Holy Land | Wayne Stiles

Archives For Holy Land

Thirty Days in the Land with Jesus [Book Review]

It’s pretty rare to find a devotional book written about the Holy Land.

Thirty Days in the Land with Jesus Thirty Days in the Land with Jesus [Book Review]

In fact, one of the reasons I wrote two of my books was to help fill the void in application of Holy Land study.

True, there are other books that do this. It’s just that so many of them waffle between inaccurate and superficial.

Charles Dyer offers us a refreshing alternative.

As I read Thirty Days in the Land with Jesus, I felt like I was on tour in Israel with a great Bible teacher. The book takes 30 events in the life of Jesus and gives you a geographical and devotional tour of the places where they occurred.

Bethlehem, the Temple Mount, the Judean Wilderness, the Sea of Galilee are only a few places Dr. Dyer leads us on this virtual tour through key places in the life and ministry of Jesus. “Watch your step as you get down from the bus,” it reads in one place.

I felt like I could easily take the book in hand and stand at the very places in the Holy Land. The book could serve as a pocket guide devotional.

If you’re looking for a unique devotional on a part of the Bible most people miss, Thirty Days in the Land with Jesus is a journey worth taking.

I read the Kindle edition, but you can also pick up the softcover edition.

P.S. Charles Dyer has written two other books about the Holy Land also worth having in your library (I have them both):

Question: What place in the life of Jesus would you most like to see? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

How God Connected Passover, Redemption, and the Holy Land

God told the Hebrews when to observe the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread. At first, to be honest, the command seems random.

The feasts were to occur at the appointed time of Abib, or Aviv (Exodus 23:15)—a Hebrew word that refers to the time in spring when the grain begins to ripen. The first Passover occurred on the fifteenth day of Nisan, which became the first month of the Jewish calendar.

How God Connected Passover Redemption and the Holy Land1 How God Connected Passover, Redemption, and the Holy Land

(Photo: Passover Seder cup, courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

This timing occurred for good reason.

The Lord gave His people a plain explanation why the celebration should coincide with spring:

For [then] you came out of Egypt. —Exodus 23:15

God linked the Passover celebration with their redemption.

But why the springtime? There was a problem with the calendar that had to get fixed. Its fix offers a lasting lesson.

Even for Christians.

8 Tips to Maximize Your Holy Land Tour

In my previous post, I offered some suggestions for how to prepare for a Holy Land Tour.

After all, you’re investing a lot of money and significant time for this journey. It makes sense to prepare yourself beforehand so that you get the most from your experience in Israel.

Western Wall and Dome of the Rock tb092603105 8 Tips to Maximize Your Holy Land Tour

(Photo: Western Wall and Temple Mount, courtesy of Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

But after you arrive in Israel, there are a number of ways you can ensure you get the most from your Holy Land tour.

The following 8 tips include both practical and spiritual ways to maximize your experience every single day you’re there.

How to Prepare for a Holy Land Tour

You’ve finally decided to take a spiritual journey to the Holy Land—to the land of the Bible.

I can promise you, you won’t come home from Israel the same!

But there’s something else you need to know.

How to Prepare for a Holy Land Tour How to Prepare for a Holy Land Tour

(Photo: the aqueduct at Caesarea)

You already realize you are investing a lot of money this trip, and you want to make the most of your time. But you will get twice as much out of your Holy Land tour if you’ll also invest some time preparing for it.

Here are some ways that will help you maximize your trip—by preparing mentally, practically, physically, and spiritually.

5 Holy Land Blogs You Should Follow

If you regularly read my blog, it’s likely you share my interest in the Holy Land.

Where biblical events took place are more than throwaway mentions in the pages of Scripture. Often, they have significant bearing on God’s participation in the lives of His people.

Sunrise over Mount of Olives tb031605564 5 Holy Land Blogs You Should Follow

(Photo: Sunrise over Mount of Olives, courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

Unfortunately, because we’re unfamiliar with geography we often miss these nuggets. I have found a lot of help in several Holy Land blogs that open up the Bible’s lands to my understanding.

I want to share with you 5 of my favorite Holy Land blogs and provide you an easy way to follow them.

How to Move from Fear to Faith

Sometimes fear keeps us from enjoying what God has promised.

We want so badly to have faith in what the Lord says, but fear of what we see seems more compelling than mere words.

rinderart How to Move from Fear to Faith

Photo: rinderart, via Vivozoom

Gideon longed to believe God. But the enemy army before him was enormous.

It was almost as large as the fears we face today.

The 4 Quarters of Jerusalem United One Day?

Whenever I visit the ancient Cardo street in Jerusalem, I like to look at the replica of the Medeba Map mosaic.

It depicts the Holy Land as it looked in AD 580 and shows Jerusalem sectioned by crossroads. The divisions paved the way for the four quarters of today.

Medeba map replica © Stiles The 4 Quarters of Jerusalem United One Day?

Photo: Replica of the Medeba Map mosaic, showing the Cardo street. The Greek letters read: “Holy City of Jerusalem”

The annual celebration of Jerusalem Day, or Yom Yerushalayim, reminds me of the T-shirt my grandmother bought me when she went to Jerusalem in 1987. I think I still have the shirt. (Some of us men keep clothes way too long.)

Printed in English, Hebrew and Arabic, the shirt celebrated “The 20th Anniversary of the Reunification of Jerusalem.” But can we really call the city unified?

Tour the Holy Land and Experience the Benefits

I’ll be honest. I have never recovered from my travels to the Holy Land.

As many times as I’ve been to Israel, every trip impacts me. There’s a reason.

touring the temple mount1 Tour the Holy Land and Experience the Benefits

Our tour group on the Southern Steps of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem

After Cathy and I took our first tour to the Holy Land, the truth hit home harder than it ever had: my faith is rooted in events that occurred in real places.

My experience isn’t unique. The following video shows people whose lives have changed as a result of a tour to the Holy Land.

4 Steps to Unwrapping the Bible’s Treasures

When I bought my 1897 edition of The Historical Geography of the Holy Land, I opened its dingy, yellow pages and discovered I couldn’t turn some of them.

The publisher in London had made an error.

Unread Treasures1 4 Steps to Unwrapping the Bibles Treasures

The book was printed on large sheets which were then cut and bound into the book. But some of the edges never got trimmed. I had to cut each pair of pages myself. At first this was a real hassle.

But then it hit me . . . Continue Reading…

Joppa and the Long Highway

Insight for Living Tour of Israel — Day 1

It’s hard to believe just yesterday I was in America.

Today’s transportation system requires little more than a basic understanding of road signs and airline gates (which I somehow still seem to miss). That’s why most of us failed geography. Who needs it?

But in ancient Israel geography was critical. Today I saw one reason why.

Our hotel in Tel Aviv sits right next to ancient Joppa (think Jonah and Peter). In fact, a short walk down the beach took us there.

The Egyptians’ ancient rubble in Joppa reminded me of why foreign powers all wanted to control Israel. The land of Israel sat in an amazingly strategic position as the only intercontinental land bridge between the superpowers of the ancient world. The strategic International Highway—sometimes called the Great Trunk Road or the Via Maris (“Way of the Sea”)—ran the full length of the land of Israel.

This vast artery of transport stretched from the Fertile Crescent all the way to Egypt. Israel stood at the crossroads of three continents—Asia, Africa, and Europe—and the surrounding seas and desert forced all who traveled to Egypt by land to traverse Israel. In addition to Egypt, the armies of Assyria, Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome all invaded Israel in order to control its International Highway. Israel remained for millennia the crossroads for international imperialism, war, and trade.

Ancient%2BJoppa%2Bblack Stiles Joppa and the Long Highway

The ancient port of Joppa

Even today, Israel serves as the overland passageway for large, high-flying birds that prefer not to migrate over the seas. Literally hundreds of thousands of black and white storks, steppe and spotted eagles, black kites, steppe and honey buzzards, and Levant sparrow hawks soar over the Holy Land in their biannual migrations to and from east Africa. No wonder bird watching remains a popular activity in Israel.

When foreigners traveled through Israel during biblical days, God’s people would either influence them or be swayed by them. Because of this influence, Israel’s central position among the nations proved to be a double-edged sword.

God lamented that Jerusalem’s general placement as “the center of the nations,” had borne no fruit of obedience (Ezekiel 5:5). Ironically, God’s people had been swayed by the very nations He intended them to influence.

What a great reminder that we have to guard the critical points of entry into our lives.

Starting with our hearts.

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