The fact that I’m typing a blog about Israel while being in Israel is beyond anything that I can truly comprehend. I don’t think it’ll really hit me until I leave the country or maybe even when I’m finished with The World Race about what God has done for not just me here, but for my team as a whole.
I’m still in a little bit of disbelief that God has called my teammates and I here to Israel in this season of our lives.
So far we have already partnered with multiple ministries helping both them and their facilities in whatever needs they see need to be met in this current time. I already have so many stories I’d like to tell all of you, from places we’ve worked & places we’ve seen, but I’ll focus on just one for now.
It was during one of my days in Jerusalem where we had a day off from ministry. We weren’t sure what we were going to do in such an amazing city because the possibilities seemed endless. The reason being I have to pinch myself that I’m in Jerusalem!
I’m just down the road from where Jesus was crucified, buried, and more importantly where He was risen from the grave & defeated death.
I’m a hop, skip, and a jump away from the most sought after & fought for piece of land in the world; THE TEMPLE MOUNT! Those of the Jewish faith claim the land is theirs, the Muslims claim the land is theirs, and the Christians claim it’s their land too because it’s where Jesus is coming back when He returns right through the Eastern Gate.
I’m right next to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed the night before He was crucified on the cross. All of this seems so surreal to me that in a way I don’t even believe that I’m here around all of these things.
I’ve heard all of the Bible stories growing up as a kid in Sunday school. I’ve read stories in the Bible for myself as an adult, but to be standing in the same places where those stories happened and to put an image/setting with my own eyes is a true blessing from the Lord.
So before we could make a decision on what to do, one of our amazing & loving hosts offered to show us all around Jerusalem and different parts of Israel. Not only did they just want to show us these places, they wanted to explain everything to us.
So they showed us nearly everything there is was to see in Jerusalem!
They had been living in Jerusalem for many years. In addition, they followed the Lord with a burning passion and they had so much knowledge & faith to offer to us.
They also had a large van to fit all of us in so we’d be able to get around quickly from place to place and see as much as we possibly could in the short amount of time we had.
All of the places I described above we went and saw with a purpose. Yes, it was great to be able to see these biblical historic places, but we also prayed as we went from place to place for both the people we passed by and for the places themselves all in Jesus’ name.
The place that we traveled to that God struck a chord in me the most wasn’t one of the places I mentioned above. In actuality, God tugged on my heart the most at a place that was out in the wilderness well outside of Jerusalem.
By the time the van stopped at the location, it took me a little bit of time to figure out where I was because I had been very sick the entire day (and slept for most of the car ride there). I noticed we were at a place of worship with many people dressed in an all white cloth. They were all walking towards a river to be baptized, only thing was, this wasn’t any ordinary river.
It was in this moment that I finally realized I WAS AT THE JORDAN RIVER!
It still makes me giddy like a child in a candy store typing that sentence out because this is where John the Baptist baptized people with the water from the Jordan River.
“And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.” – Mark 1:4-5
Now John was a man of great faith and even though he baptized those to wash away their sins, he still was just a man and was not even close to being as powerful as Jesus. John baptized with water, but Jesus baptized with the Holy Spirit.
“And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”” – Mark 1:7-8
John knew that in order for you to be in relationship with the Father you must not go through himself, but rather Jesus Christ because He is the Messiah. John didn’t have the power or authority to baptize with Holy Spirit, but Jesus Christ our Savior washes our souls clean as white as snow.
Although Jesus was free from sin and didn’t to be cleansed, He still allowed Himself to be baptized by John in order to fulfill the righteousness with the world. Jesus is the bridge between us & the Father. Jesus being baptized is another connecting piece of the puzzle towards the Father loving us & saving us from sin.
“Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. But John tried to stop Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and yet You come to me?” Jesus answered him, “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him to be baptized.” – Matthew 3:13-15
After the realization of being at Jordan River was for real, I began to take in all of my surroundings:
- There were many people clothed in white being baptized in the river.
- The sun was the strongest & hottest that I’ve ever felt in my life…well maybe India’s sun was stronger, but it definitely belongs in the top 2 on my list
- The river, to my eyes didn’t look more than 40 feet in width which means that I was no more than 40 feet away from the country of Jordan. In fact I could see the Jordanian flag waving in the distance
After taking in the surroundings, I wondered down to the river.
I didn’t walk into the Jordan River, but I did walk to where land & water meet to wash my hands. I also got my hands wet again in the river & splashed some water on my forehead and hair. I’m sure scientifically speaking that wasn’t the best thing for me since the water was pretty brown looking. But spiritually it was a pretty awesome experience to splash my forehead & hair with water from a river that Jesus was baptized in.
Another part of my surroundings I didn’t noticed until a little bit later on was the fact that there were two Israeli soldiers guarding the river who were heavily armed. It made since considering there was Jordan less than a swimming pool’s length away from us across the river.
Even though Israel & Jordan (on paper with the 1994 Peace Treaty) are at peace with each other, they still have disagreements & both guard each other’s territory heavily. Our hosts knew this and brought two new testament Hebrew Bibles with them.
Our host then asked us, “who would like to go introduce yourselves and give these new testament bibles to those Israeli soldiers up there?”
I felt this immediate jump in my spirit & I volunteered to go speak the soldiers along with my team leader Kara. So the two of us walked up the steps to where the soldiers were sitting at their post with their guns for the day.
When we approached them, we introduced ourselves and I realized they knew English very well so communication wasn’t too difficult for us. They introduced themselves to us as **Kevin & Amy** and they were some of the more pleasant human beings I have talked too.
They were very young around my age or even younger because in Israel there is a mandatory military service requirement of 3 years minimum for men & a little less requirement for women.
We asked them, “do you know why you are guarding this river?”
They responded with a simple, “yes of course”.
They may have thought initially that they were only guarding the river because the Jordan River divides Israel & Jordan. They most definitely aren’t wrong with that statement because that is a huge reason to protect the river because it’s a border.
We told them that, “We believe in Jesus Christ and we believe that all sins are forgiven through Him because He cleansed our souls. He was here in the Jordan River and the two of you are guarding the river because it is where Jesus was baptized”.
We asked them also, “do you know Jesus?”
They replied again with a gracious & friendly, “yes of course we know of Jesus”.
We told the two soldiers, “Well, if it is okay with you two, we would like to give you each a Hebrew bible that talks about Jesus’ baptism right here in the Jordan River thousands of years ago. A good place to read about it is in the first chapter of Mark”.
The soldiers accepted the bibles with a smile and before we left Kara & I prayed out loud with Kevin & Amy for the both of them in Jesus’ name. We prayed for the two of them to come to not just know of Jesus, but to be in relationship with him. We also prayed for their strength & encouragement for their families & future as well.
Now I know this may seem like a simple encounter, but that’s not the way I see it. This wasn’t your normal conversation with four people next to a normal river. This was Jesus Christ making Himself present to a different generation of people from Israel!
I truly believe that God can transform Kevin & Amy and make Himself be at the forefront of their everyday lives. I really do believe that Kevin & Amy can read the Gospel we gave them and be absolutely floored by God’s love that their eyes are opened up to the real truth in a society where there is so much religion.
Israel isn’t a country that runs away from the concept of religion because Jerusalem itself is engulfed in it with the city divided into Jewish, Muslim & Christian quarters geographically. But I’ve got to say something, it’s not about religion. It’s about people like Kevin & Amy who have grown up with so much religion around them in their society & families that it’s time to get rid of all of that and realize where the truth really is in a RELATIONSHIP with JESUS.
That truth is placed in the simple gospel that Jesus was born in the land that they protect. The truth is that Jesus performed miracles and showed nothing but love because He is love, and He was then betrayed. He died on the cross and was raised from the grave to defeat death because the Father wants a relationship with everyone, including Kevin & Amy.
I will be blessed with how ever many years the good Lord gives me. If He gives me many years to live and I get a chance to be old & gray, I hope that this day in my life where the Lord used Kara & I to give bibles to these Israeli soldiers, is still clear in my memory banks.
I really do hope it’s still there all these years into the future.
I say with tears in my eyes as I type this, that I hope I can remember this day for the rest of my life and not because of me. No, I pray I remember that day next to the Jordan River because it was where Jesus intervened and hopefully transformed the lives of two Israeli soldiers. I pray for these soldiers that they help regenerate a nation so that Jesus is known and more and more people are led to Christ because of them.
Praise the Lord!
**(The names of the hosts & soldiers had been hidden or changed in order to protect their identities for this blog)**
