Jerusalem – the Old City
We loved everything about walking around the Old City of Jerusalem. It is divided into 4 different quarters and each quarter is a beautiful mosaic of people, customs, food and architecture. We appreciated more than ever Christ’s words when He observed the crowds and said they were like “sheep without a shepherd” (Matt. 9:36).
Walking around you can easily imagine the Biblical accounts taking place, but what was unexpected was to be moved to think about the “end of the story” or the prophecies about what will happen in Jerusalem at the end of days. This lends an urgency to our work. It was a privilege to see the Old Jerusalem, and we look forward to someday seeing the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:2)
Mount of Olives
So many important events happened on the Mount of Olives; Jesus’ Triumphal entry, His arrest, His ascension, His weeping over the city. But as we walked these locations and looked back across the Kidron valley to the Old City of Jerusalem, it was Jesus’ prayer times alone in the olive groves that spoke the most to us.
The central importance of Jesus’ time alone with the Father, interceding for the world and submitting to the will of God impacted all those on our tour. At the close of our time together, during a sharing time, we all agreed that a renewed reliance on prayer was one of the main things that would be taken back with us to our ministries.
Sea of Galilee
The region of Galilee is where much of Jesus’ ministry took place. We visited many of the (former) towns that the scriptures speak about Jesus visiting. The ruins that are visible really help you to picture how a small 1st century village would have worked and even today the area is mostly quiet with beautiful farming communities.
What is unchanged is that northern Israel is still surrounded by her enemies. At one point we were just a few miles from both Lebanon and Syria! It’s only through God’s protection and provision that this tiny country remains safe.