Day 11 Pictures

The Mount of Olives. In the front is a large Jewish cemetery. The most expensive real estate in the world. It will cost you between 400 & 500 thousand to have a plot here. Jewish people want to be buried as they believe this is where the Messiah will come.   

On the Mount of Olives with Old Jerusalem in the background. Notice the Dome of the Rock on the left.

The Jaffa Gate into Old Jerusalem. This will take you to the Christian quarter.

The Pool of Bethaisda where Jesus healed the man who had been sick for 38 years.

The Western Wall also known as the Wailing Wall.

Day 12 pictures

Golgotha, the place of the Skull as it appears today.  You can see the eyes and the nose but the mouth is hidden by the parking lot.

A picture taken shortly after this was discovered where you can see the mouth on the bottom.

The entrance to the Garden Tomb.

Inside the empty tomb.

Standing in front of the entrance to the empty tomb.  He is risen!

A wine press in the garden near the tomb.

Olive trees in Gethsemane that are 1,000 years old or older.

Final Thoughts

Well we are back in Canada dealing with snow and cold.

This truly was an amazing trip and I am glad we were able to go. Some thoughts that come to mind as I think back are:

1. The presentation our guide gave us on the tabernacle in the wilderness really showed how Jesus was the fulfillment of all that God was doing in the old testament. This site and presentation was one of the highlights of this trip for me.
2.  I really enjoyed the Nazareth village that a group of Christians has set up in Nazareth. It gave a great idea of what life was like back then.
3. It was so amazing to go to some of the places that Jesus walked.  The Sea of Galilee area was one of those areas and to see some of the places where Jesus performed miracles was truly a blessing.
4. It was neat to see people getting baptized in the Jordan River, even though in the end we decided not to do it.
5. One of the highlights was the Garden Tomb and Golgotha. I never realized that Jesus was in all likely hood not crucified on a hill but beside a busy road to allow easy access to those that wanted to torment Him. The Romans were really cruel in the way that they performed crucifixions. David Mainse also pointed out that it was probably mainly the Jewish priests and rabbis and their paid staff that wanted him crucified. Most of the ordinary people did not want it.
6.  I am so glad that Jesus summarized all of the old testament rules and laws to two main commandments, to love God with all your heart, soul, body and mind and to love others. There are so many laws that Jews are supposed to follow that it is virtually impossible to follow them all.  In fact the vast majority are related to the temple and since the temple isn't there they can't be followed. But even those that are left are still almost impossible to keep. Since old testament times they have needed to add even more rules to deal with modern technology.  I just don't understand how it is ok on the Sabbath to ride up one elevator in a building but not the one right beside it.
7. The wailing wall was another highlight as I stood at the wall and felt moved to pray for the Jewish people that they would see the true light of Jesus.
8. It still amazes me that Israel is able to survive with all of the Arab nations around it that are so set on destroying them. We experienced just a bit of what they go through with the Hamas rocket attacks on Southern Israel while we were there.
9. I was really impressed with our hosts David and Norma Jean Mainse and Ron and Ann Mainse. Their passion and love for the Israeli nation is truly a blessing.

Day 10 pictures

Model of Old Jerusalem at the Israel Museum. In the centre is the temple mount.

The Shrine of the Book containing some of the Dead Sea scrolls and other artifacts found there. You are not allowed to take pictures inside.

The Shepherds field at Bethlehem. This is the entrance to the caves in which they kept their sheep at night.

The lineup in the Church of the Nativity to see the manger site.

The manger site in the Church of the Nativity. This is what we stood in line for 2 hours to see.

Service at the King of Kings Church in Jerusalem. Notice that in addition to the Hebrew they have the English phonetic printing so that you can sing along in Hebrew without knowing the language.

Day 9 Pictures

In front of our tour bus getting ready to leave the Dead Sea.

On top of Masada

Panoramic shot of the top of Masada

Some kind of Starling only found at Masada (I think)

Camel rides on way to Jerusalem

Day 13 November 21 2012

Today was a free day and we slept in and had a late breakfast. In the morning we walked to the Israel Museum gift shop and back and then in the afternoon we went on another walk trying to find the Jerusalem Botanical Garden. We did eventually find it but then we had to pay to get in so we walked back, a 2 hour round trip.

After a lovely farewell supper we are now on our way to the airport to fly home just as a cease fire was implemented in the war with Hamas.

Day 12 November 20 2012

Today we started our tour with a stop at the Garden Tomb. Here there is also Golgatha (Place of the Skull) where Jesus was crucified.  On the side of the hill there is a rock formation that looks like a skull. Jesus would actually have been crucified beside this place and beside the road that runs by there as the Romans never crucified on hill tops but where people could have access to the person being crucified to mock them and even the dogs could nip at their feet.

Right beside the place of the skull there is a garden and it was here that an empty tomb was found that had engravings of crosses and to indicate that an early Byzantine church had been there. There was also an empty cistern discovered there as well as a wine press.

This place exactly fits the description of the crucifixion and burial as described in the Gospels especially the Gospel of John. The traditional sites for the crucifixion and burial are at the Holy Sepulcher Church, but this is within the city limits and the Romans never carried out crucifixions within the city limits but outside city limits.

We participated in a communion service in the garden and then saw the empty tomb.

We then went to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was arrested.  Gethsemane means oil press and there were some very old olive trees here that were around 1,000 years old. The Church of Agony is built here. It is also called the Church of All Nations because many nations contributed to the construction of the church. This was on the Mt of Olives across the valley from the Golden Gate and the Eastern Wall. The Church of St Mary where the virgin Mary is believed to be buried is also near this church.

Our last stop was a visit to The Holocaust History Museum telling the story of the killing of 6,000,000 Jews by the Nazis. There is also a Children's Memorial in which the names of children killed in the holocaust are read 24/7. It is a very dark and somber place.

We have had limited internet access the last few days. Our hotel did not have free Wifi so the only time we had access to the internet was on the bus as the bus had free Wifi. Pictures for the last four days will be posted later.