Israel - Day 7

Holy Land Tour Day 7: Lion’s Gate, Pool of Bethesda, Damascus Gate, the Garden Tomb, & Bethlehem (Shepherd’s Field & Church of the Nativity). Our final day, and it was another wonderful day. So thankful for such a great opportunity to see and walk where Jesus walked.

Entering the old city of Jerusalem through the Lion’s Gate (how one would have entered if coming from the Mount of Olives)

Sign by the gate

Soon after walking through the Lion's Gate, we walked by the location of the birthplace of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Then, we arrived and walked around the pools of Bethesda...Pastor Ronnie read from John 5.

😍

Walking around the pools of Bethesda

We walked inside a church (800 years old) by the pool of Bethesda...this church has the best acoustics. After our worship leader and his wife, Jeff and Kym, sang a beautiful song, we all sang Amazing Grace. It was absolutely beautiful.

Art, Helen, & me

Viewpoint of the old city

Family

Right in the middle of the picture is the wall. The opening is the Damascus Gate, the northern Gate of the old city.  We walked to there from here...going through markets and old streets.  So neat.

Look at the size of the bread in the market!!

We arrived at the Damascus Gate & the Wall. This Gate leads to the Garden Tomb.

CCC Israel 2019 (Damascus Gate)

We then headed on to the Garden Tomb.  At the Garden Tomb, we had a Christian tour guide walk us through Golgotha and Jesus’ death & resurrection. He was very well spoken and very moving.

This is how they first saw Golgotha, the Place of the Skull. You can see the eyes. The execution of Jesus took place at ground level.

Today, you can still see part of the eyes still intact. The current day bus stop is where they believed the execution took place.

Then, we got to see the tomb of Jesus. You can see how the stone would have been in front of His tomb. We walked inside the tomb.

Of course, it was empty. “He has risen, just as He said.”

The whole experience was just so moving.

We headed to a chapel at the Garden Tomb, and Ronnie read the account from Matthew 27-28. Then, we took the Lord’s Supper together as a group. We are so very thankful for what Jesus did for us.

Afterwards, we headed to Bethlehem. We stopped at the Shepherd’s Field, believed to be where the shepherds where tending their sheep when the angel appeared the night Jesus was born. 

This is that field. (Luke 2)

This would be the site the shepherds saw when they looked to Bethlehem to see the star.

Right in the Shepherd’s Field is this modern church. The angel on top is to signify the angel telling the shepherds about Jesus being born. It was built in 1954.

Inside the church were a few paintings. This is one...the shepherds in the field and the angel appearing.

Another painting is the birth of Jesus.

In an all natural cave (check out tree roots to the right), one like something the shepherds would have stayed in...shepherds move from cave to cave. This is also something like Jesus would have been born in.

CCC Israel 2019 (Shepherd’s Field) 

Then, we walked the street of Bethlehem, and we came to the Church of the Nativity, believed to be built on top of the cave where Mary gave birth.

 This is the Jerusalem cross. It can have several meanings, but the middle (largest) cross always means the death of Christ. The 4 smaller crosses can signify the north, east, south, west walls surrounding the old city. They can also signify the wounds of Jesus with His death on the cross. But, my favorite symbolic meaning is Jesus (1) is the Messiah (2), the Alpha (3) and the Omega (4).

Inside the Church...decorated like Christmas since Bethlehem is for Jesus’ birth and why we celebrate Christmas.

Walked by this "familiar" shop. 😂

We ended our time in Bethlehem at a large shop.  They had their workshop below their store where the men are making intricate pieces made from olive wood. They were beautiful pieces. Neat to see.

This piece was huge...& it was on sale for $29,500! 😳 But, it was such another great day. 

What a trip this was for us. There was definitely so much to take in, and we will be reading Scriptures with a different set of eyes now. We are thankful for such a wonderful opportunity.

Israel - Day 6

Holy Land Tour Day 6: Temple Mount, Dome of the Rock, Antonia Fortress, Wailing Wall/Western Wall, & the Holocaust Museum. First day of rainy, cold weather, but it was still another amazing day.

Getting ready to walk up to the Temple Mount...

As we walked up to the Temple Mount, we passed the Wailing Wall. It was very early in the morning, so there were hardly any people there. It’s divided men and women, and there were some people praying.

On the Temple Mount, there are several rules, including not putting arms around one another. It’s considered a very holy place.  So, we took a picture of us on the Temple Mount...just side by side.

The Temple Mount was built on top of Mount Moriah (Gen. 22), then the first temple was built & destroyed, then the second temple built and later enlarged by Herod the Great. Now, the Temple area is under control by Muslims and the Temple is replaced with the Muslim Shrine known as the Dome of the Rock.

Helen & me with the Dome of the Rock behind us.

The Muslims would come cleanse their hands and head before going into the mosque to pray.

The Dome of the Rock (Golden Dome)

After leaving the Temple Mount, we headed down the streets right beside the Temple walls. At the corner of the Temple Mount is Antonia Fortress. 

There is nothing left of the fortress, but Antonia Fortress is the site where Jesus was condemned to the cross. We went about 30 feet below street level to see the road believed to be the one Jesus walked carrying the cross.

This is that actual road...

To be standing on the road where Jesus walked carrying the cross...very moving. Ronnie read from Matthew 27 as we all spent a little time reflecting on what Jesus did for us at that time...carrying the cross for us.

Then, we headed back up to the streets again, walking around Jerusalem. So much to see...

We saw and heard a man playing the shofar during the bar mitzvah that we saw as we were walking around.  Very cool to see.

We circled back to the Wailing Wall...it is behind us.

 The wailing wall.

Close up of all the notes tucked into the wall...believing that these prayers go straight up to God. So many walks of life are at this wall praying...

We continued walking past, and this was by the wall.

This is the remains of Jerusalem’s main street when second temple was built. The damage to the streets were probably caused by Romans throwing large stones over the top of the wall down below.

This is what they found on the main street...These large stones on it.

This is also the Western Wall...considered more “sacred” because Holy of Holies of second Temple faced that wall.  We were able to go underground and even see where they thought it was...so cool.

The corner of the the Western Wall

Then, we headed below to a tunnel to visit the original portion of the Western Wall. We walked through what is in white box pictured above. (That picture is of the walls that surrounded the second temple.)

This is the part of the Western Wall. Each stone was about 400-600 tons. They were huge!! 

This is the place (in the tunnel along the Western Wall) believed to the be the closest to the Holy of Holies in the Temple.

The other side of the tunnel viewing the Holy of Holies.

This is part of the tunnel that led us to an aqueduct.  Tight tunnel, but interesting...

Afterwards, we walked the streets of Jerusalem. So many little shops and people everywhere. We did find this Carolina Panthers shirt...how fun. Afterwards, we headed to the Holocaust Museum. It was sobering, interesting, sad, and so much to take in...but no pictures were allowed. It was another full day, another wonderful day in Israel.