I'm standing in Istanbul, formerly Constantinople. It's a real place. Wow, is it a real place. And I'm so glad to be here. So much of history comes together here. I have also been to Jerusalem, and it is a wonderful thing as a Christian to be in Jerusalem. But I didn't have to go there any more than I had to come here as a form of spiritual pilgrimage. Nonetheless, when we are looking to the Scriptures, it is just wonderful for us to remember: these are real places. Space, time, history — a continuum. They're places that were on a map, and you can still look on a map and see where they were.
You go to a place like Ephesus, and of course it's a ruin today — and that's a part of the story. That's a parable in itself. But you can come extremely close to walking exactly where the Apostle Paul walked. Somewhere near here has to be the Hall of Tyrannus, where he preached and taught. Here is exactly where Ephesus was. And you don't have to go there for spiritual satisfaction.
But how important to remember: this is a real place. And this is what sets the Scriptures apart. We're not talking about ancient mythopoetic literature. We're talking about space-time continuum history. And by the way, I believe that starts with Genesis 1, verse one, and runs all the way through.
We're not talking about ancient mythopoetic literature. We're talking about space-time continuum history.
The Scriptures present us with a God who acts in real places, among real people, at real moments in history. That reality is not incidental to the gospel — it is the ground of it. The resurrection happened in a specific place, at a specific time, to a specific person. And that specificity is our confidence. What God did in space and time cannot be undone. It is permanently woven into the fabric of what is real.