Israel | Wayne Stiles

Archives For Israel

The Via Maris Highway—Israel’s Picture of Your Influence

Where God places us is no accident.

Throughout biblical history, the land of Israel sat in an amazingly strategic position as the only intercontinental land bridge between the superpowers of the ancient world.

The most important international highway of the Fertile Crescent ran the length of the land of Israel.

The Via Maris Highway—Israels Picture of Your Influence The Via Maris Highway—Israels Picture of Your Influence

(Photo: The Via Maris ran beside ancient Tel Hazor. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

Some call this international highway the Via Maris, or the “Way of the Sea.”

Any nation coming to or from Egypt, or traveling from the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Aqaba, had to go through Israel. For many years, Israel remained the crossroads for international imperialism, war, and trade.

It’s hard to believe at first, but this highway offers a practical principle for our daily lives.

It’s all about influence.

Come with Me to the Holy Land This Fall!

This Fall: October 26 – November 6, 2013

A journey to the Holy Land will strengthen your relationship with God.

I’ve seen it happen many times.

A tour to the Holy Land opens your eyes to the Word of God like never before. It forever changes the way you read your Bible. It’s like taking a tour inside the Scriptures!

99% of Christians who travel to Israel agree — their tour strengthened their spiritual life.

Jerusalem as seen from Mount Scopus

Many Christians are familiar with names like the Sea of Galilee, Jerusalem, Jericho, and the Mount of Olives. But these place names add very little to understanding the Bible—much less to spiritual growth.

I shared this frustration. I knew the names, but they only distracted me as I read the Bible because I didn’t understand their significance. I dismissed them as irrelevant.

Then I went to Israel . . . and it all changed.

The Bible became more than words on a page. It became more real than it ever had before in my spiritual life.

I want to help make that same connection for you.

“Experiencing the land of the Bible was a great blessing. But traveling with Wayne and Cathy Stiles was the icing on the cake. Wayne provided outstanding devotionals and connected the places, events, and history with the Scriptures, showing their relevance for our lives.” —Wayne and Debbie Moore, La Porte, Indiana

connecting the bible and its lands to life Come with Me to the Holy Land This Fall!

(Photo: Discussing the Second Coming of Jesus on On the Mount of Olives overlooking the Temple Mount)

Download a free itinerary, see the trip details, watch videos, and imagine yourself walking where Jesus walked in the Holy Land!

You will see major sites as well as places very few people get to see.
This is a one-bus tour.
Experience the Word of God will all your senses!

Click here to learn more. Time is short!

I hope you’ll plan to join me this fall for a your life-changing tour to the Holy Land!

Got a question about the tour? You can leave a comment here.

Tel Megiddo and What Megiddo Tells Us

Location, location, location . . .

If history ever compared the land of Israel to the game of “Monopoly,” the site of Tel Megiddo would be Boardwalk.

It was the most coveted spot on the playing board.

Tel Megiddo and What Megiddo Tells Tel Megiddo and What Megiddo Tells Us

(Photo: Tel Megiddo, courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

Tel Megiddo’s tremendous value came from its strategic location as the sentinel of the most important pass through the Mt. Carmel range.

Whoever held Tel Megiddo in the ancient world controlled the traffic and trade along the International Highway to and from Egypt. That meant both military and financial security.

Taking Megiddo is like capturing a thousand cities. —Pharaoh Thutmose III

Its value simply can’t be exaggerated.

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.

Beth Shean—A Place for Happy Explorers

Sometimes the things God gives you seem too hard to hold.

The Lord provided prime real estate to the Tribe of Manasseh. But the excellent location proved to be a double-edged sword.

Tel Beth Shean excavations tbs47339010 Beth Shean—A Place for Happy Explorers

(Photo: Beth Shean Excavations, courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

Because the spot was so good, every nation wanted control of Beth Shean. And whoever held it always seemed to contend with those who would wrench it from their grasp.

Perhaps its strategic location gave Beth Shean its name, “House of Security.”

But security only works when you trust in God.

The Negev’s Sde Boker—The Lord Has Made Room for Us

It takes great vision to see something where there is nothing.

Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, saw the vast expanse of Israel’s Negev as something that offered great potential. In 1953, he settled in the kibbutz Sde Boker, urging Israelis to help him tame the Negev into a new society for Israel.

PikiWiki Israel 6610 Sculpture Garden The Negevs <i>Sde Boker</i>—The Lord Has Made Room for Us

(Photo: Sculpture garden at Sde Boker, by שי קסל CC-BY-2.5, via Wikimedia Commons)

To many, the idea seemed no more than a pipe dream. As a result, the plea fell on deaf ears, for the arid region receives barely eight inches of rain per year.

In the Negev, life has one uncompromising requirement: water.

Through this simple need in the same land, God taught His people a life-giving lesson.

We can drink from it as well.

Tel Arad—Israel’s Point of Impatience with God

At Tel Arad, the whole land of Canaan lay before the Hebrews.

They had waited and wandered forty years in the wilderness. The Promised Land was theirs for the taking. Right there before them!

Arad Israelite fort with towers tb110702414 Tel Arad—Israel’s Point of Impatience with God

(Photo: Arad Israelite fort, courtesy of Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

Instead, God led the Hebrews on a major detour.

Tel Arad in Israel’s Negev offers many benefits to its visitors. It’s an oasis of ancient archaeology. It gives a rare glimpse of Judah’s idolatry.

And it speaks to us today of the need to tap the brakes on our impatience with God’s leading.

The Wilderness of Zin— Inspiring Awe but Not Obedience to God

I thought I understood the wilderness wanderings of Israel.

Then I traveled through the wilderness. On my summer visits there, I never had to check the forecast. It only fluctuated from blistering to broiling.

Machtesh Ramon at sunrise tb030707948 The Wilderness of Zin— Inspiring Awe but Not Obedience to God

Photo: Machtesh Ramon at sunrise. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands.

After a searing hike through this wilderness, a traveling companion of mine boarded the bus, his shirt sweat-soaked. He collapsed in his seat, and someone asked him if he now understood why the Hebrews grumbled and failed in obedience to God.

He took a long gulp from his canteen and then blurted, “I’m with them!”

Must-Have Resources for Israel Bible Lands Study

Not everybody can travel to Israel.

But everyone can benefit from including Bible lands in their personal Bible study. You just need some good tools.

Tabernacle model and courtyard tb030807082 Must Have Resources for Israel Bible Lands Study

Photo: Tabernacle Model. Courtesy of Pictorial Library of Bible Lands

I have discovered that including Bible lands in my study has given me more understanding of the Bible than learning Greek and Hebrew. The benefits of including Bible lands in the study of Scripture are available to everyone.

I’ve created what I consider a must-have list of resources. These are the tools I reach for first when I study—those resources that have proven most helpful to me for years.

I’ll give you the full list, and then I’ll suggest which ones to get first.

Your Rededication to God Can Begin Right Now

Anyone who has visited the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC has seen the etching engraved on the top of the steps.

The inscription marks the spot where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous speech, “I Have a Dream.” Standing on those steps, in the shadow of the great emancipator’s memory, gave greater force to the words Dr. King spoke that day.

The place of the message intensified the words.

rededication Your Rededication to God Can Begin Right Now