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Israel Study Tour with Northpointe Community Church
February 19 - March 2, 2018
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We sang and danced and laughed.
Day four started out as a beautiful day in the synagogue at Chorazin. We saw a stone manger that Carol fit in so well. It was easy to imagine all the male members of the family living in this village honoring God reading from the Torah. Imagine the traditions that all the boys growing into men go through.
Chorazin
The synagogue at Chorazin is a typical “Galilean” style synagogue. These synagogues are characterized by 1) a basilical shape with three hallways separated by two rows of pillars; 2) three doorways and the central one is the largest; 3) benches around the interior walls; 4) a stylobate to support the weight of the arches.
From there we went to Tabgha. I can picture Jesus telling Simon Peter to follow Him and become fisher of men. It was so inspiring for Ronnie and Ronin to remind us of Jesus saying "if you love me follow me" and Ronin saying, "We don't need to be smart to be worthy." Simon Peter and his brother were fishermen and Matthew was the dreaded tax collector. In my Bible tax collectors were called "scum" and yet worthy of Jesus. So cool!!
In Capernaum where Jesus performed 90% of his miracles. Wow!! I walked where so many amazing things happened. Jesus fulfilling the prophecy. WOW!! To see the synagogue and Peter's home , overwhelming!! It gave me chills to think of the miracles performed here.
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.
In the Mount of Beatitudes we each read from scripture Matthew 5-7. This is where Jesus taught his disciples. It's a beautiful place and if you close your eyes, you can hear the birds and feel the breeze and let Jesus word sink in and believe you are one of the disciples hearing Jesus speak.
We visited Mt. Arbel. While not mentioned in the Bible by name, Steve said it was possibly the Mt. where Jesus prayed all night before choosing his disciples. It may also be the location of the “Great Commission” found in Matthew 28 where Jesus sends out the disciples to the whole world.
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.
While I am emotionally moved by walking where Jesus walked, a highlight of the day was seeing a boat that was excavated and carbon dated back to the first century. So cool!! It was a boat just like Jesus and the disciples rode in during the storm on the Galilee. It was like the boat that Jesus walked on water to. Then we went on a boat much bigger to cross the Galilee back to our kibbutz. We sang and danced and laughed. We listened to Collin Crain remind us to trust that God will bring us through anything. We just need to trust Him. Well said , Collin. Thank you for sharing your heart.
What a great day filling my head with wonderful and amazing things in this Holy Land where Jesus walked.
Monica Johnston
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