Day 09 - Jerusalem: Temple Mount, Western Wall, City of David, Hezekiah's Tunnel, Pool of Siloam, Herodium, Shepherds Field/Bethlehem

We’ve finally made it to the big money attraction, Jerusalem! Today marked the first day that many of us here got to wear our Shema rings, so many of us spent our first bus ride this morning showing off our new bling on our way to our first site of the day, the Temple Mount!

The best tour guide in all of the City of David started off our tour of the Temple Mount sharing the story of Genesis 22 where Abraham goes to offer his firstborn son, Isaac, as a sacrifice at Mount Moriah. This is a story of the faithful obedience of Abraham as he said to God, “Here I am,” as he began his journey alongside his son Isaac and two of his young men. This was a great test of faith and trust in God’s provision in Abraham’s life as he waited a LONG 25 years for his son to be born to him. Since God is faithful to His people, the angel of the Lord appeared to Abraham and declared to him right before Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac, “Do not lay a hand on your boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, not withholding your own son, your only son, from me.” The Lord then provided a goat for Abraham to sacrifice in the place of Isaac, and Abraham then named this mount “The LORD will provide”. This was SO encouraging knowing that in any and all circumstances, God will certainly provide for all our needs.

Our next stop was Hezekiah’s tunnel, which many of us were very excited for. We started journeying our way through a deep cavern and through the tunnel after a quick lesson on it from the best tour guide in all the City of David, Ronen. As we reached the other side of the tunnel, we came upon the Pool of Siloam. Kristen then shared a story out of John 9 where Jesus restores the sight of a man who was blind from birth. The Pharisees were immediately skeptical of this as Jesus had restored this man’s sight on the Sabbath, but the man’s testimony from verse 25 was most impactful to us as he said, “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” This testimony carries a TON of power as God has revealed Himself to us. We couldn’t see by ourselves, but because of the immeasurable riches of the love with which He’s loved us He has given us the ability to see others the way He sees us. We can now find truth in the fact that in the same way as the man who was once blind, we too can see the world around us in ways only He can provide for us.

After a quick break for lunch and Magnum ice cream bars, we hiked up to Herodium which was an old palace of King Herod the Great. This palace on a hill was another example of Herod’s love to show off all the power he had, so he had his servants make him a mountain and luxurious palace overlooking Bethlehem. Jared’s lesson consisted of him reading through the Christmas story out of Matthew 2 which showcases just how different Jesus and Herod were in their lives on earth. Herod absolutely loved to show off the glory of his power and riches so that people would know who Herod was, but Jesus often humbled Himself so that more and more would come to know the surpassing glory of the Father. This was a powerful reminder to us as we were reminded that the treasures of this world will fade and be forgotten in comparison to the riches of our Father in Heaven,

Our last stop of the day was in Bethlehem of Judea. Jared started this teaching with the story of Ruth which shows how small acts of obedience and faithfulness will lead to amazing amounts of transformation that could only come from the Father as Ruth and Boaz became the great-grandparents of King David! Jared then led us down into a small cave near where we first sat through the teaching of Ruth. Jared sat us down in the cave and guided us through the popular Christmas story in Luke 2. The cave that we were all sitting in would have been pretty similar to the one that Jesus may have been born in 2000 years ago. This was both very cool and very humbling considering that the Savior of the World, Jesus Christ, humbled himself to a point of being born into a lowly manger in a little town called Bethlehem.

God’s faithfulness to His people and His abundant provision was on full display today, and we could not be more thankful! Praise Him!

Kristen Ray