Day 07 - Galilee - Jerusalem: Mt. Precipice/Nazareth, Megiddo, Mt. Carmel, Caesarea Maritima

Today we had our last morning devotional by the Sea of Galilee and then departed to make our way toward Jerusalem. It was a busy day with wonderful weather!

During the morning devotional, Terry read Psalm 121, from the Psalms of Ascent. These psalms were sung by the Jews as they ascended the road to Jerusalem to attend the three pilgrimage festivals. As we make our way to Jerusalem, may we remember that the Lord is always with us.

Our first stop of the day was the top of Mt. Precipice where we were able to overlook Nazareth, the hometown of Jesus. Terry spoke of the story in Luke 4, when Jesus is in the synagogue in Nazareth reading from the scroll of Isaiah 61:1-2. After this reading, Jesus stated that the fulfillment of that prophecy happened with His reading, clearly claiming that He was the Messiah. This infuriated the crowd. They were so angry that they planned to throw Him off the very cliff where we sat, but he passed through their midst and went to Capernaum. 

Jesus knew what their reaction would be and yet He spoke truth. Unfortunately, Jesus was too familiar to them. What an important message for us today! Even we can become too familiar with Jesus, and forget the wonder of him being the son of God. Losing our awe of God is a slippery slope. We don’t want to become like Dan and take liberties with what he’s called us to do and how to live. Jesus should offend us and will always offend others. The message of Jesus confronts our selfishness. It is not all about you. That is offense! A Jesus who doesn’t offend you is one you created yourself. If you want to be reconciled with Jesus, you must die to yourself, take up our cross, and follow him. 

When we surrender to Christ, we allow that selfishness to die. It is a day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute choice.

“If Jesus never offends you, then you’re probably making Him into a Jesus of your own imagination.” – Timothy Keller

Our second stop of the day was at Tel Megiddo, an archaeological site with 32 levels of civilizations. In Hebrew, “har megiddo” translates to Armageddon, which is referenced in the book of Revelation as the sight of the final, great battle. In Revelation 16, we see the pouring out of wrath on non-believers. Whether this is the actual spot a battle will take place, or if it’s a methaphorical because of the intense battles that have happened over time in that exact place, It was surreal to stare down to the place referenced while Terry read about it from Revelation.

At Mount Carmel, we hiked until we were looking down into a beautiful valley where the story of 1 Kings 16 – 18 took place.  Ahab was king and, in a strategic political alliance, married Jezebel. She influenced him to start worshipping Baal (god of thunder/rain/fertility) and built altars to him and Asherah (fertility goddess). Jezebel also ordered for the priests and prophets of Yahweh to be killed. Ahab and Jezebel were turning people away from God. According to 1 Kings 16:33, “Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.” God ordered Elijah, a prophet, to tell Ahab that it would not rain until Elijah said so. For three years it did not rain causing famine and death. The people were upset that Baal was not sending rain and Ahab blamed Elijah and sought to kill him. Per God’s request, Elijah confronts Ahab and told him he was the cause of their drought “because [he] abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals.”

Elijah proposed that they all meet on Mount Carmel with Ahab bringing all of his prophets. And so they did. Ahab built an altar to Baal, sacrificed a bull and called on Baal to light the fire. Ahab and his people called on Baal for hours with no response. Elijah then built an altar of 12 stones, one for each tribe of Israel, and sacrificed a bull. He built a trench around the altar and proceeded to pour so many buckets of water on the altar and wood that the trench was filled and all  was soaking wet. Then he called on God, and fire rained from the sky and scorched everything completely. It even dried up all of  the water. Only upon seeing this miracle did Ahab’s people finally call on Yahweh as the one true God.

Terry encouraged us to think about standing up for truth and quoted this poem by Martin Neimoller, which was written in response to the Christians unwillingness to speak out about the treatment of Jewish people during the Holocaust.

“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing. It is our job to tell the good news and God will sort out the rest. Our faith is very personal, but it should never be private. And therein lies our challenge. We are all called to be Elijah. Where is the line where you will speak out? Remember, compromise leads to a place you never thought you could be. At what point in the culture will you no longer compromise?

At some point, we will all be asked to stand up for what is true.

Our final stop of the day was Caesarea Maritima, another wonder originally built by the brilliant egomaniac, Herod the Great. It took 12 years to construct this city, which included a major port that allowed him to control trade. This city was incredible and included a theatron, an amphitheater, a freshwater pool that was built on top of the Mediterranean Sea (an engineering feat), and a hippodrome, among other things. When construction of the city and port was complete, Herod hosted the Olympic Games to celebrate.

Sitting in the hippodrome, we learned that it was not only a place to hold chariot races, but that it was later where many Christians were publicly executed in a most brutal manner. We learned that Jews in Jerusalem plotted to kill Paul because he was preaching the gospel. Romans brought him from Jerusalem to Caesarea Maritima to hold him while they decide what to do with him. Paul spent a two years there, but because of his Roman citizenship, he decides to appeal to Caesar. They then put him on a boat and he starts his journey to Rome.

How remarkable that we stood where Paul stood! 

We then took a 20 minute detour just down the beach to see the aquaducts and pick up some buttery smooth rocks and pristine shells.

We had a long drive to Jerusalem and settled into our hotel to rest before tomorrow’s grand adventure.

Until Tomorrow…

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Ashley Fuhr