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Psalm 48:12-14 says,

“Walk about Zion, go around her,
number her towers,
consider well her ramparts,
go through her citadels,
that you may tell the next generation
that this is God,
our God forever and ever.
He will guide us forever. “

This is exactly what the Compass in Israel team did over the last two days of our trip.

On our free day (Sunday) our group scattered all over Jerusalem.  One group of us started off the day with the Ramparts Walk on the northern walls of the Old City.  We attempted to experience as much of the city as we could by visiting sites, eating local cuisine, and bartering with the shopkeepers that line the street.

Our last tour day was also focused on Jerusalem.  We began the day at the Western Wall, the holiest site for religious Jews.  Because we were there on a Monday, we saw several Bar Mitzvahs in progress.  From the Western Wall area, we made our way up onto the Temple Mount.  While the Dome of the Rock now dominates this site, walking the mount helped us better understand what worship was like in ancient times.

In the time of Christ, the Roman Antonia Fortress would have been at the northern end of the temple.  Because Pilate may have been there when he condemned Jesus, the Via Dolorosa (Way of Suffering) begins here.  We followed this route to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the most probable site of the death and resurrection of Christ.

Our entire trip culminated with a visit to the Garden Tomb, another possible site of the resurrection.  Outside the city walls, this quiet garden offered our group valuable time not only to think about the fact that our Savior is alive, it also gave us the chance to share some of our reflections with each other.

We returned to LAX safe and sound this morning, so thank you all for your prayers for this trip.  But please do not stop praying yet!  Continue to ask the Lord that lives would be transformed by our time in Israel.

As the altitude goes down, the temperature goes up.

That is one thing that we learned today as we descended from Jerusalem (2500 ft) to the lowest point on earth, the Dead Sea at -1700 ft.  We spent another wonderful day in Israel visiting a few sites along the shores of this salty lake.

High above the Dead Sea rests the ancient fortress of Masada.  Herod the Great built the fortifications and palaces at this impressive site, but it is best known for the mass suicide that took place there in the Jewish Revolt.    While most of the group rode up to the top of this 1300 ft high fortress in a cable car, five of us braved the heat and walked up the snake trail.  We now have a great understanding of why this fortress was so hard to capture – it’s quite a hike!

The biggest oasis on the Dead Sea is En Gedi.  We hiked through the Wadi David to a large waterfall near the spring!  At this site, we thought about Psalm 63.  When you find an oasis in the wilderness, you can really understand what David was talking about when he spoke of thirsting after God in a dry and weary land!

After lunch, we visited the remains of Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.  We learned about the Essenes who lived there and wrote these scrolls, but most importantly Pastor Pete taught about the reliability of the Bible!  We will get to see the scrolls at a museum on Monday.

At the end of the day, we finally visited the Dead Sea itself.  Our group walked out into the water, sat down, and floated!

Tomorrow is our free day.  As the trip comes to a close, please pray that people are transformed by the truth they have learned in Israel!

Photos from Day 5

Each day of our trip thus far has covered a wide area of the land of Israel.  Today we were never much more than a mile from our hotel.  No city in the world has wall-to-wall history quite like Jerusalem, especially when it comes to biblical history.

We began our day overlooking the Old City from the Mount of Olives.  Surrounded by graves, this hill where Christ ascended to Heaven and will return someday gave us good cause to think about eternity.  From this overlook we followed a road down the hill similar to where Jesus would have traveled on Palm Sunday.

At the bottom of the Mount of Olives rests one site that is perhaps the most stunning  we have visited yet – the Garden of Gethsemane.  This place is not stunning because of impressive archeological remains or breathtaking beauty, but because of the gravity of what happened here. In the stillness of the morning in this quiet garden we could feel some of the weight of the suffering that our sin caused.  But the beautiful thing is that we also felt that weight lifted because Jesus paid it all.

After an extended time of reflection at the Garden, we head off to see some of the most impressive archeology in Jerusalem.  We visited the archeological park at the southern end of the Temple Mount, which offers extensive remains of this entrance area to the temple in the time of Christ.  These ancient stones and structures speak to the importance of temple worship in the ancient Jewish culture.  We also visited the City of David, where we walked through a water tunnel that is 2700 years old!  Mentioned in the Bible, this strategic tunnel provided the city with water even in the time of an invasion.  Our final stop of the day was at the traditional upper room, which was built in a possible location for the Last Supper and the disciples on the day of Pentecost.

Even after touring most of the day, we have barely begun to scratch the surface of the history in this city.  Good thing we still have a few days left to explore and learn!

Click here for more photos form our fourth day…

The heart of the Jewish culture is the city of Jerusalem.  In ancient times, the Jews would migrate to this city for the three major feasts.  On these occasions, Jesus would have traveled down the Jordan River Valley around Samaria to Jericho, then up to Jerusalem via the Ascent of Adummim.

This is exactly the route we took today.

We did make a few stops along the way.  Our first was at Beit Shan.  The Bible mentions this city as the place where the bodies of Saul and his sons were hung after their defeat to the Philistines, and this city’s remains are the most extensive and well-preserved in all the land of Israel.

Near Beth Shan we found En Harod, the spring where Gideon’s army was narrowed down to 300 before the battle of the Midianites.  Pastor Pete explained how the point of the story was the different ways men drank from the spring.  God wanted to make it clear that he was the one who would win the victory!

After lunch at a nearby swimming hole, we traveled 80 miles to Jerusalem.  As we traveled up the Acent of Adummim, we read the Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120-134).  Just after we finished, we exited a tunnel through the Mt. Olives that gave us a breathtaking view of Jerusalem.  We had arrived!  We are so excited to begin exploring this city over the next few days!

“I was glad when they said to me,
‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’
Our feet have been standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem!”

-Psalm 122:1-2

Click here to see more photos

Whenever you hear an Israel Trip advertised, the phrase “Walk Where Jesus Walked” will always come up.  Today we did just that as we toured around the Sea of Galilee.  The history around this lake centers on the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.

Our day began by going to one place where Jesus walked that we physically cannot – the Sea of Galilee itself.  We reflected on Jesus calming the storm and walking on water as we floated from Tiberias to Gennesaret, where we saw the actually remains of a first century A.D. boat!

From there we traveled to the Mount of Beatitudes, the traditional location for the Sermon on the Mount..  This may or may not be the actual site of the sermon, but the power is not in the location but the divine words that we read and thought about there.  We also traveled to two places we know Jesus preached, Chorazin and Capernaum.  In several places, the Gospels specifically mention the synagogue in Capernaum, and you can still see its foundation today!

The richness of the sites we visit and the knowledge of our guide offer endless opportunities to learn interesting facts about the history of the Bible, but these interesting tidbits are only good if they help us better understand the transforming realities of Scripture.  So as you pray for our trip, please pray that God would use it to transform our hearts as we learn more about him, his Word, and our great Savior, Jesus Christ.

To see more photos click here

The Compass in Israel team woke up this morning at the Dan Panorama Hotel in Tel Aviv, Israel.  The view of the Mediterranean Sea was beautiful.  The breakfast buffet was delicious.  And the day only got better from there.

After arriving yesterday, today was the first full day of touring in Israel.  We made their first stop at Caeserea Maritime.  This ancient port features some outstanding archaeological remains, but it also reminds us of the ministry of the Apostle Paul, who gave his defense here in front of Felix, Festus, and Herod Agrippa.

The tour bus then followed the coastline North to Mt. Carmel, where the LORD defeated the prophets of Baal through his prophet Elijah.  From the top of this mountain, we could see the entire Jezreel Valley, which includes several biblical sites.  We visited the site of Megiddo, one of the most excavated tels in all Israel.

Our touring day ended at Nazareth.  From the top of a lookout near the city, we reflected on the reality that Christ became a man to live and die for us as we sang, “How marvelous, how wonderful, is my Savior’s love for me.”

Tomorrow we go see the land where Jesus lived and ministered – Galilee!

Click Here to see pictures from Day 1.

Day 10: Rome Pictures and Video

Video and photos from Rome

Photos and video from day 8 in Istanbul.