27Nov2010 Day 5

27 November 2010 Day5
We met up at 6am at the jetty to see the sunrise over the Sea of Galilee. It was the coldest temperature we had ever experienced since stepping into Israel. Hence some started to do aerobic exercises to warm up.  

By 6.30am, the sun wasn’t exactly rising and so we decided to leave for breakfast as we were leaving the hotel that day for another in Jerusalem. To our surprise, breakfast wasn’t bad at all. It was still a wide spread…quite sumptuous, and the water was hot enough. After breakfast, we went to identify our luggages and boarded the bus for Jerusalem.

We travelled to the foot of Mt Tabor. Marvelously, God answered our prayers of last night: no other groups were there and we could easily obtain the vans we needed. Each van was either a 9 or a 10 seater. It was a rather winding road up. On the way up, we saw a small patch of fire next to the road, near where the tour buses were parked. It was pretty freezing at the summit. This mountain is said to be the site of the Transfiguration, though some historians say that the actual site was more likely to be Mt Hermon. Here at Mt Tabor, the church was rebuilt in the 19th century. Luke 9:28-36 - About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning… Rev Niam said that one’s countenance can only be seen by others, not by oneself. It’s a reflection of God’s glory on those who meet Him regularly. Rev Niam said that this passage shows us that although Moses didn’t enter Canaan in the flesh, he did enter it eventually! He appeared on this mountain in Canaan! She said that the disciples pondered over the things they saw and heard, in their hearts. Rev Niam said that some things that God shows us should be loudly proclaimed, but some other things should be pondered over and kept in our hearts. We returned to the bus and headed for Haifa.

On our right is the town of Nain, where Jesus raised a widow’s son up from the dead. Today, it is an Arabic town.

We reached Haifa town. The religion of the people here is the Bahai faith. Their Bahai Shrine is beautifully kept, with 9 levels of immaculate garden terraces below and 9 levels of garden terraces above. There is a requirement for Bahai members to give an offering of 1 US dollar every day. I was told that the German Templars helped built the town of Haifa. Haifa is also the site of the German Quarter. The main street in Haifa used to be somewhere else, until Bahai members paid a huge amount of money in year 2000 to relocate the main street to its current position right in front of their centre. We alighted at the top of Haifa and the view was very cosmopolitan and magnificent. Someone said it looked like San Francisco!

Lunch was at a Chinese restaurant run by Nee’s sister. It was called Yan-Yan Chinese Restaurant. We met Nee’s father, who is now pastoring 2 congregations. After lunch, we adjourned to the worship hall in the restaurant. There, we sang a praise song and Nee’s father (Mr Kien Wong, P.O. Box 3525, Haifa 31034, Israel, Tel: (mobile) 972-54-4561142, (home) 972-4-8231477) gave his personal testimony. It was so encouraging, hearing all that he shared with us.

 

We now went towards Caesarea, and we could see the Mediterranean Sea on our right. Caesarea is the richest place in Israel. Israel’s golf course is here. We visited the Caesarea National Park, which was a Roman city. There were headless statues there. We saw an ancient amphitheatre built by Herod. To build the high arches of the walkway leading to the amphitheatre, the ancient builders had to cut the central (key) stone slab very carefully. The place is 2000 years old. The seats were actually numbered tickets made of stone slabs. The gospel was first brought to the rest of the world from Caesarea, as a result of Peter’s vision of the unclean foods. We watched a well-produced movie based on Herod the Great’s vision to build a great harbour-city. He succeeded in making Caesarea one of the most fortified and prosperous cities in the world. Caesarea was thoroughly demolished in the end by a sultan of Egypt called Baybars. Nee showed us a replica of an excavated stone that bore the words: ‘(Pon)tius Pilatus, the prefect of Judaea, erected, a (building dedicated) to (the emperor) Tiberius’.

As I was walking around the ruins, I saw a group of people in bright green. Nee explained that they were Nigerians, and that the Nigerian government gives each citizen one chance in their lifetime to visit their holy land. In the case of Christians, it would be Israel. These Nigerians, said Nee, would be provided full accommodation and food, as well as a set of clothes. The ones I saw that day actually had their head of state’s portrait printed onto the fabric of their clothes! Someone from our group suggested to our two pastors that we also wear their faces on our clothes!

Nee showed us a Roman male toilet. It was an open-styled toilet, allowing users to freely interact with each other and with the passer-bys. We were both horrified as well as convulsed with laughter.

She showed us the Hippodrome next. It could take 12000 spectators. Numbered bone tokens (admission tickets?) were found nearby during excavations. It was placed literally next to the Mediterranean Sea. I walked up to the sea and touched the waves. The colour of the sea was a rich blue. Historical sources on Caesarea mention a stadium where Jewish, and later, Christian prisoners were sent to their death fighting in the arena as gladiators or as prey for wild beasts. The Hippodrome was built for the inauguration of Herod’s City. This Hippodrome was the venue for the Actian Games instituted by King Herod in honour of the Roman emperor Augustus.

On the bus, Ramon the driver played a Chinese Christian video of the Holy Land. It was one of several for sale that he was carrying on the bus.

We reached Emmaus, named Emmaus Nicopolis (www.emmaus-nicopolis.org). This site lies at the crossroads of the roads leading to Jerusalem and those linking the north and the south of the country, on the plain of the Shephela (the fertile and hilly hinterland between the Coastal Plain and the Judean highlands). The name Emmaus comes from the Hebrew word “Hammot”, meaning ‘hot sources or springs’. In the 3rd century, the town was given the new Greek name “Nicopolis”, meaning ‘City of Victory’. Nearby is the Ayalon Valley where Israel fought against her enemies and the sun and moon stood still (Book of Joshua). In 165 B.C., Judas Maccabee won an important victory nearby against the Greek troops of Nicanor. The town of Emmaus was destroyed by the Roman invasion, and by 30 A.D. had become a simple village. That was where Jesus met His disciples after His resurrection (Luke 24:13-35). In the 3rd century A.D., the town was restored by the Romans and the first Christian community appeared there. The 2 basilicas built there were destroyed by invaders over and over again, and finally acquired by the Carmelite convent of Bethlehem in 1878. Since then, it has once again become a place of pilgrimage. Since 1993, the Community of the Beatitudes (a community that has been present in Israel since 1975, and whose aim is to work for the reconciliation between Jews and Christians) has lived there.

Rev Niam played a music compact disc she had just bought in Galilee. It was based on the songs of ascents, from Psalm 120-134. She said that songs of ascents are the songs that the Israelites sang whenever they climbed the mountains. Rev Niam explained why people say they are going UP to Jerusalem even though Jerusalem is down south. She says it’s because Jerusalem is sited on high ground. On the way to Jerusalem, we were surrounded by a lot of mountains. The sky was already rather dark by 4:53pm. When Nee told us to look left and see Jerusalem, all twinkling with lights, we cheered and clapped. Many had always dreamt of stepping foot in Jerusalem and it was an incredible feeling to finally see Jerusalem within reach.

We reached the Grand Court Hotel at Jerusalem. It looked rather grand. The welcome drinks, strangely, were all in self-dispensing containers. My room was 434. When we ate dinner at the hotel, I saw Elizabeth’s parents-in-laws. It’s a small world indeed. They were part of the 40 Foochow Methodist Church members with Rev Daniel Lee. That was their last night in Jerusalem.

Vesper was on the 9th floor. Sin Ai led in worship and he couldn’t stop beaming with joy at finally achieving his dream of being in Jerusalem after 65 years of waiting. It was great for me to see such genuine joy. Rev Niam asked what our impressions of Jerusalem were in the past, whenever we thought of Jerusalem. Luke 18:31-34 - Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again." The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about. Rev Niam said that the disciples had heard many times from Jesus, but they were still fixated on their own ideas, such that they couldn’t understand Him even then. Luke 19:40-44 - "I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace-- but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you." Rev Niam asked us to ask the Holy Spirit to OPEN our eyes to what He wants to show us. She challenged us, “Dare to be vulnerable for God’s sake!” She told us that the next day would be the first Sunday of the new year of the church calendar – 1st day of Advent. She said that it was rather special that we were in Jerusalem on the 1st day of Advent. She then asked us to pray for our various churches, as our church members prepare to worship God in church in Singapore.