Visiting the Holy Land
Gazette reporter tells of recent trip to Israel,
JERUSALEM—When it comes to miracles as well as life in general, God’s timing continues to be perfect and that includes a well-timed, pre-Easter trip to the Holy Land last month.
This particular tour included 67 pilgrims— from Texarkana, who received a rare chance to take a 10-day visit to Israel. There, they viewed many Biblical locations—several of them which were, and still are, centerpiece sites chronicling the story of how God’s only Son gave his life so that people may be saved for all eternity in Heaven.
The Holy Land visitors all made it back by March 24, just in time for Easter after actually getting to visit and see several memorable locations focusing on Jesus Christ’s death, burial and resurrection.
The group’s visit to at least seven specific Easter related sites took place during the last four days of this tour—a tour arranged by the Plano, Texas-based Abrams Travel Co., and hosted by Dr. Jeff Schreve and Larry Sims.
During the first of those four days, starting March 19, the group spent time mostly in and around Old Jerusalem, visiting places like Mount Zion, a small, residential topped hill just south of the Holy City’s Armenian Quarter. This lightly populated hill is also known Biblically as the City of David and it included the House of Caiphas, the high priest who condemned Jesus Christ on charges of blasphemy. Up in these quarters above Caiphas’ House, stands a mock rooster. It represents the rooster that crowed at this location after Peter had denied knowing Christ three separate times.
The group also viewed the “Upper Room” of King David’s Tomb Compound, which is traditionally known to be the room where the Last Supper took place— Christ’s final Passover meal.
The group eventually journeyed to the Temple Mount wedged into both Old Jerusalem’s Muslim Quarters and Jewish Quarters on the city’s east side. Among the many things the Temple is known for, it is the site where Christ walked in to see more then 3,000 of the city’s inhabitants baptized in just a single day.
On March 22, the group traveled north of the the Mount of Olives, just east of Old Jerusalem,to the Garden of Gethsemane—a site where Christ prayed for strength. From there, the visitors then toured the Church of Agony—a shrine built over the rock where Christ agonized in prayer before being betrayed by Judas and arrested.
The group’s walk included the Via Dolorosa—also known as the Way of Grief, the Way of Sorrow and the Way of Suffering, on a street pathway Christ took through Old Jerusalem to his crucifixion site now known as Skull Hill.
The tour ended at the Garden Tomb unearthed about 150 years ago and now considered to be both Christ’s burial and resurrection site.
Besides covering sites related to Easter, the tour also covered a number of sites related to Jesus’ ministry. Those sites visited on the tour mostly between March 15 and 18 include:
■ the Basilica of the Annunciation, where the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced that she would conceive and bear the son of God,
■ the Sea of Galilee where Christ walked on the water and calmed a storm,
■ Capernaum, a fishing village during Biblical times that became a focal point for Jesus during teachings
■ and the Mount of Beatitudes, site of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount.
Other ministerial sites include Caesarea Philippi, where Christ asked his disciples who people thought that he (Christ) was—a question that only Peter answered correctly and the Jordan River, site of Christ’s baptism by John the Baptist as well as the Pool of Bethesda, where Jesus healed a man who had been bedridden for 38 years.
However, of all the sites the group visited, perhaps the most spiritually vivid statement appears on the back of the door to Christ’s tomb. These are the words of an angel telling all interested parties what happened to Christ—“He is not here: for He has risen.”
Yes, it’s true. He has risen indeed.