Day 08 - Jerusalem: City of David, Hezekiah's Tunnel, Israel Museum, Herodium, Yad Vashem, Bethlehem

Day Eight: Stones, Water, Memory, and Promise

Today was our first full day in Jerusalem, and boy was it full! Our hotel is only a ten minute walk from where Pastor Luke and Sara used to live and just three minutes from Pastor Luke’s favorite falafel stand, which he told us about repeatedly before we left. Let’s just say expectations were high. There is something meaningful about walking streets
that were once home to your pastors, hearing stories of daily life here while standing in the very neighborhoods they described. It makes the city feel personal, not just historical.

We began at the City of David, stepping into the earliest layers of Jerusalem’s story. Walking through the excavations, we traced the development of the ancient city and reflected on David’s conquest and the geography that shaped it. These are not just ruins, they are the foundation stones of the biblical narrative.

From there, many of us entered Hezekiah's Tunnel, wading through the cool, dark water that still flows beneath the city. Carved during the reign of King Hezekiah as preparation for the Assyrian threat, the tunnel is both practical and symbolic. Walking slowly through it, with water around our ankles and stone walls close on either side, gave us a small taste of the tension Jerusalem has carried through the centuries.

We then visited the Israel Museum, where the large scale model of Second Temple Jerusalem helped us picture the city as it stood in the time of Jesus. Seeing the Temple and surrounding streets laid out visually brings clarity to so many Gospel scenes. We also reflected on the Dead Sea Scrolls housed there and what their preservation means for our confidence in the transmission of Scripture.

From there we traveled to Herodium, the fortress palace built by Herod the Great. Rising above the landscape, it stands as a monument to ambition and power. Herod reshaped a hill into a tribute to himself, a sharp contrast to the humble King born nearby.

That contrast deepened as we walked through Yad Vashem. The Holocaust memorial is quiet and sobering. The names, photographs, and stories remind us of the cost of hatred and the importance of remembrance. It was a heavy but necessary part of the day.

We concluded in Bethlehem, the town where Jesus was born. After a day filled with kings,
fortresses, tunnels, and memorials, standing in Bethlehem brought us back to the simplicity of the incarnation. The Son of David born not in a palace, but in humility.
Jerusalem is layered, emotionally, historically, spiritually. And today we felt that weight.

A Closing Devotional Reflection

Jerusalem holds tension. Power and humility. Glory and grief. Strength and vulnerability.
We walked through tunnels built for survival, stood before monuments of ambition, remembered unspeakable tragedy, and then stood in the town where God entered history as a child.

Psalm 48:1 says, “Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, His holy mountain.” And yet the greatness of God in this city is not measured by walls, fortresses, or memorials. It is seen in His faithfulness across generations. Kingdoms have risen and fallen here. Armies have marched through these valleys. Leaders have built monuments to themselves. But God’s covenant promises have endured.

Jerusalem reminds us that history is not random. It is layered with longing, failure, hope, and redemption. The same city that saw David crowned also saw Jesus crucified. The same hills that echoed with songs of victory later heard cries of suffering. And still, God was at work.

As we walk these streets, we are invited to consider our own layers. Where have we built
fortresses of self reliance? Where do we need living water to flow? Where must we remember, repent, or renew our trust?

The true King did not come to dominate this city but to redeem it. And He still works that way in our lives.