TCS Israel Trip Day #6

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How many times have you read the passage of the Great Commission?  I would venture to say that all of us could quote the passage with very little difficulty.  However, have you considered the setting and location of these last words that Christ gave to His disciples before He ascended into heaven?  Our morning began at this very place!  We went to the same site where Christ took His disciples up to the high mountain in Matthew 28, overlooking the entire Sea of Galilee and the cities in which He preached, and gave them the Great Commission to "go into all of the world and preach the Gospel to every creature," to baptize them in the name of the Trinity, and then teach them the all that Christ commanded.  From the vantage point at Mount Arbel, you can see Judea, Samaria, and then the uttermost parts of the earth that lie beyond the mountains and the sea.  What a perfect venue for such a pivotal message and moment for the disciples and for us!

It was at this point that Boaz pointed out to us that coming here on this pilgrimage is all about the journey.  Boaz instructed us to be careful not to say "are we there yet?" We should not just impatiently anticipate the destination but intentionally savor every contour and aspect of the journey.

For the next hour or so, our drive took us through the tribe of Isaachar, Ephraim, Judah, and Benjamin, as well as Samaria and the Jordanian border.  Soon we arrived in Beit She’an - We toured this incredible 1st century city whose ruins are among one of the largest archeological discoveries in Israel. Nearby, the story of Gideon fighting the Midianites in Judges 7 and Saul getting defeated in 1 Samuel 31 by the Philistines.

From here the topography of the land changed dramatically from lush green land to the desert.  Soon we arrived at one of the oldest cities in the world today - Jericho! Jesus would have traveled the same way to Jerusalem that we traveled today from Galilee. It was here that Joshua fought the battle against Jericho in Joshua 6 as God commanded them to march around the city seven times and walls of the city came crashing to the ground, according to the night display of God's power. This is also the place where a tax collector and ruler of the city, Zacchaeus, has a life-changing  encounter with Jesus in Luke 19 and becomes a follower of Christ. Jesus also healed blind Bartimaeus in Jericho in Mark 10. Even more surprising was that we saw the Mount of Temptation where Jesus was tempted by Satan in Matthew 4. We had lunch here today and toured the city. 

Lastly, we came to the Qumran Caves, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered.  It was so incredible to hike the trail, climb up the rocks, and crawl through the tunnels together.  This was certainly one of the highlights of the trip!

One other thing to note is that today was Ian Kim's 19th birthday!  We were able to celebrate his birthday with Israeli style cake that we all got the pleasure to enjoy.

As I type this, we are sitting in our hotel in the city of Jerusalem.  Tomorrow we will get to tour Masada, the Dead Sea, and see the place where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.  Our hearts have taken in so much of God’s Word at each site we have visited that our hearts are full.  We look forward to seeing our hearts overflow with the great things that are still to come!

Pastor Stephen