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giovedì 23 agosto 2012

GEOGRAPHY


GEOGRAPHY
In the scriptures the names of places many times have a specific meaning and those meaning often have related spiritual, symbolic meanings as well.
To illustrate what I mean, let's start with something simple. Christ died on the Golgotha or Calvary. (Calvary is the corresponding Latin word of the Hebrew word Golgotha and both mean the place of the skull or death.) It's interesting to notice that since Christ died on the top of Calvary's hill, this represents or symbolizes that Jesus had risen above death.
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The Jordan river is 682 feet under the sea's level. It's interesting to contemplate that Jesus chose to be baptised in this particular river, thereby symbolizing that He also descended below everything.
See the second picture at the bottom.
We all know that Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem. According to the Bible dictionary, in Hebrew this word means "The House of Bread" (As a side note. The word "beth" in Hebrew means "the house of".) Which better place could Jesus have been born in, seeing how He is the Bread of Life? (John 6:35)
Bethesada means " the house of the Fish", or "house of the fisherman." According to the Bible dictionary there were two places with this name. One of them was were Jesus performed the miracle the bread and fishes.
Capernaum means "village of Nahum". According to the Bible dictionary, the word "nahum: means "consoler", or "one who consoles". Jesus was the great consoler and the gospel He preached was meant to console the penitent sinner and give them hope. Jesus did not begin preaching the consoling good news until after He had been baptized and then spent forty days in the wilderness fasting. After coming out of the wilderness Luke 4:14-15 tells us, "And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of Him though all the region round about. And He taught in their Synagogues, being glorified of all." In order for His fame to have gone through out all the region, He must have done something to make Him famous. No doubt it was the miracles He performed while preaching the gospel. But where did He first go to begin His preaching after coming out of the wilderness?
Continuing in Luke 4:16-23 we read, "And He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto Him the Book of the prophet Esaias. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor, He has sent to me to heal the broken-hearted, to prech deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And He closed the book, and He gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all of them that were in the Synagogue were fastened on Him. And He began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, and they said, Is not this Joseph's son? And He said unto them. Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have hear done in CAPERNAUM, DO ALSO HERE IN THIS COUNTRY" (emphasis added).
Obviously, this implies that Jesus had done miracles in Capernaum first before coming to Nazareth. Also, from Luke's account it appears that after Jesus had fasted forty days He went first to Capernaum and then to Nazareth. According to the Bible Dictionary, "Here our Lord lived after the beginning of His ministry, so Capernaum was called `His own city' (cf Mt. 9.1 with Mk 2.1)"
So it would make sense that Jesus would begin His preaching in "His own city". That means He began preaching the gospel of consolation in "the village of the consoler."
Nazareth means "branch". It was in this town that Jesus was raised during His childhood. As such He was known as a Nazarene. Isaiah prophesied, "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a Branch shall grow out of his roots." Jesus was that branch. How fitting it is that He was known as Nazarene, or a "branch".
But the names of places aren't the only things that have spiritual significance. There is an interesting correlation between the topography of the State of Utah and the Palestine area. In Palestine, there is the Dead Sea, while in the Utah there is the Great Salt Lake. What makes this so fascinating is that it is has been found that the Great Salt Lake has the same characteristics of the Dead Sea. They both have ten time more salt than the sea!
See the first picture at the Bottom.
In the scriptures there are times when the geography of a place isn't given a specific name. In those instances, we have only a description of what the place looks like For example, in Genesis 49:1,26 we read of a blessing that Jacob gave his sons which states, "AND Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren."
This blessing declares what will happen to the seed of Joseph in THE LAST DAYS. Furthermore, it states that this blessing will extend "unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills." The question we need to ask ourselves is why doesn't the Bible give the name of these "everlasting hills," especially if the names of places have a spiritual significance? The obvious answer is that these hills don't have a name by which it can be indentified by the Israelites of that time and period. Therefore, the only way it can be described is by explaining what it looks like. Thus the geographical location where this blessing was to take place was identified as the "everlasting hills."
In Deuteronomy 33:13-17 we learn more about the blessing Joseph received. "And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, And for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh."
The place where Joseph was to receive his blessing was described as "the ancient mountains" and "the lasting hills." But where is such a place? It couldn't be in the land of Palestine because the Bible specifically states, in Joshua 16:14: "And the children of Joseph spake unto Joshua, saying, Why hast thou given me but one lot and one portion to inherit, seeing I am a great people, forasmuch as the LORD hath blessed me hitherto?" When the tribe of Joseph lived in Palestine, they had the smallest portion of the land than the other twelve tribes even though they were more numerous. Furthermore, even though there are mountains there, they couldn't be described as being the "everlasting hills." Obviously, this geographical area had to be somewhere other than Palestine, and it had to be some place which the writers of the Bible didn't know its name.
To find this place, all we need to do is look at a map. But rather than looking for a name, we need to look at something that resembles what could be described as the "lasting hills." If we look at a map of the American continent we find a mountain range that extends from the uppermost part of northern America and continues south in an unbroken line into Central American and all the way down to the very tip of South America. This mountain range doesn't have one name but several. In the north it's known as the Rocky mountains, while in the south it's known as the Andes. But regardless of its names, we see that this mountain seems to go on and on. Putting it another way, this particular mountain appears to last for a long, long time. Hence, they are the hills that last and last, or are the "lasting hills."
Furthermore, in Micaiah 4:1 we're told, "But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it." Here it is prophesied that the House of the Lord (which is the proper name for the Temple) would be found "in the top of the mountains." Jerusalem is not on top of any mountain, let alone on top of many mountains. So where are these mountains? The Bible doesn't give it a name, but it has given us a description.
Salt Lake city is situated about 1400 meters above sea's level, and is surrounded by many other mountains. Therefore it can be said without any stretch of the imagination that this city sits "in the top of the mountains" Of course, the name "Salt Lake City" was unknown to the Jews when Jacob, Isaiah, and Micah uttered their prophecies, but the description they give us of what this place looks like fits the location where Salt Lake City is located. In addition to that, there is a temple there, whose inscription states "The House of the Lord." Every year thousend of people come from every nation and literally flow to the top of these mountains to the House of the Lord, just as it was prophesied.
In Isaiah 41:8,9 we read of another place that was described rather than given a name. It reads, "But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away."
The Bible clearly states that at least part of Israel will be taken from the ends of the earth. But why doesn't Isaiah give the name of this far off place? Could it be that it's a name that wasn't known to the people of Israel? If that is so, then we must rely on the description he gives to identify this place. For Isaiah and the Jews, where would "the ends of the earth" be located? There's no doubt that the American continent would fit that description for them.
And here's another interesting part of the geographic symbolism. Remember how we saw that both the Dead Sea and the Great Salt Lake had the same great concentration of salt? It was Jesus who used the analogy of His people being the "salt of the earth" The Jews were the chosen people and they lived near a great body of salt. But they rejected their Messiah and the Lord rejected them as a people. Today there is another group of people who likewise live near at great body of salt who do accept Christ.
There are many other things which we could examine concerning the subject of geography as found in the Bible. The Lord has hiddened many pearls within its pages, but he who wishes to find them must be led from the Being who hid them in the first place. For without His help and guidance they will remain hidden.  

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