This morning the weather was beautiful and we started our day with a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. You can watch a generic video of the boat ride at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbkWW6ekG4o The waters were calm as we set sail, but became increasingly rougher during our ride. We saw rain in the distance, but the sun rays were bursting through the clouds as though to pinpoint the very place where Jesus walked. It was amazing!
During the ride, they reminded us that the lands on the east side of the lake is Gentile and on the west side is Jewish. When Jesus cast the demons out of the man and into the swine, the pigs ran off the cliff on the east side of the lake, since there would be no pigs in Israel. The guide also pointed out an interesting fact about the two multiplication miracles that Jesus performed. He fed 5,000 men on the west side and there were 12 baskets left over, representative of the 12 tribes of Israel. He fed 4,000 on the east side and there were 7 baskets left over, representative of the 7 Gentile churches in Revelation. Through these miracles, Jesus provided an object lesson that salvation was open to everyone!
We next visited Gideon's spring, the place where God whittled away at Gideon's army. The spring was actually dried up now, but site has been well preserved and you could almost picture the soldiers kneeling to drink. There were two turtledoves in the rocks just above the spring, serving as a reminder of God's goodness and blessings. Gideon's spring is located in the Valley of Megiddo (or Valley of Jezreel), where the battle of Armageddon will take place. I got a strange feeling as I looked across that valley, and saw a playground with swings and a swimming pool. Oh how this place will change! See a picture and some additional commentary at this link http://www.biblestudy.org/biblepic/megiddo.html
From there we went to Nazareth. In Jesus' day, the population of Nazareth was approx. 180; but today, there are almost 70,000 - and all Arabs. The city was very crowded, busy, and dirty. Many houses were left looking incomplete, because they pay less in taxes while building (no matter how long it takes to finish). We saw Mary's house, and surprisingly... another Catholic church built on the site. You really have to look past what they have done to "preserve" the sites. I think in reality, there is often more worship of the site, than there is of the Savior. We also saw Mary's well as we passed through.
From here, we were off to Mt. Carmel. I'll tell you more about that soon. On our way, we saw Mt. Tabor, which many believe was the Mt of Ascension.
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