In 2008, I had the great privilege to travel to Israel. Obviously as a Christian, a trip to the Holy Land was significant to me because of the chance to visit locations I have read about in the Bible. However, one unexpected impact that hit me was number of generations that have lived in the Middle East.
Having grown up in Australia where civilisation in urban cities is only two hundred years old, I had not been exposed to the extent of history, life, and death, that exist in the Middle East. When I arrived in Israel, I saw dozens of mountains called ‘Tel(l)s’ rising above the plains. Tels are a type of archaeological mound created by human occupation and abandonment of a geographical site over many centuries. A classic tel looks like a low, truncated cone with a flat top and sloping sides (Wikipedia definition).
Many tels were the result of a city being built and destroyed twenty-five times over dozens of generations. Looking at these tells I was impacted by each one as they represented the life and death of hundreds of thousands of people down through the ages. I often think about how Jesus shed his blood for everyone in the world. On the surface, I think of the seven billion people who reside on the earth at the moment. However, Jesus died for everyone in all times. Seeing a visual marker of these cities over time allowed me to view Jesus’ love for the world in a new and greater dimension.
The world Jesus loved and died for is far bigger that we often imagine. Consequently God’s love and power is often far bigger than we often imagine. So when we get overwhelmed by our daily pressures, current events, or just the mundane duties of life, we may step back and look at the bigger picture. It will lift you up and bring you into a greater awe and wonder of our God and saviour.
About Jeremy Crooks