Monday, January 19, 2015

Day 8

Woke up to another cold and rainy day...burrr! First thing today was to go the site of the Garden Tomb. It is not believed to be the real location of Jesus' tomb but the area is set up like it would have been back then. It is original from the period for someone with significant means, but is not the one that Jesus was put in. Also in this location is a natural hillside formation which reminds many of Golgotha (the place of the skull). Before we left we gathered and had a wonderful devotion and communion.






Our next stop was at Mt. Zion which is the highest point in Jerusalem, to see the Upper Room. Unfortunately, it was closed due to the weather. We asked our guide some questions about the Upper Room and whether or not it was the actual place. We were told that no it wasn't the actual Upper Room and, while it was in the general vicinity, it was only 700 years old.

Then on to the Church of St. Peter, it is also called Peter in Gallicantu, which means rooster crowing or singing. The church is built on the site where Jesus was taken to the Palace of Caiaphas to be tried. It is also the site where Peter denied Christ three times. Adjacent to the church are the original steps that Jesus went up and down many times and was dragged up the steps to be tried before Caiaphas.


After having lunch our final stop was the Israel Museum also called the Shrine of the Book. According to our guide, this museum is on par with the building around the Mall in Washington DC. The museum contained many artifacts dating back as far as 1200 BC. Probably some of the most significant artifacts were the most complete set of the Dead Sea Scrolls. There were many other artifacts evidencing the history of Israel including clothing, tools, jewelry, weapons, money, pottery and architectural reproductions. The museum did not allow flash photography so we were unable to capture pictures.



We ended our day with another wonderful bible study and devotion. We head towards Tel Aviv tomorrow to finish a day of sightseeing between here and there, then we catch our flight around   11:00 pm

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