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| Copyright © 2004 by The Voice of Prophecy |
| David B. Smith |
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P.O.
Box 53055 |
| December 4/5, 2004 |
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Two Caves Near Bethlehem
CONNIE: Hello, I’m Connie Jeffery. CONNIE: Welcome to the Voice of Prophecy weekend broadcast. LONNIE: And welcome to the month of December--Christmas month.` CONNIE: And a special welcome as we begin our Christmas series called AThe Story Behind the Christmas Story. LONNIE: Our next four programs will break out of our usual sequence in which we give an overview of a Bible book one week and focus on a gospel story the following week. CONNIE: We’ll be totally focused on the gospel in these programs leading up to the Christmas holiday. LONNIE: We think you’ll enjoy this special focus on God’s gift of His Son to the world--and we’ll be looking at some interesting sidelights to the story that you’ve probably never heard before.` CONNIE: And along with that, we’ll focus on some special Christmas music. We’ll be interviewing well-known musicians about their music, and their personal appreciation of what Jesus has done in their lives. LONNIE: Today we welcome Michael J. Harris to our studio. I met Michael a few years back, but it was just a few weeks ago that I was in a meeting where you spoke, Michael. I was deeply impressed by your personal testimony. MICHAEL: Thank you Lonnie, in fact I was born and raised in Chicago in a very gang and drug infested community on the south side of Chicago. I began to use drugs as a young man thinking I could pick them up and put them down when I wanted to. I thought that I was in control of my life. Then, I moved on and I was enlisted in the United States Navy. Trying to get away from the lifestyle on the south side of Chicago and I continued to use these gateway drugs the alcohol, the marijuana, and the cigarettes, thinking that I was in control. I thought I was living a dual lifestyle hiding my drug and alcohol lifestyle from my superiors, but there was one whose heart I was breaking each time I decided to use drugs and alcohol. LONNIE: Someone who you couldn’t see, but He was there watching over. MICHAEL: And He continues to love us even in spite of ourselves, you know. LONNIE: What happened here is a dramatic moment that just rips my heart when I hear you share the testimony that of whattook place that affected someone else, in a very permanent way. MICHAEL: Well, the Lord brought a very beautiful woman
into my life by the name of Amber. My wife is from the Fiji islands, and
when I met her I fell in love with her immediately. ` LONNIE: Oh my! MICHAEL: I jumped out of the car in a very cold dark desert at two in the morning trying to locate her, but I couldn’t find her for several minutes, and when I finally found her she was suffering from a broken neck. I ran into the highway immediately to try to get someone to help me, but do you know that no one would stop for me in the darkness. By now all I could do is go back to my wife with tears in my eyes and I said “Honey no one is going to stop for me.” LONNIE: Oh my! Out in the middle of nowhere and she’s dying and your not able to get anyone to help you. MICHAEL: And I cried out “Honey please don’t die! I love you, and I’ll take care of you for the rest of my life.” And I know that God came into my wife’s heart and began to minister to her, because immediately she looked at me with a big smile on her face even during this time of pain and trouble for her. And she just said “Michael pull yourself together. If you have to get run over by a car, get us some help.” LONNIE: Hmmm. MICHAEL: Well, I stood right in the middle of the highway and cars were swerving around me it was a big commotion, but no one would stop for me. LONNIE: They couldn’t see your car. They didn’t know you. They thought you were some wild man out there. MICHAEL: Yes, my car was hidden in a gully and the lights were out. But as I said, this accident occurred two o’ clock in the morning, and by the time Amber and I got in the hospital and got help it was-seven thirty in the morning. Amber lay in the Desert for about five and a half hours before she received medical attention, and when we got into the hospital the doctor told Amber she had a one percent chance of ever walking again. Immediately Amber told the doctors “Who do you think you are? God? If my Lord and Savior wills me to walk again, then you better believe it’s going to happen no matter how you diagnose me!” ` You know Lonnie, I was living my life in somewhat of a tomb, I had a lot of past issues and I thought that the drugs and alcohol would take care of all that pain that I was suffering. But, all I was doing was compounding my problem and I was literally sealing my tomb by using drugs and alcohol. LONNIE: Now the incredible part of the story is not that God worked some miraculous magical wonder over the life over the physical life of Amber. In fact she today is in a wheelchair. MICHAEL: Yes, for fourteen years she’s been in a wheelchair, but God has blessed her so much that our marriage is more beautiful then it was in the beginning. LONNIE: And God has touched your life and has brought you out of death and the tomb to resurrection and a whole new life and ministry never dreamed possible. MICHAEL: Well, you know what, I read somewhere that we are to be co-workers for Christ and He says “Behold I stand at the door and knock@ and if we open the door and allow Him to come in we will begin to experience a joy that surpasses all understanding. LONNIE: Look at for how He answers your prayers and there is more than one way. One of the big surprises that you discover in life with Jesus Christ, out of the tomb. When someone said “Michael you have a great baritone voice you ought to sing.” You never had sung in your life. You’ve done a number of albums and you’re about to share, tell us about the song you’re going to sing right now. MICHAEL: I’m going to sing a song “Born to die”. You
see because Jesus left all of His glory above and He came down to this
earth and he hung on a cross. There are many people mourning and weeping
because of His death on the cross. But, that was the very reason why He
came was to give us all victory through His blood, and I have received
the victory by the way of the one step program through Christ Jesus that
day on the cross.` CONNIE: And don’t you have some other CD’s available? MICHAEL: Yes the album you just listened to was called AMerry Christmas With Love@ but I have six other albums on the Chapel label. CONNIE: There are other CDs available, and information
about them can be found at our website, www.vop.com. ` CONNIE: That’s at www.vop.com. ` LONNIE: That’s right, Connie. Last year Ken Wade and I took a camera crew to Israel with us, and filmed programs on this theme at the very locations where they occurred. It was a fascinating, busy time, and I must say I learned a lot in the process of producing those programs. CONNIE: Is there any way our listeners can view these programs? LONNIE: In fact there are a couple of ways. They’re being aired all this month on the 3ABN satellite network that’s available on the Sky Angel system, Sunday mornings at 7:30 AM and Saturday mornings just after midnight at 12:30 AM Pacific time. CONNIE: So in Eastern time that would be 10:30 Sunday
and 3:30 AM Saturday. And that’s on the 3ABN satellite network that’s
part of the Sky Angel system.LONNIE: Schedule information for all our
broadcasts is also available on our website at www.vop.com. ` LONNIE: Yes, they can be purchased at our online bookstore at our website, or by credit card at our regular request number 1-800-872-0055. And the cost is very reasonable. Four half-hour programs shot on-location in Israel just last year, exploring the story behind the Christmas story, and we're making them available for just $20.00 to our listeners. CONNIE: We’ll mention this special offer again at the end of the program, but right now Ken Wade is going to tell us a little about how this fascinating series came about. KEN: My wife and I had the privilege of visiting Israel for the first time in 1983, and a serendipitous discovery while driving the back roads planted the seeds of this program that we call ATwo Caves Near Bethlehem. We rented a little red Ford Fiesta to drive around the country, and early one morning we headed for Bethlehem. But by time we got there Manger Square was full of tourist busses, so we decided to explore the area around where Jesus was born. That’s how we happened onto the place called Herodion. Our jaws dropped as we rounded a corner and suddenly saw the volcano-like hill that King Herod had hollowed out to build himself a palace. I had never heard of the place--had never even seen pictures of it as I researched places to visit in Israel. But it certainly seemed worth a visit. Our little side trip had led us to what I still consider one of the most fascinating archaeological sites in all of the Holy Land. It’s a conical hill, chopped off at the top and hollowed out to form a fortress-palace for King Herod, known to us as Herod the Great, the man who tried to kill Jesus shortly after the Savior was born in Bethlehem. We explored the site briefly, then went on our way. It wasn’t until several years later that I learned the real significance of the place, and what part it plays in the Christmas story. For, you see, it was there, beside that hollowed-out hill just a few miles from downtown Bethlehem, that Herod planned to be buried. In fact, preparations for his burial were probably underway on the very night that Jesus was born, for Herod was old and almost on his deathbed by that time. And though his tomb has never been found, we can be sure it was no hastily-dug pit. Herod was well known for the grandeur of the structures he erected, so his tomb was probably an elaborate excavation that required several years to fully outfit to receive his body. Herod’s last excavation--the Acave@ where he was buried--has been lost to history. But there’s another cave nearby that’s one of the best-known, most-often-visited caves on earth. It’s the cave where a lowly manger--a feeding trough for animals--cradled a tiny baby--no king with earthly pomp and power, but a king nonetheless. That humble cave was where it all began--a reign that would one day far exceed any splendor Herod could ever have imagined. CONNIE: Thanks Ken. You’ve whetted our appetite for
the story of Two Caves Near Bethlehem. Lonnie, share with us.` Two Caves Near Bethlehem ` There’s a tombstone in Cripplecreek, Colorado that summarizes one man’s life in just six words: AHe called Bill Smith a liar . . . --apparently it was the last thing he ever did. You get the impression that Bill Smith didn’t like being called a liar, and--well, the rest is left to our imaginations. Not much of an epitaph--not much of an accounting for a life, is it? But then, most of us don’t get to dictate how we’ll be remembered. But how about this gripping comment, engraved on a tombstone in Stowe, Vermont: I was somebody. Who, is no business Of yours Such a terse dismissal of my curiosity gets to me--it
makes me all-the-more curious, how about you? Why does this person refuse
to tell me who he/she was? Does she have something to hide? Or is he merely
content in knowing that he lived life as best he could and has nothing
to prove with boastful obits? ` Here lies John James Cook Of Newby` And an Upright downright Honest man. How do you want to be remembered? If you want to be remembered well, it pays to live well. But King Herod had other plans. His actions in life hadn't been the kind that would endear him to many people. And of course the main thing many people remember about him today is that he had all the children of Bethlehem killed shortly after Jesus was born. Still, he had a plan to be remembered well. He would set his name in stone, not just in an engraving over his tomb, but in massive monuments. He’s known to history as one of the greatest builders of all time. He erected monuments to himself and to his friends all over the Roman Empire. And to honor himself, he named one of his great constructions Herodion. Surely this rock-solid hilltop-fortress, hewn from the solid stone of a hilltop, would stand forever and remind people of what a great monarch he was! He originally built Herodion to commemorate a great victory he won on that spot even before he was king. But as his life drew to its close, he decided that it would be the most appropriate location for his final resting place. The accomplishments of his life would live on, perpetuating his memory at his namesake hill. And so he set his stonemasons to work on constructing what must have been a magnificent tomb commemorating his life. You can still visit Herodion today--thanks to the work of archaeologists who have painstakingly dug its remains out of the sands of time. But most people who visit Israel don’t bother to go there. Their tour busses leave Jerusalem, heading south toward Herodion, but stop a few miles away, at a different stone edifice. This one a natural stone cave, where many believe Joseph and Mary stayed on the night when Jesus was born. No great effort went into constructing this cave. It’s simply the work of water seeping through limestone year after year. No jewels or ornaments or lofty inscriptions adorned this spot. It was merely a humble, smelly hovel where cattle and sheep could find shelter on a rainy winter night. No pomp or ceremony attended the arrival of the Christ child, He was greeted only by His parents and the wondering stares of animals. So, why is the cave where He was born more popular, more-often visited, than the magnificent palace and fortress where Herod was buried? Why is it that the ages have maintained a record of where Christ was born, but the exact place where Herod was buried is long forgotten? The contrast between these two sites is seen in the contrast between how the two men lived their lives. For Herod, it was all about power and pomp, bribing those above him and trampling on, enslaving, or killing anyone below who threatened to sidetrack his mad scramble to the top. For Jesus it was just the opposite. He didn’t come to enslave, but to serve. The path to greatness in His kingdom ran 180o opposite to Herod’s path. One day, when He knew His disciples were scrambling for powerful positions, He called them aside and gave them this little lecture: "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave--just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (That’s found in Matthew 20:25-28, NIV) But it wasn’t just in His teaching that Jesus was different
from Herod. It was in the way He lived His life. As the apostle Paul put
it, even though Jesus was God and in every way equal with God, He made
himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human
likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and
became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!(Philippians 2:7, 8,
NIV) She thought of others ever |
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