Holy Land Adventure: River of Life

I stood under the showerhead on the beach and washed myself clean of the mud from the Dead Sea.

Not far from the Dead Sea are the remains of ritual baths in Qumran, used by a community of people called the Essenes. The name means “pious ones.” These baths were used as part of their purification ceremonies, where they washed themselves clean numerous times a day.

However, Lysa TerKeurst shared a better picture of how to become clean. It is an image drawn from the layout of the land of Israel.
It begins north of the Sea of Galilee, and barely visible in the distance, with Mount Hermon. The pure white snow and rain on Mount Hermon is vital for Israel’s water supply.  

Here the Jordan River begins from three sources which lead to the northern Jordan River gushing into the Sea of Galilee.

Likewise, our source of life is God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit.

The flowing Jordan and heart-shaped Sea of Galilee are important sources of water for Israel’s people and agriculture. In the same way, Galilee, two thousand years ago, was at the heart of Jesus’ life and ministry and these are an important source of living water for us.

From the southern end of the Sea of Galilee, the River Jordan continues down the eastern border of Israel. It passes close by Jericho and the Mount of Temptation. This is the location where it is believed Jesus spent forty days in the Judean Desert being tempted.

Nearby, you can get down to the river. In the murky brown slow-flowing river, we witnessed the baptism of six members of our group, some who made a commitment to make Jesus their Lord for the first time.

From here, the muddy river flows into the Dead Sea. So it is in death that Jesus took our dirt. However, it is because of an empty tomb that a new fresh start becomes a reality.

Traveling the land of Israel draws to our attention that we cannot cleanse ourselves of what we have done wrong. Instead, it brings to life how we need to be bold and make a decision today to acknowledge Jesus as Lord.

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Linking up with Susan Mead at #DanceWithJesus, Kelly Balarie at #RaRaLinkup, Holly Barrett at #TestimonyTuesday and Holley Gerth at #CoffeeForYourHeart