One of the most significant, yet simple, lessons of my life came when I was living in Israel studying geography. Cyndi Parker, one of my professors (check out her podcast episode here), took us around the Middle East teaching us the significant role that geography plays throughout the Bible. While we frequently studied cities and mountains, rivers and valleys, it turns out the map I will never forget is one the reveals the significance of the entire land of Israel.
Israel is situated in a very unique, and important place that God chose for a very specific reason. It turns out that this small strip of land, only about 85 miles across, functions as a bridge between Africa and Asia. To the west of Israel is the Mediterranean Sea and to the east is a harsh desert that few people throughout history have navigated well. To the south was, and still is today, the nation of Egypt. To the north, and northeast beyond the desert, were the ancient empires of Babylon, Assyria, and Persia. Each of these empires plays an important role in the Bible and were the superpowers of the day.
Consider the fact, then, that Israel was the only thing that separated Egypt from these other superpowers throughout Biblical times. If these nations needed to interact or went to war, their only real choice was to march straight through Israel. They certainly weren’t going to go through the desert to the east and putting everyone on ships wasn’t always wise or possible. This is why Israel was often the rope these nations used in their tug-of-war battles as Israel controlled the bridge linking the continents and the empires.
While this might seem like a dangerous position to put Israel in, God had a significant reason for doing so. After God rescues the people from the land of Egypt in the book of Exodus, God stops them at Mount Sinai and explains the purpose for leading them into this new promised land of Israel is so that they can represent God to the world.
You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.
Exodus 19:4-6 NRSV
God freed them for their own sake because God is a God who acts on behalf of the oppressed, but God also brought them out of Egypt and into the promised land so they would become God’s representatives! God explains to the people that they are to follow what they are being taught because by doing so, they will reveal the true God to the world. They will be priests to the entire world, reflecting God in their lives, beliefs, and actions.
So why did God place them in this crucial piece of land that was vital to the superpowers of the world in this region and this time? So that the world could see the truth! God placed them here so that their lives would impact the world. God didn’t sequester them off in some small corner of the world where they would be safe and out of the limelight. No, God placed them at the center of the action. God put them in the place where there would be travel, trade, and military movements. God placed them in a land others cared about and talked about. This way, when all these people travelled through the land and saw God’s people, they would be invited to be known by and know God. They could learn of God’s love for them and love God.
If Israel refused to live in a way that represented God well, however, God would remove them from the land. This may sound harsh, but God was serious about this plan. The method God chose to reveal God’s self to the world was people. These people would be blessed in order to be a blessing. If the blessing stopped with them, however, and they chose to oppress the poor, ignore the foreigner, spill innocent blood, and worship other Gods, they would actually be misrepresenting God! In this case, how would the world come to know the truth?
Friends, the beauty of this image and understanding this geography is that God continues to work this way today. What is amazing, however, is that God isn’t working with people only in a specific land, but with anyone who knows God no matter where they live. Jesus sent the disciples into the entire world as His final command before leaving the disciples. In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul says that we are all ambassadors of reconciliation when we know Jesus. This means that no matter who we are or where we live, we are the hands and feet of Jesus today.
We each occupy our own “land between” countless people visit every single day. Whether you are a stay-at-home parent, a student, retired, a teacher, an engineer, a grocery store worker, or anything else under the sun, your life is a testimony to everyone you interact with. The way you live will either reveal the truth of the Good News that God loves the world and has acted to bring about salvation and peace, or you will send the same old message the rest of the world is sending.
We each occupy our own “land between” countless people visit every single day.
We are each invited to take up our spot as people living in the land between and shine the light of the Good News into the darkness. Everyday you have moms and dads, neighbors and friends, co-workers and bosses, atheists and people of others faiths, people who have been hurt and people who are just confused, and a million other stories pass through your life. Like Egypt and Babylon passed through Israel, these people pass through your life and are searching for the truth.
Who passes through your life each day that needs to see and hear the Good News? How do you live as an ambassador of reconciliation for them?
What an amazing invitation to be an ambassador of peace and reconciliation! It’s not easy. It requires making space for the “other.” It requires forming the eyes to see and the ears to hear past all the noise and to put your faith into action in self-sacrificial love and service. It requires you to love as you have been loved. To bless as you have been blessed. But what an invitation it is! God is inviting you, no matter who you are, to impact the world around you.
May you pick up your light and shine it into the darkness around you.
Grace and Peace.
