Story & photos by Manuel Mariano Jr.
THIS pilgrimage to Jordan, Israel and Egypt was a rare experience for any Christian who would like to see places, where 83 percent of biblical events took place.
Strategically, Israel is where three continents meet, namely, Africa, Asia and Europe. Paul’s travels to the gentiles in the general areas of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Greece and Rome, where he established the 1st-century Christian churches as covered in the New Testament accounts for the remaining 17 percent of the bliblical events.
This tour from May 17 to 27 presents a synopsis of the entire Bible showing God’s plan for mankind. How would you like to study it from Genesis to Revelation by going to where it happened?
Indeed, walking in the pathways of the patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, so with Joseph, Moses, Joshua, the Judges, Kings and all the prophets, like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah etc., and seeing where Jesus spent his 33 years of his earthly life was truly exciting.
Following Biblical chronology, Egypt today is a country of 100 million people; 95 percent of its land is desert.
The Egyptian civilization dates back to 3000 BC. For two days of the tour, we have seen the pyramids, sphinx, the Nile river, the Abu Segra Church, where the infant Jesus hid from Herod’s persecution, and the museums showing proofs of pharaohs rule.
Biblical events include the story of Jacob and his household of 70 people, who went there in about 2000 BC to avoid the famine in Canaan. They lived there for the next 430 years, and later became slaves to the Egyptians.
At this time, Moses led them back to the Promised Land as told in the book of Exodus.
They crossed the Red Sea on dry grounds and wandered in the Sinai desert for 40 years. It is here where God gave to Moses the Ten Commandments, and Judaism came about as the religion of the Jews in 1440 BC.
As part of the tour package, going atop Mount Sinai was, indeed, a rare privilege. One would feel how Moses communicated with God face to face.
Next stop was Jordan of about 10 million people; it is 85-percent desert. This Hashemite Kingdom, currently under King Abdullah II, was established in 1921.
In biblical times, this was the land of the Midianites, Moabites, Ammonites and Edomites. Later on, the Nabatean Arabs, who were cave dwellers, built the city of Petra, which was a trade route in ancient times.
Mount Nebo was where Moses viewed the Promised Land and died there at 120 years old, so with the others who departed from Egypt as a judgment from God for their disobedience.
Only Joshua and Caleb and all 20-year olds and younger entered the Promised Land in 1400 BC. Joshua took over from Moses and crossed the Jordan River and captured Gilgal and Jericho as their first settlement. As soon as they have eaten the fruit of the land, their supply of manna and quail stopped from falling from heaven (Joshua 5:12).
From thereon, the Israelites conquered the Jebusites, Amorites, Girgasites, Hittites and Philistines, and allotted their land to the 12 tribes.
The judges took over from Joshua when he died. In those days, Israel had no king and everyone did as one saw fit. The judges ruled for 400 years with famous names, like Deborah, Gideon, Samson and Delilah, etc.
The people clamored for a king from the Prophet Samuel and Saul. David and Solomon became kings of the United Kingdom of Israel. Later on, the kingdom split into Judah and Israel.
In those days, prophets were chosen by God to tell the people to repent for their sins and worship him alone but they didn’t heed the warning.
Eventually, the Israelites were deported to Assyria in 722 BC but never came back. The Judahites were exiled to Babylon in 586 BC; they returned after 70 years and rebuilt Jerusalem and the temple.
About 500 years later, John the Baptist announced that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand upon the baptism of Jesus by the Jordan River. His mission, “the Son of God came for the purpose of destroying the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).
The temptation by the devil of Jesus was the second spiritual battle, which began in Genesis 3:15, the declaration of God the Father to send His Son to save mankind from sin and death. After which, he went to Galilee, where he performed miracles, healed the sick, casted out demons from possessed persons and taught the people about the kingdom of God. As a flashback, he grew up in Nazareth but was rejected, so he moved to Capernaum and made it the center of his three-year ministry.
In the last week of his earthly life, he went up to Mount Tabor and prayed to God the Father and he was transfigured as witnessed by Peter, John and James.
From there, he went to Jerusalem that brought about his crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection for the atonement of our sins.
Having seen and walked in all these places in 10 days, without doubt, I conclude the Bible is true. All events are historical facts documented by 40 authors in a span of 1,500 years and proven by archaeological findings and thorough investigation and analysis by scholars.
Theologically, the existence of a living God is beyond reasonable doubt, true. This God talked with Moses face to face and identified Himself as “I am who I am,” or YHWH in Hebrew.
Finally, the Bible is, indeed, a road map detailing the salvation of mankind toward eternal life with our Creator. Just have faith in God and you will be right on track.