During the final weeks of May, I had the joy of traveling in Israel and Egypt. This particular journey was not made as part of the ministry of Redeeming Grace Ministries but was privately funded for a personal experience. Flying into Tel Aviv, a bus was taken to Jerusalem where I would stay for a week. Each day brought a visit to several traditional biblical sites beginning with the adventures of sitting on the side of the Mount of Olives looking over the Holy City of Peace. It is a majestic site and a moving moment to sit at a place so familiar to the Lord. It was from Bethphage near the Mount of Olives that Jesus entered into the city of Jerusalem riding on a donkey and was hailed as the king of the Jews. It was as the Lord sat on the Mount of Olives that His disciples came to Him and asked Him questions concerning the end of the age. Jesus answered their questions and predicted the destruction of Jerusalem giving many signs of the time that would precede that now historical event. Great tribulation was to come upon Israel and it did. Prophecy was fulfilled and the great tribulation is now a historical reality.
In traveling to the various biblical sites there was no chronological pattern. As time and opportunity presented itself the holy sites were visited. There was a visit to the mountain side where Jesus gave the beatitudes. There Scripture was read from Matthew 5:1-8. “And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: 2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, 3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God”. There was opportunity to go to the top of Mount Carmel where the prophet Elijah contested with the false prophets of Baal and the Lord consumed their sacrifice. Today, there is a thriving city of 25,000 people living on Mount Carmel which is to say that this site and all the biblical sites in Israel are transformed by modern society. Some of the mystique associated with the rugged terrain of the biblical narrative is lost. This is certainly true of the Valley of Megiddo where great biblical battles were fought and where many people mistakenly believe the last battle of the world will be fought as well. The land is surrounded by traffic lights, honking horns and a major highway. But, there it is to look out over and remember the Scriptures and the blood that has been spilt on that fertile soil. The same mystique is lost on the scene looking over the field where Joshua made the sun stand still. It is a rugged barren piece of land today as it was during Joshua’s time except that a major highway now runs through the field from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
I mention the loss of the mystic idealism in order to prepare other visitors to the Holy Land. Many of the places the heart would like to see intact such as Golgotha and the birth place of Christ and the place where they buried Him are all covered by churches. The churches themselves are historic, majestic and beautiful but they cover the sites and so the pristine memory is diminished as well. But if a person closes his eyes and remembers the Scriptures a sense of the sacred can be experienced. My own heart was surprisingly moved in a special way when I knelt to touch the slab where church tradition says the body of Christ was taken from the cross and prepared for burial on this spot. As I knelt and bowed in reverence I remembered that Christ died for me. Christ was buried for me. On that spot I made my confession with the saints of all the ages whispering quietly, I believe Jesus “Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell [the grave]; The third day he rose again from the dead.” I believe.
As special as that moment was, I was horrified by what transpired at the Wailing Wall. The Wailing Wall is the portion of ancient Jerusalem that the Romans left standing when they destroyed the city in AD 70. The purpose for leaving the wall standing when the rest was dismantled was to show succeeding generations how difficult it was to conquer Jerusalem for the stones in the wall are enormous, each one weighing between two tons and eight tons. Today, the Western or Wailing Wall is a symbol of Israel’s dreams of restored glory and a place to pray. Millions come each year to the Wailing Wall to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, to study the Scriptures, to chant and pray or leave notes slipped inside the stones. I went to the Wailing Wall to pray. No sooner had I stepped back from the Wall when a Rabbi walked up to me. In broken English he asked my name. He asked where I was from. He said, “Let me pray for you.” We went back to the Wall. He opened his book of Psalms and uttered a prayer in Hebrew. No sooner did he finish than he looked up at me, rubbed his fingers together and said, “Money for the prayer”. I was astonished and frankly disgusted. “I do not pay money for prayers” I said. “And you should be ashamed.”
I walked away from the Rabbi and paused after a few steps to watch an orthodox Jew bowing and reciting the Scriptures. As I stood there a second man walked up to me. He suddenly took my right hand and began to tie a red string around my wrist while asking my name. By his side was a Rabbi. “The Rabbi will pray for you”, he said and before I could protest the Rabbi was uttering something. “Now”, said the young man. “Please give a contribution to the Rabbi.” Within minutes at one of the most holy places in Israel I had been prayed over twice without request with a view to money being extracted. Is it any wonder that Jesus one day took a whip and drove the money changers from the Temple area? Is it any wonder Jesus cried out, “Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? But ye have made it a den of thieves”? (Mark 11:17). I tell you there is a need for someone to make some new “Jesus whips” and use them again today on those who are targeting God’s people. There are many other ways religious people, even of the Christian faith, are making merchandise out of God’s people in the Holy Land, but the general point is that it is an abomination.
If special moments were tempered by religious greed the overall experience of going to the various biblical cities and sites was still wonderful. It was good to go to Nazareth while passing by Jericho, entering Bethlehem though it is under the Palestinian control and circling the Sea of Galilee. It was a joy to visit the many holy sites such as the Garden of Gethsemane, walk through the Kidron Valley, and passing by the Valley of Gehenna. Israel is such a small nation it does not take long to cover it in modern equipment such as a bus or automobile. However, Israel is also a rocky, rugged terrain and a new appreciation was gained for those who walked from one place to another as Jesus and the disciples did. It is not an easy land to traverse on foot.
After a week my stay in Israel came to an end. A plane was taken to fly to Cairo, a city of twenty million people with an unemployment figure at twelve percent. There were several social surprises in Egypt.
First, the nation is a much poorer nation than I had thought. Tourism comprises one third of the economy which is good for it means the security around the tourist is very high. You will be safe in Egypt.
Second, Egypt has no oil to export. It has enough oil to take care of the needs of the nation but it does not export oil.
Third, Egypt is a very friendly nation. The people are gracious and have a servant’s mentality. They like to please. They also expect to be tipped and will go out of their way to solicit money but they are friendly.
Fourth, Egypt is a moderate nation. The people are mostly Sunni and not Shiite which means they are not radical in the religious Islamic faith. As a moderate nation they have separated religion and state and so people have more social and religious freedoms than they would in more extreme Islamic nations such as Iraq or parts of Iran.
One social custom is amusing if not a bit dangerous but the people drive without turning on their lights, even at night. Some turn them on but many do not because the drivers do not wish to disturb or distract drivers coming in an opposite direction. So, they are courteous to one another and do not turn on their headlights!
Some of the main attractions in Egypt are of course the tombs of the Pharaohs and the museums. What a thrill it was to walk in the Valley of the Kings. I was also able to visit the awesome pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) in Gaza and look upon some of the great wonders of the ancient world. Of particular interest was being able to gaze upon the treasures of King Tut, the boy king with the golden sarcophagus and the mummified body of Ramses II who might have been the Pharaoh of the Exodus. Perhaps it was before Ramses II that Moses stood to say, “Thus saith the Lord, let my people go.”
After visiting numerous pyramids and museums, after traveling to Alexandria, after beholding the temples in Luxor, Karnak and Sakkara, an overarching theme became crystal clear. The Egyptians wanted to live forever. The rulers thought about life after death and built the pyramids to house their bodies and other artifacts they would need to pass from this world to the next including massive ships they had buried with them. They worshipped nature in order to appease the gods.
As the narratives unfolded and I saw the tributes to the various deities my spirit was saddened for according to divine revelation they had done what Paul speaks of in Romans 1. “When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. 24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen” (Romans 1:21-25).
There is a way to have eternal life and that is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Eternal life is not something that can be found by building gigantic tombs or by worshipping creatures such as the Horus the Falcon head on a man’s body or honoring the scarab beetle as a god. This particular beetle was famous for his habit of rolling balls of dung along the ground and depositing them in its burrows. The female would lay her eggs in the ball of dung. When they hatched, the larvae would use the ball for food. When the dung was consumed the young beetles would emerge from the hole. Millions of amulets and stamp seals of stone or faience were fashioned in Egypt depicting the scarab beetle. What did it mean? It seemed to the ancient Egyptians that the young scarab beetles emerged spontaneously from the burrow were they were born. Therefore they were worshipped as "Khepera", which means "he was came forth." This creative aspect of the scarab was associated with the creator god Atum. The ray-like antenna on the beetle's head and its practice of dung-rolling caused the beetle to also carry solar symbolism. The scarab-beetle god Khepera was believed to push the setting sun along the sky in the same manner as the beetle with his ball of dung. In many artifacts, the scarab is depicted pushing the sun along its course in the sky. Such was the belief in ancient Egypt.
Far better is the Biblical revelation which teaches that salvation is a gift of God and not of works. Salvation is given to all for the asking. Eternal life is provided to all for the receiving by faith alone in Christ alone. The quest for immortality characterized and defined the ancient Egyptians and the time of the pharaohs with their pyramids in particular. I would encourage everyone to go to Israel, go to Egypt and then go to the Scriptures to find Christ for all truth will converge in His person and work. The heart will find a resting place, not in the worship of nature nor in the sweat of the brow to build eternal monuments that will crumble in the dust one day but in Him who lives and abides for ever. Look to Christ who loved us and gave Himself for us. You can touch Christ by faith and find eternity which is still the ultimate quest of the human heart.
