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© Focus on Jesus. Focus on Souls. ©
Wake-up Calls on November 16
At 4:25 a.m. in the morning, the Muslim prayer call sounded from the loud speaker. Felt as if it lasted for several minutes. A second one sounded at 4:45 a.m. Then, the third one began at around 5 o’clock but was not as loud as the first two. To me, they were annoying especially in such early morning hours. I prayed quietly in my heart that Truth be unveiled in all Muslim hearts. Later, Betty told me she had prayed for almost the entire night. Indeed, these were spiritual wake-up calls for Christians.
Morning Bird’s-eye View of Jerusalem
Doron told us where our hotel Novotel was now used to be a wall dividing Arabs and Jews.
Our bus driver was Reuben. He took us back to Mt. Scopus to get a day bird’s-eye view of the City of Peace. Doron pointed out various landmarks for us. Street vendors and kids were very busy selling us postcards, caps, tote bags, t-shirts, necklaces, stuffed toy camels and more. They were at all tourist attractions.
I didn’t always bring notebook off the bus to take notes. Besides, I needed full attention just to catch all Doron was educating us on. If anyone finds what I write being wrong please correct and let me know.
On Mount Olives
A common way Jesus took to go to Jerusalem was through the Judean desert, to Jericho, to Bethany, to Mt. Olives, cross Kidron Valley, then unto Jerusalem.
Bethany was where Lazarus, Martha and Mary lived. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Before Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem as the King of Israel, the Lazarus family gave a dinner in Jesus’ honor. Mary anointed Jesus with a pint of nard and made Judas Iscariot upset. [John 12:1-8]
The Kidron Valley sits between Mt. Olives and Mt. Moriah. It also runs between Mt. Olives and Mt. Zion. Kidron means God will judge. On the night of Jesus’ betrayal, after the Passover dinner (the Last Supper) and, when he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was an olive grove, and he and his disciples went into it. [John 18:1] Jesus went back thru the Kidron Valley to Mount of Olives, and the olive grove was the Garden of Gesthsemane. [Luke 22:39, Mark 14:32]
Garden of Gesthsemane
Right there, I realized anything and everything is small in comparison to what Jesus, the Son of God, had to go through on earth in order to redeem us. For us the redeemed, dying to self truly has to be a daily practice. It sure is an uncomfortable thing and against the human nature. But without it, we will never be Christ-like.
As the bus drove on, Doron pointed out where the Tombs of Absalom and Zachariah were.
Temple South
On Mt. Olives, we saw the shinny goldren dome of the mosque Dome of the Rock on Mt. Moriah. It was the place where God tested Abraham to sacrifice Issac. [Genesis 22] Now the Muslims control the temple mount. We cannot access it. We entered on the south side to see temp ruins and remaining walls through the Huldah Gate.
Mt. Moriah was behind the southern wall. City of David was at the foothill. Solomon built the temple and surrounded it with walls. Then, Herod built a greater wall and surrounded the mountain. On the south side, there were arch tunnels and pavement built on top of them.
All three bus groups gathered and sat down. Two other tour guides gave us a good introduction. The southern entries became main entries for all pilgrims. Steps are uneven. They were done that way for people to watch their steps and think about every step they made. There was a big shallow hole on the ground. It was one of the few ritual baths for people to cleanse themselves in before entering the holy temple. Pilgrims walked in through the double gates and exited out of the triple gates. If you were sick or had needs then you’d come out from one of the double gates. Being against the traffic, others would already know and offer help without you asking.
Joseph and Mary walked on the same steps we sat on when bringing baby Jesus to the temple. When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord") [Luke 2:22-23]
We moved to the west side of the temple. In the old time, priests lived in an area west of the temple, and had private entrance on the west side of temple. We took a close view of the huge Herodian wall stones, approx. 4’x12’ if I had remembered correctly. They were amazingly huge, smooth and flat. This was the temple wall Jesus saw. Doron said very possibly Jesus had walked the newly excavated path along the west side of the wall.
The Western Wall
There were solders on duty along the entrance. There are several great photos of the Western Wall at http://www.bibleplaces.com/westernwall.htm. (a great site to explore) Men and women have their own area to pray. The 2nd picture on the website was exactly where we the ladies prayed. There wasn’t as big of a crowd as shown in the photo though. We could go up to the wall and touch the cold stones. I stood right by the ladder. Most Jewish ladies read a Hebrew booklet and prayed. A young mother dressed all in black had a little girl with her. The mom wailed.
You could write your prayer on a small piece of paper, fold it up and stuff it into a gap somewhere on the wall. We did that too. The solemnness was in the air. I wished we could have had a longer quiet time there to fellowship with the Lord.
Caiaphas’ House
After Jesus’ arrest, he was taken to Annas (father-in-law of Caiaphas) first, then to Caiaphas’. There Jesus was tried by the high priests and the whole sanhedrin. [John 18:12-24, Matthew 26:57-67] Doron said Jewish laws prohibit trial by night. Jesus trial in Caiaphas’ house was a historical illegal trial. It was also the place where Peter denied the Lord three times.
The Catholic Church did a great job maintaining the site. We went down to the dungeon into which, it was said, Jesus had been thrown. We sang and worshipped. Brother John De Los Santos read Psalm 88 out loud. We were all sad. Some wept. I sensed a strong presence of the Lord, stronger than other historical sites we had visited thus far. Personally, I imagined Jesus’ sorrow had not been upon his own suffering but on his people and Jerusalem. He knew the victory He would receive for us - generations to come. Could our Master be praising Father and rejoicing for our then soon-coming redemption, and even forgot the humiliation and torture he’d been receiving?
Coming out of the house, we were led to the steps where, highly possibly, Jesus had walked through when taken to Caiaphas’ house. You can see a picture at http://www.christianrapture.com/caiaphas'_house.htm.
Bethlehem
Bethlehem is now Palestinian controlled. We could not visit the Church of Nativity. It was getting dark. We had an odd experience. In a sudden unannounced movement, we quickly switched buses to enter Bethlehem. (Jewish buses could not enter the Palestinian zone.) A young and loud Palestinian named Hussein, working with our tour company, led us to a large Palestinian souvenir shop. There were Palestinian soldiers and vehicles around the shop watching. We sensed the irritating tension. We also strong sensed life had been terribly tough for both Jews and Palestinians since terrorism had started three years ago.
Prayer Time
Susan and Rachel were our team leaders. At dinner time, Rachel briefed us on the difficulties of conference attendees had been facing to enter Israel and share gospel in their own nations. The Global Prayer Strike Force (GPSF), part of our partner tour team, was divided into four sub-teams to pray. Each one had about six to eight members. Betty and I were on team D, led by team captain Edith. Betty was the assistant captain. Our teammates included Rosie, Shirley, Vera and her roommate.
All of our team gathered in Edith and Shirley’s room. We prayed according to the prayer targets Rachel had given us, especially on asking the Lord for divine favor for conference and attendees to arrive safely without being harassed. Our prayer session turned personal for a while. One gave a negative word toward another without any encouragement. It was alarming. I couldn’t agree with it and subtly interrupted. After the team meeting, Betty and I went back to our room and prayed specifically for this. God is in control. We lifted all to Him.
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