesus had to live in Capernaum. But then it says the people that walked in darkness of the Assyrian threat and invasion have seen a great light.

56. 28:07

    They could dwell in the land of the shadow of death. Upon them has the light shined. Well, who was that light in the time of Isaiah? If you go to chapter 1 of Isaiah and first one, we can see in which time he lived exactly in this particular time. It’s the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amas, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Isaiah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah.

57. 28:35

    That was Hezekiah that saved him from the Assyrian threat because God didn’t allow the Assyrians to take Jerusalem and so he was the first fulfilment. Of that great light that was shining to the people there in the north of the land of Israel. And the ultimate fulfilment is of course the Lord Jesus Christ.

58. 28:58

    Now the Jews in those days, they live also under domination of the Romans and. They wanted to be free of the Roman domination, just like in the time of Ayas. They wanted to be free of the Assyrian domination. If Hezekiah is indeed that light of which the the prophet Isaiah in Chapter 9 was speaking out, the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light that may initially have been Hezekiah, but ultimately it was the Lord Jesus Christ.

59. 29:27

    He was that great light that shines into the world. And people knew. That at that time because they wanted to be free of the Roman domination. Even in Acts chapter 1, after Jesus was about to go up to to to heaven to his Father, he said, will thou at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel? The only thing they want to be free of the Roman. Domination, like in the time of Isaiah, they want to be free of the the Syrian domination.

60. 29:54

    But he was the true light that shines in the darkness, and then the darkness had not understood it. The people did not understand the continuation of Isaiah Chapter 9. If you’re still there, then look at verse 6. Here is the true light prophesied. Says For until as a child is born, until as a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, his name shall be called wonderful councillor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the Prince of peace, Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David, and upon his Kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and his justice. From henceforth, even forever.

61. 30:37

    The zeal of Yah of hosts will perform this. So well this is that is why Jesus had to go to Capernaum to fulfil this prophecy. The name Hezekiah, I mean Yah is my strength. And Jesus came to show that His strength came from God after he was closed upon with the Holy Spirit. But he was baptised in Beit Abara at the end of the river Jordan.

62. 31:05

    But nevertheless, several disciples came from Capernaum, like Andrew and Peter, James and John and Matthew the tax collector. He may have had his little office right next to the harbour, taking all the taxes from the traders. And he’s did many signs of Capernaum. Time won’t allow me to go through all of them. I just read out a few.

63. 31:25

    The catch of the miraculous. The miraculous catch of the fish in loop 5 to place near Capernaum. The healing of the faithful centurion servant in Capernaum. Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law in Capernaum, the daughter of Jairus was healed in Capernaum, and the woman who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years was healed in Capernaum.

64. 31:47

    And the coin in the fish fishes mouth that happened in Capernaum, the man was possessed of the evil spirit was done when Jesus was in Capernaum and the paralytic man and he walked on the water. So many lessons were taught in Capernaum but then still the people did not believe and it is very sad. So despite the many healings and teaching of Jesus in Capernaum that the people did not believe and repent. Go to Matthew Chapter 11 and verse 20 after done so many signs and.

65. 32:30

    So many miracles. Then he began to upgrade the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not. Woe unto thee, Corazon, woe unto thee. But sider with the mighty works which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon. They would long have repented in sackcloth and in ashes.

66. 32:51

    But I say, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgement than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, because the Son of God lived among them, shall be brought down to the grave with the mighty works which had been done, and in had been done in Sodom. Look at the comparison, brethren thesis. In Sodom it would have remained unto this day. But I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgement than for thee. And it is said Brethren thesis Jesus went to live in the village of Comfort.

67. 33:28

    But he himself got no comfort from the inhabitants of the village of Comfort because they did not believe in him nevertheless. He used it as a base to make several preaching circuits, and after healing a blind man in bedsider, he went up to Caesarea, Philippine. So on one of his place, one of his journeys, he went from bedside right next to Capernaum all the way to Caesarea Philippine, at the top of that great Jordan Valley that starts here at the foot of Mount Hermon and goes all the way down to the Dead Sea. Why did Jesus go to Caesarea Philippine? And why did He chose that place to ask his disciples the question?

68. 34:19

    Whom do men? Say that I, the Son of Man AM well, you see the picture of Mount Hermon all covered in snow. This is about January time and the snow melt and then starts to form the beginning of the River Jordan. And you can go to Caesarea Philippi today. Here it is. Here’s a big cave and there was a rockfall, but inside is a spring and the water comes out here at the Bunyas Falls and the water. Begins to become part of the river Jordan if you go there today then in already 2000 BC there was a cultic. Site developed here, dedicated to the Greek. Nature God Pan, the God of immorality and of pleasure. It is right beside Dan.

69. 35:12

    Dan is an interesting place where Tim spoke about that Levad without a name. You remember this morning who finally found employee in the House of Micah. But then if you let us go there to judges chapter. 18. Just to develop this a little bit further.

70. 35:49

    So 17 and first seven there was that young man out of Bethlehem, Judah, of the family of Judah who was a Levite. Remember he come from Bethlehem who was a Levite. And so he came to Micah. And 1st 9 he says events cometh. Now he said I’m come a Levite of Bethlehem, Judah, and I go to sodium where I may find a place and Mike said with him dealt with me and be unto me a father and a priest.

71. 36:15

    Now give you 10 seconds of silver by the year and a sort of apparel and I fit also the Levi went in and served him. But later on me here about the the employees of the tribe of Dam, they couldn’t overcome the Philistines and they went all the way up to the north to Dam to this place which was then called Laish. And they set up there a place to live, but also. A sanctuary.

72. 36:40

    Look at verse 18 of chapter 18. While they were going up north, the tribal down, they passed by that House of Micah. What did they do? In verse 18? They went into Micah’s house, fetched the carved image, the ephod and the terraphim, and the molten image, and said to the priest. Then said the priest of them, What do ye? And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thy hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be thou father and a priest. It’s better to be for Dee to be a priest unto the House of one man, or that there’ll be priest unto a tribe, a family in Israel.

73. 37:12

    So the priest’s heart was clad. He took the. Ephod and the Terepheme and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people. So there was that Levite. And then in verse 30, we read that. The children of Dan in Dan right beside Kerryat sees where you Philippi. It’s the same place actually.

74. 37:33

    Set up a graven image, and now we know his name, Jonathan, the son of Gershon, the son of Moses, not Manasseh. They’ve changed in the Hebrew. They’re so ashamed. He was the grandson of Moses. He and his sons were priests to the tribe of them until the day of the captivity of the land.

75. 37:54

    And they set them up. Micah’s graven image, which he made all the time that the House of God was in Shiloh. It’s a place of false idol worship. And it was the same in the time of the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s a Pagan cult site. And Jesus on purpose brought the disciples to that place of false religion, a place of pleasure and immorality. Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. And so we can read that.

76. 38:28

    And Jesus came to the coast of Caesarea Field. But he asked the disciples, saying, Whom the man say that I, the Son of Man AM? Some say John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, but whom say he that I am? And then Simon Peter, not as Peter, Simon Peter, Simon the listener, the hearer, and the rock, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And then she said.

77. 38:55

    Blessed thou Simon Bard, Jonah the hearer, the son of a dove, a type of the Holy Spirit, because that’s where the words of Peter’s mouth came from. For flesh and blood has not revealed entry. But my father, which is in heaven, and I say to thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church, my ecclesia, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now these words are absolutely fascinating by the sisters, because why did he ask that question? Is Caesar in Philippi?

78. 39:31

    Well here we see the cold niches are still there today with little Pagan idols there. And he was a cave, and I can just imagine Pan sitting in there with his flute. The God of. Drinking of sexual immorality and pleasure. Women dancing around him. And that was the nature of that court site in Caesarea Philippi, right beside the place where that false image was set up already at the end of the day of the judges, and more so.

79. 40:03

    Jeroboam, after the king of Israel was split from Judah, he set up two temples for a golden calf, one in Dan, right beside Caesarea Philippi, and another one in Bethel. This is a place of false religion. This typifies the world with all its pleasure and all its immorality. And that is why Jesus said at that particular place, whom the men say that I, the Son of Man AM. He wanted to make the disciples minds up. Where are you going?

80. 40:39

    Is this what you want? To choose? The life of the world, with all its pleasures and promiscuity. Or do you believe that? I am the Son of Man. It was an appropriate place to ask that question. The Cave is called the Gates of Hell because there was a temple of zoos built there. You can see it in the reconstruction and the temple took Pan and here was an image of Pan. The Cave behind it was called the Gate of Hades. Why?

81. 41:16

    Because sacrificial animals, they were dedicated to zoos, were thrown into The Cave and were supposed to disappear. But if they saw blood running out of the in the water here, then the sacrifice was rejected. It’s a matter of chance, isn’t it? Glad the sisters. Is your sacrifice going to be accepted or not?

82. 41:37

    Let’s look in the water can’t see blood or can’t you? But I don’t know not so is the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ overcame death itself and every says the gates of hell shall not overcome it. Christ is more powerful than the power of grave. So King, I had the great build a temple dedicated to Augustus near this cave.

83. 42:02

    A Philip built a city nearby and therefore it was the appropriate place to ask that question. But there was another point that is imported in Siseria, Philippine was as you saw from that water, it’s one of the. Sources of the River Jordan Let’s want to take you down a journey down the River Jordan.

84. 42:25

    Because that question was asked at the beginning of the Hayaarden. In Hebrew, the name Jordan means the descender. I said right at the first lesson that I believe that God has designed the land of Israel as a teaching aid. And the most powerful lesson, more powerful than any Sunday school lesson, is to travel down the River Jordan. It’s a picture of life right at the beginning. At the foot of Mount Hermon, you can see this Mount Hermon here. There are four different sources that make the River Jordan. It’s absolutely fascinating to go to tell down because you see the water.

85. 43:05

    Bubbling about at the ground you’re teaching in the teenage. Class that the name Adam has a meaning. It comes from Adam Mau, which is the ground. Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return. It makes you realise how you come from redness, ISIS, you come up out of the ground. At the beginning.

86. 43:26

    Of our descending life, which ends in the Dead Sea. And that is the most powerful lesson you can ever learn from the land, from the river Jordan in the land of Israel. So after those four sources come together, you can see the water jumping over rocks and the mighty waterfalls. It’s just like youth itself. Kids can’t sit still, they jump and they’re waiting for their foot and their arms move and their legs move. Just like the water bubbling those teenagers jump out of through waterfalls.

87. 43:58

    Our son is in, in, in in Australia at the moment. His greatest joy is jumping off a 10m high Cliff into the sea. That is youth for you and that is what a river is like. King David, I believe, was here as. Well. Or does not record it in his journeys. But he was just like Abram who travelled to the land from the north to the South, from east to West. Look at Psalm 42.

88. 44:21

    Oh my God, my soul scarfed down within me, therefore I remember Thee from the land of Jordan. It’s at the beginning of our life, our conscious life, that we start to remember our Lord from the land of Jordan and the Hermonites. The Hermonites are the little troglodytes. They are the two pigs of Herman Herman’s got 2 pigs like Jew and Gentile together. Deep caused unto deeper the noise of thy water spouts all thy ways, and thy bills are.

89. 44:49

    Gone over me yet Yahweh will command His loving kindest in the daytime and in the night his His song shall be with me. My prayer unto the God of my life. How can David write about Mount Herman and all those water spouts and things if he hasn’t been there? Well, we’ve been there in in the year 2000 and it’s just so fascinating basis to be on the spot like that, to think about the teaching aid built into the land, the River Jordan descended and even Linda Cadeau is here. I said, can you see that?

90. 45:23

    And and we read Psalm 42 at that particular spot and he went rafting on the River Jordan. Lovely experience, of course, splashing each other and getting wet and things like that. But you know, I’m. Floating in the water together with Stephen Palmer. And he said, well, obviously I’m pretty good swimmer, but you could never swim back up again.

91. 45:50

    The stream is so powerful it just drags you down. You can’t swim back up again. Remember every day of our life, like like David said in the sounds, teachers to number our days. Today’s the last day you ever live. This particular day it won’t come back. You can’t go back. You can’t say, oh, I wish I can do that again.

92. 46:12

    No, the only way is downstream. There’s no way out. That is the descender, a picture of life itself. And here it flows down through a Canyon into the Sea of Galilee, which is here and there. It flows into the Sea of Galilee not far from Capernaum. That’s where Jesus stayed there. Jesus loved this area because he stayed there.

93. 46:39

    And he did a lot of his teaching and preaching round the Sea of Galilee. That’s where most of the disciples come. There’s still fishermen today on the Sea of Galilee. That’s where they came from. So if the beginning of the River Jordan is all its waterfalls representing. Youth. Then I believe the Sea of Galilee represents a more mature stage in life. That’s why I was put my the picture of my wife there. Very mature lady.

94. 47:05

    And interestingly, right now, the Israelis to earn some money. Have developed a baptismal site at the Ganya just before the Jordan River flows out of the Sea of Galilee, and we all reach that stage of maturity better so that we can think of the parables of Jesus, all the healing powers that he was, the light that had come. The light was promised of old, and people are baptised and they lead a life for Christ.

95. 47:33

    But from then on the river Jordan flows through a desert country. It meanders through a wide riverbed and it goes down and ends up in the Dead Sea, which has no outlet whatsoever. We are. All going to the Dead Sea Princesses, unless Christ goes back soon. That’s the story of life built into the landscape of Israel. It’s at the beginning of our journey. We’ve got to make up our mind.

96. 48:08

    Whom do you say? That I, the Son of Man, am at the beginning of our life journey by the sisters because we don’t have to end up in the Dead Sea, as we all see at another time they see. It’s very beautiful there, especially when the sun rises up over the mountains of Moab.

97. 48:27

    But along the shore there’s stones are there’s not snow. But we’re not in Canada. Here it is a salt. There’s so much salt and the stones are covered with salt. There is no life possible at all. In the Byzantine map in Mataba, there’s a picture of the River Jordan and the fish is in the River Jordan and then it flows into the Dead Sea. See one fish going into the Dead Sea don’t come straight out because you can’t live there at all. And so it’s lovely you can float there. There’s my son Joe on the right hand side, our daughter Anna and Daniel Crispin, her husband.

98. 48:59

    But it’s the end of the journey by the sisters. But it’s not going to stay like that because we know that it shall come. To pass in the last days that the mountain of Yao’s house shall be established in the top of the mountain shall be exhausted above the hills, and all nations shall flow onto it. Now the amount of water is 70 metres higher than the temperament.

99. 49:20

    We are a low people, not many mighty, not many nobles, but the mountains are around about us because as yeah, as the mountains are around about Jerusalem, so Yah was round about them. That’s fear him. In 1927, such an earthquake that on the temple Manor Al Aqsa was destroyed and the waters of the river Jordan were cut off.

100. 49:41

     But we know that in the Canaan you stand on the top of the Mount of Olives, the valley is already prepared to take the water down to the Dead Sea and the dead. Sea, they’ll be healed. Now I’ve got some topographical maps out and I was just absolutely amazed to see that if Jerusalem is here and there’s the line of the New River, then the last bit on the map, it’s called the Wadi Dahar.

101. 50:08

     That Dahar means the word. They’re pretty well the British tonics who gave the name to the Wadi the last end of it. Because that river is the word of God that will go out and heal death itself like my sisters, because it mean be the end for us, because Christ will swallow up death in victory.

102. 50:32

     And therefore we come back to this place again as a very powerful lesson for us. So let us then, especially young people at the beginning of your life, make up your mind whom you’re going to serve. Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Order your radical for the pleasures of life as people did in Caesarea Philippine.

103. 50:53

     Thank you.