Thursday June 16th

Today is the last full day of our trip before we start our return home.  We left the hotel with bags packed because we fly out in the early AM hours of Friday morning.  But that does not mean we did not accomplish anything today.  Our guide kept us on a strict schedule and wanted to make sure we saw as much as we could with our few remaining hours.

We started by going south wall excavations.  These ruins are just adjacent to the south wall of the Old City.  From there we talked about Jesus' final week.  At the southern wall there is a sealed entrance that was the public entrance into the temple mount.

South Wall Excavations

Our guide said with more certainty than anywhere else in all of Jerusalem, Jesus must have been at this very spot.  From here we could follow his path from the upper room (the last supper), to the Mount of Olives (were Jesus was captured after he went their to pray), back up to to where he was tried and sentenced.  We really got a sense of that final week there.

From there we walked just down the hill a little bit to the ongoing excavations at the City of David.  The City of David is King David's Palace.  From here you can stand at his roof and looked down on the dwellings beneath him.  This is where he more likely than not he saw Bathsheba.

View from the roof top of David's palace

You can also see the wall reconstructed by Nehemiah.  They are making significant discoveries here on an ongoing basis.  This sight, as so many others, is currently being excavated. Within the last couple years they have found seals with the names of scribes that are recorded in the book of Jeremiah.  Our guide is absolutely convinced of the historicity of the Bible.  He was not convinced of this as recently as 10 years ago, but now he believes you can't adequately understand what you find without the Bible.  As here has stated many times the Bible is a treasure map.  This says a lot coming from a man

Jerusalem is city of layers built upon layers.  Every time something is built is it is built the ruble of whatever is beneath it.  To dig here, as with many other places throughout Israel, one must overcome political obstacles.  Many times our guide said everything in Israel is politics.  For example they have found solid evidence of Jewish tombs under land occupied by Palestinians.  Many sights are not excavated due to the implications that might result.  The Dome of the Rock is a primary example.  This is the location of the Temple Mount, but it is under the control of the Muslims (interesting side note...it is owned by the Jordanians) and it is off limits.

We concluded our time in Jerusalem with a visit to the garden tomb.  From here you can view what is purported to be Golgotha, the location of Jesus' crucifixion.  From there it is a short walk to what is thought to be the garden tomb of Jesus.

Garden Tomb

As Christians everything we believe in revolves around the empty tomb.  That He is who He claimed to be.  He is the Christ, the Son of the living God.  We had the opportunity to reflect on our experiences the last 11 days.  We sang songs of praise and took communion there.  This was and ideal way to conclude our time there.

From there we started our drive back to Tel Aviv to catch our flight home.  Along the way we stopped at Emmaus.  On the road to Emmaus Jesus, after his resurrection, spoke with two travelers.  After some discussion with them about all that had happened in Jerusalem the prior week, Jesus revealed himself to them.  Jesus did not die, He is alive.  We continued driving through the area in the fields where David met and defeated Goliath.  Finally we were transported back to the 21st century to start our trip home.  This was a trip of a lifetime!