The Bible makes known the most extensive rescue in the history of the world. It reveals God’s perspective of the human condition and his plan to liberate and restore creation from discord, destruction, and death—all consequences of humanity’s mutiny against the Lord.

The Bible unfolds an interconnected flow of this rescue. Genesis chapters 1–11 introduce us to the reality of the adversary, Satan, his cohorts, humanity’s willful rejection of its Creator, and the world’s desperate need for a rescuer. Genesis 12 through the book of Malachi speaks of a nation chosen to be messengers the Lord called to proclaim the coming of the Rescuer. The four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John provide the accounts of the Rescuer’s arrival.1 In Hebrew, his name is Yeshua, which means “the Lord rescues.” Our English Bibles refer to him as Jesus. Through his teachings, miracles, death, and resurrection, he overthrew the adversary and his works (1 John 3:8) as well as rescued and restored humanity’s relationship with the Creator of the universe (Rom. 5:10–11; 2 Cor. 5:17–21).

These events of rescue and restoration occurred in a localized space that today we call Israel, Palestine, the Promised Land, and the Holy Land. The goal of this book is to show the important relationship between the events and teachings of Jesus and the places they occurred. Those events happened where they did for a reason.

Part 1 starts our journey with the birth and early years of Jesus. We will examine some events and places that are well known to the Bible reader and many that are less familiar. For example, we will see that the Gospel of Matthew introduces us to Jesus by taking us to a public archive. We will explore the relationship between the birth announcement the angel Gabriel gave to the father of John the Baptist and the place where his father was standing at the time. It is well known that Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth, but some have never considered the significance of this location and perhaps why they lived there. In that light, we will explore Mary’s journey from her home in Nazareth to be with Elizabeth for three months in the hill country of Judea. Many details associated with Jesus’s birth are known to us. Exploring relationships between events and places will take us to the guest room that was unavailable, the manger in the cave, and the shepherds in the fields.

Following Jesus’s birth, the Gospel writers mention few details about his early life, and the details they do record are often connected to a particular place. Consequently, we will reflect on the presentation of the infant Jesus at the Temple’s Nicanor Gate, the appearance of the star in the east, and the delay of Jesus at the Temple when he was twelve years old. All these events, and more, happened where they did for a reason.

Assyrian genealogy of Adad-nirari III (810–783 BC).
© Dr. James C. Martin. The British Museum.

Basement-cave under a Judean house.

As an infant, Jesus was taken to Nicanor Gate in the Court of Women to be dedicated by the priests.
© Dr. James C. Martin. Reproduction of the City of Jerusalem at the time of the Second Temple. (See full credit on page 4.)