Assurance is defined as full confidence; freedom from doubt; certainty.2 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). As we consider this next account, our faith may be tested, but that is a good thing. Faith that is tested and has been proven genuine, gives us all the assurance we need for this world and the next (see 1 Peter 1:7).
As Jesus’ time on Earth grew short, “He set His face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). He and His disciples “went on from [the villages of Caesarea Philippi (see Mark 8:27)] and passed through Galilee … to Capernaum” (Mark 9:30a & 33a) “to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan” (Mark 10:1a).
Looking at a map of Israel during Jesus’ lifetime, one can deduce that a trip from Caesarea Philippi to Jerusalem is about 120 miles (193 km) as the crow flies. But as the human walks, over mountains, through valleys, and across rivers, avoiding the land of the Samaritans (see Luke 9:52-53), it is much longer. According to most Biblical timelines, Jesus’ final journey appears to have taken about nine months. Jesus knew where He had to go and what He was going to have to do, but He took his time, stopping along the way to offer a helping hand.
I was traveling through the center of a city near my home with two of my friends. We passed a church building that was for sale. There was a sign out front. My one friend said, “I wonder what is going in that building. It must be a business from a foreign country. The sign is written in letters that are unfamiliar to me.” My other friend contradicted her. “Oh, no,” she said, “The sign reads ‘First Presbyterian Church.’ It is just upside down and backward.” Then we all saw it. Indeed, in an attempt to show that the building would soon be changing hands, the seller or the realtor had taken out the transparent, printed panel of the sign and had replaced it upside down and backward.
When I think of that event, I think of Jesus. Much of what He said and did seemed (and still seems) upside down and backward. This next account illustrates that truth perfectly.
“And Jesus went on with His disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi” (Mark 8:27). “And after six days Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves” (Mark 9:2). Much of spiritual significance happened on the mountain near Caesarea Philippi, but our focus today will be on what happened in the valley.