THE WESTERN WALL OF THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM

THE WESTERN WALL OF THE TEMPLE in Jerusalem

 During each Holy Land Pilgrimage our Lakes Church Lead Pastor Dr. Aaron D. Burgner shared with us the biblical and historical significance of The Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem. Walking up to the Western Wall, I am struck with the reality of the exact location where I am. When Herod renovated the second temple at the end of the first century before Christ, he shored up the temple plaza on all sides by massive walls, up to six stories high. Although only half that height is visible above ground level today, the Western Wall is still impressive, particularly the 165-foot portion known also as the Wailing Wall. I approach the Western Wall, reach out my hand and touch the unusually smooth surface of these formerly rough stones, made so smooth by so many people touching them over the centuries. This wall would have been just on the other side of the Holy-of-Holies in the Tabernacle. I wrote my prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, give us a heart and mind which worships You as the One and Only Holy God...” 

          I signed my name and the names of my closest family members, folded the paper and placed it in the small cracks between the smooth stones of the Western Wall, along with thousands of other small pieces of paper placed there each day. Out of all the world, the Jews had been God's chosen people. To the Jews alone had God miraculously appeared in the cloud and in the sea. When the Glory of the Lord filled the temple, God was literally present in the midst of His people! “Destroy this temple,” Jesus said, “and I will raise it again in three days.” But the temple of which Jesus had spoken was His own crucified body. One day it was as dead as the stone covering His tomb, three days later it was brought back to life again by the incomparable power of His Resurrection! And here lies our hope. “Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?” As I walk away from the Western Wall, I have not taken even the first step away from God's Presence—the Spirit of Christ Who dwells in the innermost part of me, taking Authority over my soul—the seat of my emotions, and my body—my fleshly desires and appetites. All Praise, Honor, and Glory to You, my Lord and my Savior Jesus Christ, the One and Only Son of the Living God.
          How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty. I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord. With my whole being, body and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God.—Psalm 84:1-2 Because we can worship God anyplace and anytime, we might fail to understand the psalmist’s longing. In Old Testament times a person made a pilgrimage to worship God. It was a yearly event and often involved a lengthy journey. That is why the psalmist sang of a dwelling place where he could be in the presence of the Lord. It’s why he expressed a desire to be even a lowly gatekeeper in God’s house (v. 10) so that he could worship God every single day! We have available to us what the psalmist could only hope for. When Christ hung on the cross, the heavy veil separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple ripped from top to bottom. This symbolic act shouted to the world that believers were no longer required to stand at a distance. We can walk into God’s presence and commune with him by name. Today many religions continue to require a pilgrimage to worship their gods. Christ made a way for you by making a pilgrimage of his own—the long, lonely walk to the cross—so that you could praise him wherever you are.
          LORD JESUS, I am thankful that I can worship you right where I am. I will enter your courts with thanksgiving. I will kneel at the mercy seat and find forgiveness. I will call out your name in praise. Lord, I pray for those who do not have intimacy with the living God. You have already made the pilgrimage for them. Open their eyes to see that they can find you right here, right now. Amen.

          Look Up—meditate on Psalm 84:1-2 …pray to see what it reveals about the character of God.
          Look In—as you meditate on Psalm 84:1-2 …pray to see how you might apply it to your life. Be propelled to ask galvanizing questions about your discoveries: "Because God is_________, I will_____________."
          Look Out—as you meditate on Psalm 84:1-2 …pray to see how you might apply it to your relationships with others. Let the nature of God impact on every relationship, for your good, and for His glory.         

* If you liked this post, you will LOVE this new book: "Memorable Moments in the Holy Land," available on Amazon at this link:  https://a.co/d/06G79jQm

 

THE SOUTHERN STEPS OF THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM

 Lakes Church Lead Pastor Dr. Aaron D. Burgner teaching on the Southern Steps 

of the Temple in Jerusalem

THE SOUTHERN STEPS OF THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM

During each of our Holy Land Pilgrimages Lakes Church Lead Pastor Dr. Aaron D. Burgner taught extensively from the Southern Steps of the Temple in Jerusalem. So, what happened at the Southern Steps?  We know for sure that is where Jesus walked and taught. When Neil Armstrong visited Israel in 1994, he asked his host if there was a place where Jesus would have walked—without a doubt—2,000 years ago. His host, Archaeologist Meir Ben Dov and the excavator of the Temple Mount and southern walls in Jerusalem, answered that the Southern Steps were, for sure, the steps that Jesus would have used when He walked up to the Temple. Mr. Armstrong bent down and kissed the ground, saying that this was an even more exciting moment for him than walking on the moon.  If you were to go to Israel today and wanted to walk where you knew Jesus would have walked, you would go to the Southern Steps. That’s because the southern steps, which have been excavated in recent years, served as the main entrance to the entire Temple Mount complex. We know from Scripture that Jesus went to the Temple several times throughout His life.  The Temple itself has since been destroyed, and the Temple Courts are buried under years of civilization and rebuilding.  But the southern steps can still be walked upon today.
          The Bible says that Jesus first visited the Temple as a child, when Mary and Joseph brought Him here to be consecrated to the Lord (see Luke 2:21-40). The family then came back to Jerusalem year after year, as was their custom, for the yearly Feast of the Passover (Luke 2:41). It was on one of these trips that Mary and Joseph lost Jesus as they were traveling back home, thinking that He was traveling back with relatives or friends.  After searching for Him for three days, they finally found Him, back in Jerusalem in the Temple Courts.  He was sitting among the teachers, listening to them, and asking them questions.  Upon hearing that His parents had been anxiously searching for Him, Jesus replied: “Why were you searching for me?  Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49). Then as an adult, Jesus often taught crowds of people there at the Temple Courts.  The Bible says that during the final week of His life: “Each day Jesus was teaching at the Temple, and each evening He went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives, and all the people came early in the morning to hear Him at the Temple.” (Luke 21:37-38). If just walking where Jesus walked sounds exciting—like it was to Neil Armstrong—imagine what it would have been like to hear Him speak! 
          Imagine being there in person, back in 33 A.D., and listening to the words that Jesus spoke, coming from His own mouth! Imagine hearing Jesus tell some of His parables for the very first time, right there in the Temple Courts: the parable of the two sons, or of the ungrateful tenants, or of the wedding banquet of a king. Imagine Jesus answering people’s questions, whether honest and practical questions, or those that were asked by people in order to trap Him, with words that astonished all who heard them and silenced His critics. Imagine hearing Jesus answer the question about whether or not it was right to pay taxes to Caesar, and then hearing Jesus ask you to take out a coin with Caesar’s image on it and saying: “Give to Caesar’s what is Caesar’s, and give to God what is God’s” (Matthew 22:21). Or imagine Him answering the question about the resurrection of the dead, and whether or not people would really live again after they died, and hearing Jesus say: “Have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living” (Matthew 22:31b-32). Or imagine Jesus being asked what He thought was the greatest commandment in the law, and hearing Jesus say for the first time: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Matthew 22:37-38). Or imagine watching, along with Jesus, as a poor widow passed in front of you and put two very small coins into the Temple offering, and hearing Jesus say: “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on”  (Luke 21:2-4). All of these things took place at the Temple Courts.  No wonder the Bible says that all those who heard Jesus speak there—even when He was just twelve—were “…amazed at His understanding and His answers” (Luke 2:47). No wonder the Bible says that the crowds who heard Jesus speak at the Temple Courts as an adult were “…astonished at His teaching” (Matthew 22:33b). No wonder the Bible says that when He spoke during the feast that “…all the people came early in the morning to hear Him at the Temple” (Luke 21:38).
          Jesus isn’t a teacher who is now dead and silent.  He’s just as alive and eager to speak to you today as He was back then.  As the Bible says: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
          What a blessing it is to be able to walk where Jesus walked, as Neil Armstrong did, and what a blessing it would have been to hear Him teach in person at the Temple Courts. But what a blessing it is that we can still come to Him every day, whether early in the morning, throughout the day, or late in the day, and hear the wisdom of God as spoken through Jesus Christ Himself. Come to Christ again today—and every day—and let Him speak His words of life to you.
          Father, thank You for sending Jesus to speak to the crowds at the Temple, and thank You for those who recorded His words so we can continue to hear Him speak to us today.  Open our hearts to hear those words as we come to You again today and every day.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.
          Look Up—meditate on Hebrews 13:8 … pray to see what it reveals about the character of God.
          Look In—as you meditate on Hebrews 13:8 … pray to see how you might apply it to your life. Be propelled to ask galvanizing questions about your discoveries: "Because God is_________, I will_____________."
          Look Out—as you meditate on Hebrews 13:8 …pray to see how you might apply it to your relationships with others. Let the nature of God impact on every relationship, for your good, and for His glory.

* If you liked this post, you will LOVE this new book: Memorable Moments in the Holy Land, available on Amazon at this link:  https://a.co/d/06G79jQm