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Israel Study Tour with Faith Chapel Billings
April 17-29, 2017
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Anything but desolate
Today was day six on the Faith Chapel, GTI Israel Study Tour. Saturday is the Sabbath in Israel, which made this day’s tour very special.
After breakfast the group loaded up on the bus and headed out for Mount Arbel, on the northwest side of the Sea of Galilee. After an aggressive climb to the top we were captured by Mark 1:35 . . . “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”
Mount Arbel was anything but desolate. It was beautiful. And it was amazing to think about Jesus often climbing this mountain, over rocks and in the dark to get time to pray over all the people in the villages around this beautiful area of Israel.
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.
This was a day walking in Jesus’ footsteps. The first half of his three-year ministry was spent in this area. He lived in Capernaum, which was a trade route, a city on a border. It was strategic for Jesus to make this his headquarters. It was in Capernaum where he met a tax collector named Matthew and began to recruit his team, like Peter and Andrew, James and John. We spent time in a place many believe is the site of the Sermon on the Mount and we visited the very synagogue in which Jesus taught, healed people and performed many miracles. Peter’s house was next to this synagogue.
Can you imagine? We spent an entire day walking with Jesus. It made the stories of the gospels so tangible, almost like smelling the smells and hearing the sounds. Our entire group was in awe. What a privilege to learn about Jesus in such a personal way!
-Marc Johnson
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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