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Journeys
June 30, 2012

One of the perks of working in education is the extra vacation time, and summer is one of those times. When I have the opportunity to get away from home, I like to travel as the journey is an opportunity to learn a little bit more about other parts of the country and other countries. There is so much more to this planet than just my home town of El Paso. Each journey that I take reminds me of our spiritual journey through life, and helps me recall journeys recorded in the Bible. Essentially a journey is a trip from where we are to where we want to go. Sometimes these journeys are one way and we never return to where we started. Many vacations taken in the modern age also involve a return trip home, and that is a normal part of life in the modern age. A well-known journey of from the Bible is the journey that the children of Israel took when they left Egypt. Because of the hardness of the hearts of the children of Israel, what could have been a journey of a few weeks took forty years. When originally pitched to Pharaoh, the initial concept was for a short journey. Pharaoh rejected this idea, and various events caused a short journey to become forty years of wandering in the desert.

Exodus 5:1-9
And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, Who the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go. And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword. And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens. And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens. And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves. And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.

God knew that Pharaoh would be stubborn and not listen. He also knew that the children of Israel would begin their journey even if Pharaoh was stubborn. God used a journey by the children of Israel to symbolize how we can come out of sin, so journeys can have a spiritual meaning. When Jesus came to earth, it was like a journey for him. He used his return to God after his resurrection to also show how this was like a journey for him.

Mark 13:28-37
Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.

Jesus compared his return to God to a far journey, one that would take a very long time. Thousands of years ago, these very long journeys were more common as it took longer to travel on earth. Today with the marvels of air travel, travel is fast. A person can travel to the other side of the planet is a day or less. Thousands of years ago, to travel this distance would takes months or even years. In times of war, battles would sometimes be fought even after the outcome of the war was decided. News of the outcome of the war would often take a long time to reach the front lines. In the age of electronic communication, this is hard to understand, but these times were with us until just a few decades ago. Even after the second world war, a few isolated Japanese soldiers would not accept the idea that their country had surrendered to the United States. These soldiers were awaiting official communications that the war was over. In the course of preaching the Gospel, Paul journeyed to many cities to which he wrote letters. He even journeyed to places where there is no record of a letter.

Romans 15:22-29
For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you. But now having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come unto you; Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you: for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company. But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints. For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things. When therefore I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain. And I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.

As we take journeys in our life, we can be reminded of the journeys taken in the Bible, and the spiritual message given by those journeys.

All verses are from the King James Version.
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