Jerusalem:Full day one

Much walking today, but obviously well worth it all. Yesterday upon our arrival in Jerusalem from Jericho, we stopped by the museum to see a large outdoor model of the city. That (kind of) helped to orient us.

Today we took our tour bus to the following locations. I've included just a brief observation about each one:

1. Caiaphas's palace: The position of the Jewish "High priest" was more a position of power and prestige, as well as a position of potential great wealth. Annas had apparently paid the Romans well to secure the position of high priest for himself and his sons to come after him. However, he ran out of sons and thus Caiaphas who was a son in law of Annas was in line to be high priest. The position was more about power than about religious reasons.

2. There was a pit below Caiaphas's palace and apparently that is where Jesus was held between trials. It was a pit and likely He was tortured there as well. Interestingly another person was held temporarily in a pit. Someone who was the special, favored son of his father. Someone whose brothers did not stick with him during the time. Who was that other person in a pit? Joseph, a type of Christ.

3. We went to a church commemorating Peter and remembering his thrice denial of Jesus. His denial happened so quickly, so much without his even thinking twice about it. We can so quickly deny Christ, saying, "No, I'm not one of His followers." Yet even though we may so quickly give up on Him, He still pursues and loves us, giving us grace and mercy. He is always there, standing ready to forgive, without our earning it nor deserving it.

4. Upper room: We read John 15 and were reminded that aprt from the true vine, we can bear no fruit. From where do I draw my life? When and under what circumstances do I feel most alive? He wants it to be when I am connected to Him. So I ask myself, Am I closely connected and daily walking with Him?

5. Mt of Olives: Ezekial refers to God's glory departing from the temple. It implies that His Glory rests momentarily on the hill outside Jerusalem, the Mt. Of Olives. In the same way, Jesus overlooked the holy city, weeping for her because they rejected the Messiah. He then ascended to heaven on the Mt. of Olives. Scripture says that He will return some day on that very spot and for that we look forward. We were so blessed to be on that spot, the Mt. of Olives.

Here are a few pictures:

Tiberius and other places

(Original posted March 9)

We are staying at the Gai Beach Hotel in Tiberius. This city is fairly poor but is right on the Sea of Galilee. It was built on a cemetery and thus Jews were not supposed to live there. It was considered unclean. It is actually never referred to in Scripture apart from some reference to a sea of Tiberius. It was apparently inhabited by the Romans during Jesus's day and was named for some ruler. The hotel itself is beautiful. I got up early this morning to see the sun rise over the Sea of Galilee. It was a bit hazy but beautiful.

We journeyed to the place where Jesus invited the disciples to eat breakfast with him after the resurrection. This is where Jesus was reconciled to Peter as well. Jesus asked Peter three times if he (Peter) loved him (Jesus). The pastor who spoke made the point that Jesus's long-suffering and mercy can reach the most sinful person. No one, not even I, is beyond Christ's forgiveness. However this was more than just forgiveness, it was a more complete being made whole. It was a true "peace meal". It was a true offer of shalom - or wholeness or being made right, the way things are supposed to be.  I was impressed that our walk with the Lord should be a daily "wholeness" or true peace. It can be this way if I seek His forgiveness.

We then journeyed to the Mount of the Beatitudes. This was a beautiful setting and we heard from Chuck and David Phelps here. It was very meaningful and moving. Chuck went through the beatitudes and shared some thoughts about each one. Just a couple of thoughts:

1. "Blessed" refers to the ultimate well-being of one who will share in God's kingdom life.
2. The first 4 beatitudes can be looked at as our vertical relationship with God and the last four can be looked at as our horizontal relationship with people.
3. The first one (Blessed are the poor in spirit) can be thought of as "those who don't look at themselves as spiritually self-sufficient. They are not arrogant. They are teachable. The reword? Kingdom life. We are to depend on God and His word.

We then drove to Nazareth Village, a reconstruction of what type village might have looked like in Jesus's day. It was very well done and interesting. One of the things I learned there was that Jesus prayed on the Mt. Of Olives. We saw an olive press in action and snored how they take three different pressings to get the oil out. The first is for the temple and the menorah. The second is for people to drink and use on cooking. The third is for lighting regular lamps in homes. Gethsemanee means olive press in Hebrew. Jesus was "pressed" here in His Spirit. He went back three times to see if his disciples were praying for Him.

Finally we want to Caperneum, where Jesus spent the bulk of His ministry apparently. We say the remains of the actual home thought to be Simon Peter's and where Jesus stayed. Not sure how they know that.

One of the lessons we discussed there was the story of the Centurian's servant. The Centurian
apparently walked a day's journey to seek Jesus to have Him heal his servant. Even though there were no fireworks, no signs, etc, yet the Centurian had to walk a whole day's journey to get back home to check on his servant. He had to simply trust Jesus that He would do what He had promised.

In the same way we are on that journey too, being here on earth before we see eternity. Even though we may not see any dramatic signs, we simply must trust Jesus that He will fulfill what He promised in taking us to heaven. We are on that whole day's journey back 

David

Being there

(Originally posted March 8)



Wow. What a day. It was hard to believe that we were there today- Mt. Carmel where Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal, the Valley of Jezreel where many wars have been fought and where the final war will be waged, Megiddo where King Solomon had a home, Caesarea which was a Roman outpost and where Peter had the first convert  (Cornelius). To actually be there, to see it and to experience it is so awesome, so amazing.


Some things that stood out today:

1. It is somewhat more easy to see why the children of Israel would be tempted to engage in Baal -worship. They were absolutely dependent on the rain for there crops and hence for their survival. Yes God had provided for the, as they came out of Egypt but where was He during the drought at this time. The people north of Mt. Carmel were gentile Baal and Ashteroth worshippers. This cult was all based on fertility and new life. The people south of Mt. Carmel were Jehovah worshippers. Which direction would the country go? Would they fall to Baal worship because he could send the rain? Or would they worship the one true God? Elijah, it seems, was very confident and knew exactly what God would do. He had faith in the one true God. Am I sometimes on the edge, debating whether to follow the one true God vs following my own reasoning or power?

2. My. Tabor is the hypothesized location of the transfiguration. We drove past it and it is a larger hill/mountain. If that is the actual location, it would have taken Jesus, Peter and John more than a day to climb it.

3. We were at a Hippodrome in Caesarea. What's a "hippo"? The word hippo means a horse. The word "potomic" means water ( as in the Potomac in Washington DC, or meso- potamia - "between the rivers" Hence a horse in the water is a "hippopotamus". Anyway we saw a hippodrome today which is a horse racing arena. They also used it for gladiator contests. Caesarea was a Roman outpost so there was a lot of Roman type architecture there. Pontus Pilate had a home there which we saw the remains of. There was a stone that spoke of him which was rather accidentally found when they were digging up the area. Turns out he fell from power and a later builder used that commemorative stone to just build seating for a later structure. The point? His power and influence was brief and ours will be too unless we invest in that which lasts (God's Word and the souls of men and women.)

David Phelp's singing has been powerful and inspiring as has Chuck Swindoll's teaching. Each smaller group has a Bible teacher who goes with us and ours is extremely good. He is the British voice for Insight for Living.

David


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Dan Panorama

(Originally posted March 7)

Arrived safely in Tel Aviv at 5:20 pm local time. Israel is 8 hours ahead of Central time so we arrived at 10:20 am on Monday March 7. The fight was smooth but long - about 9 3/4 hours. The plane was a 747-400 with 10 seats across and about 60 rows. Plus it had 2 levels with the the second level being First class and Business class. We didn't get to see that level!

Had two meals on the plane. The first was at 1 a.m. And was chicken and rice, salad, hummus and pita bread and a dessert. We had to eat in the dark as the lights were not working in our area. Didn't really instill a lot of confidence in the airplane!

We then tried to sleep. I think Jeremy, Michelle and Sean did fairly well. Mom slept some but I had challenges. I finally drifted off then got up to use the bathroom thinking that it must be almost time to land. I was disappointed to find out we had another 4 hours to go!

Had our second meal on the plane at 12 noon. Had an omelette, bagel, fruit, cold fish (I'm the only one who ate it in our family!) and yogurt.

As we approached the airport in Tel Aviv the pilot said something in Hebrew and everyone clapped. The after landing he said something else and people clapped again. I asked a guide what that was about and he said that it is a custom to applaud when the Jews come home to Israel. Several people told us "Welcome home" emphasis given out common roots with the Jews.

We then we're bussed to our hotel , the Dan Panorama, in Tel Aviv. Had a fantastic buffet dinner with all sorts of breads, meats, rise, potatoes, fruits, salads and desserts. It was amazing!

We then heard from our tour hosts with Inspiration Cruises and Tours, as well as Chuck Swindoll and David Phelps (singer with Gaither). I lost it at that point as he sang How Great Thou Art. It was so moving to me.

Total on the tour:525 people. We are divided up into about 50 people on a bus and each bus has a Bible teacher, usually someone from Dallas  Seminary., as well as a "shepherd" - someone from Insight for Living staff - and an Israeli guide. 

On to Ceaseria (? Spelling)  today.

Long but wonderful days!

 Love Dad and Grandpa

Visiting Jericho

Today we traveled from Tiberius through the "West Bank" and up to Jerusalem. "Up" means up in altitude even though it is down south on the map.

The West Bank refers to the West Bank of the Jordan river. It's a disputed territory.

We drove through Jericho and ate at the hotel there. Jericho is largely Muslim and inhabited by Palestinians. It is obviously quite impoverished.  For the most part people live in multi family apartment buildings. The main source of jobs is tourism, agriculture (date palms) and a bit of construction.

The "other " Jericho whose walls fell down and in which Rahab lived, has not been rebuilt. It is under a "tel" which is a mound of dirt covering multiple centuries of communities.. I was impressed that the  days and night.original Jericho was not that large, as most ancient cities were fairly small. Joshua could have easily walked around it daily for seven days and then seven times on the last day.

Jericho is famous also for Zaccheus climbing up in the sycamore tree. The Hebrew word for sycamore means "reconcile" and Zaccheus was reconciled with Jesus during this meeting.

Jericho is also known for being near the area where Jesus was in the wilderness and tempted for 40 days and nights.

We then continued to Jerusalem. As we approached the city, they played the very moving piece "Jerusalem " on the PA system. Of course Karla and I were in tears.

It's late so will sign off for now. Thanks for reading. And, we feel quite safe here.

David