By Stephen Faircloth

The land of Israel is marked by one of the most dramatic geographical features on earth—the Rift Valley. Carved by shifting tectonic plates, this great scar runs through the land as part of the Syro-African Rift, the longest fracture line on the planet. In Israel, this valley is best known as the Jordan River Valley, for the river that winds its way through its depths.

The Jordan begins south of Mount Hermon, where three streams join together to form its headwaters. From there, the river flows through the fertile Huleh Valley, pours into the Sea of Galilee, and then continues its southward journey. Over just sixty-five miles of descent, the Jordan drops more than 1,900 feet before emptying into the Dead Sea. Along the way, it twists and meanders nearly two hundred miles, shaping both the land and the biblical story.

The river plays a central role in Scripture. Israel crossed the Jordan at flood stage to enter the Promised Land, a moment of faith and fulfillment (Joshua 3-4). Elijah and Elisha crossed its waters on the prophet’s final day before being taken into heaven, and Elisha later parted the waters again with Elijah’s mantle (2 Kings 2).

Naaman the Syrian dipped seven times in the Jordan and was healed of his disease (2 Kings 5:14). Centuries later, John the Baptist carried out his ministry in the region of the Jordan, calling Israel to repentance and baptizing Jesus in its waters.

The Jordan often served as a boundary, marking transitions between wilderness and promise, between old life and new. For the Israelites, crossing the river meant leaving behind the wandering years and stepping into God’s inheritance. For Naaman, it was obedience in humility that led to cleansing. For Jesus, the waters marked the beginning of His public ministry and the Father’s declaration, “You are My beloved Son.”

Today, pilgrims still gather along the Jordan to remember and to renew. The river’s winding course reminds us that God often leads us on unexpected paths, yet always toward His purposes. The waters of the Jordan invite us to trust Him at the thresholds of our own lives.

The Jordan River serves as one of the central geographic boundaries and features that plays so prominently in so many biblical stories.

What “Jordan” lies before you today? Is God calling you to step into something new, to trust Him in transition, or to let Him cleanse what you cannot heal on your own?

Stephen Faircloth is the President of CBN Israel, an initiative dedicated to sharing the true story of the Jewish nation and inspiring a global community of Christians to stand with Israel and support her people in need. Our vision is to reshape the global conversation about Israel by fostering understanding, hope, and healing between Jews and Christians around the world. For more than 50 years, the Christian Broadcasting Network has supported Israel. By joining CBN Israel, you become part of this enduring legacy, transforming lives today and strengthening Christian support for Israel for generations to come.

By Marc Turnage

The Mount of Olives is a north-south ridge that sits on the eastern watershed of the hills around Jerusalem. To its east, the land slopes drastically down towards the Jordan River Valley and the area around Jericho, towards the Dead Sea. 

The steep fall-off of the topography east of the Mount of Olives, together with the weather patterns coming from the west off the Mediterranean Sea, which causes the rain to fall along the heights of the hill country, means that the land to the east of the Mount of Olives sits in the rain shadow, with little vegetation. This wilderness provided refuge for those seeking concealment from the authorities. When David fled Jerusalem from Absalom (2 Samuel 15:13-23), he went over the Mount of Olives into this wilderness seeking refuge.

The Mount of Olives in antiquity never belonged inside the city of Jerusalem. It always sat as its eastern boundary separated from the city of Jerusalem by the Kidron Valley. The Mount of Olives also served as Jerusalem’s cemetery beginning in the Chalcolithic period (Stone Age). Tombs from the time of the Judean monarchy (Old Testament), as well as the first century (New Testament) have been discovered on the Mount of Olives. At the foot of the mountain sit three monumentally decorated tombs from the first centuries B.C. and A.D., one of which is the misnamed Tomb of Absalom. 

When Jesus entered Jerusalem on His “Triumphal Entry” (Luke 19:28-29), He approached the city from the Mount of Olives. Pilgrims to Jerusalem today can walk down the Mount of Olives on the “Palm Sunday” processional route, but this would not have been the path Jesus took, as it led through a first century cemetery, which would have rendered Him ritually impure prohibiting Him from entering the Temple. Most likely His route would have taken Him over one the saddles of the ridge on either its northern or southern part. 

The prophet Zechariah proclaimed that at the end of the age, when God’s kingdom is revealed in all the world, that He will stand on the Mount of Olives, which will split east to west, opening a chasm that will cause the mountain to move to the north and south (Zechariah 14:4). The Mount of Olives is not only connected to Jerusalem’s history in both the Old and New Testaments; it is also directly linked to its future. 

Marc Turnage is President/CEO of Biblical Expeditions. He is an authority on ancient Judaism and Christian origins. He has published widely for both academic and popular audiences. His most recent book, Windows into the Bible, was named by Outreach Magazine as one of its top 100 Christian living resources. Marc is a widely sought-after speaker and a gifted teacher. He has been guiding groups to the lands of the Bible—Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy—for over twenty years.

Website: WITBUniversity.com
Facebook: @witbuniversity
Podcast: Windows into the Bible Podcast

“You are to count seven weeks, counting the weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain. You are to celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the LORD your God with a freewill offering that you give in proportion to how the LORD your God has blessed you. Rejoice before Yahweh your God in the place where He chooses to have His name dwell—you, your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the Levite within your gates, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow among you. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt; carefully follow these statutes” (Deuteronomy 16:9-12 HCSB).

Moses outlined for the Israelites the ordinances of the Festival of Weeks (Shavuot or Pentecost). This festival commemorated the harvest seven weeks and one day (50 days, hence “Pentecost”) after the first Sabbath following the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

The festival was to be a celebration marked by a freewill offering—an offering “that you give in proportion to how the LORD your God has blessed you.”  

The festivals and rituals that God gave to the Israelites served as reminders of His participation in their daily lives. Agriculture did not depend upon the farmer and his ingenuity or the luck of the weather; rather, God Himself blessed and provided for the daily needs of the people. The rituals and festivals functioned as reminders of God’s nearness and called upon the Israelites to give thanks, to rejoice.

The Israelites celebrated Pentecost not only within their families but also with their communities. Three groups of people are specifically identified as participating in the celebration of the festival: strangers, orphans, and widows. These three groups lacked a legal advocate within ancient Israel, which is why God often describes Himself, the just Judge, as the defender of these three groups. 

In the midst of the celebration, God calls on the Israelites to remember those on the fringes of their society and to bring them into the festivities. The basis for this action is provided in Deuteronomy 24:18 HCSB: “Remember that you were a slave in Egypt.”

You were once an outcast, someone at the bottom of the social world, so remember and bring those at the bottom of your world into your celebration of the Lord’s blessing. 

Do we see God’s care in every facet of our lives? Do we celebrate it and remind ourselves to rejoice at His provision? Do we share our blessings with those on the fringes of our own society? This was God’s expectation of the ancient Israelites when they celebrated Shavuot. He expects the same from us.

PRAYER

Father, thank You for Your daily provision in my life. As a sign of my thanksgiving, may I share Your blessings in my life with others. Amen.

By Julie Stahl

God commanded the Jewish people to come up to Jerusalem three times a year. One of those occasions is for Shavuot.

“Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed” (Deuteronomy 16:16).

And in Exodus 34:22 we read, “You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end.”

The New Testament records that Jews were gathered in Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit was poured out on Pentecost.

“When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1-4).

What’s the connection between God giving the Law to Moses and pouring out His Holy Spirit? Both are celebrated on the biblical Feast of Weeks or Shavuot, known in the New Testament as Pentecost. 

Fifty days (about seven weeks) after Passover, the Jewish people celebrate Shavuot (“weeks” in Hebrew), also known as the Feast or Festival of Weeks. In the same way, Christians celebrate Pentecost (“50 days” in Greek).

Many Jewish people stay up all night on Shavuot to study the Scriptures. Before dawn, those in Jerusalem head to the Western Wall on foot where they pray and bless God. The Ten Commandments are read, and in many communities, the book of Ruth is also read.

According to Jewish tradition, it was on Shavuot that God called Moses up to Mount Sinai and gave him the Law—the two tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written, as well as the entire Torah.

“There are so many beautiful parallels that take place for Shavuot,” said Boaz Michael, founder of First Fruits of Zion. “Imagine Mount Sinai with the mountains above it, the covenant given to the people of Israel. This reminds us of a chuppah (canopy) over a bride and a groom. It tells us that God is making a covenant with His bride, Israel. There’s a marriage that takes place.”

Michael told CBN News: “Shavuot is a celebration of the giving of the commandments, but more than that—we’ve been redeemed from Egypt. We’ve wandered through the wilderness. We’ve come to Mount Sinai, and we enter into an intimate relationship with God through the giving of His commandments and then the covenant that He gives to us, the Torah, at Mount Sinai.”

He further explained, “That links us to Acts 1:8, where tells His disciples to take His message to Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria and to all the ends of the earth.”

Julie Stahl is a correspondent for CBN News in the Middle East. A Hebrew speaker, she has been covering news in Israel full-time for more than 20 years. Julie’s life as a journalist has been intertwined with CBN—first as a graduate student in Journalism at Regent University; then as a journalist with Middle East Television (METV) when it was owned by CBN from 1989-91; and now with the Middle East Bureau of CBN News in Jerusalem since 2009. She is also an integral part of CBN News’ award-winning show, Jerusalem Dateline, a weekly news program providing a biblical and prophetic perspective to what is happening in Israel and the Middle East.