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Tag: Holy Land

  • Who guards the Holy City? And Why?

     by Doris Murdoch

     
    Guardians 2This is my fourth post on my Holy Land tour.  I’m trying to allow God to lead me to the content of each post. At this point, I’m not sure why I feel led to this post.  The use of traditional guardians in the Holy City of Jerusalem has left my heart warmed and troubled.
    I’m going to begin with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  The church houses the tomb of Jesus Christ; it is the traditional location of the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ which would be of great religious importance to Christian pilgrims as it is the most revered shrine in Christendom.  By long term tradition, the Muslim family of Nuseibeh is the official doorkeeper of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  The holding of the key to the church has been in the Nuseibeh family for more than 1,300 years. (The Judeh family, also Muslim, manage the key for overnight security.) The Nuseibeh family holds this tradition close to their hearts and is very punctual and respectful in unlocking and serving God through this daily responsibility of caring for the church.  Five competing Christian denominations, Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, and Syrian Orthodox (also a small Ethiopian Orthodox group) enviously [ene_ptp]manage the church.  The Nuseibeh family has helped in keeping peace among these Christian denominations when conflict arises.  The Nuseibeh family describes themselves as “preserving peace in the holy place.”  This all seems to be a cooperative effort by all, but in contrast, it seems like a strange setup for a church that is internally Christian.  The Omar Mosque sits right next door; the Nuseibeh family worships and prays in the mosque.  Who do you think should be the key holder and the door opener?
    In 1995, Israel turned Bethlehem control over to the Palestinian National Authority in accordance with the Oslo Peace Accords. The Oslo Accords did not create a Palestinian state, but it was an effort to bring peace among the Israeli government and the Palestinians. The Oslo process started in Oslo as a secretive meeting; it resulted in the recognition by the PLO of the State of Israel and the recognition by Israel of the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people and as a partner in negotiations. When pilgrims enter Bethlehem, there are security checks by the Palestinian authority. Does this process seem like an effort to encourage peace and equality of power among the Palestinians and the government of Israel?
    Who should have control of David’s tomb and the upper room identified as the place of Pentecost and the Last Supper?  Should it be the Jews, world Christians, the government of Israel, the Roman Catholic Church or someone else?  Over the years, ownership has been by the early Jewish Christians, the Crusaders, and the Muslims; at present, it is under Israeli control.  It is said that the Vatican now desires control of this area.  Why does any specific religious group have to have control over the religious sites, especially those that have religious beliefs and patriarchs that overlap in religious history, basically the Abrahamic faiths of Islam, Judaism and Christianity?
    Scripture tells us that the Lord gave the “land” of Israel to Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 13:14-15; Genesis 26:3; Exodus 6:8) with Numbers 24 defining the borders.  In Revelation 21, we read that the first heaven and earth will pass away and a New Jerusalem will come down out of heaven and God will dwell among us.  There will be no temple building for the “Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb” will be the temple and it will be illuminated by the “glory of God and its lamp is the Lamb”. The residents will be those who have their names in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  Leviticus 25:23 says, “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.”  The lands of the world belong to God; it is all on loan from God in this transient period. When the Jews rejected Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the Gentiles were adopted in to God’s family as adopted sons of Abraham. The Gentiles were formally grafted into the olive tree of Jesus Christ even though adoption in the lineage of Jesus Christ had already taken place in the Old Testament through the relationships of Naomi, Ruth and Boaz.  Confirmed in John 14:6, the New Jerusalem will be available to all believers in Jesus Christ for “no one comes to the Father but through Me (Jesus Christ).”
    Romans 11 speaks of the hardening of the Jews until the day of the fullness of the Gentiles, specifically Romans 11:25-27, that “a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, ‘The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob. 27 This is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.’ ” With belief, the Bible tells us that the Jews can be re-grafted into the olive tree of Jesus Christ (Romans 11:17-24).  Belief in Jesus Christ through world evangelism needs to be the focus.
    Luke 21:34-36 states,  “Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation (diversion, mental distraction) and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap; 35 for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth. 36 But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”  Is it possible that ownership or guardianship of the various religious sites in Israel has become a mental distraction for the Abrahamic religions of the world?
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  • Mount Precipice — Sent By and As God, but Not Accepted

    by Doris Horton Murdoch

     
    [ene_ptp]In my previous post, I mentioned that I had just returned from the Holy Land. All of my forthcoming posts will consider my spiritual encounters in the Holy Land with Jesus’ confrontation on Mount Precipice being the topic for today.
    There are many mountains listed in the Bible, but in actuality, most of these mountains are globular hills. These hills consist of sand, clusters of grass, caves, and many, many stones. The landscape is dotted with cedar and olive trees. One of the many hills is Mount Precipice. From the crown of Mount Precipice, one can view Mount Tabor (Mount of Transfiguration) and the Jezreel Valley (also known as the Valley of Megiddo; fertile heartland in the location for Armageddon). Mount Precipice is known as the site where an angry Nazarene mob attempted to throw Jesus over the cliff. We read about this in Luke 4:14-30 (NIV):

    Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. 16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
    18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,
    to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
    20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked. 23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’” 24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

    After hearing the reading, the congregation’s eyes were fastened on Jesus; they were amazed at what they were hearing. It was good! The words were awesome! Then along comes the spoilers in the group. There seems to always be someone in the group that can gather the crowd and cause confusion and dissent. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” Joseph was a carpenter; he worked with wood. He wasn’t a man with great schooling and he certainly was not a man of the cloth! Joseph is an honorable man and he has honorable sons, but they surely are not chosen as God’s prophets! A spoiler can plant the seed that causes disunity among families and congregations.
    Jesus uses Elijah’s and Elisha’s stories as examples of how we must have faith and trust that God is in control. God will provide the message and the healing in His time and in His locale. Many times God bases this on the faith of the believers. As we see in verse 28, the group becomes furious with Jesus. How dare Jesus compare His position to the great prophets Elijah and Elisha? Let’s get rid of this false prophet! He is of no value to this community! Just imagine, he thinks He has the powers of Elijah and Elisha! No one will ever equal or exceed the powers of Elijah and Elisha! Let’s get rid of this guy! Throw him off the cliff! As we know, the all-powerful Jesus walked through the crowd and went on his way. Millennium-old rumors say that Jesus leaped from Mount Precipice to Mount Tabor. The Arabic name for the mount, Jebel Qafzeh, translates to “mount of the leaping.”
    Jesus came to loose the chains of slavery for humanity (Luke 4:18-19; Isaiah 58:6; Isaiah 61:1-2) and to anoint man with the freedom of salvation through His final sacrifice. He came to personally claim the good news. Jesus brought love, forgiveness and healing to humanity. He came to proclaim the Lord’s favor on mankind. And what do we do? Reject Him, starting with His very own community.
    Are we supporting our church family? Are we encouragers of all members? Have we placed any members on the precipice? Have we pushed any members over the precipice? Jesus was about his Father’s business and we all need to hold ourselves accountable of being about our Father’s business.
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