2 Thessalonians 3:1-5; Heb. 12:1-4

Paul does not focus long on his needs.  His real concern is for the churches (2 Cor. 11:28) so in vs.3-5 he returns to encourage the Thessalonian believers.

His first encouragement is to remind them of the faithfulness of God.  We should know that God is the one who will establish us and who will guard us from the Satan.  We cannot do this ourselves; we must have one in us Who is greater than the one in the world (1 Jn. 4:4).  Four times in the two Thessalonian letters Paul expressed concern about their being established (1 Th. 3:2,13; 2 Th. 2:17; 3:3).  First, he sent Timothy to them to establish them.  Then twice he prayed for their establishment.  Now he simply reminds them: God is faithful; He will do it! 

To guard is to keep watch so as to keep someone safe or from being snatched away or dying.  Paul knew God was able to keep them until the day they would stand before Christ (2 Tim. 1:12).  Jude 1:24 says this so strongly: Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.  Again, Paul now says: God is faithful; He will do it!  This should have been an encouragement to these believers in the midst of affliction.

Paul has another work of encouragement: he is confident they will do the things he has commanded them to do.  Think first about the word commanded.  In our churches we don’t do much commanding.  We don’t have the lines of authority and submission that they had in the early church and which we should have now.  You should know Paul is going to use this same word three more times in this chapter (v6,10,12).  Certainly Paul spoke like this as an Apostle of Christ; that gave him authority.  But shouldn’t we be able to command if we are speaking from the word of God?  That gives us all the authority we need!  The word command does not imply Paul was harsh with the Thessalonians; it simply means he spoke with authority.  He was passing on something from God to men.  We do that when we speak from God’s word.  Good preaching is not full of suggestions; it should command what God commands.

What about Paul’s confidence?  This often used this language with the churches to whom he wrote (Rom. 15:14; 2 Cor. 2:3, etc.).  It was always confidence in the Lord that he believed would extend to the believers.  In Gal. 5:10 he said, I have confidence in you, inn the Lord, that you will have no other mind.  This is the same term he used in Phil. 1:6: being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.  This is the same confidence he had in the Thessalonians: confidence in the Lord concerning you that you will obey.

Paul concludes this encouragement with another wonderful prayer.  Isn’t it amazing how often he prays throughout this letter?  We should practice such prayer without ceasing.  Again, his concern is for the hearts of these believers.  He desires the Lord to direct their hearts into two areas that are a perfect fit for Christians in their troubles.

·        The love of God.  It is a concern that in our trials we might become calloused and angry towards those who make our lives difficult.  Instead we need to be directed so as to love them as God loves them.  We need to know He has not stopped loving us; these trials are for our good and are designed for us by a God who loves us.

·        The patience of Christ.  How perfectly fit.  It is the Son of God who came to earth as God to live as Man, even to the death of the cross.  Jesus never turned from that path that was laid out for Him.  Paul had spoken of the patience and faith of the Thessalonians at the start of the letter (1:4); now he prays for it at the end.

May we also be encouraged by God’s faithfulness!

Read 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5; Acts 20:28-32

The last chapter of 2 Thessalonians has some valuable truth for our day.  Paul begins with “finally”, not because he has no more to say but because he has finished dealing with the question that was presented to him, the question about the day of the Lord. 

The chapter begins with a request for prayer as well as another wonderful short prayer by Paul for the Thessalonian Church.  What Paul ask them to pray for is typical of Paul: he desires that God be at work in his ministry.  Thus, he makes request in two areas: that the ministry itself would prosper and that God would deliver them from evil men who want to hinder the ministry.  This is a great prayer for ministry, especially in light of the fact that God is at work in the world restraining evil.  We noted that one application of the doctrine of the “restrainer” is that we should be using the time to make disciples.  Once the day of the Lord begins God’s ministers will have to have a special protection from Him in order to spread the gospel (Rev. 7:1-4).  But today there is a measure of freedom to spread the gospel and Paul desired to redeem the time (Eph. 5:16).

·        Prayer for prosperous ministry, 3:1.  By prosperous we do not mean, of course, ministry with large offerings.  That has nothing to do with this prosperity.  It is rather a ministry where the word of the Lord may run and be glorified.  What a great request.  We should pray that for ministry.  Apparently this prayer was regularly answered for Paul.  Early in his ministry he said that in spite of many adversaries a great and effective door (was) opened for ministry (1 Cor. 16:9).  Later in his ministry he was in chains but the word of God (was) not chained (2 Tim. 2:9).  In spite of problems in the early Church (Ac. 6:7) and the persecution (Ac. 12:24) the word of God spread and grew and multiplied.  This is what Paul is asking them to pray for. 

·        Prayer for deliverance from evil men.  Paul’s description of the situation is accurate.  They are unreasonable (literally “out of place”; the thief on the cross saw himself as like this and that Jesus had done nothing “amiss”).  They are wicked, a term that emphasizes that they are doing works of wickedness.  Their works oppose the work of the gospel.  Lastly Paul says not all have faith.  When I read that it seems to me he is not simply talking about “all in the world;” that is pretty obvious.  He may be referring to savage wolves who come into and who will not spare the flock while others are men from the church who rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciple after themselves (Ac. 20:29-30).  Quite often, even in our own time, the strongest adversaries of the Church are from within the “visible Church”.  The things Paul asks the Thessalonians to pray for are the very things we should be praying for our own church ministries as well as the ministries of the missionaries we support.

Sunday, Oct. 27, Psalm 122

Here is a completion of our Saturday in Jerusalem. 

·       Old City: Christian and Muslim Quarters. So we did not go into the Old City today.  But getting from the bus station to the Garden Tomb takes us past our shopping area when we were at the Garden.  We stuck our head in to say hi to one shop owner who usually only works the early part of the day and then turns it over to his sons.  Freij.  An Arab Christian.  After the time at the Garden we stopped at 2 shops to get fruit, etc for us to have in our rooms.  We will have a main meal together, then say goodbyes when we get to the hotel.  We all leave at different early times, beginning with us and one other lady at 2AM/1AM.  I will tell you now.  There was a time change in the middle of the night which confused our time.  We got there at 2AM old time to find out he was not coming til 2AM new time (we talked about this at length with the man who ordered the ride).  We were able to call and get him to show up at 1:30 old time.  That was sufficient.

·       4:00 PM: Garden Tomb.  For Cindy and me this was especially exciting.  I could not believe how many volunteers there were there that we had served with.  What a blessing.  I actually asked one of them to take our group around.  I did not want to make them listen to me more than they necessary given how much they have had to listen for 2 weeks. 

o   So we got a great tour from Paul Doble from Cornwall in England (think the “Yaak in Montana”, redneck folks, she’s our queen but we don’t always do what she says).  Then we went to the tomb.  Their being 8 of us and that being the maximum number allowed in the tomb, we all got to go in at once.  We did not over stay as there were others waiting to get in.  Yet as we took pictures we were able to sing together “He is Lord”.  Whether it is the tomb or not it makes you think, as you are in there, about the reality of what it means when the angel said, “He is Risen!” 

o   Then we spent time at one of the small worship areas singing, reading Scripture (8 things the Bible says about where the cross of Jesus was, and the significance of each of these things), sharing communion together, praying together and greeting each other in the Lord when it was done.  I understand why the group I was in the first time I came to the Garden, and why many, many groups, make the Garden the last visit before flying home.  Everywhere we have been in Israel leads to Golgotha and the empty tomb.

We left early Sunday morning to go elsewhere: 4 people back to the States, one couple to Turkey to visit family who are missionaries there and then on to Africa for a month of missions work.  As for us we are headed to Lithuania to see a grand-daughter and to complete celebrating our 50 years of marriage.  Looking forward to a 4-hour train ride from Vilnius to Klaipeda where she attends LCC Christian University. 

Tomorrow, its back to 2 Thessalonians, picking up from October 11.

Saturday, Oct. 26, Luke 24:5-7

The last full day in Israel provides us an opportunity to focus again on what is so important about being here.  First, we allow folks to sleep in a bit and perhaps to get a little work done on packing for the trip home.  Then there are basically two items on our agenda: worshiping with a church in the Talpiot area of Jerusalem and then a visit to the Garden Tomb.  Because the Jewish bus system is not operating (Shabbat) we use the Arab bus system.  The bus to Bethlehem will run us right up Hwy. 60 (Hebron Road) in Jerusalem to a bus stop that is a short walk to the church.  Then we catch the bus on its way back to the bus terminal which is a short walk through East Jerusalem shopping area to the Garden Tomb.  At the end of the day we do have to walk back UP to our hotel so we usually stop at the Allegro in the Notre Dame Hotel for our main meal for the day.  That completes most of the up, leaving us less than a quarter mile walk to the hotel.  On this day it was raining, lightly.  What a blessing and joy that is for it to be raining in Israel even a little before the rainy season starts.

·       10:30AM Jerusalem Assembly/House of Redemption.  We do warn folks.  This is a 2 hour service that gives you a good look and experience with a congregation that is mostly Jewish believers.  The service is always in Hebrew first but also in English.  And you can hear noise throughout from the back of the room as other languages are being translated for people using ear buds to hear.  The couple in front of us was from Switzerland and heard it in German.

Pastor Meno was not here but whoever took his place (I never did catch his name; why would he give it since everyone else knew who he was 😊 ) did a wonderful job of opening the word of God.  The service goes like this. 

ü Opening welcome followed by a song led by a worship team.  The words are on the screen in three forms: Hebrew (duh), English (thank you), and then in English letters letting you know the Hebrew so you can sing somewhat similar sounds with those around you.  Some of the words, of course, sound familiar.  Like Meshiach, Elohim, Adonai, hallelujah, olam (everlasting), Tikvah (hope; we were supposed to have learned that word on this trip), and so forth. 

ü Then there is a short sermon by one of the men of the church on the Torah portion for the week.  The believers in Christ do not, of course, limit their reading and study to the Torah portion.  But most of them are Jews and they all know Jewish people and this is what they are reading for the week.  So the message highlights the passage (Gen. 1-6) and might deal with some difficult aspect so they can talk with their friends.  Remember that we were in Israel this time for Tabernacles which ends with “simchat torah”, the day they rewind the Torah scroll and begin again with Genesis.

ü Then there is extended singing.  the songs this week included some choruses and then two hymns we know.  “It is Well with My Soul” (li shalom nephisti) was written by Horatio Spafford who lived in Jerusalem in the latter years of his life.  “In Christ Alone” is, after only a few years, a classic hymn in many churches.

ü Then there is usually some “family” business.  Last time we were here there was a baby dedication.  This time they had a Korean family come up on stage and they prayer for the son who is returning to Korea for military duty.

ü Then the sermon.  The pastor in Hebrew; a great translator in English; from side-by-side pulpits.  This week it was from Mark 4:26-29.

I will finish this account of Saturday in tomorrow’s post as it is quite lengthy.

Psalm 101

Time and again in the Scriptures God’s people are encouraged to be patient, to wait on the Lord.  In reading today this theme showed up in the great 40^th chapter of Isaiah.  The point of the chapter is that comfort is coming to Israel.  God’s word is eternal; and God is fully capable of fulfilling what He has promised.  So don’t think that God does not see your way, or that He has passed you by.  God is faithful and will not grow weary.  He will keep His word!

The reason for this repeated theme is that it is a repeated occurrence in the lives of the saints.  We grow weary.  And in our weariness we may have the tendency to mix our impatience with ungodly shortcuts.  What we mean is that we grow tired of the affliction and may choose to try ungodly means so as to avoid the pain or the disappointment. 

These shortcuts are frequently extenuated (i.e. we decide our impatience is excusable or not as serious a sin) because we set our focus on the wicked around us who, we think, are enjoying much easier lives.  Psalm 73, among others, dealt with this problem.  And so does Psalm 101.  Except that in the case of today’s Song the writer is addressing the problem head-on.

Notice that he is in a situation where he desires God to bring an answer (v2).  But notice that he openly confesses his desire and plan to maintain a walk in holiness, to walk within my house with a perfect heart.  There is no place more difficult to walk in holiness than in our own home because we may feel we have the possibility of hiding our unfaithfulness.  We may find it hard to continually keep from setting wickedness before our eyes (v3). 

But notice also that the hymnist also confronts the issue of those in his inner circle, so to speak.  He commits to have none in his focus who will lead him astray.  Rather my eyes shall be on the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me (v6).  This issue of focus is fundamental.  In the New Testament we see it often when we are again and again urged to set our minds on the things of the Spirit (Rom. 8:5), with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord (2 Cor. 3:18), to not lose heart as we look on the eternal things which are not seen (2 Cor. 4:16-18), to meditate on the things that are true, noble, pure, lovely, of good report (Phil. 4:8), to seek those things which are above, where Christ is (Col. 3:1-4), to remember that Jesus Christ … was raised form the dead (2 Tim. 2:8), to look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith … to consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls (Heb. 12:2-3), to rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:13).

We must choose what we set before our eyes so as to behave wisely in a perfect way and with a perfect heart!

Friday, Oct. 25, Revelation 15:3-4

As we come to Friday of the second week there are three things at work.  1) We are tired.  2) We haven’t had enough time to shop.  3) Shabbat starts in the evening so we have to reckon with no busses or trams to our hotel area and our dinner options will be limited.  So this is reflected in what we did today.  To be honest the itinerary simple lists places we could see or do things.  Here is how it actually panned out.

First, we caught Bus #1 which takes you not only to but into the Dung Gate which is near the Western Wall.  Once there we first walk through the museum and archaeological site of the Davidson Center.  This includes a very well done movie depicting a stereotypical man in the 2^nd Temple time going to Jerusalem to make a sacrifice.  There is also the pile of rocks from the 2^nd temple that confirm Jesus prophecy fulfillment, that not one stone would be left upon another.  And we are right under the “pinnacle of the temple” where Satan took Jesus in the temptation (Mt. 4).  There are also the steps that remain from that time where many believe Peter preached his sermon on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2.  Over an hour here and it was well spent.

Then we gave ourselves a few minutes to spend at the Wall itself.  One of our ladies caused a bit of a commotion by following her husband to the wall.  There is a men’s side and a ladies’ side.  When in Jerusalem do as the Jerusalemites do.

Then we ascended out of the Wall area up to the Hurva Synagogue plaza where we found a good lunch.  And views of the Hurva which in its last rebuild was made a little higher than the Dome of the Rock.  Just saying…  We also saw the golden menorah that has been built by the Temple Institute folks.  We did not do the tour of the TI but did talk about it.

Then we made out way out of the plaza area heading for Zion Gate.  Along the way was the “Defender’s Memorial” that commemorates the many who died in 1948 War of Independence trying to maintain a Jewish presence in the Old City Jewish Quarter.  They were eventually either killed, imprisoned or removed to other places until 1967 when, in the 6-Day War, the city was unified under Israeli authority.  It is today a very wonderful section of the city where many people live.  There are schools, parks/recreation areas, etc.  We spent a little time here talking about 1967 and the close-combat-fighting that took place around the old city, including in the area of the Garden Tomb.  We shared a few stories and then moved on.

Once we reached the Zion Gate we had entered the Armenian Quarter where we had promised a shopping experience.  I confess that even I joined in.  I replaced my Israel baseball hat that was left in an airplane over-head bin on the way over.  As for Zion Gate, what is interesting are all the pock-marks from the bullets in 1948 and 1967. 

We then continued on through the Armenian Quarter to the Jaffa Gate area where we grabbed drinks and then offered another shopping opportunity while the men sat at a table behind the Christ Church Coffee Shop.  To each his own!!!

From there (with no interest in going to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher) we worked our way over to Notre Dame (a Catholic hotel, the Pope’s place) where we enjoyed dinner at Allegro Bistro.  Always a favorite place.  We will probably return their tomorrow since, being at a Christian site, it is open on Shabbat.  After dinner we enjoyed a very refreshing walk back up to our hotels.  The temperature was in the 60’s.  Jaffa Street is totally for walking since the light rail is not running.  So nice!

·       Morning:

Rampart Walk (on the walls; 9-2 Fri)

Jewish Quarter

o   *Zion Gate, Nea Church (?)

o   Israelite Tower (?), *Hurva Synagogue

o   Herodian Quarter/Wohl Museum (9-1 Fri, $)

o   Archaeological Park/Davidson Center (9-1 Fri, $)

o   *Cardo, Burnt House (9-1 Fri, $)

o   *Broad Wall, *Batei Mahse (Shelter for the Needy)

o   *Defender’s Memorial

o   Temple Institute (9-12 Fri, $)

·       Afternoon: Muslim Quarter, East Jerusalem

o   Ammunition Hill (9-1 Fri)

(Shabbat begins at sundown.)

Revelation 15:3-4 tells us that the “Song of Moses” will be sung towards the end of the time of Jacob’s trouble.  We had a couple devotionals from that Song earlier in our time.  It anticipated God’s severe chastening of Israel.  But it also promised His eventual cleansing and faithfulness for Israel.  Amen! 

Thursday, Oct. 24, Ezekiel 39:21-29

Again, here is the itinerary from our tour book.  But there were several changes.

·       Morning:

o   Knesset Tour (option; 8:30AM English tour; arrive 8AM with passport)

§  If you take this option then you would join the rest of the group at the Israel Museum and would not go to Yad Vashem. (There were none who took this option.)

o   Yad Vashem (Holocaust Memorial).  This is of course a very heavy-hearted “tourist” site.  We allowed 2 hours which is never enough to see it all but is more than enough to get the point.

o   Israel Museum.  We all did the two stops below.  One of our couples chose to stay here for the rest of the afternoon and go through parts of the vast collection of special items from across Israel.

§  Model of 1^st Century Jerusalem.  I have seen this several times and must say that it is still a high point for me.  And it was for the rest of our little group as well.  The father who, many years ago, made this in honor of his son who died in the war of independence, did something quite amazing.  He was Jewish and the Jews should appreciate this.  Being Jerusalem in the 2^nd Temple time it is of great value for Christians as well. 

§  Shrine of the Book.  Having stopped at Qumron for the basic presentation on the finding of the Dead Sea scrolls, this was like the culmination.  We were able to see two video presentations on the story behind these scrolls.  It is one of the most profound events for hundreds of years (I don’t want to diminish the work of Wycliff and Huss and others) in terms of the faithfulness of God in making His word/words available to mankind.

·       Afternoon: Six of us had lunch at Mahane Yehuda, the “Shook”, the open market.  We ate at the “Fish and Zips” place.  Generous portions of lightly breaded fish with chips (fries) or salad.  Then we returned to the Old City through Jaffa Gate and hustled our way down to the Wall area.

o   St. Peter in Galicantu

o   City of David

o   Hezekiah’s Tunnel. We had no takers for this either.

o   Journey into the Past (Virtual Reality of the 2^nd Temple)

o   Tunnels tour: 5:20/6:00 PM appointment  Here is another interesting part of our time around the Wall.  The tour takes you along the longest section of the western retaining wall for the Temple Mount.  The tour is quite interesting in explaining how it was all built as well as the significance of the area to Jews.  

Being still stuffed (should I admit that?) from the late lunch we skipped dinner.  Instead, when we returned to the neighborhood of our hotels we hit the supermarket for fruit and the ice cream store for 2 scoops of your favorite.  😊  Sitting in the area of Ben Yehuda Street (a walking-only street with places to eat, shops, etc.) is a great opportunity for people-watching.  Very busy place this time of year.

The Ezekiel 39 passage is important in terms of God’s faithfulness.  Jerusalem and Israel are not today the holy city and nation they will be someday.  There is still the “time of Jacob’s trouble” to come.  It’s hard to imagine there will be a time to come that is as difficult as was the holocaust.  But without question, God will fulfill His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Without question because He ALWAYS fulfills His word.  And then all the world will know that the LORD is God.  All the world will know that God was not finished with Israel; He was only purifying them.

Wednesday, Oct. 23, John 18:1

Let me begin with our itinerary.  The schedule when in Jerusalem is always fluid, given traffic and personal desires of the group.  We never have enough time to see everything there is to see.

·       Temple Mount.  Yes, we made it this time.  The line was surprisingly short.  We had views of the Western Wall and will visit the area later.  We were able to see the “inside” of the Eastern Gate.  And the place where you can actually see bedrock of Mt. Moriah.   We also ran into Dawn and Jeurgen Kleinholdt on the Temple Mount, a couple we know from the Garden.  What a blessing that was for us to introduce them to our group.

o   Western Wall

o   Eastern Gate

o   Dome of the Rock/Al Aqsa Mosque

·       Lions Gate.  We ascended from the Temple Mount on the NE corner taking us to the Lions Gate area.  We enjoyed Bethesda and singing in the acoustically wonderful St. Anne’s cathedral.  We then worked our way up the beginnings of the Via Dolorosa as far as the Austrian Hospice where we had lunch.  Always a nice place.

o   Bethesda (sheep pools, St. Anne’s)

o   Via Dolorosa (partial)

·       Mount of Olives.  Then it was out Damascus Gate to the Arab bus station that sits in front of “the place of the skull” where we caught #275 for a ride to the top of the Mt. of Olives.  We only went to the primary viewing area and then descended the steep route of the Triumphal Entry, from which we had great views of the Eastern Gate, and which took us to the olive grove with the gnarly trees next to the Church of All Nations.

o   Chapel of the Ascension

o   Pater Noster

o   Route of the Triumphal Entry

o   Jewish Cemetery

o   Church of All Nations

o   Gethsemane

o   Mary’s Tomb

·       Kidron Valley.  As we were leaving the Gethsemane area a young Muslim man called out, “Hey, I know you from somewhere.”  My first thought is this was the tactic of one of the taxi drivers in the area (there are many) so responded kindly but kept walking away.  Cindy was more curious.  Turns out that back in 2012 we had taken a day from the Garden Tomb and walked over to the Mt. of Olives, down the Kidron Valley into the Valley of the Kings where we met 2 young boys who wanted to show us some things, for money of course.  We weren’t too interested, and then they invited us to their house.  Again, Cindy was inclined to accept this offer.  We ended up in the home of a Muslim family, were shown wonderful hospitality and met many others in the family.  The guy who “knew me from somewhere” was a brother to one of the kids whom we encountered and he remembered.  So now, today, “Ched” invited us to the house again where they had a store with jewelry and olive wood items and they blessed us with fresh squeezed pomegranate and orange juice and tea.  This amazing coincidence gave us an opportunity to talk about Christ; we told Ched that when we have these amazing coincidences, we tend to believe God is doing something.  He was open as we talked about the proximity of their home to the place that spoke so perfectly of Jesus our King and High Priest.  When we were finished we got a ride to dinner at Azzaras Restaurant in East Jerusalem, our favorite place for Palestinian food.  There we had the opportunity to pray for our waiter, that after 11 years of marriage he and his wife might have a son. 

o   Christian Cemetery

o   Valley of the Kings (Absalom built a monument to himself here; Abraham worshiped God through the King-Priest Melchizedek here, Gen. 14).

·       Eastern Gate

o   Muslim Cemetery

Tuesday, Oct. 22, Luke 9:21-22,51

This is the day we arrive in Jerusalem.  But the journey there is another significant opportunity to see locations where important Biblical events took place.  Here is the itinerary.  You will note that most “Jerusalem” activities for this day were not accomplished.  Once you get in the vicinity of the City the traffic becomes difficult and we are soon just interested in getting to our hotel.  And you will note we had additional things to do at the end of the day.  More on that later.

·       Hwy. 60 N (Jerusalem to Shechem/Nablus; Way of the Patriarchs; Judges 21:19).  Just being on this road is an event.  The route of the patriarchs matches today’s highway from Shechem (Nablus) to Beer-Sheva. 

o   Abraham (Gen. 12:6-9; 13:1-18)

o   Jacob (Gen. 28:10-22; 33:18-20; 35:1-29)

o   “Hill Country of Ephraim” (Josh. 7:14-18; 1 Sam. 1)

·       Mt. Gerizim (John 4:20-26).  This Israeli National Park is much improved and there is a little more activity there these days.  Still most larger tours do not go this far into the West Bank.  This provides us an opportunity to see the twin mountains (Gerizim and Ebal) as well as to see modern Nablus and the memorial sites of Jacob’s Well and Joseph’s tomb from a distance.  (We are not allowed to take the rental car into Nablus.)  Furthermore, we get a great understanding of the religion of the Samaritans, a religion which dates back to the years after the Assyrian deportation of the northern ten tribes.  The woman at the well brought it up, referring to Gerizim (“this mountain”) as the place of worship.  Samaritans believe Mt. Gerizim IS Mt. Moriah, the place where Abraham offered Isaac to the Lord.  There are many other inconsistencies between the Samaritans’ version of the Torah (Pentateuch, first five books of the OT) and our version.  Their version is claimed to be ancient but has never been submitted to anyone for authentication regarding its age.

o   Mt. Ebal (Josh. 8:30-35)

o   Shechem/Nablus (Gen. 12:6; 33:18-20; 34)

o   Jesus and the woman at the well (John 4)

·       Shiloh (Josh. 18:1-10; Psa. 78:56-64; Jer. 7:12-15).  This private site has added a very nice “hologram” presentation of the designs of the tabernacle, temple, and the intermediate edifice that was at Shiloh after the Israelites entered the land.  We had our lunch/picnic here today (kind of cleaning out the cooler and food bag as this was the last picnic; as of this writing no one has died or even seemed to be sick to their stomach). 

·       Bethel.  One of the most important Biblical cities. 

o   Abraham, Jacob (he had a dream here, Gen. 28:10-22)

o   Look for “Ebenezer”, Gibeon

o   Altar of Jeroboam (1 Ki. 12:25-33)

·       Jerusalem.  We arrived to three tenors singing “The Holy City.”  We pointed out Mt. Scopus and then made it for Haas Promenade so we could give an introductory view of the Old City that is clearly visible from this location on “Abraham’s Ridge” (the ridge where Abraham first saw “The Land of Moriah” and the mountain God had chosen for him to offer Isaac).  Then we made it for our hotel to get checked in.  Dinner for most of the group was at Focaccia’s.  John Swenson and I went to Tel Aviv to pick up some suitcases we had left at our first guesthouse (Beit Immanuel) and then to return the rental car.  The Swensons are going from Israel to visit their missionary-son and family in Turkey and then on to Africa for a month of missions’ support.  The bags are items requested or needed at those locations.  We were happy to be part of their ministry.

o   Mt. Scopus

o   Haas Promenade

o   Ramat Rachel

§  Shepherd’s Fields (Lk. 2:8; Ruth 1-4)

o   Rachel’s tomb (Gen. 35:16-20)

o   Herodian

Monday, Oct. 21, Luke 4:22 (16-30)

As we have been traveling around we have taken turns with respect to the person who has to sit in the front seat with the driver (that’s me 😊 ).  One of the duties of that person, besides screaming “we’re all gonna die”, is to read from Arnold Fruchtenbaum’s great book on all the cities and sites in Israel.  It came in quite handy for today’s itinerary which is below.

·        Ein Harod (Judges 7:1-8 Since breakfast was not until 8:30 (much too late for tourists) we went to Gideon’s Spring (which is right next to the kibbutz where our guesthouse is located) as the doors opened a little before 8a and then made it back to breakfast.  This is a lovely sight, the actual place where Gideon reduced his men to a number that would most glorify God.  This was our devotional passage today.  We need this reminder: God is highly glorified when we are weak and He is strong.

At Gideon's Spring, the "well of Harod."

·        Valley of Jezreel.  We talked about these when we were on Mt. Carmel yesterday and again today as we roamed around the Valley.

o   4 Names? 

o   7 Passes?  These passes make this valley easily accessible from all sides.  An easy place to gather armies together, for example.

o   Several Biblical cities: Including Nein and Shunem (these stories go together in the Bible), Endor, Megiddo, Jezreel, and many others.

o   Several Biblical mountains: Gilboa, Moreh, Tabor, Carmel and others.

·        Nazareth Village (10:30/10:45 appointment).  We were early so the ladies in the group got some well-deserved time in the gift shop.  There are many gift shops along the way but we usually cannot take time for them and the shoppers are very understanding of why we are in Israel and the promise that they will have some gift-shop time eventually.  As always the visit to this “reenactment” of life in Jesus’ day was very appreciated.

Waiting for our appointment at Nazareth Village.

·        Nazareth (Lk. 1:26-38; 4:16-30).  We got a good dose of how busy this city of 60,000 is these days compared to the village of a few hundred in Jesus’ day. 

·        Megiddo.  After crossing the valley yet again we came to this great location.

o   Strategic location, 25 “rebuilds”

o   Josiah (2 Kings 23:29-30)

o   Armageddon (Rev. 16:16)

·        Beit Shean (1 Sam. 31:8-12).  We were well ahead of schedule so we were able to take some time here.  We did not do the night “light show”.  For one thing it wasn’t available.  But for another the temperatures had moderated somewhat so that an afternoon visit was quite nice.  Some even made it to the top of the tel.

Roman city of Beit Shean with the Old Testament time Tel in the background.

We have one more day with the van and it will be a full day, ending in Jerusalem. 

Sunday, Oct. 20, Read John 1:14

We left our hotel in Tiberias this morning after another good breakfast.  Our first stop was at Mt. Arbel which is just to the north of Tiberias where, after a short hike, the group enjoyed great views of the Sea of Galilee.  We also gathered around one of the picnic tables for a time of worship together.  I will put the itinerary here though on Sunday and Monday we have room for changes as we spend our time roaming around and crisscrossing  Ha Emeq, the Valley (Jezreel, Esdraelon, Armageddon).  It is the largest valley in Israel and a central location to a lot of history.

·        Mt. Arbel

o   Worship Service.  We are leaving the Galilee area today so we joined John 1:14 with the passage we are memorizing throughout the trip (Titus 2:11-14) to remind ourselves of the historical and geographical reality of the incarnation.  We used our Garden Tomb songbooks for a few numbers and enjoyed prayer together.  The fellowship has been good as we have spend hours and hours together in a van.

o   Tomb of Jethro (Ex. 18).  We can see this huge building in the distance from the parking lot at Arbel.  The Druze hold the father-in-law of Moses in high esteem as a prophet and have an annual festival in April.  We don’t go there although it is open to the public.

·        Kfar Cana

o   Visit with Arab Christians.  We met Pastor Hani and his wife Shifa and their family back in 2010 and appreciate their zeal for the Lord.  We met with them while Sunday School was in progress.  Their service is in the evening because Sunday is the first day of the work-week for most people.  Hani shared how he came to Christ as well as some things about their ministry.

Pastor Hani sharing his testimony, ministry.

o   Jesus 1^st miracle: Water to Wine (Jn. 2:1-12)

o   Jesus 2^nd miracle: Healing of Nobleman’s son (Jn. 4:46-54)

o   Home of Nathaniel/Bartholomew (Jn. 21:2)

·        Mt. Tabor (Judges 4:46-54).  There is a great view of Ha Emeq from here but there are other great views so we talk about the can see this area so we don’t make the drive up.

o   Nain (Lk. 7:11-17)

o   Endor (1 Sam. 28:5-25)

o   Hill Moreh (Judges 7:1)

·        Tel Dor (Josh 11:1-9)

o   Museum, Mollusks

·        Caesarea.  We enjoyed our main meal of the day sitting at a table by the sea.

o   Cornelieus (Acts 10)

o   Paul in prison (Acts 23:22-35; Ch. 23-26)

o   Swim the Mediterranean.  Already did this in Ashkelon.

·        Mt. Carmel (1 Kings 18:17-19:3).  We moved this off of Monday.  The view of Jezreel is amazing from this spot.  And of course it commemorates the “context” between Elijah and the prophets of Baal.

View of part of Ha Emeq, the Jezreel Valley.

(We are trying to upload a short video clip on our Facebook page.)

Panorama of the Valley.

It's traditional. In front of the statue of Elijah.

·        Mount Gilboa (1 Sam. 31:1-8).  Our hotel is up against Mt. Gilboa.

This was a wonderful day.  We hope to get more photos on but the internet has been weak throughout our journey so far.