Mt. Arbel: As Far As the Eye Can See

By Dr. Ron Jones

Climb to the top of Mt. Arbel (1,000 feet above the Plain of Gennesaret) and you feel like you’re at the top of the world, overlooking the beautiful Sea of Galilee from its northwest corner. Arbel reminds me of Lookout Mountain in Tennessee, from which one can see seven states on a clear day.  

 

Arbel is not specifically mentioned in the Gospels. However, it is not difficult to imagine Jesus visiting this tranquil spot as one of the places to which He escaped for prayer and solitude (Matthew 14:23). Do you have a special place to which you retreat to meet regularly with God?

 

The word “vision” comes to my mind when I visit Arbel. Vision is a picture of tomorrow that produces passion in us. A visionary leader invites us to see as far as the eye can see. After His glorious resurrection from the dead, Jesus sent word to His disciples to meet Him on a mountaintop. The Bible does not tell us which mountain, but we can imagine one like Arbel. A mountaintop is the perfect place to cast a vision for making disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:16-20).

 

Sometime we cannot see the forest but for the trees. Jesus will always take us to a higher place to see what we can only see from His elevated perspective. Jesus once said, “Lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest” (Luke 4:35).

 

The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision. Helen Keller

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