Day 03 - Commitment – Dead Sea

Shabbat shalom. What an incredible day it has been! From a second sunrise at the Dead Sea to an amazing sunset at the Sea of Galilee (our first of three!).  Our team experienced and learned a lot today, and we’re excited to tell you all about it. 

After breakfast, Pastor Guil led us in our morning devotional on the shores of the Dead Sea.  Our theme today is ‘commitment’. He compared the Dead Sea to the Sea of Galilee (where we will be this evening and for the next few days). They call it the Dead Sea because there is no life. It is dead. Nothing flows out of it. On the other hand, the Sea of Galilee is teeming with life.  It is a conduit…  In a nutshell, don’t be a Dead Sea Christian, be a Sea of Galilee Christian! Show love to one another! 

Our first stop was just up the road from our hotel, at Ein Gedi. This natural preserve’s name literally means “the spring of the little wild goats.” We saw several of these goats as we walked to the site. Steve taught us about the Biblical significance of where we were standing. When King Saul was hunting for David seeking to kill him, David hid in these hills, more likely than not, writing the Psalms that we’ve become so familiar with. Psalm 63 - “LORD, I thirst for you in a dry and parched land.” When we first saw these cliffs and caves we thought of how dry and barren they looked, but as we kept walking, we discovered springs of water that spanned all the way up the path. Living water flows all throughout Ein Gedi. Pastor Ralph taught that even when we’re in the desert in our own lives, God’s provision is present, even when we can’t see it. In the desert, there are springs of water for refreshing because God is good and He provides for His people. Pastor Ralph’s heart is that we as a church family be an Ein Gedi community. That even when life feels like a desert, we have each other. We can be living water to one another as we walk this life together.

After Ein Gedi, we drove north to the spot where Jesus was baptized (you can see it from Qumran as Ralph taught us at our June 5th service). Ralph taught us that Jesus’ baptism was only one of the several historically significant things that happened in this exact spot. It is also where Joshua led the children of Israel into the promised land, along with the Ark of the Covenant. It is also where Elijah parted the water and was taken into heaven. There is rich spiritual significance to this site and it was evident to us as we sat and listened to teaching and Scripture. The connection Pastor Ralph made for us was the connection between Elijah and John the Baptist. In the book of Malachi, it is prophesied that Elijah would return, preparing the way of the Lord. Jesus mentions that John the Baptist would be that person. Both Elijah and John spent their ministries calling people back to God. According to Matthew 11:13-14, all prophesy up to that time pointed to the moment John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan. 

After our time at the Jordan, we had a reflective bus ride to lunch and our third (and final) stop of the day at the caves of Qumran. This is where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947. Yehuda guided us through the site where a conservative sect of Jews lived. This sect is now known as the sect of the Dead Sea. We learned about their way of life and how they came to copy and store the Scriptures in the caves above them. Even now, there are still more discoveries waiting for us in the caves of Qumran and surrounding areas. The book of Isaiah that was found, when it is rolled out in its entirety, is twenty-two feet long. Multiple copies of other books of the Bible were also found. This is a very important discovery as the earliest copies of the Bible available dated back to the 11th century AD. The discovered Dead Sea Scrolls preceded Jesus, dating back to approximately third century BC. It is proof that the Bible is in fact as ancient, and accurate, as it claims to be.

After leaving Qumran, we had a two-hour drive North to our hotel, located on the Eastern shores of the Sea of Galilee at the foot of the Golan Heights. During our drive, Ralph discussed the intertestamental period and Yehuda shared recent Israeli history and geopolitical struggles in the area.

It’s Friday and Shabbat began at sundown. What an amazing day. We ask for your prayers as we continue with our trip. We ask for continued safety as we travel, and for the health of our team members. Thank you for sticking with us, praying for us, and reading our updates. We greatly appreciate it. 

God Bless and goodnight!

CIC Israel ‘22