Can you believe the Bible? And does it really matter? How can you be sure that the Bible is all it's cracked up to be? Join David Curry, a pastor, author and worldwide traveler as he shares his knowledge of many biblical places throughout the Middle East. He will take you on a journey through numerous archaeological finds that prove the validity of the biblical narrative, showing that you can believe what many have rejected. Welcome to the biblical wonders in the Middle East.
Here is your host, Pastor David Curry. I'm pleased that you have joined us today as we go to some other areas of the land of Israel. Our last presentation ended with the plains of Erstrelon and Megiddo.
Both were battlefields among the ancients and even up to the First World War, as Elambi conquered the Otomans here and ended the Turkish occupation of Israel and other parts of the world. Well, we'll go north a few kilometers to the town of Nazareth. This was a town of about 400 persons in Jesus day.
It's much bigger today. There are probably only about 50 homes there today. The city is largely occupied by Arabs, but there are also a number of Jews.
You know in Luke 416 we read so he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and as his custom was he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. In 570 years after Christ, an Italian visitor described Nazareth's synagogue and reported the original scriptures were still there, including a bench where Jesus used to sit. You can visit this site today.
A caretaker in charge of the building will be there and he will gladly open the synagogue for a donation and let you enter. So often in Scripture we read about the Sabbath in the text we have just read. It was Jesus'custom to worship in the synagogue on the Sabbath day.
This was the day of worship that God had given to mankind when he created the earth. God knew that man needed a day of rest for worship and to take time from his normal activities. One of our problems today is that man has forgotten the Sabbath and most people don't take time off their work to worship God, to be with their families or to enjoy the nature that God has created for us.
There are hundreds of verses in the Bible that pinpoint the Sabbath as the only day for worship. This was Jesus'custom and you know, I think would be well for us to follow Him. In Nazareth you can still see a small carpenter's shop where some people say Jesus worked.
But it's so different to his time. His work was much harder than today when we have modern machines to help us. One of the old churches in Nazareth is Orthodox and called the Church of the Enunciation.
This was built over a very old structure in 1968. It's also over a spring of water where it is believed Mary may have come for the water needed in their home. It's believed to be the area where the angel Gabriel visited Mary and told her that she was with Child.
Why don't I read some of the verses from Luke 126 to 31? Now, in the 6th month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. The Virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her rejoice highly favored one, the Lord is with you.
Blessed are you among women. But when she saw Him, she was troubled at his saying and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God and behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus.
This all happened in Nazareth, which was the home of Mary and also Joseph, to whom she was engaged at this time. You know, the largest church in Nazareth is the Basilica of the Annunciation, and is the main landmark of modern Nazareth. This Roman Catholic church was built in 1969 over the site where a church was built by Helena, the mother of Constantine.
This was followed later by Byzantine Church, and then again later by a Crusader church. All were built over the same site. The lower level in the church is the Grotto of the Annunciation, also believed to be the original home of Mary, where the angel Gabriel visited her.
Well, as I mentioned earlier, the Orthodox Church claims that their site was where the angel Gabriel visited Mary. But within a hundred meters or so, we have claims for the same event by the Roman Catholics. On the walls of the courtyard of this church is a gallery of icons.
These are mosaics from different countries showing the devotions given to Mary. For example, one is the Virgin of Guadalupe. This is a Catholic title for the Blessed Virgin Mary, associated with a series of five marion apparitions in December 1531, and a venerated image on the cloak enshrined with the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico.
You know, this basilica in Mexico is the most visited Catholic pilgrimage site in the world. And it's the world's third most visited sacred site. Well, let's leave Nazareth and travel south for 14 small village of Nain.
It's some 15 km from Mount Tabor, which we spoke about last time. It's the site of the transfiguration of Jesus where we visited. I'd like to read to you this amazing incident in Jesus life.
It comes from Luke 711 to 17. It records how Jesus raised the son of a widow here early in his ministry. Let me read it now.
It happened the day after that. He went into a city called Nain, and many of his disciples went with him and a large crowd. And when he came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother.
And she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her.
And he said to her, do not weep. Then he came and touched the open coffin and those who carried him stood still. And he said, Young men, I say to you, arise.
So he who was dead sat up and began to speak and he presented him to his mother. Then fear came upon all and they glorified God, saying a great prophet has arisen among us and God has visited his people. And this report about him went throughout all Judea and all the surrounding region.
We can understand that when the crusaders recognized the site that they built a church here. This has long since disappeared, but the Roman Catholic Church built a new one in 1881. North of Nazareth.
About 8. Between Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee is the small town of Cana. And this is the most likely town to be where Jesus and his disciples attended and turned at that time water into wine.
There are three places in Israel with the name Cana and all claim to be the site where Jesus turned water into wine. John 2111 talks about this experience. It's an interesting story.
Why don't I read it? On the third day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there. Now, both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine.
Jesus said to her, Woman, what does their concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, whatever he says to you, do it now. There were sat there six water pots of stone according to the manner of purification of the Jews and they contained about 20 or 30 gallons apiece.
Jesus said to them, Fill the water pots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, Draw some now and take it to the master feast.
And they took it when the master feast had tasted the water that was made wine and did not know where it came from. But the servants who had drawn the water knew. The master of the feast called the bridegroom.
And he said to him, every man of the beginning sets out the good wine. And when the guests have drunk well, then the inferior. You've kept the good wine until now.
This beginning of signs Jesus did in cane of Galilee and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him. This appears to be the first miracle or sign that Jesus performed. The bridegroom and the master ceremonies must have been most impressed by the way Jesus saves their acute embarrassment.
But Jesus continued to help people, have compassion on them and point them to the Kingdom of God. You know, Cana is also the place where Jesus was when he is asked to heal the son of a nobleman who came to see Jesus from Capernaum. And that's about 32 km away.
In John 21 and verse two, it mentions that Nathaniel, one of Jesus disciples, came from Cana of Galilee. There's a chapel there today dedicated to him. There are only four times in the Bible where Cana is mentioned.
These are all in the Gospel of John. The last verse of John 20, verse 31 says but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. These four incidences in John where Cana is mentioned are a significant part of John's writings to help us all to believe in Jesus and to have life in his name.
Later in his Epistles, John adds this by writing and this is the testimony that God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. I propose that some of the biblical wonders in the Middle East are what Jesus did among the Jews on most days, that he ministered among them. On the main road down to Galilee, we come to the town of Tiberius on the western side of the Sea of Galilee.
This is the largest town around Galilee with a population today of about 30,000. It has many hotels, for Israelis love to come to the place on holidays. And besides, tourists from all over the world come to Galilee.
One of the reasons is that the climate is very good, for Galilee is around 205 meters below sea level. In 62 Ad, Herod Antipas, a son of Herod the Great, built this city with beautiful palaces and temples. He named it in honor of the Roman emperor Tiberius.
All the inhabitants of Tiberius are Jewish and as I mentioned earlier, it is the most popular resort in Israel. Not only does it have a great climate, but has many hot springs which are reputed to have curator qualities. In recent times, a Roman amphitheater that seated around 7000 people has been discovered and excavated at the foot of Mount Berenice, which is named after Herod's wife.
The Romans named the Sea of Galilee the Sea of Tiberius and John uses this name several times in his Gospel. In the last chapter of John, Jesus appears to the disciples again. This is after the Resurrection, of course, but before this appearance, Peter says to several of his disciples, I'm going fishing.
His friend said, we're going with you also. The surprising thing is that they had fished all night, but in the morning they had nothing to show for their night's work. This must been embarrassing for born fishermen when they came in towards the shore they saw a man on the shore, but did not know that it was Jesus.
Notice what the text says here. Then Jesus said to them, children, have you any food? They answered him no. And he said to them, cast the net on the right side of the boat and you'll find some.
So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in. Because of the multitude of fish, it is most probable that they were coming into the area known as Tiberius. Today the sun would have been coming up over the Golan Heights, as it is known today.
When Jesus said, cast your nets on the right side, this would have been against their known fishing rules. The right side would have been the sunny side. Fishermen normally never did this, but would cast their net on the shadow side of the boat, not the sunny side.
Amazingly, they did what Jesus said and were overwhelmed with the number of fish. Late in the chapter, he said they had caught in their net 153 large fish. I guess it's safe to say that Jesus himself directed those large fish into the net.
Many have questioned the number 153 and it says 153 large fish. A theologian by the name of Romeo knows that John uses the phrase children of God something like 26 times throughout his Gospels and Epistles. Sometimes it is just children, as in One John Two One, where he writes my little children, these things I write to you.
It's also understood by many that the words in the Bible also carry numerical value. Do you know that the numerical value of children of God is 153? And the theologian also postulates that John is here using a parable, while Matthew, Mark and Luke have many parables. John avoids these teachings of Jesus.
He's other things to write about, but Romeo suggests that this may be a parable of the growth of the church. Jesus has already told Peter that he would be fishers of men. These are large fish.
They are the children of God. The net does not break. Even though the large fish are caught, there would be an unbroken unity in the true Gospel message.
What an interesting scene there on the shores of Galilee. You know, if you go out on the boat of Galilee, which most visitors like to do, you can look back on the shore and you'll see there a new building. It's in the kibutz.
Ginosa. It houses a skeleton of a boat that is reputed to have gone back to Jesus times. You know, in 1986, a farmer whose property went down to the shores of Galilee was visiting the lake one morning when he could see under the shallow water the outline of a boat.
Because of a drought, the water was at its lowest level for many years. He immediately touched base with the Jewish antiquities, who immediately sent archaeologists and scientists to the area. They went to all the necessary operations and arranged to lift the skeleton of a boat out of the water.
It took twelve days for them to remove the boat, covering it with a mantle of fiberglass and insulating foam to protect the fragile wood, which was as soft as cardboard, would have been there for something like 2000 years. It was then taken and submerged in wax resin bath for twelve years before displaying it in this news museum. I first saw the boat when it was submerged in this bath in 2000 and it was able to be moved to the new museum building and I've been able to see it several more times.
It's believed that the boat is from the time of Jesus and is 8.2 meters long and 2.3 meters wide and could easily hold Jesus and the disciples.
It's often called the Jesus Boat for many believe that Jesus and his disciples rode in this boat. For sure it is dated to the first century Ad. But we cannot be sure that Jesus and his disciples rode in this boat.
But it's nice to think that they may have. We talked early in this presentation of the sun rising over the Golan Heights as the disciples went out into the Sea of Galilee the second time and cast their nets on the sunny side of the boat. Let's visit the Gyland Hoats for a minute or two.
These heights were Syrian territory until the Jews pushed back the Syrian armies in 1967. Today the Israelis claim many miles of this new territory. Some of the sources for the River Jordan originate in this area.
This is the area for some of the sources of the river and it's near the border with Syria. The water is cold and at nearby Barnes are what are known today as the Barnes Falls, which are in fact the largest falls in Israel. Not far from the Golden Heights is the whole place of Hazar.
This is mentioned in the Scriptures. Below the golden heights back towards Capernaum is Corazon. This city refused to let Jesus visit or preach there.
Notice how Jesus pronounced woe on this city. Woe to you, Corazon. Woe to you, Bethesda.
For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it would be more tolerable for Tyrance Sidon of the Judgment than for you. He who hears you, hears me.
He who rejects me, rejects me, and he who rejects me, rejects him who sent me. You know, today Coravin is just an excavated ruin. There's nothing to be seen except the ruins of a synagogue and a ritual bath site.
It's not even a village today. Likewise at Bethsaida, which Jesus aligned with Corazon. Both places, along with Capernaum, are nothing today except for archaeologist diggings.
Jesus'woes pronounced on these cities have certainly been fulfilled. A few short kilometers from the Golan Heights are the ruins of Talhazor, which I just mentioned a moment ago. This city was taken by Joshua and later burned, but became some of the territory of Naphtalai, one of the tribes of Israel.
You know, when Solomon reigned, it was probably the largest fortified city in Israel. While it is the largest archaeological site in Israel, only a small percentage Hereford has been dug and much more to come. In 2010, a clay tablet was discovered from the 17th or 18th centuries before Christ with the laws of Hamurabo's COBE written in Arcadian Cuneiform.
This was probably placed there by some of the Canaanites who occupied the area at the time. The 6th Babylonian king Hamurabi brought about this code, which is one of the oldest deciphered writings of significant length in the world. Today.
We use the term from Dan to be a sheba. Well, the place Dan is not far from Hazel Jerebom, a king of Israel built an altar here and in two Kings, the 10th chapter in verse 29, it records that Jeremiah erected a golden calf of that place. Melting snow from Mount Herman, which supplies the majority of Jordan's water, comes through Dan, making it a very fertile area.
Dan is mentioned several times in Scripture and once again it is great to visit places mentioned in the Bible. Dan was rediscovered in 1849 and since then Tell Dan has been excavated and many artifacts have been found here. One of the important artifacts discovered at the Tell Dan steel were found with the inscription referring to David as King of Israel, making David a real king and a person.
Do you know that even some Jewish theologians doubted that King David actually existed as a person? It's amazing that once again the archaeologist Spade has confirmed the truth of scriptures. Let's come back to the Sea of Galilee and stop off at Capernaum. The ruins here are situated about 16 km north of Tiberius, and if you travel, another 3 can see where the Jordan River enters the Sea of Galilee.
It would appear that the fishing village here dates from the second century BC. The main building here today is a synagogue which goes back to 244 years after Christ. However, there's another behind it which goes back to Jesus time.
It appears that some of the stones from this earlier synagogue were used in the later building. This later synagogue appears to have been an elaborate building, more so than most found in Israel. On a stone fence in the ground to the synagogue is the form of an ark on wheels, not unlike the ark made in Moses'time.
Between the synagogue and the lake, a group of houses from the first century have been found right here. It is believed that the Apostle Peter lived. It's most probable that this is where Jesus came when he healed Peter's mother in law.
Over these houses, a church was built and dedicated in 1999. You can still get a very good view of the old houses for the church has been built on columns for this very purpose. Where the Sea of Galilee enters the Jordan River on its way to the Dead Sea, is a place used for Christian baptisms.
It was there at one time when I was there, that a group of Greek people were being baptized. Their priest stood on the bank and he had a jug and poured water on some of his members. When I read about baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch by Philip, it's so much different.
Let's read from Acts 835 to 38. Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning at the scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now, as they went down the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, See, here is water what hinders me from being baptized.
Then Philip said, if you believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered him and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. So he commanded the chariot to stand still, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and he baptized him.
You notice here that Philip went down into the water with the eunuch and then baptized him. Romans six tells us that baptism represent the death of Jesus, his burial and his resurrection. And so when the eunuch went down into the water and Philip was with him, it was like a death, a burial and a resurrection.
We are therefore baptized into Christ. This is a beautiful experience for those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. I thank you for joining us today, and we look forward to being with you again next week.
At this time, you will find this presentation and many others by clicking into our website 3abnaustralia.org.au That is again, 3abnaustralia.org.au. When you open up the website, click on Listen and you'll find a real library of many subjects.
Until next week, I trust that you'll receive our Savior's richest blessings. You've been listening to biblical wonders in the Middle East with Pastor David Curry. If you have any comments or questions, send an email to
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