Our hotel in Jerusalem and we were on the 6th floor
The entry in the Holocaust Museum. This pathway is through trees that were planted in honor of Gentiles who risked their lives to save Jews. It was so unbelievably emotional to pass through. It is called the Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations.
The tree planted in remembrance of Oskar Schindler. He is a German who saved 1200 Jews during the Holocaust. (The movie Schindler’s List is about his story)
Our group near the Pillar of Heroism
The outside of the Children’s Memorial. We did not take pictures inside but it was extremely emotional with pictures of children everywhere amongst a really beautiful lighting display that seemed to go into infinity and the names and hometowns of the children being read continuously as we made our way through.
A statue in honor of a man who helped many children
A beautiful view of Jerusalem from the museum
The visitor center
Beautiful verse excerpt on the backside of the gates to the museum. “I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken and I have done it, declares the Lord.” Ezekiel 37:14
Israel Museum – we only got to see a few exhibits and eat lunch. It seemed like a place you could spend a whole day. This was a really neat model layout of Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period as the city was prior to the destruction by the Romans in 66 AD. This is looking at the eastern wall of the temple.
Model view of the southern and western wall and the southwest corner where we were on day 7.
This area houses the Dead Sea Scrolls. We visited the site where they were found on Day 5 in Qumran.
The shrine is built as a white dome with fountains spraying it and a reflecting pool. The actual shrine we entered is two-thirds below ground.
Junia giving our bus driver Avner a big hug
Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu – this large church is built on the possible house of Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest. This is the place where, according to the Bible, Jesus was tried and where Peter warmed himself by the fire and then denied three times that he knew Christ. (John 18:25-27)
The Upper Church
The Lower chapel – as churches go in this area, this was neat and simple how it was built around all the stone.
We went down, down, down underground to ancient underground chambers
The possible prison or dungeon where Jesus would have been held until he could appear before Pilate first thing in the morning. (Matthew 26:3 and John 18:13-28)
The possible path Jesus could have walked with his disciples on their way from the Last Supper to Gethsemane. Then later the route he was brought under guard to the house of Caiaphas.
It’s a serious place but the rooster kinda cracked us up. Oh Peter, why? Why? “Truly I tell you”, Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” Matthew 26:34
Our sweet guide was a Christian volunteer, they come from all over the world to volunteer here for several months at a time. They take groups through and show why this area is strongly believed to be where Jesus died at Golgotha and was later buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.
This is a great map that showed things we’d been visiting in relation to each other. We can see the House of Caiaphas right near Herod’s palace and the Garden of Gethsemane and The Garden Tomb. Also note the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the collection of gaudy churches we were at on day 7, which is the other possible spot of Jesus’ death and burial. We sure like the Garden Tomb area a lot better. It’s peaceful and beautiful and natural and feels like a place you can honor and worship Jesus.
The name for the area that could be Golgotha in the Bible. Some explanation: Golgotha means “skull” in Aramaic. Calvary means “bald head” or “skull” in Latin. The skull-shaped hill is referred to in all 4 gospels: Matthew 27:33, Mark 15:22, Luke 23:33 and John 19:17.
These are the actual rocks that are said to look like a skull. We could not stand directly in front of them, they’ve built a bus terminal there.
An old wine press in the area of Skull Hill and the tomb.
Our group in line to go in the tomb. It’s the little dark doorway in the rock.
Heading into the little tomb
It was very small and the body would have been to the right after entering the doorway, behind this gate.
Garden with bridges and pathways
Grape clusters in the garden
Adorable little wooden communion cups we got to keep that were given to us by our guide Yossi.
Pastor Josh leading us in communion in the garden. We also had a time of worship singing “What a Beautiful Name.” We could hear another group singing another worship song we knew in another language.
This story would not be complete without the Garden Tomb Kitty. This cat looks a lot like Kelsie’s cat from childhood, Catarina.
