Priene

I forgot a day, it was before Ephesus

 that we went to Priene

There we talked about stones:

Ephesians 2: So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,

 but you are fellow citizens with the saints,

and are of God’s household, having been built

on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,

Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone,

in whom the whole building, being fitted together,

 is growing into a holy temple in the Lord,

 

The corner stone is the first stone and the whole

building uses that stone to level it

 

Jesus is the cornerstone

 

 

We toured the town of Priene

we learned that class and Idols were everything

To be a member of society in Priene you needed both

 

 

We went to a place that used to be a small house church

this would be a place where Galatians 3 would be practised:

 

There is neither Jew nor Greek,

 there is neither slave nor free man,

there is neither male nor female;

 for you are all one in Christ Jesus

That would be a radical concept and very much illegal

 

 

Back to stones and buildings at the temple of Athena

Stones are not interchangeable in a temple

every stone has it's own place. even those in the floor

 

all stones were cut and numbered

and the stone cutter would travel with the stone

from the quarry to the building,

so it would be inserted at the right place

1 Peter 2:

As you come to him, the living Stone

—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—

you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house

 to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices

 acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  

 

 

 

we were supposed to climb this cliff face

but there was to much thunder in the air

 

 

later when we passed by this area again

we saw that it had flooded

so not climbing up had definitely been the right decision

 

 

We went to Dydema, the second largest temple in the ancient world

 

people would come here from far and wide

hoping for a word from the gods

they waited sometimes weeks, months even years

 

for a word that came from Apollo a god from the underworld

a word from the gods was called an oracle

 

 

Back to stones and pillars,

it took an average stone cutter 73 years to finish one pillar

so much effort in creating a temple,

because they were craving an oracle from their god

 

we have all God's oracles in a book, our bible:

 

 ^{Acts 7:} This is the Moses .... and he received living oracles to pass on to you.

 

 

We have the living word we should:

read it, memorize it, season our speech with it

1 Peter 4  If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.

 If anyone ministers,

 let him do it as with the ability which God supplies,

 that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ

, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen