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Israel Pastor's FAM Trip - Presented by GTI Tours
January 2-13, 2020
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Jesus defines eternal life
This morning our group went to the Mount of Olives (east of Jerusalem’s Old City) and received a helpful vantage point of the city to find our moorings. It was here that Jesus wept over Jerusalem and also here where He ascended to the Father following the resurrection. While on the Mount of Olives some of us read Acts 1 which details the account of Jesus’ physical departure from the earth, the promising of the Holy Spirit, and Peter’s first sermon of the early church. Peter, after witnessing Jesus’ ascension declares: “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled..” This statement has been the foundation for so much of our time in Israel. Seeing and experiencing the veracity, truth, and legitimacy of the scripture.
Mount of Olives
Separated from the Eastern Hill (the Temple Mount and the City of David) by the Kidron Valley, the Mt. of Olives has always been an important feature in Jerusalem’s landscape. From the 3rd millennium B.C. until the present, this 2900-foot hill has served as one of the main burial grounds for the city. The two-mile long ridge has three summits each of which has a tower built on it.
Following our time on the Mount of Olives we went to the foothills of that mountain to a garden called Gethsemane. It was here that Jesus’ humanity is so vividly portrayed in the gospel of John. His soul was “deeply troubled” before His betrayal and denial from men, but even more so, the separation He would endure from the Father on the cross. From the Garden of Gethsamene Jesus would be led away to trial before His crucifixion so that He might give life to those who would believe in Him. Jesus describes eternal life in the Garden before His betrayal in John 17:3. Interestingly, it has little to do with merely living forever…”This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Jesus defines eternal life in the very Garden we sat in today-knowing God.
Gethsemane
Gethsemane (Greek: Γεθσημανή, Gethsemane; Hebrew: גת שמנים, Gat Shmanim; Gaḏ Šmānê, lit. "oil press") is a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, most famous as the place where Jesus prayed and his disciples slept the night before Jesus' crucifixion.
thanks,
jonny
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