COME TO ISRAEL WITH US MARCH 30 - APRIL 12, 2014
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The "lost city" of Petra re-emerged August 22, 1812 when wealthy Swiss explorer Johann Burckhardt, disguised himself as an Arab, entered the area and came upon The Red-Rose City. Although not mentioned by name in the Bible, Edom, Mount Seir, Sela, Mount Hor, and Bozrah are located in the same general area (Jordan). The entire Petra complex, including the Ciq, is roughly twenty square miles in size. This is 12,800 acres! It is aptly referred to as "The Wonder of the Desert" and "The Red-Rose City". Zechariah 13 tells us that "two-thirds" of the people will be cut off and die". Israel's present population is about 7 million people. If two-thirds die, then there will be a little more than 2 million Jewish people left alive. Question: "Could Petra hold 2 million people?" Answer: Can 12,800 acres hold 2 million people? Yes! Do the math.
"Two-thirds of the people in the land will be cut off and die . . . but one-third will be left in the land" (Zech. 13:8).
I am presently teaching a class on the book of Genesis. We are studying sentence by sentence through the entire book. We came across the first mention of "RED" in Genesis 25. Esau's nickname became Edom (Ge. 25:25 and30), which means "RED". We became very interested in this because we believe very strongly in the principle of "first mention". So I began to do some serious study on the subject. This is the very area (now modern Jordan) where the "Edomites" settled.
The Red Rose city of Petra, Jordan, visited by one million tourists each year!
And . . . it is one of the seven modern wonders of the world.
Interesting that God would choose this place.
Because when the O.T. was written Petra did not exist!
The last book in the Old Testament (Malachi) was written in 430 B.C.
But Bozrah, Edom, and Seir, are mentioned.
These places are located in the modern nation of Jordan, and very near Petra.
Although the word "Petra" is not in the Bible, there is a subtle reference to it in Mt. 16:18 where Jesus says, "upon this rock I will build my church". In Greek Peter is "petros".
This is what I came up with:
Red, Scarlet, Crimson, and Carmine
Red: Hebrew, “ad.mo.ne”
It is the color of blood, rubies, and strawberries. It is next to orange at the end of the
visible spectrum of light. Red is
commonly associated with fire, beauty, blood, anger, danger, sacrifice, and
passion. In China red means
happiness. Red is mentioned 53 times in
the Bible.
Masai Warrior in Kenya
Scarlet: Closely associated with red is scarlet. "Sha.ne" in Hebrew, it is mentioned 52 times in
the Bible. Red in ancient Middle East comes from the insect “coccus
ilicus”,
the dried body of the female yielding coloring matter from which is
made the dye used for cloth to color it scarlet or crimson.
Crimson: "kar.mele" in Hebrew means red or carmine. It is mentioned five times in four verses of
the Bible (2 Chron. 2:7 and 14; 2 Chron. 3:14; Jer. 4:30, and, the most
familiar, Isaiah 1:18: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord:
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be
red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
Carmine: not in the Bible.
It is also called “Crimson lake”, “cochineal” and “natural Red4”.
Petra's open-air theatre could seat 6,000 people
Ge. 25:25: “The first one was very red at
birth and covered with thick hair like a fur coat. So they named him Esau.
“
Ge. 25:30: “Esau said to Jacob, ‘I’m
starved! Give me some of that red stew!’ (This is how Esau got his other name,
Edom, which means “red.”)”
Narrow entrance to Petra.
Ge. 38:28:
“While she (Tamar) was in labor, one of the babies reached out his hand.
The midwife grabbed it and tied a scarlet string around the child’s wrist,
announcing, “This one came out first.”—Perez (“breach”) and Zerah (“rising”).
Ex. 10:19: “The Lord responded by shifting the wind, and the strong west wind blew the
locusts into the Red Sea. Not
a single locust remained in all the land of Egypt.”
Ex. 25:1-4: “The Lord said to
Moses, 2 “Tell the people of Israel to
bring me their sacred offerings. Accept the contributions from all whose hearts
are moved to offer them. 3 Here is a
list of sacred offerings you may accept from them:
gold, silver, and bronze;
4 blue, purple, and scarlet thread;
fine linen and goat hair for cloth;
Numbers 19:2 “Here is another legal requirement commanded by the Lord: Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer, a perfect
animal that has no defects and has never been yoked to a plow.”
Red Heifer
Joshua 2:21
“I accept your terms,” she replied. And she sent them on their way,
leaving the scarlet rope hanging from the window.”
1 Kings 3:22: “But when they got up the next morning, the
sun was shining across the water, making it appear red to the Moabites—like
blood.
Psalm 75:8:
“For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is
full of mixture; and he poureth out the same: but the dregs thereof, all the
wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.”
Proverbs 23:31: “Don’t gaze at the wine,
seeing how red it is,
how
it sparkles in the cup, how smoothly it goes down.”
Isaiah 1:18
““Come now, let’s settle this,”
says
the Lord.
Though your sins are like scarlet,
I
will make them as white as snow.
Though they are red like crimson,
I
will make them as white as wool.”
Is. 63:2: “Why are your clothes so red,
as
if you have been treading out grapes?”
Ezekiel 23:14 “ “Then she carried her
prostitution even further. She fell in love with pictures that were painted on
a wall—pictures of Babylonian[a] military
officers, outfitted in striking red uniforms.”
Ezekiel 28:13 “You were in Eden,
the
garden of God.
Your clothing was adorned with every precious stone[a]—
red
carnelian, pale-green peridot, white moonstone,
blue-green
beryl, onyx, green jasper,
blue
lapis lazuli, turquoise, and emerald—
all beautifully crafted for you
and
set in the finest gold.
They were given to you
on
the day you were created.”
Joel 2:31
“The sun will become dark,
and
the moon will turn blood red
before
that great and terrible[a] day of the
Lord arrives.”
Daniel 5:29
“Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and
put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him,
that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.”
Nahum 2:3:
“Shields flash red in the sunlight!
See
the scarlet uniforms of the valiant troops!”
Watch as their glittering chariots move into position,
with
a forest of spears waving above them.”
Zechariah 1:8: “In a vision during the night, I saw a man
sitting on a red horse that was standing among some myrtle trees in a small
valley. Behind him were riders on red, brown, and white horses.”
Matthew 27:28 “And they stripped him (Jesus), and put on
him a scarlet robe.”
Acts 2:20
“The sun will become dark,
and
the moon will turn blood red
before
that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives.”
Hebrews 9:19 “For when Moses had spoken every precept to
all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats,
with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all
the people, . . .”
Revelation 6:4 “Then another horse appeared, a red one. Its
rider was given a mighty sword and the authority to take peace from the earth.
And there was war and slaughter everywhere.”
Revelation 6:12 “ I watched as the Lamb broke
the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became as dark as
black cloth, and the moon became as red as blood.”
Revelation 9:17 “And in my vision, I saw the horses and the
riders sitting on them. The riders wore armor that was fiery red and dark blue
and yellow. The horses had heads like lions, and fire and smoke and burning sulfur
billowed from their mouths.”
Revelation 12:3 “Then I witnessed in heaven another
significant event. I saw a large red dragon with seven heads and ten horns,
with seven crowns on his heads.”
Revelation 17:3-4 “So he carried me away in the spirit into
the wilderness: and I saw a woman (the imitator) sit upon a scarlet colored
beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in
purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls,
having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her
fornication:”
Revelation
19:11-16 “Then I saw heaven opened, and
a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he
judges fairly and wages a righteous war. 12 His
eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was
written on him that no one understood except himself. 13 He
wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven, dressed in the finest of
pure white linen, followed him on white horses. 15 From
his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down the nations. He will rule them with
an iron rod. He will release the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, like juice
flowing from a winepress. 16 On his
robe at his thigh[a] was
written this title: King of all kings and Lord of all lords.”
You may never have heard of Petra! But it is one of the seven wonders of the modern world, located in the country of Jordan. My Jewish friend in Jerusalem has been there more than 1,000 times. Yes, this is not a typo. He has been there more than 1,000 times. Petra is also called "The Red Rose City", because it is carved from a red-colored rock cliff.
Near Petra is a city mentioned in the Bible: Bozrah.
Why do I mention this?
Revelation 14:20 predicts that blood (red) will flow in a stream for 180 miles and as high as a horse's bridle. How could this happen?
The Bible also tells us that "overflowing rain", "hail", and mud will be mixed with the blood (red).
So I got out my map of the Middle East one day and did some measuring.
The hair on my arm stood up when I realized that from Haifa, Israel to Bozrah, Jordan is about 180 miles! Part of this valley is Megiddo. It is also called the Jezreel Valley.
Talk about the ACCURACY of the Bible!
Another scene from Petra.
I challenge you to look up every reference to Bozrah and see what the Holy Spirit reveals to you. Bozrah means "sheep pen" in Hebrew. Ge. 36:33; 1 Chron. 1:44; Is. 34:6 and 63:1; Jer. 48:24 and 49:13,22; Amos 1:12; and Micah 2:12.
An email in response to this article from Shirley Estill:
Enjoyed your teaching on the blog. Haven't looked up the other scriptures yet. The ashes of the red heifer have always been one of my study subjects. The blood line through the Bible also. To me the Blood is Christ Himself Savior, protector, cleanser, redeemer, friend, life itself! Thanks for all your teaching and comments..wonderful."
The Nabataeans carved this "city" out of a solid red-colored rock cliff in about 300 B.C. Read mor about Petra: http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/discovery-petra
The wealthy Swiss man who disguised himself as an Arab not only re-discovered Petra in 1812, but went on to visit Mecca and Medina, a city off- limits to "infidels". Bet you've never been there!
"I cannot worship a guy I can beat up! But I can worship the Mighty Jesus who treads the winepress ALONE." See Is. 63:3, Joel 3:13 and Rev. 14:19-20.
Now you're getting closer . . .
Oh . . . the Sunday School crowd won't know what hit 'em when he shows up!
)
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