From Here to Jerusalem and Beyond

Our April theme for the Today devotions, written by Chaplain Norman Brown, is “From Here to Jerusalem and Beyond.”

Have you been to the Holy Land? I was privileged to visit last year, and it was an unforgettable experience. If you’ve been there, you likely will agree with me that to walk the same rough, rocky roads that Jesus walked is life-changing. The vivid, physical context makes the Bible stories even more real and specific. Praying in the Garden of Gethsemane in sight of the temple mount or casting nets on the Sea of Galilee make biblical history come alive.

Many of us will likely never travel to Israel. We do, however, have the Bible to tell us what happened and how God acted there. And we have teachers like Chaplain Brown to help us travel in our understanding of those scriptures from here to Jerusalem, where Jesus suffered and died for our sins. He invites us to spend time with the disciples as they desert Jesus, but then gather again after the resurrection and actually see the risen Lord!

Then Chaplain Brown walks with us through some of our own doubts and fears, helping us to understand what it actually means to believe in the resurrected Christ. And, as he ends the month, he tells us that the words and actions of Jesus are “All we need to know” so that we might believe and have eternal life.

Jesus went to Jerusalem to complete the work of our redemption, and that good news spread far beyond! Join us as we explore how God acted then in Jerusalem, and acts now wherever you are.

Norman Brown is a retired U.S. Navy chaplain. His life’s experiences are tied into his writings. You can hear more of his thoughts as he wrote these devotions in this audio interview.

May you be refreshed, refocused, and renewed in God’s Word!