Israel In Depth - Real Life Church

April 21 - May 1, 2015

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Intimacy with God

Today was the most intimate day so far, because we were where Jesus centered his ministry. We first went to the Sea of Galilee where we saw the “Jesus Boat” which is an ancient fishing boat from the time of Jesus. It was discovered in 1986. Then we experienced our own Galilee boat ride where we had time to write in our journals and spend personal time with God.

We had a chance to hike up Mount Arbel, which overlooks the area of Galilee where Jesus centered his ministry. We spent some time in Centered Prayer, quietly being in God’s presence just as Jesus did when he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.

Mount Arbel

Mount Arbel (Hebrew: הר ארבל‎‎, Har Arbel) is a mountain in The Lower Galilee near Tiberias in Israel, with high cliffs, views of Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights, trails to a cave-fortress, and ruins of an ancient synagogue. Mt. Arbel sits across from Mount Nitai; their cliffs were created as a result of the Jordan Rift Valley and the geological faults that produced the valleys.

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We visited Capernaum, which was Jesus’ home during the years of his ministry. There is a church built above the ruins of Peters’ house, which served as the first Christian church, visible through a glass floor.

Capernaum

Jesus made Capernaum his home during the years of his ministry: “Leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum” (Matt 4:13).

Peter, Andrew, James and John were fishermen living in the village. Matthew the tax collector also dwelt here.

Capernaum is one of the three cities cursed by Jesus for its lack of faith.

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We walked through the ruins of the Jewish town Chorazin. It was a typical Jewish town in the time of Jesus with the town built around the Synagogue.

Chorazin

The synagogue at Chorazin is a typical “Galilean” style synagogue. These synagogues are characterized by 1) a basilical shape with three hallways separated by two rows of pillars; 2) three doorways and the central one is the largest; 3) benches around the interior walls; 4) a stylobate to support the weight of the arches.

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Traveling to the Mount of Beatitudes, we sat on a hillside overlooking the Sea of Galilee. This was in the area where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount. As we sat there listening to Matthew 5 our hearts were heavy that the world continues to struggle with Jesus’ alternative way of living.

Kim Judge and Paula Young
Real Life Church - Valencia, CA

Mount of Beatitudes

The so-called “Sermon on the Mount” is recorded in Matthew 5-7 and Luke 6. The alleged discrepancy between Matthew’s version being on a hill and Luke’s being on a level place is easily reconciled with observation of many level places on the Galilean hillsides. Scripture gives no indication of the exact location of this event, but the Byzantines built a church to commemorate it at the bottom of the hill. Some of Napoleon’s men placed it on the nearby Arbel mountain.

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