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Israel Study Tour with Faith Chapel Billings
April 17-29, 2017
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Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing
Leaving the Sea of Galilee was bittersweet. However we knew that leaving meant we were "ready" to go up to Jerusalem. When we first arrived in Israel, Ronen told us that we were "not ready yet" for Jerusalem and he was right! Now looking back we can see how we needed a history/geography lesson about this land.
Our first stop was the long awaited Nazareth. It sits above very fertile land known as the grain basket. We read the story in Luke 4:14-30, about how Jesus returned to his hometown synagogue and read out of Isaiah stating, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing". After many of them became angry because of what he said, they marched Him out of town to be run off a cliff. Instead he "walked right through the crowd and went on his way". Seeing the place where Jesus grew up and lived was hard to absorb, yet wonderful.
Nazareth
Situated inside a bowl atop the Nazareth ridge north of the Jezreel valley, Nazareth was a relatively isolated village in the time of Jesus with a population less than two hundred. Today Nazareth is home to more than 60,000 Israeli Arabs; Upper Nazareth is home to thousands more Jewish residents.
Next we hiked up to Megiddo where Solomon built his chariot city. We learned about the (less than amiable) attributes of his life as king, as he directly turned away from God and followed his own desires. Here on this "Tel" they found 26 different civilizations built one on top of the other.
Lush green forests greeted us as we found ourselves on Mount Carmel. Sitting in a beautiful garden of a monastery we heard the story of Elijah and the priests of Baal (1 Kings 18:16). Up on that mountain God once again proved to his people that He was their God. He longed to "turn their hearts back again".
Mt. Carmel
Biblically, Mt. Carmel is referenced most often as a symbol of beauty and fertility. To be given the “splendor of Carmel” was to be blessed indeed (Isa 35:2). Solomon praised his beloved: “your head crowns you like Mount Carmel” (Song 7:5). But for Carmel to wither was a sign of devastating judgment (Nahum 1:4).
Finally on the road to Jerusalem we came to Caesarea. This magnificent ancient city is right along the coast. Boasting of a large port and many palaces (many rulers like Harod and Pontius Pilate lived here), Caesarea had a large arena (imagine chariot races and gladiators). Paul was imprisoned here under its marble floors before appealing to Cesar.
(Side note: We were able to sit in on the rehearsal of one of the Hillsong Israel Tour concerts, (which was AWESOME) however tickets for the show were sold out...)
Tomorrow we head into Jerusalem to find out what is in store for us. I hope we are "ready". All I know is that God has yet to leave us without revelation or inspiration on this trip.
Ben & Micah Rose
Caesarea Maritima
The city and harbor were built under Herod the Great during c. 22–10 BC near the site of a former Phoenician naval station known as Stratonos pyrgos (Στράτωνος πύργος).[2] It later became the provincial capital of Roman Judea, Roman Syria Palaestina and Byzantine Palaestina Prima provinces. The city was populated throughout the 1st to 6th centuries CE and became an important early center of Christianity during the Byzantine period, but was mostly abandoned following the Muslim conquest of 640. It was re-fortified by the Crusaders, and finally slighted by the Mamluks in 1265.
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