On Tuesday morning, we were ready to get the touring adventure started! We ate breakfast at the hotel where we started meeting lots of new people. We really didn't know many people at all as we started out on this, but we grew to adore lots of them! After breakfast, we loaded up on the buses and starting driving north from Netanya until we ended up at Caesaria-by-the-Sea. This was an important port city for the Romans, so our Jewish guide, Moshe, filled us in on how the city was laid out and how it fits into the Roman design. This city was built up by Herod the Great and Pilate (yes, that Pilate) would have lived here. Pilate would only have gone to Jerusalem for major events as a political move.
From there, we walked over and took our seats in the amphitheater, and Bryant delivered his first sermon to the group. He taught on Acts 10 and Acts 23, both of which pertain to this city. In Acts 10, we see the Holy Spirit moving in two places at once. First, he's moving in Cornelius, a Roman soldier stationed at Caesaria-by-the Sea, to go and get Peter. The Spirit is also moving in Peter, letting him know to go with the men sent by Cornelius, after giving a vision teaching Peter about clean and unclean animals and showing him that God loves the Jew and the Gentile. This led to Peter coming to Caesaria-by-the-Sea to speak with Cornelius; Cornelius then became the first Gentile convert. We, as non-Jews, are blessed from this. Later in Acts 23, Paul is brought to Caesaria-by-the-Sea as a prisoner, and he presents his testimony to King Agrippa and the governors. It is quite possible that he would have given this testimony as a speech in the amphitheater where we sat.
After the sermon, we walked around a bit. I always love Roman architecture.
The ruins of Herod's personal palace, sitting right on the sea.
From the palace ruins, looking over to the hippodrome ruins. The hippodrome is where they would have run chariot races.
This sign was excavated at Caesaria-by-the-Sea, and it states that Pontius Pilate built this road in honor of Emperor Tiberius. The cool part about this is it gives historical evidence of Pilate, who otherwise is only mentioned in the Bible. With this timing, it corroborates the timing of the Bible.
We were so glad to be on this trip with Brian and Katherine!
When we left Caesaria-by-the-Sea, we drove a little bit up the road where we saw up close the beautiful Roman aqueduct that carried water from the Mount Carmel mountain range to the city which helped them make their port area.
We continued our drive, and soon stopped for lunch. We were invited to eat with Bryant and Anne at that meal. Each person would be invited to sit with them, the Foxes, and the Taylors for a meal during the trip. This was a great time to talk with the Wrights more to hear their perspective on how things have changed over their many trips and ask any questions we had about the trip or our Bible study leading up to the trip.
After lunch, we drove to the top of Mount Carmel overlooking the Kishon Valley. Here, Bryant taught from 1 Kings 18:17-46 which is where the prophet Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal, and God demonstrates his majesty. From this passage, we see several things taking place. First, Elijah spoke truth to King Ahab even though that would have been extremely difficult. Second, even the false prophets of Baal recognized the need for a blood sacrifice to be made. Third, after God reigns over Baal, the Baal prophets are killed in the Kishon Valley which is a foreshadowing of the final battle of good and evil that will happen there. Lastly, Elijah calls on the Jewish people to choose who the will serve. We too must make that choice.
It was a smoggy day, but this is from the top of Mount Carmel looking over the valley.
As we continued our drive, Bryant taught on our bus about the prophecy of the ingathering of the Jewish people leading up to the second coming of Jesus. He quoted much Scripture including Psalm 106:47, Isaiah 11:12, Jeremiah 23:2 and 29:10-14 (10 being the first ingathering, 14 being prophecy). He noted how until 1948, there seemed no way for this to happen, but then the Jewish state was reformed. He then went on to quote Jeremiah 30:2-9 and 31:8-12, and many verses in Ezekiel...36:8-12, 36:21-28, 39:25-28, 11:16-20, 28:25-26 and chapter 37. I don't have any pictures as we were simply driving along, but I want note these verses so when I look back on this post in future years, I will have these verses together to remember what we studied.
Soon, we stopped at a view overlooking the Bahai Gardens in Haifa. This is one of the most holy sites for those who follow the Bahai faith. To be honest, I know very little about this faith, but it's a beautiful place to stop and look around. From this area, you can also look to the distance and see Lebanon.
As we left the Gardens, we drove through Nazareth which is what Moshe called "Jesus' playground" because it's where He grew up. Here, we went to the top of Mount Precipice. We read Luke 4:14-30 where a mob tried to throw Jesus from this mountain top after he spoke in the synagogue here. Brian pointed out that the people weren't mad at this point that Jesus claimed to be the son of God. Instead, they were mad when He talked about going to tell the Syrians and Phoenicians (currently, the Lebanese). They were okay with their "holy huddle" but didn't want to share with those from another culture that they despised. I guess some things never change.
As we left Mount Precipice and Nazareth, we drove through Cana where Jesus performed His first miracle of turning water into wine at a wedding. We didn't stop here, but we kept driving until we reached Tiberius which sits on the Sea of Galilee. We checked in to the Scot's Hotel, ate a delicious dinner, and then turned in for the night. What a great first day of touring!
