Israel! 3rd day in Jerusalem

I started the day with chocolate cake for breakfast!!! Loved the food in Israel! Could you say no thank you to this?

Damascus gate (picture taken from bus) was built 600 AD165. On the other side of this gate is the mall with blue lights I posted earlier. Quite a contrast!


We found out the reason for our change in schedule was that there were riots at the Temple Mount. So it is on the schedule for today. Visitor can come to the Temple only as tourists, no Bibles are allowed, and no praying (although the rebel in me came out and I prayed, with no outward appearance of doing so!)
There was definitely a military presence (yes I asked if I could take this picture...)

As we entered, we noticed there were several groups of people praying and having studies. We were told they were Muslims, prepared for any unrest.

These arches are located above the Western wall

I got a little too close taking this picture, and was told to move on... I guess under the arches is considered part of the inside, the parish mosque, a holy area, where only Muslim were allowed (guess that is what I get for secretly praying!)



Up close to the golden dome was awesome!





The side
From the back of the dome (north side)

This is Mt. Moriah! David purchased this property, 32 acres, and built the City of David on one side. (II Sam.)
Solomon later built the temple, (I Kings 6) which was destroyed, then Hezekiah rebuilt it.
Abraham prepared to offer Isaac here, where the Dome of the Rock sits (Gen. 22)
This is the actual foundation stone under the placed cut stone


This is the eastern gate known as Gate of Eternal Life. It was sealed in 1541, plus blocked on the other side by a Muslim cemetery

....think it will stop our Awesome God?

John Deere is in Israel as well...
It amazed me how pedestrians and vehicles travel the same very narrow streets! Along one, we saw this door, with a sign that indicates it is Mary's birthplace

We left by the Lions gate,

We then went to the Mt. of Olives.
There was at least one "first" a day so far, and it got to be a joke....Pastor Rick told us this was the first time he had walked up instead of down to the Garden of Gethsemane!

Actually this garden was a surprise to me, not as I had imagined it would be. It is really an Olive plantation. They are not natural to Israel, but they need no water, so grow well.



The Church of the Agony is located in the "garden",




as is the traditional site of the tomb of Mary.


At the top of the Mt. of Olives, we had a great panoramic view of Jerusalem I could only imagine listening to Jesus speak here! (Matt. 24-25)

We could even see our hotel, the top, middle, tallest building

I need to insert the picture of the lobby here, since I took it later in our stay and posted another picture earlier! It was very modern, beautiful place to stay!!

Next we visited the Israel Holocaust Museum. An interesting fact to me was that the word holocaust comes from referencing burnt offerings, meaning "whole thing". Makes you stop and think of the application of this word to the activities.



It is not as large as the museum in Washington, DC, but just as moving. The building itself was different, and since we could not take pictures inside, the exterior pictures will have to suffice.
The museum criss-crossed between rooms over this middle hallway.

In another building housed the children's memorial
One and a half million jewish children were killed, and in this building there are 12 candles lit each day. Prisms reflect 1.5 million points of lights to representing these children. As you walk through, the names, ages, and place of birth are being read 24/7, which takes 3 months to go through the whole list..... very moving.

There is also a grove of memorial trees, one of which is dedicated to Corrie Ten Boom and her father and sister.

The Garden Tomb was our next stop.




In 1894, a Christian foundation purchased the property that holds the tomb that fits the description and is next to one of the two spots said to be Golgotha. (Previous blog showed the church built where the other place could be)

This place is next to the traditional hill with the skull. It was a stone quarry, now a bus parking lot, not part of the property owned by the foundation.

We ended our last day in Jerusalem with a private communion service in the garden. What a wonderful experience to sit in this area, surrounded by such historical Biblical places.