Imagine yourself walking today with Jesus on the road from the Judean Desert up to the mountains of Jerusalem. This journey could possibly take a few days to complete. Starting the ascent from the Jordan River, Jesus begins to share regarding the importance of baptism and the significance of it for Himself in the Jordan River (Qasr Al-Yehud). He also speaks of His experience after His baptism in the nearby desert when He was fasting and praying - both of these were preparation for His own ministry here on earth.
Along the dusty path, Jesus continues to share about other events that happened in the nearby wilderness. One of His favorite stories is about David, the man after His own heart, who was to become King of Israel after the death of King Saul. How David and his men hid in the wilderness of Ein Gedi, fleeing the rage of Saul who was so consumed with jealousy and hatred for David that he would go to any length to destroy David's life.
The gentleness of the Lord's voice soothing the burning feelings of injustice rising within your own heart after hearing of Saul's many heartless attempts to kill David. Jesus finishes this story by telling of God's judgment coming over King Saul, and David eventually rising as King of Israel, as God had promised through the Prophet Samuel years before.
On the way up to Jerusalem, because the road is steep, the trail uneven, and the air heavy with the heat, Jesus invites you to sit down with him under an ancient olive tree with broad branches providing shade. While resting, His eyes look off into the distance, not a distance of natural space, but a distance of time in the future. Jesus begins to explain what came just a few decades after His own death and resurrection, that being the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and what happened to the surviving Jews who fled Jerusalem. Their only perceived safe place was the famous mountain fortress of Masada built by King Herod between 37 and 31 BCE. Yet, this place of refuge became their final destination as nearly 1,000 Jewish men, women, and children died a very unusual death hours before the Roman soldiers broke into the fortress.
With sadness in His eyes, Jesus shares that it was after this tragic event, that the worldwide dispersion of the Jewish people began, and it wasn't for another two thousand years that the Jewish people were able to return to their own land, as the prophets foretold.
In the pages of this book, Jesus is speaking personally to us through the significant events that occurred in the Judean Desert. Though they were thousands of years ago, they are timeless in their application.