Day 8 in Israel

Good afternoon from Israel! We are 8 hours ahead of South Dakota. The day of touring is over, going to make this post, and head down to dinner. Here are the main places we visited/saw today:

1-We spent nearly all day in the old city of Jerusalem. The first place we visited was Bethesda. It was at Bethesda that Jesus healed a paralyzed man in the fifth chapter of John. The timing is great for me to be visiting Israel because I just started a sermon series on the Gospel of John and I think this trip will help me visualize the stories that I will be preaching! At Bethesda we also saw the birthplace of Mary the mother of Jesus.

2-From there it starts to get more intense because we began seeing the sights that led directly to the crucifixion of Jesus.

3-We saw where Jesus was whipped.

4-We walked the Path of Via Dolorosa. This is the final path that Jesus took on the way to the cross.

5-We saw the sight where they believe Jesus was crucified. As you might imagine this is an extremely crowded and busy place.

6-From there we went to Mt Zion. Here we saw the room of the room of the Last Supper.

Observations from today:

The one dominant theme from today is that Jesus came into this world to die in our place so that we might have eternal life. From the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry he knew that his mission would lead him to the cross. What do we do with this? How do we redound?

“Jesus paid it all
All to him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow”

I will respond by living the rest of my days for the only person to know everything about me (the good and the bad) yet he loved me enough to die for me.

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” -2 Corinthians 5:21