First Time in Jerusalem

It's rockier, smaller, and trashier than you might have thought! ...Just thought you know. Just about everything is made out of rocks, including the wall surrounding the Old City and a lot of the houses there.

Let me give you a little lesson on Jerusalem...

The Old City is the part of the city that is completely surrounded by walls (which actually aren't the Jerusalem of the Old, or New, Testament--it's a reconstruction made by the Turks, I believe, in the late Middle Ages). The city of Jerusalem itself is much larger, surrounding the entire Old City. There are two smaller ridges that make up the city, the Eastern Hill and the higher Western Hill. The original city that David conquered was only on the Eastern Hill; it was a very small city. Then Solomon expanded it to include the temple, which is in about the same place as the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock is today. Then Hezekiah expanded the city to include the Western Hill. The whole city was destroyed by the Babylonians and was rebuilt under Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah and looked something like David's Jerusalem. Then Herod the Greak did some major expansions and reconstructions. The Byzantines did some more work until it eventually looks like what it does today.



We went to Jerusalem through the Jaffa Gate, which used to be the largest gate way back when. It's the western gate. Herod the Great built the Citadel (watch tower) near the gate to increase defenses. Only one of the three towers remains, but it's quite beautiful! And the inside was fantastic to look at.

After seeing the Citadel, we visited the Church of Christ, which is the first Protestant church to be built in Jerusalem. One of the deacons spoke to us about the church and how it was founded. And we also heard a testimony from one of the Messianic Jews (Jewish believer). That visit really helped me understand what it's like for Jews who believe in Jesus and how I would share my faith with them, knowing where most Jews today are coming from. I really liked this church and would love to come and visit on a Sabbath day.

Then we walked through the crowded city streets and saw all the shops. In many ways, it reminded me of certain shopping areas of Hong Kong. There are so many neat things to get in the shops that I would love to buy for everyone, especially those Jesus sandals! haha!

Afterwards, we got to hike on top of the walls that surround the Old City. It was sooo cool to walk around the city, but from on top of the walls! It was quite the view. We saw some kids playing soccer, some schools, some older buildings. I even saw this one kid who was playing on his roof; he was hitting his little chickens, I think they were, with a stick! As we hit the eastern end of Jerusalem on the wall, we could look at the Mount of Olives on the other side of the Kidron Valley. The Mt of Olives is actually a ridge of various hills. There were a lot of olive trees on that hill! And we even saw the Hebrew University on the northernmost hill. One of these days I'm going to have to visit there.

After that we saw the Pools of Bethesda, which are actually really really deep--like 50-60 feet deep. They're actually designed to store water from the rainy seasons. I felt very manly climbing up the ancient rocks and everything.


The coolest thing I learned was at the church of Christ. It's difficult for Jews to understand the Trinity (who doesn't have a hard time understanding that?). Most people outside of Christianity believe that Christians either worship three gods or a god that is a human. But those aren't exactly true. Our God is One, in three different ways, in three different persons, so to speak. And they're more unified then we might think. And yet they are still distinct. The best way to explain the Trinity to the Jew is the Father as Adonai/YHWH, the Son as Immanuel (God with us), and the Spirit as Ru'ach Elohim (the Spirit of God). All three are God, but they are distinct ways of looking at God. Jesus is the Son of God, but He still is divine. Also, God sent His Son to save us, but since only God is able to save us, it must be come who came down to us ("with us") to save us. I've been trying to think in these terms.


Continue to pray for unity in the group. And also pray that everyone here will take advantage of every opportunity that is given them. Most of the people who have gone to IBEX/Israel before told me that they wished they had gotten off the moshav and out in the country more. I don't want that to be true of me or anyone else here. So pray that we would take advantage of that!