Throughout the centuries different countries have pictured Jesus through the lens of their own culture. An artist in Peru would paint Him with dark braided hair and a poncho with a Peruvian face, while artists in Europe have painted Him with blond hair and blue eyes and the Ethiopians portray Him as a tall black man, none of them ever stopping to ask what a Jew from 2000 years ago looked like.
The early official church was seriously remiss for expunging the Jewish/Hebrew foundations of the Christian faith because of anti-Semitic bigotry. This has resulted in great loss for both the Jewish people and the Christian church. Context and culture are incredibly important for understanding the Bible correctly.
Israel is celebrating her 70th birthday this year. What Israel has achieved and in 70 years is nothing short of astounding. Incredible. MIRACULOUS! That’s not a word I use much, but I use it regularly when I talk about Israel. As we celebrate Israel’s 70th birthday, remember to honour God for keeping His promises to His people and for fulfilling His Word. Many are aware of the passage in Isaiah about a nation being born in day. “Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once? As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons.” – Isaiah 66:8 We read that and cheer loudly; “Yes, a land was born in one day! Yes, Israel was born on May 14, 1948. Praise God!” This is a correct response, the rebirth of the Sovereign State of Israel in May, 1948 was indeed the fulfilment of Isaiah 66:8, but I want to dig a little deeper to show you something even more astounding, even more miraculous—if that’s even possible. Isaiah 66:7-8, “Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she […]
Tiberias is a city in Israel located on the banks of the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is locally called Lake Kinneret, but we mostly know it as the Sea of Galilee. Our Israeli guide calls Tiberias, Tiberiah, which has a lovely Israeli lilt to it. The city itself was first established about 20BC and was named to honour the Roman Emperor Tiberias and the original city was actually located just a little further along the shores than the current modern city of Tiberias…however when I say the modern city, it’s still ancient. The city has natural hot springs which were known to help cure skin and other ailments and today it’s quite a bustling city, although it’s really very old. What is very characteristic of the buildings in Tiberias is the common use of black basalt stone. Most of the tourist hotels are situated along the shores of Tiberias which is really quite lovely when you wake up each morning to look out your window and see the sun rising over the lake. The history of Tiberias… is crucial in the unfolding of God’s plans for this land. There is quite a large orthodox community in Tiberias, […]
Lessons learned from Israel Tours: When visiting other countries you enjoy learning the culture, food, history, flora and fauna that make those countries unique. You enjoy the experiences, share them with your friends when you get home and then go on with life. That’s what holidays are all about. If the nation you’re visiting is Israel it not like that at all. On our last tour to Israel, one of our group made the comment that every leaf and rock in Israel is a lesson, each contains a sermon and is life changing. That is a perfect description of Israel. A site we love visiting is Neot Kedumim; it’s a fantastic Biblical Landscape Reserve, commonly referred to as the Biblical Garden. When imagining a garden, you think of manicured lawns, hedgerows, pretty flower beds, tapered trees, meandering walkways and maybe a fountain or two. That’s not Neot Kedumim. Neot Kedumim is 620 acres designed to look like natural landscape, but is a “unique recreation of the physical setting of the Bible in all its depth and detail that allows visitors to see life as it was lived 3000 years ago.”* The goal of Neot Kedumim is to grow all the […]
One of our favourite places to visit in Israel is Tel Dan in the far north of Israel, right on the border with Lebanon. It’s both lush and beautiful because of the melting snow from the Hermon mountains that feed the Jordan River. It’s strategic for political and security reasons of course but it’s also incredibly significant to the Biblical record. After king Solomon died and his son Rehoboam took the throne, the nation of Israel separated into Israel the Northern Kingdom and Judah the Southern Kingdom. Israel in the north was home to 10 Jewish tribes and the first king to rule the north was Jeroboam and he was a bad king. He was worried that the people might seek reunification with their southern cousins because the Temple was situated in Judah and they needed to travel to the Temple several times a year to keep certain feasts and festivals. In order to prevent this happening he established a counterfeit religious system complete with altars, feasts, festivals and religious practices that for the most part mimicked Judaism but were really nothing more than paganism. We cannot ‘Christianise’ paganism & slap-on Biblical terms to make it acceptable to God – […]