Jerusalem Day 1

“I was glad when they said to me,

“Let us go up to the house of the Lord!”

Our feet have been standing

within your gates O Jerusalem!

Jerusalem – built as a city

that is bound firmly together,

to which the tribes go up,

the tribes of the Lord,

as was decreed for Israel,

to give thanks to the Lord.

There were thrones for judgement set,

The thrones of the house of David

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

“May they be secure who love you!

Peace be within your walls

And security within your towers!”

For my brothers and companions’ sake

I will say “Peace be within you!”

For the sake of the house of the Lord our God

I will seek your good.”

Psalm 122

Walking through the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem was the moment it hit me…this is the same land that my Lord had walked only two thousand year earlier. The Bible was about to come to life. And the same Psalm that was written thousands of years ago, is still applicable to those journeying to Jerusalem today. I too traveled from my humble Moshav up to the city of Jerusalem. And I too had come to go to the House of the Lord, to worship Him through the studying of the roads He traveled and observing the places He frequented. And the city needs just as much prayer for peace as it ever has because there is much tension over the land. It truly is “the land between” and sought after by many different nations wanting control over it for their benefits. There were military personnel watching the city closely and protecting it through its walls and towers, careful to protect it from any threats.

As I reached the other side of the city walls, I looked up to my right and there, standing erect over the city, was the Tower of David. But, as cool as the name sounds, it had nothing to do with David. It was built as one of three towers to protect Jerusalem from attack, because this northern corridor was, and still is, Jerusalem's weakest point. The three towers were originally built by Herod, but later crusaders came and destroyed them and only rebuilt the one, this Tower of David. There are only a few stones left at the very bottom of the Tower that were stones from the Herodian period. I was able to climb the Tower and have a 360° view of the cramped city of Jerusalem. I observed the streets of people and shop vendors going about their day, but also spotted the infamous buildings such as, the Dome of the Rock, and the entire Temple Mount, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the region of the old City of David. To the east is the Mount of Olives, and to the West, the Hinnom Valley. Stopping for a moment, we read Zachariah 14:4,9, while observing the landscape of the Mount of Olives. It reads:

“On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward…And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.”

I was overwhelmed with the thought that I was staring at the place where the Lord ascended and will eventually descend in majesty. This was the first moment of my trip to Israel where I realized, the Bible is being played out before my eyes and this is a moment, I will never forget. For this very reason, the academics in IBEX are more unique than in any other classroom. Not only are we in class learning about the geography and history of the Land of Israel, but we are frequently out exploring the very land we are reading about. Adding to the exploration, we stop along the way to read and study Scripture as we stand in the places it talks about or was written in.

Continuing to walk around the city in a clockwise fashion, the last stop we made was to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This church is historically built over the place of Jesus’ crucifixion, over the hill of Golgotha. Before we entered the church, we sat on the roof and read the accounts of the crucifixion, one in Matthew 27 and one in John 19. The name Golgotha mentioned in the crucifixion accounts denotes some sort of bump, and the crucifixion would have taken place outside the city, but also nearby. The location of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre would be the perfect place. Historically its location would have been just outside the city walls, and there is evidence of a garden and a 2nd century tomb nearby. This church has been built over and around the remains of the mount of Golgotha. Walking inside the church, taking an immediate right and up the staircase, you can stand on top of the mount and can see a few sections of the rock that have been encased. On the left side of the church there is the tomb that is claimed by many to be the “new tomb” that Jesus was laid in. There is a possibility this was the tomb, it is in the correct 2nd century style, but no hard evidence to confirm or deny the legitimacy of it.

As amazing as it was to reflect on the reality that I was standing on top of the same mount where my Lord was crucified and died, I was also very distracted. This particular church is fought over by many different religious sects. Each religion has a tiny corner they claim as their own and I saw more pictures of Mary than anything else. There were people bending over on the floor rubbing the rock of unction and praying, this was the rock that Jesus was supposedly laid on in the tomb. I even witnessed a procession that worked their way through the church with candles and chanting prayers. We followed them on top of the mount of Golgotha, where there was the overwhelming amount of burnt incense and prayers by hundreds to “Mother Mary.” Each one in our group was saddened by the how blind these people are. They are standing in the spot of one of the most crucial events in history, and they are worshiping the mother of our Lord, and not the Lord Himself. One of my friends was reading the prayers they were reciting, and they talked about how they were mourning over the grief that Mother Mary experienced, and how through her they were filtering their prayers. It just shows that even in the city where the most evidence for Christ is, people are still hardened and blinded to the truth. The evidence of how lost the city is abounds in every nook and cranny of the city, but no more evident than what I witnessed in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The first week of my studies in Israel have been eye opening to the culture of this country, as well as to the truths of the Bible I can see in every step I take, whether in Jerusalem, or even outside the city in the Moshav where I am staying.

The View from the Tower of David. Notice the Golden Dome of The Rock, the Mount of Olives (which has the three smaller towers on it), and the grayish/blue dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.