We are in Tel Aviv, about to go to sleep before another early morning. Miles is doing better each day and can pretty much eat anything now.
What a long day yesterday. I woke up at 4:30 a.m. Athens time. We had breakfast by 6:45 a.m. and were on the road by 8:00 a.m. We went to Corinth, first stopping to view the canal that runs between the Ionian and Aegian seas, a canal that was first planned in 700 B.C., but that was not completed until the late 1800s. The canal meant that ships would not have to travel around the Peloponnesian peninsula. The commerce between the countries surrounding those two bodies of water is what made Corinth such a thriving city when Paul stopped there in the first century. Corinth was probably a city of 700,000 at that time and Athens was a city of only 30,000 or so at the time.
I was in Corinth in 1980 and the excavation seems 2-3 times as big as it was then. Some highlights from ancient Corinth. First, this was a really elaborate city and was probably the San Francisco of its day. There were baths for the people arriving at the city from out of town as well as public restrooms. The restrooms including strings of toilets side by side and cut out of slabs of rock. The water flowed through a plumbing system that started at natural springs, fed the baths, and then flowed under the toilets and took everything down to the sea. Kind of interesting to think that the apostle Paul probably sat on one of those toilets.
Corinth is where Paul worked as a tent maker and met fellow tent makers, Aquila and Priscilla. Several influential gentiles (Roman and Greek) came to Christ here as well as Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue. Sosthenes was beaten by the other Jews at the Bema Seat, where the Roman governor judged cases. The Bema Seat is still there. The city treasurer, Erastus, came to Christ and assisted Paul in his ministry. There is a stone pavement honoring Erastus in the ancient city of Corinth. Paul spent a year and a half in the city and his ministry became more focused on the Gentiles during his time in this city.
Paul in the patron saint of the Greek people. 97-98% of Greeks consider themselves to be “Christians,” nearly all of them Greek Orthodox. Their faith is clearly cultural, not a living faith for most Greeks.
From Corinth, we went to Mars Hill, where we gathered to hear Mark Driscoll preach a message using Paul’s message to the Areopagas on Mars Hill. Paul’s first convert in Athens was Dionysis (our name, Dennis), a leader of the city. He eventually became the bishop of Athens and many monuments around the city honor him.
It was kind of surreal watching Mark Driscoll preach there with three cameras and an elaborate sound system. We will also hear Mark preach on the Mount of Beatitudes in Galilee.
We went back to the hotel in Athens, showered, took a brief nap, ate dinner at 9 p.m., then got on the bus by 10:30 p.m. in order to get to the airport. We killed a lot of time on the bus and at the airport. Miles and I got to nap for an hour or so at the airport. The flight didn’t leave until 2:30 p.m. What a miserable night. We arrived in Tel Aviv at 4:30 a.m. and the airport was in full swing – very busy.
On the flight, I sat next to a woman from Germany who is on the trip. We have 3 Germans along with people from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and England. They all follow Mark Driscoll online.
The Tel Aviv airport is only 4 years old and is very clean and modern. We went to a Kibbutz for breakfast, where we had very fresh and tasty food. We next went to Joppa, where Peter raised Tabitha from the dead and stayed on the home of Simon the Tanner, overlooking the Mediterranean. It was there that Peter received his vision of the food on the sheet. Messengers Cornelius met him there and took him to Cesaerea. We will go there tomorrow. Joppa is next to Tel Aviv. Joppa is also where Jonah caught the boat when running away from the Lord.
Our tour guide is Jewish, but he has a working knowledge of the New Testament. It amazes me that he can know who Jesus is and know the stories and know of the resurrection and ascension and the book of Acts, but not be a follower of Jesus Christ as Messiah!
The beaches in Tel Aviv are very nice and the water is 86 degrees! The water is blue and fairly clear, but this time of the year the current brings raw sewage into the area, so we are not going into the water.
We took a 6 hour nap this afternoon and then had a great dinner. Again, the Israeli food is fresh and tasty. The salads are as fresh as any salads that I have ever tasted. The fruit markets are packed with beautiful fresh fruit. We can see why the Israelites were told that this is a land flowing with milk and honey and why fruit is such an apt illustration of what should flow from our lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment