Israel In Depth - Real Life Church

April 21 - May 1, 2015

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Following the Footsteps of Jesus

So far this tour has been an amazing study of the historical sites and facts of Israel and how all this information made the Bible come to life. Today was a different day, a day rich in awe that caused such a tremendous feeling of an emotional connection to Jesus.

It started with the Western Wall where we had an opportunity to take the handwritten prayers from home and place them in the Wailing Wall. You can see the women praying with such a heartfelt passion that you couldn't walk away without analyzing your own prayer life.

Western Wall

The Western Wall is the most holy place accessible to the Jewish people because of Muslim control of the Temple Mount. Known in recent centuries as the “Wailing Wall,” this was built by Herod the Great as the retaining wall of the Temple Mount complex. The plaza was created as an area for prayer when Israel captured the Old City in 1967. At times tens of thousands of people gather here for prayer.

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From the Western Wall, we traveled through the Rabbinic Tunnels where you couldn't help but marvel at the tenacity, patience, and hard labor needed for its construction.

From the tunnels we visited the birthplace of Jesus' mother, Mary, marked by St. Anne's church, and Bethesda, the House of Grace. At the pool, you can almost picture Jesus healing the paralyzed man and offering him the hope and joy of a new life.

Bethsaida

The northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee is a fertile plain where the feeding of the 5,000 likely took place. Israeli maps and excavators currently locate the New Testament city of Bethsaida at an ancient ruin known as “et-Tell.” The excavation team, headed by Rami Arav, is insistent that this site be identified with ancient Bethsaida. Others suggest that Bethsaida may be better located at el-Araj near the lakeshore.

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We visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where, after visiting such magnificent structures rich in Biblical history that it really all comes down to kneeling at the feet of Jesus which we were able to do at a stone which marked the spot where Jesus' crucifix was placed in the ground.

We also went to the Shrine of the Book Museum where we viewed a model of Jerusalem prior to 70 AD and also got an overview of the archeological find of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Today was one of the more emotional days of the tour and it was fitting that we ended the day at Bethlehem, the birthplace of our Savior and where the Good News began.

Anne Taylor and Diane Hinojosa
Real Life Church - Valencia, CA

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