Category: Kingdom History

If you followed on Twitter today you know our first stop was the beach on the Sea of Galilee where Jesus appeared to the disciples after His resurrection. (John 21).

From there we headed north for the Golan Heights, near Israel’s border with Syria, but we were turned back by police because the road was iced over.

We changed our plans, turning back south, then to the east and finally to the north. We stopped at Tel Hazor, one of Solomon’s northern most outposts (I Kings 9:15-25; 2 Chronicles 9:25) and Tel Dan, where the 4,000 year-old gates (the oldest in the world) to the city Abraham once entered still stand (Genesis 14:14).

Our next stop was one of the highlights of the day. Caesarea Philippi is in the northern tip of Israel. Here, Jesus told Peter the “Gates of Hades” would not prevail against the Church. (Matthew 16:13-20). Continue reading “Israel Tour Journal: Day 6”

Have you ever heard of the city of Nain?

I’ve read the Bible for more than 35 years, but before today I would have answered the question, “No.”

Nain is where Jesus raised the widow’s son from the dead. (Luke 7:11-17).

Before today, I paid no attention to the name of the city where Jesus performed this miracle because I assumed–wrongly–it had no relevance to an understanding of the story.

I now have a clear picture in my mind of where Jesus walked that day, from where he was coming and where he was going. Continue reading “Israel Tour Journal: Day 5”

Today was a busy day in Jerusalem.

We left Yad Hashemona for Jerusalem at 8:15 a.m. and returned at 6:30 p.m.

Here’s what we did in the morning: Mount Scopus, Mount of Olives, Kidron Valley, Garden of Gethsemane, Memorial of Absalom, Tomb of Zecharia, and lunch at Ramat Rachel kibbutz.

After lunch we drove to the House of Caiaphas (site of Jesus’ trial) and the place of Peter’s denial of Jesus. The rest of the afternoon was a walking tour to the following places: coffee at Aroma @ Jaffa Gate, Jaffa Gate, Tower of Herod’s Palace, Armenian Quarter (Old City), Jewish Quarter (Old City), Western Wall, Via Dolorosa (toward Ecce Homo), Ecce Homo (site of Antonia Fortress where Jesus faced Pontius Pilate) , Via Dolorosa (toward Church of Holy Sepulchre), Muslim Quarter (Old City), Ethiopian entry to Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Sword of Godfrey de Bouillon), Jaffa Gate.

Continue reading “Israel Tour Journal: Day 4”

Life is a journey.

This tour of Israel is a microcosm of that journey. There is a beginning, an end and a time in between.

It is in the in-between time one hopes for personal transformation.This evening we entered the in-between time when Arie Bar-David taught us for the first time on this tour.

The day was a relaxing one, as we waited for the rest of the members of our tour to arrive. We visited a local mall, which was similar to malls in the United States except everything was in Hebrew, the McDonald’s was kosher and security guards check your trunk for bombs as you enter the parking garage and your purse as you walk through the security scanners. Continue reading “Israel Tour Journal: Day 3”

We arrived safely in Tel Aviv, and our friend and tour leader, Ji Yun, picked us up at the airport.

Israel is about the size of New Jersey, so it doesn’t take long to get around. It took about twenty minutes to get from Tel Aviv to Yad Hashmona, the Christian moshav where we are staying.

There was no time for sleeping, desperate though we were for it, because we wanted to see the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the place Christians most want to see when they come to Israel; for us it was the most disappointing. Ji had warned us.

The church sits on what many believe is the site of Jesus’ crucifixion. That spot is under the dome you see in the picture. The church also includes the stone on which Jesus was supposedly laid when He was taken off the cross, the supposed tomb from which He was resurrected, and a chapel where Constantine’s mother, Helena, supposedly discovered the True Cross. Continue reading “Israel Tour Journal: Day 2”