THE CENTURION AT THE FEET OF JESUS (1 OF 4)
by Jeff Strite
Scripture: Mark 15:33-39
This content is part of a series.
The Centurion At The Feet Of Jesus (1 of 4)
Series: What The Cross Meant To...
Jeff Strite
Mark 15:33-39
In the days of Jesus the most feared soldiers on the face of the earth were those of the Legions Of Rome. These men were practically invincible. It seemed to no nation of the day could stand against them. And one of the reasons they were so powerful and so feared was because their armies were led by men called ''centurions.''
These Centurions were seasoned veterans and were commanders of units of approximately 100 men. In today's armies they would be roughly equivalent to a Major.
In Israel, 2 or 3 of these centurions would have been based in a fortress inside Jerusalem, but most of them were stationed in a seaport called Caesarea. When you folks sent me to Israel a couple years ago, I got to visit the ruins of that city, and this is what the ruins look like today.
(We showed an overview of the ruins from https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesarea_Maritima#/media/File:Caesarea.JPG). You can just make one of the theatres and the hippodrome (a race track for chariots) as well as a faint outline of the harbor itself.
BUT in the days of Jesus - it probably looked more like this (we used a picture like the one found at http://beautifulcity2015.weebly.com/caesarea-maritima.html). Because of how the nature of the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, Israel had no natural deep water seaports for ships. But Herod the Great built this one - an engineering masterpiece of the day - and it became so important to sea trade that Rome took it over and made it THEIR capital in Israel.
The city became a jewel on the Mediterranean with a theatre, amphitheater and hippodrome as just a few of its attractions. And it was where the majority of Rome's forces in the area were bivouacked. This city was also (being the capital) the place where Pilate lived.
ILLUS: Now, it may shock you to learn that there are many people in this world who hate Christianity and hate our G ...
Series: What The Cross Meant To...
Jeff Strite
Mark 15:33-39
In the days of Jesus the most feared soldiers on the face of the earth were those of the Legions Of Rome. These men were practically invincible. It seemed to no nation of the day could stand against them. And one of the reasons they were so powerful and so feared was because their armies were led by men called ''centurions.''
These Centurions were seasoned veterans and were commanders of units of approximately 100 men. In today's armies they would be roughly equivalent to a Major.
In Israel, 2 or 3 of these centurions would have been based in a fortress inside Jerusalem, but most of them were stationed in a seaport called Caesarea. When you folks sent me to Israel a couple years ago, I got to visit the ruins of that city, and this is what the ruins look like today.
(We showed an overview of the ruins from https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesarea_Maritima#/media/File:Caesarea.JPG). You can just make one of the theatres and the hippodrome (a race track for chariots) as well as a faint outline of the harbor itself.
BUT in the days of Jesus - it probably looked more like this (we used a picture like the one found at http://beautifulcity2015.weebly.com/caesarea-maritima.html). Because of how the nature of the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, Israel had no natural deep water seaports for ships. But Herod the Great built this one - an engineering masterpiece of the day - and it became so important to sea trade that Rome took it over and made it THEIR capital in Israel.
The city became a jewel on the Mediterranean with a theatre, amphitheater and hippodrome as just a few of its attractions. And it was where the majority of Rome's forces in the area were bivouacked. This city was also (being the capital) the place where Pilate lived.
ILLUS: Now, it may shock you to learn that there are many people in this world who hate Christianity and hate our G ...
There are 17561 characters in the full content. This excerpt only shows a 2000 character sample of the full content.
Price: $5.99 or 1 credit
