Wednesday evening our group was in a local park engaged in open air evangelism, well, not actually, for such seems to be illegal in Israel. To correct myself, we were in a public park to be a blessing to the Israeli and studying the personal belief system of the people. There, hopefully that will keep me from being escorted from the country.
During that evening, one of our guides said to me with a smile, "Toby, this is not your typical tour." I replied, "You know, I've been thinking of titling this entire experience, 'Jerusalem, off the Beaten Path.'" This trip covers more than Jerusalem.
Last Tuesday for instance, we left Jerusalem and drove through the Eastern Mountains to descend into the Dead Sea valley. When I say descend, I mean descend, for the elevation changes from above 3000 feet sea level to blow 1500 feet sea level.
Pictures cannot justify the harsh elements of the lowest ground upon the earth. Neither can my words describe the hot air, and the ever burning sun. Yet in this harsh land people have lived and even thrived for thousands of years.
One of our destinations in the area was the Qumran community, the land of the ancient Essenes. The Essenes were a radical group of Jewish extremists who separated themselves for rigorous devotion and communal living. Read the wiki link below to learn more of the Qumran community.
Their significance to modern Biblical archeology among many things is the collection of scrolls called the Dead Sea Scrolls. Hastily hidden in a cave before the Romans attacked in 68 AD, these cave where discovered by local goat herders back in the 1940's. The discoveries of these many writings included an entire copy of the book of Isaiah, dated to 200 years before Christ. This discovery gives extremely strong evidence to the authenticity of the scriptures.
In other words, the book of Isaiah is today, as it was 200 years before Christ and the same extreme devotion that has kept one book accurate, can be repeated for the entire text we call the Bible.
One of our group mentioned his own reflection from Psalm 12:6-7. Just that very morning he had been reading the Psalm and for the first time it dawned upon him the fact that it is God who has preserved His word. Whether by the Essenes, or the simple faithful, God has kept His Word for us to know Him.
Jesus said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away." Luke 21:33
No comments:
Post a Comment