Beautiful Karamursel
Beautiful Karamursel
Israel 2014 Day 4 of trip Saturday June 14, 2014
Israel 2014 Day 4 of trip Saturday June 14, 2014
Here are the pictures for Day 4, we will write about them as time allows. Each day was jam packed full of places and information. We were spent by the time each was over. This is the day that we left our Hotel at the Sea of Galilee and drove across the north west part of Israel to Jerusalem.
Early that morning this was the view out of our hotel room. Look at the center and see the monument of the Sea of Galilee, notice the gaps for the Jordan River at its top and bottom. Last night I had walked down to it - there were families and tourist standing in front of it getting their picture made. Notice how much it resembles the shape of a heart. The Sea of Galilee is referred by some as the "Heart of Israel".
On the bus leaving our hotel. Arriving a few nights before we were driving down into a bowl of lights. Now we were driving up,up,up to crest the top of the mountains and head to our next destination.
Our last view of the Lake at the crest of the mountains heading west. The God of the Universe made this place "SPECIAL". This is the land that he loves.
Beautiful cultivated fields.
An Arab city in the distance. Notice the two spires of the mosque in the left of the picture.
A filling station for fuel along the Highway. They pay around 7 to 9 dollars for a gallon of gas. Israel has no refineries.
Here we are in Cana where Jesus performed his first miracle recorded in scripture. The different colors and advertising were interesting and colorful to see.
Another brand of filling station.
The people in Israel love to build houses and businesses on the side of a hill. Toni said in her Narrative that the wedding in Cana took place on Tuesday. Since the phrase "And God saw that it was good." was stated twice for the third day of creation; therefore the Jews feel that this is a special day with extra blessing. Hence, they like to have their weddings on the 3rd day (Tuesday).
The well in Nazareth which is the source of fresh water for the people of the town and would have been a place Mary and Jesus would have come for water.
The buses drove us to an outlook point. This was an interesting stone with a map of The Gospel Trail painted on it. On one of the trail is Jerusalem, on the other end is Tiberias.
The walking trail up to the top of the Mount of Precipice - the brow of the hill.
Nazareth
Luke 4
15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 ?The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord?s favor"
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, ?Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.?
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. ?Isn?t this Joseph?s son?? they asked.
23 Jesus said to them, ?Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ?Physician, heal yourself!? And you will tell me, ?Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.??
24 ?Truly I tell you,? he continued, ?no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah?s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed?only Naaman the Syrian.?
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.
If you look south, you see the Valley of Jezreel in the picture above.
If you look north you see the city of Nazareth. This is where Jesus spent his childhood.
There is a lot of future scheduled to happen in this valley. The last great battles in history are forecast to occur here. When Napoleon visited the place in 1800 he agreed it would make a fine battle ground for the world's armies. At present we can only guess of the sequence of events when those will occur and different scholars disagree. But as history moves forward, the prophecies will be carried out. Jesus Christ came the first time as a suffering servant to save us from our sins and redeem our lives. The next time he comes, he will come as a victorious king, "King of Kings and Lord of Lords." God will fight for Israel! This is where Jesus grew up. This land and these people he always has his eye on. Zechariah 2:8 "...For whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye."
These are the bus stop shelters along the highway in Israel
Megiddo is a tell in northern Israel, about 30 km southeast of Haifa, known for its historical, geographical, and theological importance, especially under its Greek name Armageddon. In ancient time Megiddo was an important city. Excavations have unearthed 26 layers of runs, indicating a long period of settlement. Megiddo is strategically located at the head of a pass through the Carmel Ridge overlooking the Jezreel Valley from the west.
The site is now protected as Megiddo National Park.
The main thing I remember about this place was it was hot, there were lots of stairs up and down, and we walked and walked.
We got plenty of exercise at his place.
Coming out of one of the underground caves, my legs began to feel like rubber. That was the last cave I was going in for the day, my legs were tired.
Along the Highway was this ancient grave site. Israel has very few straight roads, it seems that almost everywhere we went we twisted up and down right next to the side of mountain.
Another filling station with the red flower on the sign.
Our next stop. Mt Carmel is where Elijah had his famous showdown with the 450 priests of Baal. God sent fire down from heaven and Elijah had all the false priests executed.
The 450 false priests were slain just on the other side of the road above where there is a brook running through the trees.
This place had a souvenir shop down stairs, and upstairs on the roof top you could look out over the Jezreel Valley.
The ancient aqueduct bringing water to the city of Caesarea. Herod the Great built this city in only 12 years.
We had a talented group of singers along on this trip. They blessed our hearts more than once at different locations and churches.
The amphitheater in Caesarea.
This place is beautiful now. It must have been stunning during New Testament times. You can just imagine what Paul, Peter, and Cornelius saw while they were there.
Walls around Caesarea from the Byzantine era.
Our first glimpse of the temple mount from Mt. Scopus in north east Jerusalem. I have seen pictures of this all my life but nothing compares to actually being there. It is almost like I wanted to pinch myself to see if this was maybe just a dream. We were a good distance away looking across to the Temple Mount at an angle. But here we were. Over the years you read lots of assumptions, ideas, and speculations about this place. The Jews think the bedrock here is what God started with when he formed the earth. Abraham put Issac on the alter near here, a forerunner of God putting Jesus to death on the cross to save us from our sins.
Christians righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ.
Romans 3
20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God?s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Notice all the buses on the lower right of the screen. Buses are everywhere in Israel.
The Muslim Shrine "The Dome of the Rock."
I was actively trying to focus my mind on what we were experiencing to fully appreciate this event in life as much possible. This was huge!
Ezekiel 5:5 "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her."
This was a great hotel, but it had one drawback. In Tiberias, you could walk along the boardwalk on the beach of the Sea of Galilee or you could walk up to town with all the stores. Maybe this is the way Jerusalem is layed out, but there few stores around here. Michelle and I walked South East for about mile to what we thought would be some shopping activity, but to no avail. This place needs to have a shuttle to take shoppers to a nearby mall or shopping center.
The next night a group of us walked about a mile north past the Turkish consulate to try to get on a tram to go across the city to a mall. Everyone was kind and helpful when we stopped and asked questions, but finally we felt like we might end up in Timbuktu (extremely distant and inaccessible location) so we abandoned the quest and returned to the hotel.
The night we arrived we could hear the loud rockum sockum music playing. After Michelle and I returned from out our adventure, we went outside to the back of the hotel and then we could see what was happening. These people know how to celebrate. This was a engagement celebration. These young ladies were in beautiful designer gowns and the guys were dressed in nice suits. Everyone was dancing and having a good time. Beth and I had not heard any music like that since we left Turkey. Michelle and I watched them for about 30 minutes and finally went back to the room to get some sleep.
Another entertainment part of our hotel.
The view out our hotel window looking north up to where we tried to get on the tram.
What experiences would tomorrow hold?