Is This The Location Of The Sermon On The Mount?

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In this video, we're going to get to hear a Sermon on the Mount where Jesus preached the

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Sermon on the Mount, the Mount of Beatitudes. Let's state from the very beginning that no one knows the exact location where Jesus preached the

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Sermon on the Mount. The traditional location is on the northwestern side of the Sea of Galilee, and it's called the

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Mount of Beatitudes. Other sites have been suggested, but most scholars agree that the

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Sermon on the Mount was in this general vicinity between Tabgha and Capernaum, about 5 miles northeast of Mount Arbel.

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The top of the mountain is about 260 feet below sea level, and you'll hear

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Dean mention this in his lesson. I'll tell you more about the vicinity later in the video, but for now, let's go hear

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Dean Hahn as he delivers a Sermon on the Mount. I want you to take your

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Bibles and turn to Matthew chapter 5. By the way, in your notes, it's page 8, the

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Mount of Beatitudes. Coming from the Latin word,

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Beatitudo, now you have to say that right, Beatitudo, in order to get the full flavor of it.

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But it literally means a blessing. The way in which you are blessed.

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Now let me just say something before we get into what is called the

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Beatitudes. I want you to look with me at chapter 4. Look at verse 25, the very last verse of Matthew 4.

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The reason I want you to look at this is because of the geography involved, because now you have seen this.

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We have traveled enough for you to see this with your own eyes. Look what

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Matthew 4 .25 says. Great multitudes followed him from where?

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That's the area that we're in, the Galilee. And what's the next one? Decapolis.

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Where's the Decapolis? Exactly, on the eastern side, Deca, meaning ten, polis, city, the ten cities of the

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Gentiles. Where was it? On the eastern side of the lake.

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Great multitudes followed him from the Galilee, from the Decapolis, alright, the

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Gentile side. What else? Jerusalem. We're going to be there in a couple of days.

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All the way down to the south. And Judea, Judea was the southern province,

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Caesarea that we were at by the sea, Caesarea by the sea was one of the northern most cities of Judea, and then it came down, it skirted next to Samaria and came over into the area of Jerusalem.

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So Judea. And then what's the last thing there? And beyond the

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Jordan, the Jordan River. Now I just wanted you to see that verse because do you see we're seeing all of this?

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Alright, so now Jesus is in the area, not exactly in the city limits, but in the area of Capernaum, which we're going to be going to at the end of the day today.

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That was his headquarters. He was outside the city when he went up on a mountain and he began to teach.

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Look what he taught, Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7.

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Does anybody know what we call that? The Sermon on the

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Mount. Now this mountain that we're on now is called, actually called the

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Humble Mountain. Why is that? Because even though it is a mountain, it is still below sea level.

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So therefore, this mountain where Jesus taught the Beatitudes is called the

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Humble Mountain. Now, do we know for sure that this place where the

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Catholics built the church here, Barlucci, the great architect, Italian architect, built the church here.

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Do we know for sure that this is the place? No, we do not. But we have a really good clue that it was in this general area.

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There was a lady from Spain that came over and we'll talk about this later when we get to Capernaum.

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She came over and visited Christians in about the fourth century and they showed her a different place a little further down the hill nearer to Capernaum where we're going to be going next and they said that was the place that Jesus taught the

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Beatitudes. However, we don't know exactly. But by the way, we have a little

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Bible study in your notebook about sight, authenticity. How do we know, how do we gauge that a sight is authentic?

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Like this is number one, this is the place. We'll talk about that at a later Bible study, okay?

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But can we be here on top of this beautiful mountain with this beautiful church and all this incredible scenery and remember what the

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Lord did and what He said? Certainly we can and that's what we want to do. Now look at the

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Sermon on the Mount for a moment. It is made up of what I call 22 different sermon vignettes.

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We don't know that this is all that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. He may have elaborated some on some of these little vignettes as He preached along.

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But notice what He says in here. He says, hey, I want you to know my

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Jewish audience that I did not come to destroy the Torah, which means instruction, the law.

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I didn't come to destroy the law and the Nevim, the prophets.

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No, what did I come to do? What did Jesus say? To fulfill. And literally that word means

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I came to give it its fullest meaning. In other words, you will never understand what

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Moses wrote and what the prophets were talking about until you see that I am giving it its fullest meaning, its fulfillment, if you will.

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Not that He ended it, but He gave it its fullest meaning. Does that make sense?

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Now with that in mind, let's look very quickly at the Beatitudes. How did

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He start this sermon? This was before the cross.

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You got that in your mind? And before His resurrection. So if you are the

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Jewish Messiah, you're speaking primarily to a Jewish audience. How do you explain to them how to come into the kingdom pre -cross, pre -resurrection?

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How do you explain that to them? I want you to see the eight

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Beatitudes, and they can be divided up into three principles.

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Look at your notes for just a moment. And Jesus is going to walk His Jewish crowd through the principles of being one of His kingdom followers.

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I want to say this right up front. Many times preachers will read the Beatitudes and it sounds like a bunch of social platitudes, liberal social platitudes.

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That was not it at all. Most of these come out of the Psalms. And again, Jesus was saying,

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I want to explain to you how to become one of My kingdom followers. I didn't come to destroy this thing.

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No, I came to give it its fullest meaning. So again, how would you describe to a group of people that have not seen the cross, not had the benefit of the cross, nor the resurrection, how would

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Jesus explain to them how to follow Him? Look at it. Here's principle number one, the principle of conviction.

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Conviction of sin. Look at the very first two

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Beatitudes. Jerry, would you come up here and get on this side of me, brother, and I want you to hear first of all, look at chapter five, verses three and four.

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Here's the first principle, how to become a kingdom follower of Jesus. It begins with conviction.

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Here's the first thing I do. I have to realize my own spiritual bankruptcy.

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That's the word there. My own spiritual bankruptcy. Read verse three for us. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

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What does that mean? That's not talking about poor people. He said poor in spirit.

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I come to the Lord acknowledging that I am absolutely bankrupt. I am poor in spirit.

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I can't get there on my own. I can't follow on my own. I've got to admit that I'm a sinner.

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Anybody remember the ABCs of the gospel? What's the first one? Admit. I've got to admit that I'm spiritually bankrupt.

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All right, Jerry, read for us the second one. Then my extreme spiritual need causes heartfelt mourning in my heart.

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I'm broken because of my spiritual bankruptcy. Listen to verse four. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

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What's he talking about here? Being so torn up about the fact that I'm a sinner and I'm separated from God, that I've walked away from God, that I'm disobedient to God.

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Do you see that? That's conviction. I think there are a lot of people that have said they have come to Christ, they believe in Christ, but there has never been conviction in their heart that they are sinners in need of a

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Savior. They're thinking, hey, I can do this on my own. I can fulfill all of this on my own.

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It begins, ladies and gentlemen, if you want to be a kingdom follower of Jesus with conviction that you are spiritually bankrupt and it breaks your heart.

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You are mourning because of your own sin. Here's principle number two.

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Then begins that conviction leads to conversion. I come to know the

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Lord. And I want you to notice, conversion means change. As I come to know the

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Lord, there's going to be some change that takes place in my life. What are those changes?

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Well, look at the first bullet point there. I become spiritually dependent on the

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Lord. Read verse five for us, Jerry. Blessed are the humble, for they will inherit the earth. I realize my spiritual bankruptcy.

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I'm mourning. I'm broken, broken inside. But now I humble myself.

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I mean, that ought to humble us that we are saved only by the grace of God. All right.

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Look at the next thing. I then develop spiritual desire. You remember when you got saved?

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You remember how you were so excited about the Lord? Listen to verse six. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

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Before I became a Christian, I could have cared less about the Lord or the things of God. Guess what happened when

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I got saved? All of a sudden, I was hungering for his word, thirsting for him, thirsting for his word.

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I was so hungry for him. I pray that all of us still are.

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If we're not, I pray that this trip will cause you to be hungry and thirsty again for him.

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Again, this is the process now of conversion. Look at the third bullet point. I then begin to experience or exhibit spiritual mercy on people that otherwise

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I would not have expressed this kind of mercy. Read that for us.

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Verse seven. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Listen, what does the Bible teach?

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I forgive because I've been forgiven. I show mercy now that I'm a believer that I normally would not have shown.

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Hey, before I became a Christian, I'd have knocked your head off if you've offended me or you crossed me.

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That's just the way it was. But guess what happens now that I'm a believer? Now I show a little mercy.

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Do you see the process of change? It begins with conviction, realizing we're bankrupt, being heartbroken over it.

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Then conversion begins to happen. I begin to depend upon him. I hunger and thirst for him.

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I show mercy to people that otherwise I would not show mercy to. Look at the next bullet.

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I also desire to be spiritually pure, pure or purity, spiritual purity.

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Verse eight. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. There's a desire now in my life.

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I don't want to sin anymore. I want to be right with God. I want to walk with the Lord. And then look at the next bullet point.

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I desire to become a spiritual peacemaker. Verse nine. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

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Again, all of this is conversion. It's a change that's taking place in my life.

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Now I want you to see the third thing, because this is where I pray that every one of us are in our walk with the

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Lord. So what's the first principle, church? How does it all begin?

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How to become a kingdom follower of the Lord? Conviction. Conviction then leads to what?

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Conversion. What should that conversion, my life begins to change, what should it lead to?

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Look at the third thing on the next page. Conversion ends with total commitment.

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To the point that I'm willing, look at the first bullet under that, to be persecuted for the faith.

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Listen to verses 10 and 11. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

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You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me.

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And here's the final step of that. I'm then willing to die for the Lord Jesus, if that's what it requires.

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Verse 12, look at it. Be glad and rejoice because your reward is great in heaven, for that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

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Do you see that? Pre -cross, pre -resurrection, Jesus starts telling his

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Jewish followers, you want to become one of my kingdom followers? It begins with brokenness and conviction.

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Then after that, you believe in me and that process of change and conversion begins to happen.

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Then to the point where you would be willing to say, Lord, I will die for you.

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I will give you my life. I will be totally committed to you.

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Again, these are not a liberal social justice platitudes. This is the master.

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This is the rabbi. This is the Messiah teaching us how to become a kingdom follower.

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And then we see with great clarity, of course, now because of the cross, now because of the resurrection, and now because Jesus says to us, follow me.

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And that's what I pray will happen in our lives, that we follow the

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Lord Jesus. Since the Bible doesn't specifically say where the Sermon on the

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Mount was preached, why is it said to have taken place here at the Mount of Beatitudes?

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There's two reasons. There are hints in the Bible that say it might have been in this location.

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And the second reason is church tradition. What clues in the Bible suggest that it might have taken place here?

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Just a few verses prior to Matthew writing about the Sermon on the

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Mount, he said in chapter 4, verse 23, that Jesus had gone throughout all

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Galilee teaching in their synagogues. Just three verses later in Matthew 5 .1,

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he launches into the Sermon saying that it was on a mountain. So there's nothing in the text to indicate that Jesus had left the vicinity of Galilee.

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Now Luke said the Sermon was on a level place. So which was it? Was it a mountain or a level place?

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I'll come back to that in a few minutes. Matthew and Luke both say that Jesus went to Capernaum after the

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Sermon on the Mount. Capernaum is only a mile and a half from the Mount of Beatitudes and Capernaum was

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Jesus' home base in Galilee. It makes perfect sense that the Sermon would have taken place nearby

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Jesus' Galilean headquarters. The second reason is that church tradition from the 300s

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AD says that this was the place where the Sermon happened. A Christian pilgrim from Western Europe named

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Egeria traveled to Israel around 381 -384

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AD. She recorded a local tradition that may have been a memory retained by the local

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Jewish Christians from Capernaum. The tradition states that there is a cave on the hillside near Tabgha and Jesus sat above this cave when he gave the

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Sermon on the Mount. This is a Google Street View image of the cave believed to be the one that Egeria mentioned in her writings.

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Tradition also says this cave marks the place where Jesus would sometimes go to pray in solitude.

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As a matter of fact, the mountain is also known as Mount Eremos. Eremos is a

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Greek word which means solitary or uninhabited and this cave is known today as the

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Eremos Grotto. This picture is taken from the road looking up, but even from this vantage point you can tell that the area just above the cave is somewhat flat.

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This photo shows an area just a few feet up the hill above the cave.

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If you were standing in the same place where this photo was taken, the cave would be below and behind you.

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As you can see, there is a flat place above the cave which could have accommodated a large crowd.

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You can envision hundreds or even thousands of people sitting on this level place above the cave and on the slopes not far away listening to Jesus teach.

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Six hundred feet to the west are the ruins of a 4th century AD church. This church was built by the

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Byzantines to mark the location where they believed the Sermon on the Mount took place.

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So this is additional evidence that the Christians of the 4th century considered this to be the location of the

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Sermon on the Mount. Earlier I mentioned that Matthew recorded Jesus sitting on a mountain to tea while Luke said that the

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Sermon was delivered on a level place. This has led some people to question if Matthew and Luke recorded two different versions of the same sermon taught in two different locations.

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This is possible, but if the Sermon on the Mount did take place at this location, it's easy to reconcile

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Matthew and Luke's accounts. You may have already noticed in the photos that even though the cave and both the ancient and modern churches are on a hill, there are level places and gentle slopes.

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There's no reason why Matthew and Luke couldn't have been describing the same place.

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Where do you think the Sermon on the Mount took place? Leave a comment down below and let us know what you think.

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