2015 Israel Trip CC: January 2015

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Day Five

We started the day at the Wilderness of Zin. Jim reminded us that God often uses the wilderness experiences to show us pride in our lives. When Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days, Satan tempted him with pride to provide for himself but Jesus continually pointed it back to God. It was interesting to see how many rocks are there... it gave new perspective as we thought about turning the stones to bread!

Our second stop was Beersheba. Translated, it means well of the oath. God makes a covenant with Isaac. It's the very last stop before the Israelites were led into captivity in Egypt. We talked about Isaac's submission to God in the face of difficulty.

Lachish (our third stop) was were Isaiah rebukes Hezekiah for attempting to take matters into his own hands. He eventually does submit to God and God shows up and defeats the Assyrian army just outside of the walls.

The Elah Valley is where David and Goliath fought. We were reminded that the true battle is won because David's heart trusts in God and he recognizes that the battle is the Lord's!

Another busy day! Now we are resting in Jerusalem and are excited about worshipping our Savior here tomorrow.

The Wilderness at Zin

The Wilderness

BeerSheeba

Lachish

Valley of Elah

Friday, January 30, 2015

Day Four

Just when you think you can't pack any more into a day or that your head is going to burst because you are learning so much... He continues to reveal Himself and unveil new things!

We started at Masada with it's breathtaking views. Moved on to En Gedi with the reminder that we always need to let go and ask God to work. Then lunch at Qumran and a tour talking about the dead sea scrolls that were recently found along with Jesus' teaching about the man who built his house upon the sand or the sure foundation. Finishing our day with teaching about the Dead Sea and a quick float! It was a whirlwind, but thankful for God's voice amidst the quiet reflection times as well as the bustle of the day.

Overlooking the desert from Masada

Our tour guide, Boaz

Looking out from Masada

En Gedi

At En Gedi

Pastor Jim reading Psalm 57 to us at En Gedi

The Dead Sea

Qumran

The Dead Sea

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Thursday (written by Julie Witcher)

After a very early morning wake-up call and quick breakfast, we left the Sea of Galilee region and headed southwest to the Mediterranean and Caesarea By The Sea, the seat of Roman rule in the region during the time of Jesus. Here, Herod the Great constructed his amazing palace with a fresh water swimming pool, filled with water carried 11 miles from Mount Carmel via a Roman aqueduct. And here, Herod constructed the first artificial harbor making this city an important link to the rest of the world. It is at Caesarea that the first Gentile believer, Cornelius, hears the gospel message and is saved. And it is the port at Caesarea that becomes the point from which Paul sails on all of his missionary journeys by sea thus enabling the fulfillment of the Great Commission to take the gospel to the world.

The theater at Caesarea

Remains of Herod's fresh water swimming pool

Aqueduct from Mount Carmel

A quick stop so that Lynn (and others!) can splash in the Mediterranean.

From Caesarea and the Mediterranean, we traveled up the coast to Mt. Carmel, a breath-taking spot where Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal when God rained down fire from Heaven.

Jim teaches atop Mt. Carmel

Next we took in the delights of a re-created Jesus-era village within the thriving city of modern-day Nazareth. What a delight to meet these wonderful Arab brothers and sisters in Christ who demonstrated a love of Jesus like our own. After showing us buildings authentically constructed and occupations as they would have been performed, they prepared a sumptuous feast for us of fire-grilled chicken and pita bread, soup, hummus, hyssop, olives, cabbage and apples with a fig dipping sauce. Yum!

An olive press

A carpenter

A Rabbi singing to open worship

Thoroughly sated, we headed south again to the Biblical city of Jericho. There we learned that West Bank politics have influenced the conclusion of modern day archaeologists who attempt to discredit the Biblical account of Joshua's defeat of the city after the Israelites first crossed the Jordan into Canaan. With a Christian archaeologist as a guide, however, we were shown incontrovertible evidence of the walls having fallen suddenly, Jericho's destruction by fire and its abandonment as a city.

Our lunch being prepared

Joel, a Christian archaeologist, proves his case

Biblical teaching in Jericho

A 400 year old sycamore tree, symbolic of the tree climbed by Zaccheus to see Jesus in the rebuilt town of Jericho

Day Three

While on the bus, we learned about significant history that was foretold in the book of Daniel. We then started our touring at Caesarea by the Sea, looking at the place where Paul left for his missionary journey from. The Roman Government created a port here on the Mediterranean Sea which allowed for travel back and forth to Europe. We then traveled to Mt. Carmel and Megiddo Valley where we were reminded of Elijah's confrontation with the Prophets of Baal. God prompts Elijah to confront the false god on his home turf. God WINS by sending fire to consume the alter and the water! Then we visited Nazareth Village to help us visualize what Nazareth would have looked like in Jesus' time.
We completed our busy day at Jericho. We had a fascinating architectural discussion and then were reminded that God has a heart for the marginalized and those unaccepted in society. He mentions Jericho three times. First in the account of the good samaritan who was on the road to Jericho, second when Jesus heals blind Bartimeous in Luke 18. And last, when we hear of Zaccheus, he was in Jericho. Jesus stays at Zacheus' house to show acceptance. The spies stay at Rahab's house in Jericho. She was an outcast too.

Thank you for your continued prayers. It was a great day!