Itinerary: You will soon arrive at Ben Gurion Airport. We will try to catch a meal with as many of you as possible on Sunday. Of course, you who arrive that day might just want to retire to your room at Beit Immanuel, a Christian guesthouse just a few blocks from the Mediterranean. Some might be able to take the short walk to the area of Joppa (modern Jaffa), the port where Jonah boarded a ship to run from God; and where Solomon had the logs for the temple floated from Sidon which were then taken to Jerusalem.
We did arrive in Tel Aviv on schedule. We picked up two rental cars. We originally had two 9-passenger vans rented but the price was significantly higher as they would not allow us to cover the insurance with our credit card; thus we had to pay their insurance. So instead we got one van plus a 4-passenger sedan.
We arrived at Beit Immanuel, a Christian guesthouse near the Mediterranean Sea and also near Joppa. We were greeted by two couples who had arrived a few days earlier. At 5P we picked up Art Lincoln. Then the 11 of us went to dinner. We had our second glitch when our 12th member lost her luggage (something we are being told by the hotel people is all too common with El Al, the Israeli airline). I was supposed to pick her up around 11PM. At 12:15am I gave up, not hearing from her, and returned to the hotel. I was living on 4 hours sleep Friday night, 1 hour on the plane. So finally I was in bed by 2AM. Meanwhile the lady came finished with the airline folks and got a taxi to Beit Immanuel.
We read the Abrahamic Covenant today. This is a pertinent passage in the Bible. It not only promises a land and a people that will make Abraham’s name great; it also promises the Messiah (the blessing to the nations). The land of Israel is important and a great place to be even today because of it’s connection to God’s visitation on earth. Two days ago we posted in Ps. 80. In that Psalm we noted God’s visit to “this vine (Israel) and the vineyard (the land) which Your right hand has planted, and “the branch that You made strong for Yourself”. That Branch is the Davidic King and ultimately the Messiah, the Son of Man whom You made strong for Yourself.
We were quite tired and badly in need of more than the 4 hours we God Sunday night (7AM call to breakfast and devotions on Monday). Yet we approached it all with grit and determination given the significance of it all. This is the “land of our salvation”. I am including two more maps that remind us of the people in need of salvation: one on the seven nations that occupied the land; the other of the 12 tribes as that would come to receive their inheritance from the Lord.
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