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In the Holy Land
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I am writing this from Israel! Yes, I made it safely over and I am loving every minute exploring the land of the Bible. We explored several sites in Jerusalem, and we've been down to the Negev-the desert at the south of the country. Today we have a rare rest day before we head to Galilee in the north.
There have been several emotional moments for me: praying at the Western Wall, spending time alone in the Wilderness, and seeing altars or idols from centuries ago. It was amazing to walk on stones from the time of Herod the Great-the same stones that were there in the time of Jesus.
So far our team of 41 is tired and happy. We have been too busy taking in all the sights to get grumpy. Please pray for a continued excitement and a growing sense of unity as we spend our last week together.
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Dissertation update
Thank you for praying for my dissertation topic. The fact that I got on the plane to Israel at all is a miracle in itself. When I left you hanging, my topic had already been written about and my advisor was suggesting I start afresh with a new topic. But when I looked at the work involved in that I decided to take one last look at my topic.
Praise God I was able to rework my study of resurrection in the Old Testament so I would write on an aspect that had not been covered very much. Every scholar acknowledges the clear reference to bodily resurrection in Daniel 12:1-3. Some say this is the only reference to resurrection in the Old Testament, others point to verses like: Hosea 6:1-3, Isaiah 53:10-12, Isaiah 25:8, Isaiah 26:19, and Ezekiel 37:1-14. However the New Testament authors do not use any of these, yet they clearly affirm that resurrection was "according to the Scriptures" meaning the Old Testament (Luke 24:45-46, John 20:9, 1 Cor 15:3). Taking a cue from Jesus' rebuke to the Sadducees, my dissertation title is now: 'You are in Error': The New Testament's Assertion of Resurrection from Hebrew Scripture.
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