Mount Hermon
Mount Hermon is 9,230 feet high, and is almost certainly where Jesus was transfigured before His disciples. The melting snow from Mount Hermon provides the clear fresh mountain water for the Sea of Galilee. It is a Biblical picture of Heaven.
The Sea of Galilee
In the New Testament Jesus Christ based His ministry around the Sea of Galilee. The fresh flowing water comes from the melting snow of Mount Hermon, where Jesus Christ was transfigured, and provides clear fresh mountain water for everything living. It is the most beautiful place, teeming with abundant fish. There is also abundant vegetation around the shores, and the soil is famous for its fertility. Josephus, a Jewish historian wrote that it was “wonderful in its characteristics and in its beauty. Thanks to the rich soil there is not a plant that does not flourish there, and the inhabitants grow everything: the air is so temperate that it suits the most diverse species.” The Sea of Galilee is a Biblical picture of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.
The Dead Sea
By contrast the Dead Sea is the lowest point on the Earth’s surface, at 1,300 feet below sea level. The salt content of the Dead Sea varies from 26% to 35%, and no living fish can possibly survive in the water, as the name Dead Sea implies. The annual rainfall is minimal, and there is a very strong smell of sulphur. It is also extremely hot. Because the Dead Sea is the lowest place on the Earth, no water drains from the lake, and the water is therefore still. The Dead Sea is a Biblical picture of Hell.
The Biblical warning of Sodom and Gomorrah
In the Bible Sodom and Gomorrah are used as a very real warning to everyone of the existence of Hell. “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds) – then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority” 2 Peter 2:4-10, NKJV.