GETHSEMANE: Stay Awake

It is a small garden, peaceful, quiet oasis… Looks like just the place to get away from the busyness of the city and spend time in prayer.

There we were standing in the garden of Gethsemane.

I could just picture Jesus entering the garden with His disciples.  They had finished the Passover meal and Jesus brought then for a time of prayer.

As I think about Peter, James, and John. They were full from the meal and tired from the day’s activities, even though they likely had good intentions, they did not stay awake.

Jesus was grieved and He had brought these three men to keep watch and pray with Him in this garden.

“Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  Matthew 26:41

Their failure didn’t stop Jesus. He encouraged them to keep watching and praying and went away a second time to pray.

My Father if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.” Mathew 26:42

The same a third time…they are sleeping and Jesus is praying. His prayer affirmed His surrendered life and gave Him strength to walk the path that God had planned for HIm.

May we also be reminded to keep alert and ready to live out God’s plan for our lives.

The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. 1 Peter 4:7

 

PETRA: Safe in the Wilderness?

The Israel tour Terry and I went on offered a three day Petra Extension.  We didn’t know much (if anything) about Petra, but decided if we were going this far, we just as well see all we could.  So we signed up for Petra.

It took all day to travel by bus from Jerusalem down to Eliat, an Israeli city located along the Red Sea.  (Of course we stopped for snacks, lunch and sightseeing on the way.)  After crossing over into Jordan we spent the night in our hotel, before starting the two hour trip north to Petra.

“Petra is a vast, unique city, carved into the sheer rock face by the Nabataeans, an industrious Arab people who settled here more than 2000 years ago, turning it into an important junction for the silk, spice and other trade routes that linked China, India and southern Arabia with Egypt, Syria, Greece and Rome.”         visitjordan.com

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It was amazing to walk through the mountains of Petra, to see the homes carved in the stone.  We felt like explorers in an Indiana Jones movies. As we walked through the “city”, climbing up to check out the inside of the “buildings”.

All very interesting but what does all this have to do with Israel, you may ask.

It is believed at some time in the future the Jews will need to flee Jerusalem. Petra is a place in the wilderness that is big enough for a large number of people and designed for  people to live in.

Then the women (Israel) fled into the wliderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.  Revelation 12:6 

Israel’s “place” of refuge is not specified, but it could be Petra, in present-day Jordan: Zechariah identifies “Azal,” a place associated with Petra, as Israel’s refuge (see exposition on Zech. 14:1–5); Isaiah portrayed a triumphant Christ coming from Edom (see Isa. 63:1–6), of which Petra was the capital; Edom will be spared from the Antichrist (see Dan. 11:41), perhaps so that it can protect Israel.[1]

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[1] Willmington, H. L. (1997). Willmington’s Bible handbook (802). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.