Help support our friends in Israel in their time of need.
Israel Pastor's FAM Trip - Presented by GTI Tours
January 2-13, 2020
Subscription options are no longer available for this tour.
The world is passing away along with its desires
Today we traveled to Beth Shean and talked more about the Roman culture that began to infiltrate the Jewish world. Beth Shean is strategically positioned at the junction of the Jezreel valley and the Jordan river. One of the main elements that we talked through was how the Roman’s used entertainment to begin to turn the Jews hearts away from God. 2000 years later the strategy of the world remains the same. We read this passage on the bus as we left Beth Shean: “Do not love the world, or the things of the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world-the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life- is not from the father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:15-17).
Beth Shean
Located 17 miles (27 km) south of the Sea of Galilee, Beth Shean is situated at the strategic junction of the Harod and Jordan Valleys. The fertility of the land and the abundance of water led the Jewish sages to say, “If the Garden of Eden is in the land of Israel, then its gate is Beth Shean.” It is no surprise then that the site has been almost continuously settled from the Chalcolithic period to the present.
On Mount Carmel we read the account of Elijah defeating the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18. The passage declares the reality that Yawheh is the only true God.
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).
We finished our day at Caesarea Maritima. During Jesus’ time, Herod the Great had built the city to become one of the most strategic and powerful cities in the world. Herod had engineered a port city that enabled it to be the hub for global commerce. It was here that Paul stands on trial in Acts 24 and declares “I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the law and written in the prophets, having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust.” Caesarea, a hub for global commerce also became one of the hubs for the expansion of the gospel, uniquely positioned for the Great Commision.
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.
Upcoming Signature Tours
With 30 years of experience creating trips for other ministries, we've prepared our own signature study tours featuring some of our favorite itineraries and compelling teachers! If you've never been on a GTI Study Tour, take a moment to learn more about what you can expect.