I’m visiting Israel at the end of October 2022 with a church tour group. I am meditating on the cities we’re going to so I can grasp something of the history of the place. We are starting at Joppa, next to Tel Aviv, and making a circuit counterclockwise around the land, ending at Jerusalem. Here is one meditation.
JOPPA was a port city. Things and people arrived and departed. Among the things that came were cedar logs from Tyre for building the house of the Lord (Ezra 3:7).
Also arriving at port were men coming to bring Peter to the centurion in Caesarea who desired to hear a message from him (Acts 10:23).
In the former instance the cedar logs were to build a dwelling place for God in a magnificent structure built by men of the finest logs. In the latter, we find the Lord choosing a new dwelling place, in intricate bodies that God had fashioned from the dust of the earth.
The port was also a place for departures. Jonah ran from the presence of the Lord by boarding a ship leaving Joppa for Tarshish (Jonah 1:3).
Another departure was that of the spirit of a woman of good works, Tabitha, when she died in Joppa (Acts 9:36).
A miracle for each brought them back. For Jonah, a big fish prepared by God to swallow him up returned to put him back on mission. For the woman, the healing words of “Tabitha, arise” returned her spirit back to her body for ministry.
Both Jonah and Peter had messages to deliver, “Yet forty days,” and “Tabitha, arise.” In both cases, we are astounded at the results of their words, whether to repentance of the ungodly or restoration of the spirit of the godly.
Joppa means “beautiful.” Whether we are arriving or departing, where faith and obedience to Christ are involved, we can be sure it will be accompanied by Christ’s beautiful work of building up the body for which He died, or restoring the spirit with His own resurrection life.
