Up To Jerusalem

Last time we left off we were rushing to get to Jerusalem. We picked up an Israeli soldier. When he got in the car we told him we were going to Jerusalem.. He said, "You should have turned there!" pointing 500 feet away. "This isn't the way to Jerusalem!" We thanked him and turned around and headed to the to the turn for the road that leads to Jerusalem. When we made our turn there was a group of about 20 soldiers (all waiting for a ride to get home for the Sabbath). We picked up a young man of 20 named Yarom who lives in Jerusalem. On the way we went. More about the ride there with Yarom in our next post.

Onto Jerusalem!

Friday, June 10, 1994
(written at 6:45pm at the YMCA Hotel, Jerusalem, Israel)

Psalm 122

A song of ascents. Of David.

I rejoiced with those who said to me, "Let us go to the House of the LORD."

Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is built like a city that is closely compacted together.

That is where the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, to praise the Name of the LORD, according to the statue given to Israel.

There the thrones for judgment stand, the thrones of the house of David.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May those who love you be secure.

May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.

For the sake of my brothers and friends, I will say, "Peace be within you."

For the sake of the House of the LORD our God, I will seek your prosperity.

As we rode into Jerusalem yesterday afternoon we read this Psalm. What a day it was! From the moment we departed from Tiberias at 9am things seemed much "busier" than they had previously. Of course! It is Preparation Day for the Sabbath! Lots of traffic and people shopping almost in a frantic pace.

Leaving we rode tot he highest point in the Galilee Region. It is called Arbel. What an incredible view. You can see the Sea of Galilee and the roads that go to Cana and Nazareth that Jesus traveled. We didn't know that we could drive the little Renault up to the point so we walked. This took much more time than we had planned. What seemed like being late according to our schedule was actually right on time according to the LORD's.

We needed the to turn in the rental car by 2pm in Jerusalem. It is about 80 miles from the Sea of Galilee to Jerusalem, of course it was longer for us because we had to avoid the West Bank. It is not advisable for Americans to anyone else to go through it.

We came down along the Sea of Galilee and were supposed to make a right hand turn at one point but since we were flying to get to Jerusalem we missed it. As hospitality dictates we picked up an Israeli soldier who was looking for a ride. What he told us saved us a lot of money and time and aggravation. More in the next post.

End of the Fifth Day

Leaving Tagbha we walked along the shore of the Sea of Galilee towards Capernaum. This gave such a feel for what it would have been like to walk with Jesus when He was here on earth in this very place. We passed several groves of fruit trees which went from the shore to the road. Remember the Sea of Galilee is a fresh water body. It is really a large lake. Some of the trees were lime trees.

We walked right into Capernaum. From the synagoyue you could see clear over to Kursi (Gaderenes). Somewhere between Capernaum and Gadarenes, out there on the Sea, Jesus calmed the squall. I remember being there in 1988 and seeing how quickly the Sea of Galilee could go from calm and placid to extremely choppy and rough in a very short time. "What manner of man is this that even the winds and the waves obey Him?!!!" (Mark 4.41)

After about an hour in Capernaum we left and began to walk back to where we had parked the car hours before. We approached the hillside where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount. As we came up on it the whole hill was full of sheep- 300 of them! We sat down on a bale of hay and read the Sermon on the Mount while the sheep grazed. As we got up to leave we spotted the shepherd. He was sitting in the shade of a tree. We went over to him. His name was "Mohamed". He is an Israeli Arab. His father owns the sheep and the entire mountainside. I asked him how he gets the sheep to come to him. He said, "I call them." I asked, "They know your voice?" He said, "Of course!" We talked for a few minutes and then he said, "I've go to go to my sheep." Incredible!

Tomorrow- Jerusalem!

The Fifth Day of the Trip

Thursday, June 9, 1994
Tiberias, Israel

We spent a full day in the Galilee today. We began the day with a multimedia presentation called "The Galilee Experience". It is on the 4,000 year history of this region. Terri Morey is the owner. What a dear lady.

We left there and drove around the Sea of Galilee to Gadarenes. Here Jesus cast the demons out of a man who lived among the tombs and sent them into the swine. We read the accounts in all three Gospels. Mark 5.1-17 gives us the greatest detail. There was a Byzantine Monastery there which was uncovered in 1970 while road construction was taking place. After the accidental discovery the moved the road closer to the shore. Then the archaeologists came in. They have named the place, Kursi. There is a church as well as a chapel. The chapel is above the church which lines up with the scripture about the swine going off a cliff. The ruins indicate the event took place there. Amazing!

We then drove to the Mount of Beatitudes where it is believed Jesus gave Th Sermon on the Mount. We parked the car and back-packed down to Tagbha, the traditional site of the feeding of the 5,000and the place where Jesus called to the disciples to cast their nets on the other side after He rose from the dead and met them on the beach.

When we arrived at the Sea I went in and put my feet right in the water. It was so refreshing. Somewhere out there the disciples were coming in from a night of catching no fish when Jesus called to them.

On the wall of the church that sits next to the place where I am standing in this picture are these words:

"At Thy Word I will let down the nets..."

"The deeds and miracles of Jesus are not (just) actions of the past. Jesus is waiting for those who are still prepared to take risks at His Word because they trust His power utterly." (parenthesis mine)

More of the Fourth Day

On a trail in the park at Caeserea Philippi we came to a mill with a bakery on the roof. They made the most delicious pita bread I have ever tasted. It was long like a tortilla and rolled up like a wrap and it had a mixture of fresh cheese and herbs in the middle. For one dollar I had a lunch that more than satisfied.

We got back to the car (a little 3 cylinder Renault) about five o'clock. We drove up towards Mount Hermon. On a road that come close to the border with Lebanon there were military installations complete with artilllery aimed towards the border. Israel has always been on 24 hour alert. The landscape of the Golan Heights are strewn with the wreckage of jeeps and homes and former lookout towers left by the Syrians in the 1967 war.

Another thing left are mine fields of which Syria still holds the maps to. All along the path at a certain place on the path in the park at Banias was barbed wire fences with signs warning that on the other side were mine fields. It was a close to as you would want to come to these deadly things. It was very illustrative of what life is like there in the territories and also what it once was. This was one of many things you have to go  to Israel to see. You cannot depend on the media to give a true picture of life there.

We gave rides to 4 more soldiers today. One of them was a sargeant in the Israeli Air Force. I asked him as well as the others about the current peace process. This young man firmly opposed it as the others did, calling it "dangerous."

Arriving back in Galilee we ate falafel from a street vendor (much like you see in New York with hot pretzels and frankfuters). They were delicious!

Tiberias is a beautiful bustling city.

Fourth Day Continued

Wednesday, June 8, 1994

Tiberias

We are at Banias originally called Paneas, in honor of the Greek god, Pan whose shrine is located here. Rebuilt by Herod's son Phillip and called Caesera Philippi after Caesar Tiberias and himself, this is where Peter made the great confession about Jesus, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God."

William Barclay writes, "The area was scattered with temples of ancient Syrian Baal worship. Here was an area where the breath of ancient religion was in the very atmosphere. Here was the place beneath the shadow of the ancient gods.

Not only the Syrian gods had their worship here... by Caesera Phillipi there rose a great hill, in which was a deep cavern; and that cavern was said to be the birthplace of the god, Pan, the god of nature. So much was Caesera Philippi identified with that god that its original name was Panias, and to this day the place is known as Banias. The legends of the Greek gods gathered around Caesera Philippi.

Further, that cave was said to be the place where the sources of the Jordan River sprang to life. Josephus writes, 'This is a very fine cave in a mountain, under which there is a great cavity in the earth; and the cavern is abrupt, and prodigiously deep and still full of water. Over it hangs a vast mountain, and the under the cavern arises the springs of the River Jordan.' The very idea that this was the place which the Jordan River took its rise would make it redolent of all the memories of Jewish history. The ancient faith of Judaism would be in the air for anyone who was a devout and pious Jew.

But there was something more. In Caeserea Philippi there was a great temple of white Marble built to the godhead of Caesar. It had been built by Herod the Great. Later (as mentioned earlier) it was Philip, Herod's son, who further beautified and enriched the temple, changed the name of Panias to Caeserea- Caesar's town- added his own name to distinguish it from the Caeserea on the coasts of the Mediterranean. No one could look at Caeserea Philippi, even from a distance, without seeing that pile of glistening marble, and thinking of the might and of the divinity of Rome.

Here is a dramatic picture. Here a homeless, penniless Galilean carpenter, with twelve very ordinary men around Him, at the moment the orthodox are plotting to kill Him, stands and asks the question, 'Who do men say that I am?' He stands there in an area littered with the temples of the Syrian gods; in a place where the ancient Greek gods looked down; in a place where the history of Israel crowded in upon the minds of men; where the white marble splendor of the home of Caesar-worship dominated the landscape and compelled the eye. And there- of all paces this amazing carpenter stands and asks men Who they believe Him to be and expects an answer, 'the Son of God.' It is as if Jesus deliberately set Himself against the background of the world's religions in all their history and splendor, and demanded to be compared with them and to have the verdict given in His favor. There are few scenes where Jesus' consciousness of His Own Divinity shines out with a more dazzling light."

We hiked over three miles back into this preserve, very possibly in the places where Jesus and the disciples walked. What beautiful sights we saw. The waterfalls were spectacular. It was hot and the cool mist in the shade felt so refreshing.

Fourth Day of the Journey

Wednesday, June 8, 1994 6:42pm
Tiberias, Yospeh Meyouhaus Youth Hostel

What a wonderful day! We left around 9am for Capernaum (Kfar-Nahum). On the way we stopped at the place where tradition says Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount. It fits the Biblical description as many traditional sites do.

Then we drove to Capernaum. We stayed there for about an hour and a half reading sections of the Gospels that record what took place in this town. Here Jesus ministered. Here He walked. It is interesting that His words in Matthew 11.20-24 have been fulfilled. Capernaum is now in ruins while Tiberias remains a thriving city on the Sea of Galilee. It is fascinating to see the ancient buildings along side of recent structures. Tiberias is a a great example of this.

Leaving Capernaum we headed up to the Golan Heights toward Mount Hermon. We drove through a Druze village where a Palestinian flag was flying. In the middle of the street was a statue of this man with a large mustache and a large drawn sword. We left in a hurry. We were being stared at and I got the feeling this village did not see many Americans. Three Arab boys when we asked for directions pointed us towards the Syrian border. We ended up turning around before we had gone too far.

We passed Nimrod's fortress and then drove by an archaeological dig. It turned out to be Banias. Paneas is what Matthew calls Caesera Philippi! More on my next post.

Third Day of the Journey (Part Two)

We left Tel Aviv and headed toward Galilee. On the way we went through the Valley of Armageddon. Revelation 16.16 "And He gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue: 'Armageddon'" Man's final battle before the Messiah comes to redeem the world will be fought in this Valley. Here are the crossroads of the world. A very fertile valley, it is also called the "Breadbasket of Israel". We stopped the car and got out. There has always been an eery sensation as I have gone through this valley, realizing that human history, as we know it, will end there. On the way there we picked up our first soldier, Zach. We dropped him off before we got there. It is common courtesy to pick up Israeli soldiers and give them a ride. I learned this the first time I was there.

Continuing on the way to Galilee we went by Mount Gilboa where Saul and Jonathan were slain. We came to Bet'Shean. Here the Philistines hung the bodies of Saul and Jonathan.

We walked around the ruins of Bet'Shean. Biblical Archeology Review had an extensive article on the work which has been taken place here. So much has been done in the past 6 years. Distances are something that come into focus while in Israel. Time and time again I realized how close things were. Mount Gilboa is not far from Bet'Shean.

Climbing the Tel at Bet'Shean I experienced thirst like I ahd never had before. I had begun to dehydrate. I got a little dizzy. When we got down to the bottom I drank 2 liters of water. The thrist was in my belly not my throat. I understood how significant Jesus's words to the Samaritan woman were and how when He spoke of the Spirit as a stream of living water coming out of the depths of man what that must have meant to the people living here.

Leaving Bet'Shean we made our way up the Jordan Valley. On the bottom of the Sea of Galilee we picked up another solider named, "Nissi" In Exodus 17.15 we are told that Nissi means, "My Banner". I asked him about the peace process. This would be a question I posed to all the soldiers we came in contact with while there. He was straight forward. He was opposed to it.

Arriving at the youth hostel we unloaded our car. Then we got into bathing suits and headed to the Sea of Galilee for a swim. We got in where a bus was parked. There was a boys school from Ashkelon there. These young Israelis were very friendly and came over and began to talk to us. We met a boy named Shi who had just arrived from Russia. There was another boy named Shamon who spke very seriously about the peace process. They were in favor of peace but in their words, "Not the way we are doing it."

We arrived back at the youth hostel and then went out for fish on the Sea of Galilee.

Third Day Of the Journey

Tuesday, June 7, 1994

Tiberias, Israel- Yospeh Meyouhaus Youth Hostel

This morning in Tel Aviv we had the traditional huge Israeli breakfast. Fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, fish, eggs, salads, olives, yogurts. It is so filling.

We left the hotel and made our way to the Tel Aviv University to see the Diaspora Museum. It was still a little strange driving in a country I had never been behind the wheel of a car in before. We had to ask directions several times.

The Diaspora Museum was ought to be included on tours, just to grasp an understanding of the history of the Jewish people and Israel, their land. It covered the history of the Jews from the time of the Babylonian Exile, 2,500 years ago. Here is what happened to the Jewish people and what they accomplished between the time they were driven from Israel and when they returned. Among the things that impressed me was the inscription on a single wall, "'Not by Might, nor by power but by My Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty."

Also included in this museum is a display on the Messiah. This was the final exhibit. This was a foretaste of a theme we would encounter throughout the trip.

That evening we arrived in Galilee. More about that and the rest of this day in the next post.

Second Day of the Journey to Israel

Monday, June 6, 1994 11:45am
Paris, France

We are currently waiting for our connecting flight to Tel Aviv. On the seat next to me is a lady named Nancy. Three years ago, following a divorce, she moved to Israel. She tells me that there are a lot of women in Israel in her situation.

11:30pm Tel Aviv, Israel
We arrived at Ben Gurion Airport at 6:30pm. After picking up our car we managed to get lost a few times on the way to our hotel. It is on Ben-Yehuda Street. We went out for dinner and had falafalas. Then we walked down to the beach. Many people are sitting and enjoying the beautiful late spring summerlike weather. There is lots of life here. As we sit Air Force helicopters and low flying planes comb the coast, flood lights are shone upon the waters of the Mediterranean. It is hard to believe that just a few years ago Saddam Hussein launched Scud Missiles into this city.

Israel is such a beautiful country. Thank you LORD for allowing me to see what You are doing in the land you swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their descendants.

Nancy told me some interesting things on the flight:
1. The country for the most part does not care for the current government's policy towards the territories.
2. Every Jew in the world automatically becomes a citizen when they come to Israel. They want every Jew to come home.
3. There is no constitution.

Journal of A Holyland Pilgrim

A number of years ago it was my high privilege to journey to Israel for 2 weeks of travel off the beaten path. I had been several times before on a tour. This time the LORD would guide us. My friend John Foster and I rented a little 3 cylinder Renault and off we went from Tel Aviv to Galilee and then onto Jerusalem.

"I will bring back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them," says the LORD your God.

Over the course of the next posts I will transcribe my journey into this wonderful country. Shalom!

Sunday, June 5, 1994 9:25am

Kennedy International Airport

Queens, New York

We are aboard a Delta Flight bound for Tel Aviv, Israel. We will stay one night in Tel Aviv, several in Galilee and a week in Jerusalem. We plan on visiting some unique places, not seen on a regular tour. At 9:30pm we flew out of Gate 7 into the sky on our way to the most incredible land on the earth.

O LORD I pray You will direct our paths! Today is Dad and Mom's 40th wedding anniversary. They are in the White Mountains of New Hampshire celebrating.

There is a real sense of peace about this trip. The LORD's Hand is upon it.