Did you follow last night's Democratic presidential debate?  Both candidates tried to tell us who they are and who their opponent is.  Not surprisingly, each disagreed with the other on both subjects.  That's the way of politics.

This week we are engaged in a tour of the Holy Land for the heart.  Today we travel north along the Syrian border into the Golan Heights, where we will join Jesus and his disciples at a place called Caesarea Philippi.  (For pictures of the site, visit www.bibleplaces.com/banias.htm.)  Here we will learn precisely who Jesus is, and why that fact changed human history forever.

Herod Philip, the son of Herod the Great, built a temple here for the worship of Caesar (hence the name Caesarea Philippi).  Fourteen temples to the worship of the Canaanite fertility god Baal were scattered around the region.  One of the springs of the Jordan River flows from the area, reminding the Jews of their most sacred river.  Personal idols were placed by travelers in niches carved in the rock of the cliff facing the river.

Jesus and his disciples hiked up here, 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee, for one of the most important conversations in biblical history.  Surrounded by idols and reminders of every god and religion known to their culture, Jesus asked his followers the crucial question: "Who do you say I am?" (Matthew 16:25).  Peter's now-famous reply is still the central assertion of the Christian faith today: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (v. 16).  In response Jesus claimed, "On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not withstand its assault" (v. 18, my translation).

The disciples knew just what Jesus meant.  Behind them, dominating their surroundings, was a giant cavern called the "grotto of Pan."  From it flowed a spring which bored so deeply into the earth that the ancients referred to it as the "gates of the underworld."  A century ago an earthquake shifted the spring from the cavern, so that we can explore it today.  Jesus' point was clear: when his followers attack the stronghold of the enemy, liberating people trapped on the other side of the gates of hell, we win.

Has God called you to trust him in some new step of faith?  His will never leads where his grace cannot sustain.  So step into the torrential Jordan River and it will stop its flood.  March around Jericho and its walls will crumble.  Preach the gospel and the Spirit will fall.  Worship Jesus on your Patmos and he will reveal himself to you.  Attack the gates of hell and God will give you the victory.  Why not today?

Copyright © 2008. GodIssues.com.  All rights reserved.