INDONESIA & BEYOND: Israel Part 1

Just came back from my trip to Israel. It was a 7 days 5 nights trip with 18 pastors/missionaries from all over Indonesia.

Israel serves as a sacred place to 4 religions - Muslim, Catholic, Christians & Jewish. Since we were on a pilgrimage, bringing 18 pastors along, many of the places that we visited are associated with Jesus (where he did miracles, where he was born, etc). Because of that, these places have become churches/monasteries so to serve as a remembrance of what Jesus did. Even though the nation itself is politically unstable, many still journeyed to Israel for pilgrimages. This trip has given me more assurance that the Bible speaks the truth. What happened in Israel was written in the Bible.

Day 1:

Jakarta - Dubai - Amman - Israel

The journey to Israel itself was long and exhausting. We departed from Jakarta at 5.45pm and arrived in Dubai at 10pm (8.5hrs flight), transit for 8 hours before flying to Amman, Jordan for another 2.5 hour; Took one hour bus ride to Israel-Jordan border before finally arriving in the holyland. It was a total of 11hrs of flight, 8hrs of transit, 1 hr of bus ride & 1.5hr of crossing the border.

TRANSIT IN DUBAI

BUS IN ISRAEL

Destination #1 Qumeran Caves

Our first stop is the archaeological site in the West Bank called Qumran. This is where nearly 900 Dead Sea biblical scrolls were found in the caves between 1947-1956. In addition to that, cisterns, Jewish ritual baths & cemeteries were also found. Every book of the Bible were found written in the scrolls, except for the Book of Esther (because book does not mention anything about God).

The Caves where the scrolls were found. A total of about 11 caves

View from Qumeran overlooking the Dead Sea

Qumeran Caves

Destination #2 Dead Sea

Our second stop is to swim at the Dead Sea. The reason why they called the Dead Sea is because no living things live here due to the high salt content (about 33%). If you were to taste the water, it doesnt taste salty but bitter instead. This is also the Earth's lowest elevation on land. The seawater has extremely high density that makes swimming impossible -> you float. In addition to that, the dead sea has many mineral content that is good for the skin. Thus, there are many beauty products that is from the dead sea! Definitely worth the buy if you are interested.

Destination #3 Mount of Temptation in Jericho

The final stop is Mount of Temptation at Jericho (Palestinian territory). It is said that this is the Mountain where Jesus was tempted by the devil. [Matthew 4:8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.] The top of the mountain has become a Greek Orthodox Monastery of the Temptation.

After a long day of travel & sightseeing, we ended the night in Jerusalem. This city is a holy land to Judaism, Christianity & Islam. Also, both Israelis & Palestinians claim that Jerusalem is their capital. Thus, this city has a potential to be the center of heated conflict for the nation.

Day 2: Bethlehem & Jerusalem
Destination #1 Bethlehem, where Jesus was born - Church of Nativity
Here is where they believe that Jesus was born. According to the Bible, Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem but we're not sure of the exact location. This location was said to be the birth of Jesus due to word of mouth. 3 different churches are built in this area. During Christmas Day, there will be a live broadcast worldwide from one of these churches to celebrate Jesus' birthday.

Destination #2 Bethlehem, Shepherds' field

This is where the angels appeared to the shepherds telling them the good news that the son of God was born. [Luke 2:8-20]. Again, this place has become a church.

Destination #3 Jerusalem, the upper room for the last supper & Pentecost

Once we're done with the city of Bethlehem, we proceeded back to Jerusalem to the location of the upper room for the last supper & Pentecost. The Last Supper Room is a second-story room in Jerusalem that commemorates the "last supper" Jesus had with his disciples. [Mark 14:12-15]. This is also where the disciples received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost [Acts 1:13,2:1].

Destination #4 Where Jesus was prisoned before crucifixion

Here is where they believed that Jesus was kept the night before he was crucified. Unlike the present time prison, this place was literally prison made out of stone. There wasnt any door or stairs for prisoners to go to their cells. Instead, prisoners will be thrown into a hole about 2 meters deep and there is not way they can escape.

Destination #5 Garden of Tomb

There are 2 versions to where Jesus was buried - Catholic & Christian beliefs. The Garden of Tomb is a rock-out tomb that Christians believed to be the site of the burial and resurrection of Jesus. This garden has been maintained as a place of Christian worship.

The Tomb where Jesus was buried and resurrected after 3 days

Destination #6 Wailing Wall & Western Tunnel

Our final destination for the day is visiting the Wailing Wall & Western Tunnel. This wall was remains of the Temple of God (where the Ark of Convenant was kept). The Temple of God is the holiest site in Judaism and is the place to which Jews turn during prayer. Unfortunately, the place was destroyed and replaced by Al Aqsa Mosque on top of it. This has been the conflict between Jewish and Muslim. Jewish want their Temple of God built at the exact location it was destroyed - that would mean having the mosque (3rd sacred place for Muslim) destroyed.

Many Muslim countries said that Israel dug a tunnel underneath the Mosque so as to weaken its foundation to destroy the Mosque. I went inside the tunnel and it was definitely NOT underneath Al Aqsa. The Tunnel was directly under the wall. I guess they dug the tunnel to see if there are any remains of the Temple of God. True enough, they did found the original ritual bath before Priest enter into the Temple.