应许之地的脚印，旧约圣地巡礼

Dear brothers and sisters, I am Joshua, son of Nun.

In my lifetime I have walked many roads , from Egypt to the wilderness, from the wilderness to the Jordan, from the Jordan to every city and hill in the promised land. But as I look back in my old age, what astounds me most is not the battles but a discovery: God keeps acting in the same places.

The roads our father Abraham walked, Isaac walked, Jacob walked, and now we have walked too. The same place names, the same altar sites, the same oaks, the same wells , on the same land, generation after generation, God has left His footprints. Let me take you on a pilgrimage through these sacred sites.

Shechem , Where the Covenant Begins and Is Renewed

When Abraham first entered Canaan, Shechem was his first stop, at the oak of Moreh (Gen 12:6). The LORD appeared to him there and said, "Unto thy seed will I give this land." Abraham built an altar there , the first altar in the promised land.

Later Jacob returned from Paddan-aram and also bought land at Shechem, built an altar, and named it El-Elohe-Israel , "God, the God of Israel" (Gen 33:18-20). Later still, Dinah's tragedy occurred at Shechem (Gen 34), and Joseph's bones were ultimately buried at Shechem (Josh 24:32).

And I , Joshua , at the end of my life, also gathered all Israel at Shechem, declaring: "But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Josh 24:15). I set up a great stone under the oak at Shechem as a witness.

From Abraham to me, Shechem was the starting point of the covenant and the place of its renewal. From the first altar to the final covenant assembly, God called generation after generation in the same place to respond to His grace.

A thousand years later, the Lord Jesus passed through Samaria to Sychar , near Shechem , and at Jacob's well told a Samaritan woman: "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." (John 4:23). The altar at Shechem ultimately pointed not to a place, but to a Person.

Bethel , Where Heaven Opened

Jacob fled from Esau and slept on a stone in the wilderness. He dreamed of a ladder set on earth, its top reaching heaven, with angels ascending and descending (Gen 28:12). The LORD stood above it and said: "I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed."

Jacob awoke and said: "Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." (Gen 28:16-17). He named it Bethel , "House of God."

Twenty years later, Jacob returned to Bethel after the tragedy at Shechem, removed the foreign gods, and rebuilt the altar (Gen 35:1-7). God appeared again, reaffirmed the promise, and gave him the new name Israel. Bethel became the most important spiritual landmark of Jacob's life , both his first encounter with God and his return to God happened here.

The Lord Jesus told Nathanael: "Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." (John 1:51). Brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus Himself is the ladder! The "gate of heaven" foreshadowed at Bethel was fully opened in Christ.

Mount Moriah , The Sacred Mountain of Sacrifice and Redemption

"And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." (Gen 22:2). At the moment Abraham raised the knife, the angel called out, and he saw a ram caught in a thicket, offered in Isaac's place. Abraham named that place Jehovah-jireh , "The LORD will provide" (Gen 22:14).

A thousand years later, Solomon built the Temple on Mount Moriah (2 Chr 3:1). The mountain where Abraham offered sacrifice became Israel's permanent center of worship.

Another thousand years later, on another peak of that same mountain range , Golgotha , God's only Son was offered up. This time no angel called a halt, for this time God's own Lamb, whom He Himself had provided, was His own Son. "And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen." (Gen 22:14). From Abraham to Calvary, the promise on Moriah waited two thousand years for its complete fulfillment.

The Oaks of Mamre , Where God Dined with Man

Abraham pitched his tent by the oaks of Mamre and dwelt there many years (Gen 13:18). Under those oaks, three visitors came and Abraham hurried to serve them with bread and a calf. One of them was the LORD Himself , there He announced to Abraham that Sarah would bear a son the following year (Gen 18:10).

The oaks of Mamre were where God sat at table with man. Not in a temple, not beside an altar, but under an ordinary oak, at an ordinary meal, God revealed His plan to His friend.

Hebrews says: "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." (Heb 13:2). The background of this verse is the story under the oaks of Mamre. And the Lord Jesus says: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." (Rev 3:20). The table fellowship under the oaks of Mamre ultimately points to the eternal communion between Christ and His people.

Beersheba , The Southern Boundary of Promise

Abraham made a covenant with Abimelech at Beersheba, planted a tamarisk tree, and called on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God (Gen 21:31-33). Isaac built an altar at Beersheba, where the LORD appeared and said: "Fear not, for I am with thee." (Gen 26:24-25). Before going down to Egypt, Jacob offered sacrifices at Beersheba, and God spoke in a vision: "Fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation." (Gen 46:1-3).

Three generations of patriarchs, the same place, the same words , "Do not be afraid." Beersheba was the southernmost edge of the promised land, the last station before leaving it. Every time the patriarchs faced the unknown and confronted fear, God spoke to them at Beersheba.

Brothers and sisters, where is your Beersheba? When you are about to step into an unknown wilderness, God's words have not changed , "Fear not, for I am with thee."

Bethlehem , Life on the Road of Death

Rachel died in hard labor on the road to Bethlehem, naming her son Ben-oni with her last breath , "son of my sorrow" (Gen 35:18-19). Bethlehem was first associated with death and tears.

But later, Ruth gleaned in Bethlehem's fields (Ruth 2), met Boaz, and married into Israel , a Moabite woman becoming David's great-grandmother. Later still, Samuel anointed the shepherd boy David as king in Bethlehem (1 Sam 16).

The prophet Micah foretold: "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." (Micah 5:2).

Where Rachel wept and died, a thousand years later the Messiah was born. The road of death became the road of life. Jeremiah said: "A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children." (Jer 31:15). Matthew quoted this describing Herod's massacre of infants (Matt 2:18). But Rachel's weeping is not the end of the story , the first cry from Bethlehem's manger is.

Hebron , The Foundation of Faith

Abraham settled by the oaks of Mamre at Hebron (Gen 13:18). Sarah died at Hebron, and Abraham purchased the cave of Machpelah there , the first recorded property purchase by an Israelite in the promised land (Gen 23). Later Abraham himself, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah were all buried there.

The cave of Machpelah was not merely a tomb; it was a declaration of faith: though we are sojourners, this land is promised to us by God. Abraham paid four hundred shekels of silver for a burial plot , not because the dead needed burying, but because the faithful needed to plant roots. He left his bones in the promised land because he believed God would fulfill His word.

Hebrews says: "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." (Heb 11:13). The cave of Machpelah at Hebron is the most concrete testimony of this faith , they purchased graves in the promised land because they believed that one day they would rise again on this very soil.

Brothers and sisters, when I set up that great stone at Shechem, I knew my days were drawing to a close. But I was not afraid, because every place I had walked , Shechem, Bethel, Moriah, Mamre, Beersheba, Bethlehem, Hebron , told me the same thing: God is faithful.

What He promised at Shechem, He renewed at Shechem. Where He appeared at Bethel, He came again at Bethel. Where He provided a ram on Moriah, He provided the Lamb on Calvary. Where He said "Fear not" at Beersheba, He walks with us through every wilderness. Where He left tears at Bethlehem, He also brought forth hope at Bethlehem. Where He buried the patriarchs at Hebron, He will surely raise them on the last day.

These places are not merely dots on a map; they are God's footprints. From Abraham to me, Joshua, and now to you , brothers and sisters reading this letter , God's steps have never stopped.

"There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass." (Josh 21:45).