Heading to Galilee

Today began our four day journey to the Galilee. We left JUC and Jerusalem early in the morning and headed out west. Our first stop of the day was at Caesarea. This city was built on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea by Herod the Great. He made this city a port even though there were no natural harbors. Herod built a breakwater and harbor at Caesarea, the ruins can still be seen today.  Over the years many empires had conquered the city and as we walked around, we could see the different structures from the different empires that controlled the city throughout the years.  The ocean was beautiful, with unbelievable clear, blue water. While we sat on the shore, we went read from the book of Acts because both Peter and Paul spent time at Caesarea.  Here at Caesarea is where Peter really realized that God’s mercy and love was for everyone. “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life,” Acts 11:18. The remains of Herod’s palace could be seen out on the remains of the break water, now in the sea. We were able to walk out there and see the ruins as the waves crashed around us. It was great to be back at the ocean, and to sit for a while, looking out towards the horizon, hearing the crash of the waves. It reminded me of home.

            Our next stop was Mount Carmel. It was great to be on top of Mount Carmel, I have heard the name many times throughout the Bible and it was great to be able to be here myself. From the top we had a great view of the whole Jezreel Valley. On the top of the mountain there was church that was dedicated to Elijah and his shaming of the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. We sat on there on the top of the mountain, reading and discussing the story found in 1 Kings. It really brought the story to life to sit there on the same spot, and know that it was here thousands of years ago that the people exclaimed that, “The Lord, he is God! The Lord, he is God!” 1Kings 18:39. All these years later we are still proclaiming that our Lord is the true God, and there is a a sense of amazement, awe and wonder in that.

            From here we went to Megiddo. On this Tel, there was evidence of twenty five civilizations in the city’s history.  The city faced continual warfare, destruction, and rebuilding, which has led to a wide variety of ruins that can be seen today. This cycle of the city can be explained by the important location of the city along a trade route at the entrance of a crucial valley into the Jezreel Valley. Megiddo is also the site that many say is the site of Armageddon mentioned in the book of Revelations. It was interesting to think about this as we walked around seeing the many level of destruction.

            On the west side of the Jezreel Valley, we stopped at Jezreel. Here went again went through the Biblical narrative that occurred at Jezreel, the stories of Gibeon, Saul’s death, and Ahab. Again, as we read these stories, they became much more real, knowing that they happened in this location, at certain time. The words came off the page and I felt as though I could see the story around me.

            We pulled into the not so little town of Nazareth late tonight, where we will spend the night. In the morning we will get a chance to look around the city and then continue north into the Galilee.