Day 6

The landscape of Jordan... arid and Halleluiah we are back in Israel!

Cliffs entering Petra.....Most famous cave carving in Petra

Some very smelly Camels and another really cool Cave carving in Petra

March 31, 2008

Bible Study Theme: Preparing for the Future

Places Visited:
Petra

Today we visited the country of Jordan and went to the ruin city of Petra. Pastor Jim taught on how we are seeing a wonderful intersection of time on our trip as we see the past and the future. We can definitely see that the past is real and coming to life so vividly for us. What will the future have in store for the Jews and us too? Well we just need to open our bibles to find out. One of the most obvious signs of the future being told to us is found in Ezekiel 36 -37. These chapters can be summarized in a few ways. First, even though the Jews were scattered throughout the world, Israel became a nation again in one day. Second, the land which was once desolate will flourish with fruit. Well all of us here can see that everywhere the Jewish people are settled, the land is lush and fruitful. In fact, Israel is one of the worlds leading exporters of flowers and fruits and vegetables. So what else does the bible tell us about events yet to come? That’s where Petra comes into the picture. Most bible scholars believe that Petra is the location that the Jews will flee to in the end days. Several verses in the bible paint this picture. Revelation 12:6, Revelation 12:13-17, Daniel 11:40-41, Isaiah 16:1-5, Isaiah 26:20-21 and Isaiah 42: 9-11, all point to the fact the Israel will flee into the wilderness to seek refuge provided by God. That wilderness is most likely a mountain region in Edom, Moab and Ammon. These three regions are located in present day Jordan. I’m not exactly convinced that Petra is the exact place of refuge, but likely one of many places. In the bible passages above, Moab is mentioned more than Edom as the location of the wilderness, but this topic could be debated at length. The point is that Israel will flee into the wilderness of Jordan and the Lord will provide safety for them. And our tour took us to parts of that wilderness… Petra.

I must be totally honest here, I did not like being outside the borders of Israel! Some of our group really enjoyed the whole experience, but as for me…I had a narrowed point of view. The first thing that struck me were the people and me feeling like I was not safe anymore outside of Israel’s borders. We did keep hearing from Nir that Jordan was the “nice” neighbors but I was still uneasy. We waited in the street outside the border crossing for a long time, while the Jordan officials took our passports and did who knows what? All the people smoking like freight trains really annoyed me to no end, but that annoys me back in the state as well. When we finally got permission to leave the border crossing and start our long drive to Petra, I could not help but notice the landscape. In Israel the land was lush and green and liter free for the most part. The land in Jordan was desolate and dry, with trash everywhere. It was like their local dump was the side of the highways. Another thing that I was less than impressed with was the food. We ate at a restaurant just prior to going to Petra. It was a buffet and seemed to have a large selection of food items, none of which we had any idea what they were. Just like in Israel our favorite meal time conversation was, “What is that?” followed by “I don’t know, what is that?” followed by a puzzled look of the unknown. Typically we didn’t care and just ate everything anyway, because we had just walked a marathon that day and needed to replenish our calories… Did I mention the giant black bug a few of us found on the buffet table in Jordan? Well, we didn’t tell the others either, since who knew when we would eat again and didn’t want to ruin it for the rest of the group. So the cat is out of the bag.

In spite of the cockroach on the lunch table, Petra was really amazing! No wonder it is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is something that you just have to see for yourself. Pictures just don’t do it justice. Walking through the canyons we were typically looking up in amazement at the Lords creation. One of the challenges of this was avoiding the horse, donkey and camel dung! The group split up and explored on our own. Mom and I found Petra really cool, but have some advice for future travelers. Be prepared to be hounded by every peddler within eyesight and take some cash for the restroom or hold it for quite a while. We found out that only about 7% of Petra is excavated and the area is about 45 square miles. (That’s what the guide said anyway.)

Things I learned in Israel today:

The most important part of this day trip was what the Lord revealed to me on our return to Israel. But first we must start off with a little history:

In the Genesis 15-17 and Genesis 21-22, we read that the whole earth will be blessed through the line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Lord said He would bless Abraham with a son (Isaac) begotten by Sarah and make him a great nation. Through Isaac the whole world would be blessed (Jesus the Messiah). Abraham and Sarah decided to take matters into their own hands, since Sarah was barren. So Sarah gave Abraham her Egyptian handmaid Hagar, to bear a son (Ishmael). This is not what the Lord intended. So in Genesis 17:19-22, God reveals His plan to give blessings to Ishmael and his decedents and to make him a great nation with twelve princes. But in Genesis 21:8-21, Ishmael is cast out of the land to which Isaac had the God given birth right, the land of Israel!

The whole time we were in Jordan I felt like a dark cloud was hanging over me, with an occasional ray of light. I felt uneasy and unsafe. (Even though others did not feel the same way.) When we crossed back over the border into Israel, I felt the darkness lift and Gods glory shine on His people and their land, Israel. I know it sounds strange but I’m telling you it was vivid to me. This is how I interpreted what the Lord showed me:

The Arab nations are descendants of Ishmael, and worship Allah. Allah is depicted as the moon god and symbolized by the crescent moon. The Lord said He would bless the offspring of Ishmael, so therefore there was an occasional ray of light or a little bit of Gods glory shines through on to these people.

The Jews, who are descendants of Isaac, worship the Living God. Gods Glory is usually thought of as Gods bright radiant light. The brightest light we can relate to is the sun. So when I walked back into Israel, I felt like the cloud had lifted and the sun was shinning bright. The symbolism I am using is that the sun is the Glory of God and shines bright on Israel. And the crescent moon is a small reflection of Gods true Glory and symbolized the small blessings poured out on to the Arabs.