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. Thank you for joining our presentation today as we visit again the area of the Sea of Galilee. Many people from Israel visit Galilee on holidays.
They love to bring their families here, for the climate is very good. They can swim in the Sea of Galilee at most times of the year and also bathe in the hot springs near Tiberius, the largest of the cities surrounding the lake. You know, there are also many hotels in the area for their accommodation.
For tourists who come from all around the world, there are boat rides on the sea. I've taken a few groups on these rides which give wonderful views of the foreshore and the immediate surrounds of the lake. When the boat pulls out of the wharf, the guides generally point your gaze to the area where Jesus probably gave the Sermon on the Mount.
Today. It's called the Mount of Beatitudes. It is believed to be the setting for Jesus'most famous discourse, the Sermon on the Mount, and is one of the most beautifully serene places in the Holy Land.
From this place overlooking the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee it offers an enchanting vista of the northern part of the lake and across to the cliffs of the Golden Heights on the other side. Within sight are the scenes of many of the events of Jesus'ministry in Galilee area including the town of Capernaum which is just 3 km away. This is where Jesus often made his home.
Just below the Mount is Soer's Cave, where it is believed Jesus taught the parable of the Sower and this was from a boat moored out in the bay. That's why they call it soers cove. The exact site of the sermon.
The Mount that is mentioned in Matthew five, from verses one to chapter 728 is unknown. Pilgrims commemorate the event of the eight sided church of the Beatitudes. This is built on the slope of the Mount and it's accessible by a side road branching off the Tiberius Roch Pena Highway.
The Mount of Beatitudes is also understood to be the place where Jesus met his apostles after his resurrection and commissioned them to make disciples of all nations. It's an area where many people could assemble and what you can see from the boat on Galilee is the most likely place. In Matthew five, six and seven we have this sermon which he delivered to the multitudes of people gathered to hear him.
Let's take time to look at some of this sermon, for it's relevant today, just as it was in Jesus'time. The Sermon on the Mount commences with eight blessings for various classes of people. The first one says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus is saying, Be satisfied with what you have. Share the good things we have with others because God wants us to. The second one says, Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Comfort those who are suffering. Help others feel better about themselves after their loss. The third one says, Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
And Jesus is saying here, humility is a true sense of who you are. Get your ego out of the way. The fourth one says, blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they'll be satisfied.
In other words, do what is fair for everyone. Then the fifth one says, blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. We forgive those who are unkind to us.
Look for ways to show kindness to others. And then Jesus said in number six, blessed are the clean in heart, for they will see God. We do what is right just because we know it is the God proclaimed right thing to do.
And then he said in number seven, blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. You know, we try to bring God's peace to the world. We control our own behavior so that people can see Jesus in us.
The 8th one, the last, blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. You see, we are willing to stand for God's laws even if we are teased and insulted. The last two blessings are for a similar class of people.
I suppose the greatest part of these blessings is that Jesus promises to be with us and he'll help us at all times, and especially when we are in need. These are a great introduction to the Sermon on the Mount. So after these blessings, Jesus expands on them and encourages his people to be different.
He first says, you are the salt of the earth Christians as the salt of the earth Jesus spoke about they need to live as pure a life as possible so that they can maximize their ability to flavor or bless others through their good works. In earlier times, when asked for my autograph, I would often add a verse from Colossians four six let your speech always be gracious seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. We use salt for seasoning and at times to make our food more palatable.
In earlier times, salt was used as a preservative for food, for there is no refrigeration. You know, I can even remember my mother salting beans to keep them for a few months. So it is that we are the salt of the earth.
Those who are Christians need to be gracious and truly representative. Christ, this metaphor is an evangelistic call to mingle with the world and to transform it. Then Jesus goes on in the Sermon on the Mount and he says, you are the light of the world.
Matthew 514 lamps in those days were small clay pots with wicks burning olive oil. These pots were generally put on a stand to maximize their light. Jesus was speaking to a crowd of just ordinary folks, yet he said to them, you are the light of the world.
Even today, you are the light of the world. That's how God intends to get his work done on earth today, through you. It's not just pastors and missionaries who are the light, it's everybody who loves the Lord.
Then Jesus talks of the law and the prophets. He makes a very strong statement one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. You know, I'm amazed at the number of people and even some Christian denominations who want to do away with God's law.
However, in this Scripture, Jesus emphasizes the permanence of Scripture and the law that He Himself had given. You know, in many of the old cathedrals and churches in Europe, the Ten Commandments are on display. I believe that if all people kept God's law, the world would be a much better place for us to live in.
One day it's going to happen, but unfortunately, it won't be until Jesus comes. The Sermon on the Mount takes a surprising turn when Jesus takes two or three parts of the law and emphasizes their significance. The first he says, Thou shalt not murder.
In the Torah and Old Testament, writings are simply meant taking a person's life. However, Jesus expands this to include motives and thoughts and actions that may lead in some instances, to acts of killing. One of these actions may be anger or not reconciling with a person who has something against you.
Then he continues and says, you shall not commit adultery. The earlier meaning of this was adultery was the avert physical sexual act. However, once again we see Jesus expanding this to include thoughts and desires or lusting after another person.
He further continues his sermon as being against divorce and remarriage and clearly states that the only reason for divorce should be unfaithfulness in marriage. There were two rabbinic schools having different versions of divorce. The Hillel School allowed divorce for any reason whatsoever.
The Shamai School allowed divorce only for adultery, and Jesus seems to be closer to the Shamai School. Obviously, Jesus is encouraging people to enter marriage on a permanent basis. Today.
Divorce is very common. And while many divorces do not fit in with Jesus statement, we need to remember that Jesus also forgives when we make mistakes. His grace covers repentance.
He wants people in his kingdom. And as One John one nine records, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew six nine to 13, jesus gave the model prayer and it says, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever.
Amen. This model prayer covers praise to God and requests that each one of us might have. The prayer has been put to music and sung on many occasions.
Jesus uses the term Our Father, our debts, our debtors to indicate that this is a public prayer. Private prayers are very important, but so are public prayers such as we may have regularly in our churches or on some public occasions, as on Anzac days, Easter and Christmas events. Prayer worship in families or in small groups are very important occasions when we can be intimate with our Heavenly Father.
Jesus certainly encourages prayer. There is so much more in the Sermon on the Mount, and I encourage you to read it and take the messages of Christ that are important and relevant to us all today. Let me give you the chapters again.
It's Matthew five six and seven. Well, I'd like to move away from Galilee and go down to Bethlehem. In the Bible it is distinguished from at least one other Bethlehem and Palestine by the title Bethlehem Ephrata.
This is used first in Micah five two. Let me read it to you. But you Bethlehem Ephrata, though you be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.
This Ephrata is distinguished from another Bethlehem in Zebulin, as mentioned in Joshua 1915. In fact, some archaeologists say that there are up to six Bethlehems in Israel at the time of Christ, but this Bethlehem was probably 90 km north of Bethlehem Ephrata, so it was quite a long way away. The name Bethlehem means house of bread.
This Bethlehem was King David's birthplace, and before that the place that Ruth came to with her mother in law. The chief priests and the teachers of the law understood that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem Ephrata. The Messiah was the one who was from the days of eternity or from everlasting, as the text says.
Many scholars have written that this text in Micah 52 is the clearest messianic prophecy in the Old Testament. Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth, but it was necessary for them to go to Bethlehem to be registered for taxation purposes because there were so many people descending on the city. The hotels and accommodation facilities were taxed to overflowing, but Mary was about to give birth and accommodation for her was very important.
None could be found. And so she went into a little barn and gave birth and laid Jesus in a manger. Can you imagine that jesus, who had lived throughout eternity in glorious heaven, is now in a manger? A place where food was placed for animals to feed from.
It truly is unfathomable. The depth that Jesus descended to in order that you and I might be saved and have everlasting life is amazing. Not far from Bethlehem are the shepherd's fields.
It's possible to visit this area and go into some quite large caves where shepherds would keep their sheep in the cold weather and at nighttime. I've taken a number of groups into these sheepfolds and all have been amazed at the extent the ancient shepherds would go in keeping their sheep safe. Imagine the shepherds caring for their flocks when angel appears before them and shares with them the great news of Jesus birth.
Notice what Luke 211 and twelve tells us, what the angel said to the shepherds for there is born to you this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord, and this will be the sign to you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. You can just imagine these tired shepherds rushing into the city and finding the little family and seeing the baby lying in that manger.
Luke says they returned after seeing the baby, glorifying and praising God for all they had seen. What precious memories they must have had of this evening event. It would last with them for all of their lives.
There was another group of men who the Bible says came to see Jesus. They were from the east. They had seen the star and had come to worship him.
They arrived at Jerusalem, about 11 km north of Bethlehem, and they inquired as to where the King of the Jews might be. This question showed that they were Gentiles and that Jesus was for all people. The wise men from the east continued to follow the star which stopped over the place where Jesus was born.
When they found Jesus, they gave presents for him to Mary and Joseph. The presents were some of the most valuable and transportable gifts available at that time. It says there was gold, frankincense and myrrh.
These gifts would have been very helpful to Mary and Joseph when they were told by an angel to escape from King Herod and go to Egypt. As you remember, when the wise men did not return to Jerusalem and inform Herod that they had found the baby, he was quite angry about this and he issued a decree that boy babies should be killed. This decree lasted until Herod himself died.
We mentioned the presents that the wise men gave to Mary and Joseph. These gifts would probably have helped Joseph and Mary when they fled to Egypt. As I mentioned, they were gold, frankincense and myrrh.
They were the most valuable and transportable gifts available. We know about gold and its value and of course this has been so through many thousands of years and still is today very important. But then, frankincense and myrrh are often used together.
Frankincense comes from the resin of the boswellia tree. It typically grows in the dry, mountainous regions of India, Africa and the Middle East. Frankincense has a woody, spicy smell and can be inhaled, absorbed through the skin, steeped into a tea or taken as a supplement.
It was often used in embalming people in readiness for burial. Myrrh oil is derived from the gummy resin of the small Pawny. Myrrh tree, mostly from North Africa and has been used for centuries for its internal and external health benefits.
It is also the main ingredient in anointing oils. Both frankincense and myrrh are alluded to in Exodus 34 as preparations were made for their use in the sanctuary services. Bethany today is home to about 30,000 people.
Many are Christian Arabs who worship in the nearby churches. There are also many Muslim Arabs there and many of these worship in a mosque just near the Church of Nativity. The Muslims recognise Jesus as a prophet and even have a chapter in their holy book, the Quran, about Mary, whom they also adore.
The Arabs and Christians in this community generally get on well together. Let's have a look inside the Church of the Nativity. Entering the church that marks the site of Christ's birthplace means having to stoop low.
The only doorway in the fortresslike front wall is just 1.2 meters. Some believe it was made this way to make sure that people bow in humble recognition of Jesus.
However, there's another story to this low lintel which says the previous entrance to the Church of the Nativity of Bethlehem was lowered around the year 1500 to stop looters from driving their carts in today's build of Silica. The oldest complete church in the Christian world was built by the Emperor Justinian in the 6th century. It replaced the original Church of Constantine the Great, built over the cave venerated as Christ's birthplace and dedicated in Ad 339.
You know, the Persians invaded Palestine in 614 and they destroyed many churches. But they spared the Church of the Nativity when they came inside and saw a mosaic on an interior wall depicting the three wise men in Persian dress. We're pleased it was spared and continues to remain the oldest complete church in the world.
Let's have a look at some of the interesting history of Bethlehem. Helena, often called Saint Helena, was Emperor Constantine's mother. In her late teens, she was a barmaid somewhere near Isthmia or Smyrna in Turkey.
She married a very ambitious Roman general who had divorced his first wife. And together they had a son who became the Emperor Constantine at a great age. His mother became the most powerful woman in the empire and a very influential Christian.
Christianity seemed to appeal to wealthy Roman women because many of them had built up large inherited fortunes, either through divorce or death. But there wasn't any way to use that power in Roman political society. Christianity became a roundabout way in which they could have influence.
Helena was one of these women and the most powerful of them. She made a huge pilgrimage building churches as she traveled through Europe and what's now Turkey and the Middle East, until she arrived in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The church she built in Bethlehem is unlike any other.
She picked the spot because the Roman bishop of Caesarea took her there. And the locals pointed out the spot that had for the previous 200 years been where pilgrims had celebrated. She saw this little cave and this ceramic manger or trough where people worship Christ.
She wasn't inventing the mythology. She was celebrating a site that already existed. The church she built is unlike any other.
She basically buried into the cave, opened up the top of it, put a roof on and built a rotunda with a balcony. This was so you could look down into the cave. It was Helena who created the famous little town of Bethlehem.
She put the place on the map as the centre of pilgrimage. Sadly, the church she'd built doesn't exist anymore, but the cave does, though it's changed more recently. The church was divided between the Greek Orthodox, the Roman Catholic and Armenian Orthodox faiths.
You can often see their priests in colorful garments parading around the church. Just outside Bethlehem, on the road back to Jerusalem, is the tomb of Rachel. She was the favorite wife of Jacob.
The tomb, located the northern entrance of Bethlehem, is built in the style of a traditional Macum. This burial place of the matriarch Rachel is mentioned in the Turish Tanica, the Christian Old Testament and a Muslim literature. And so it's very important part for all.
Although this site is considered unlikely to be, the actual site of the grave is by far the most recognised candidate and signage certainly gives the impression that it is the original place of Rachel's grave. The earliest extra biblical records describing the tomb as Rachel's burial place date to the first decades of the fourth century before Christ. Today, Rachel's tomb is the third holiest site in Judaism and has become one of the cornerstones of the Jewish Israel identity.
According to Genesis 35 20, a pillar was erected at the site of Rachel's grave in ancient Israel. Leading scholars who consider the site to have been a place of worship in ancient Israel. The site was rarely considered a shrine exclusive to one religion and described as being held in esteem equally by Jews, Muslims and Christians.
Well, let's go back to Bethlehem. This town has also been a monastic centre for centuries. Jerome often called Saint Jerome, built a monastery there, and with the aid of Palestinian rabbis, translated the Old Testament into Latin from the original Hebrew.
This was in the fifth century after Christ. This, together with the New Testament, which he had translated from the Greek before going to Palestine, makes up the Latin Vulgate. This is the standard Latin translation of the Bible used by the Roman Catholic Church.
As already mentioned, Bethlehem is first recorded in the Bible in connection with Rachel, who died on the wayside just north of the town that's found in Genesis 30 519. It's also the setting for the most of the Book of Ruth, and was the presumed birthplace and certainly the home of Ruth's descendant, King David. There he was anointed king of Israel by the prophet Samuel.
The town was fortified by Riaboam, David's grandson and the first king of Judah, after the division of the state between Israel and Judah. That's found in two Chronicles chapter Eleven during the Jewish return to Palestine after Babylonian exile and following, the town was repopulated, later became a Roman garrison, and was there during the second Jewish revolt led by BA Kozi Bar, 135 years after Christ. I trust you've enjoyed being in the land of Israel with us today, and we hope that you'll be with us again next week.
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