Holy Land 08: When Visions Become Reality

In my continued "unpacking" of our recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land, I wanted to share with you one early "aha" I had...

On our first day of touring, we were in the country of Jordan, and had earlier in the day visited the baptism site of Jesus at 1300 feet below sea level, not far from the Dead Sea. We'd made our way back up to the 3000+ foot high pinnacle of Mt. Nebo, where in Deuteronomy, Chapter 34, Moses was given by God a glimpse of the Promised Land. Having read the text numerous times, I thought it was a visionary experience: here was the 120 year-old Moses, on the east side of the Jordan River, not permitted by God to cross over to take the land. He's dying, he knows the deal, and God still gives him a chance to view the whole land. He's at Pisgah, a promontory on Mt. Nebo and God allows him to see the promised territory spread out before him, north to south, east to west. Read it for yourself and see. Surely, this was a visionary experience, I (and no doubt countless readers) thought: no one can see the entire land from one place, almost two hundred miles north to south, 70 miles east to west, etc.

Then we ourselves went up to Mt. Nebo. You CAN see the whole land from here! On a clear day, you can see up to Lebanon, down to the Negev Desert, west to the Judean mountains...it's absolutely amazing!

This is why the Holy Land is called "The Fifth Gospel"--it serves as a commentary on the text of the Bible itself. When you see the Land, you see things you never could simply by reading the Bible.

What a view! And what a God to put Moses here to see it.

More to come...