A glimpse of our trip to the Holy Lands…

Our Tour Leaders

Bob and Sherry are very proud parents of two sons, John and Joshua, and one daughter, Shannon. They have been married over 40 years and live in San Dimas, California. Bob and Sherry met during their college years at Azusa Pacific University where Bob played baseball and majored in Biblical Literature, while Sherry accumulated a double major in Psychology and Religion. They have traveled internationally speaking to large and small groups about marriage, family life, parenting and educational challenges.

Bob is Pastor Dave’s cousin…

Departing & arriving

Joppa (Jaffa)

Also known as Japho, Joppe, el-Qal'a, Tel Aviv, 'Yafa, Yafa el-'Atiqa, Yafo

Caesarea

Caesarea, (“Ruins of Caesarea”), ancient port and administrative city of Palestine, on the Mediterranean coast of present-day Israel south of Haifa. It is often referred to as Caesarea Palaestinae, or Caesarea Maritima.

Megiddo

Megiddo, named in the Book of Revelation as the setting for a future battle between the forces of good and evil, is for archaeologists perhaps the most important site in Israel dating from biblical times.

Mt. Carmel

Also known as Antelope-Nose, Har Karmel, Holy Headland, Jebel Kurmul, Mar Elyas, Mount of User, Rosh-Kedesh

Mount Precipice

Mount Precipice , also known as Mount of Precipitation, Mount of the Leap of the Lord and Mount Kedumim is located just outside the southern edge of Nazareth, 2.0 km southwest of the modern city center.

Mount of Beatitudes, Tabgha

Located on a small hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee near Tabgha, the Mount of Beatitudes is the traditional site of Jesus' delivery of the Sermon on the Mount, probably the most famous sermon of all time.

Sea of Galilee

Also known as Bahr Tubariya, Ginnosar, Lake of Galilee, Lake of Gennesaret, Lake of Gennesar, Sea of Chinnereth, Sea of Chinneroth, Sea of Kinnereth, Sea of Tiberias, Lake of Tiberias, Waters of Gennesaret, Yam Kinneret

Yardenit 

Yardenit , also known as the Yardenit Baptismal Site, is a baptism site located along the Jordan River in the Galilee region of northern Israel, which is frequented by Christian pilgrims. The site is located south of the river's outlet from the Sea of Galilee.

Capernaum

Capernaum, meaning "Nahum's village" in Hebrew) was a fishing village established during the time of the Hasmoneans, located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It had a population of about 1,500. Archaeological excavations have revealed two ancient synagogues built one over the other. A house turned into a church by the Byzantines is said to be the home of Saint Peter.

Golan Heights

Golan Heights. The Golan Heights is a strip of land in northeastern Israel that was captured by Israel in the Six Day War of 1967. The United Nations has voted to ask Israel to pull its troops out of the Golan Heights. Syria and Israel still have not signed a peace treaty from that war, mostly because of the issue of the Golan.

Caesarea Philippi

Situated 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee and at the base of Mt. Hermon, Caesarea Philippi is the location of one of the largest springs feeding the Jordan River.

Biblical History

Apparently known as Baal Hermon and Baal Gad in the Old Testament period, this site later was named Panias after the Greek god Pan who was worshiped here.

There is no record of Jesus entering the city, but the great confession and the transfiguration both occurred in the vicinity of the city (Matt 16:13), then known as Caesarea Philippi.

Qasr al Yahud

Qasr al Yahud (The Jews’ Castle or Palace) is a site on the banks of the Jordan River not far from Jericho.  Christian tradition associates Qasr al Yahud with the site of Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist (Matthew 3) and it has been revered as such from at least the fourth century. 

Beit She'an

City in Israel

Beit She'an is a city in the Northern District of Israel which has played an important role in history due to its geographical location at the junction of the Jordan River Valley and the Jezreel Valley. In the Biblical account of the battle of the Israelites against the Philistines on Mount Gilboa, the bodies of King Saul and three of his sons were hung on the walls of Beit She'an. In Roman times, Beit She'an was the leading city of the Decapolis. In modern times, Beit She'an serves as a regional center for the settlements in the Beit She'an Valley

Magdala

Magdala was an ancient city on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, 3 miles north of Tiberias. In the Babylonian Talmud it is known as Magdala Nunayya, and which some historical geographers think may refer to Tarichaea, literally the place of processing fish. It is believed to be the birthplace of Mary Magdalene.

Mount of Olives

Mountain Ridge

The Mount of Olives or Mount Olivet is a mountain ridge east of and adjacent to Jerusalem's Old City. It is named for the olive groves that once covered its slopes. The southern part of the Mount was the Silwan necropolis, attributed to the ancient Judean kingdom. The mount has been used as a Jewish cemetery for over 3,000 years and holds approximately 150,000 graves, making it central in the tradition of Jewish cemeteries. Several key events in the life of Jesus, as related in the Gospels, took place on the Mount of Olives, and in the Acts of the Apostles it is described as the place from which Jesus ascended to heaven. Because of its association with both Jesus and Mary, the mount has been a site of Christian worship since ancient times and is today a major site of pilgrimage for Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, and Protestants

Jericho

Jericho, Arabic Arīḥā, town located in the West Bank. Jericho is one of the earliest continuous settlements in the world, dating perhaps from about 9000 BCE. Archaeological excavations have demonstrated Jericho’s lengthy history. The city’s site is of great archaeological importance; it provides evidence of the first development of permanent settlements and thus of the first steps toward civilization.

Via Dolorosa

Route

The Via Dolorosa is a processional route in the Old City of Jerusalem, believed to be the path that Jesus walked on the way to his crucifixion. The winding route from the Antonia Fortress west to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre—a distance of about 600 metres—is a celebrated place of Christian pilgrimage. The current route has been established since the 18th century, replacing various earlier versions. It is today marked by nine Stations of the Cross; there have been fourteen stations since the late 15th century, with the remaining five stations being inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Gethsemane

Garden

Gethsemane is an urban garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. In Christianity, it is the place where Jesus underwent the agony in the garden and was arrested the night before his crucifixion.

Church of the Nativity

Basilica

The Church of the Nativity, also Basilica of the Nativity is a basilica located in Bethlehem in the Palestinian West Bank. The grotto it contains holds a prominent religious significance to Christians of various denominations as the birthplace of Jesus. The grotto is the oldest site continuously used as a place of worship in Christianity, and the basilica is the oldest major church in the Holy Land.

Western Wall

Limestone Wall

The Western Wall, Wailing Wall, or Kotel, known in Islam as the Buraq Wall, is an ancient limestone wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is a relatively small segment of a far longer ancient retaining wall, known also in its entirety as the "Western Wall". The wall was originally erected as part of the expansion of the Second Jewish Temple begun by Herod the Great, which resulted in the encasement of the natural, steep hill known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount, in a large rectangular structure topped by a huge flat platform, thus creating more space for the Temple itself and its auxiliary buildings. For Muslims, it is the site where the Islamic Prophet Muhammad tied his steed, al-Buraq, on his night journey to Jerusalem before ascending to paradise, and constitutes the Western border of al-Haram al-Sharif.

The Shepherds' Field Chapel

The Shepherds' Field Chapel is the name given to a religious building of the Catholic church that is in the area of Beit Sahur southeast of Bethlehem in the West Bank in Palestine. The chapel marks the place where, according to Catholic tradition, the angels first announced the birth of Christ.

Muslim graveyard

Muslim graveyard Jerusalem, Israel

Western Wall Tunnel

Tunnel

The Western Wall Tunnel is a tunnel exposing the full length of the Western Wall. The tunnel is adjacent to the Western Wall and is located under buildings of the Old City of Jerusalem. While the open-air portion of the Western Wall is approximately 60 metres long, the majority of its original length is hidden underground. The tunnel allows access to an additional 485 metres of the wall.

Caiaphas House

According to Armenian tradition, the site on Mount Zion is the location of the house of Caiaphas, the high priest of the Jews at the time of Jesus. At this house Jesus was arrested, then delivered to the trial which led to his crucifixion.

Masada

Masada, Hebrew H̱orvot Meẕada (“Ruins of Masada”), ancient mountaintop fortress in southeastern Israel, site of the Jews’ last stand against the Romans after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE. 

Dead Sea

Dead Sea, Arabic Al-Baḥr Al-Mayyit (“Sea of Death”), Hebrew Yam HaMelaẖ (“Salt Sea”), also called Salt Sea, landlocked salt lake between Israel and Jordan in southwestern Asia. Its eastern shore belongs to Jordan, and the southern half of its western shore belongs to Israel. The northern half of the western shore lies within the Palestinian West Bank and has been under Israeli occupation since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The Jordan River, from which the Dead Sea receives nearly all its water, flows from the north into the lake.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

The site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is identified as the place both of the crucifixion and the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth.

The Garden Tomb

While officially the Garden Tomb Association only maintains this as a possible site for Christ’s burial, some tour guides of the site are convinced of the authenticity.  They note the large cistern nearby, which proves the area must have been a garden in Jesus’ day.  They claim that marks of Christian veneration at the tomb also prove its sanctity throughout the ages.

In Jerusalem for a visit in 1883, General Charles Gordon spied a prominent rocky crag which looked to him like it could be the “place of the skull” mentioned in the Bible as where Jesus was crucified.

Around the corner a previously discovered rock-hewn tomb was associated with the escarpment, and Gordon popularized the view that this was the actual place where Jesus was crucified and buried.

Hezekiah's Tunnel, City of David

The above entrance to Hezekiah's Tunnel is beneath the City of David, which is located just south of the southeast corner of the Temple Mount. Al Aqsa Mosque is directly north of the entrance to Hezekiah's Tunnel, which is about 1,000 feet southeast of Old Jerusalem's Dung Gate.

8th century BC tunnel that King Hezekiah of Judah ordered dug in order to both secure Jerusalem's water supply and deny water to the Assyrian king Sennacherib's army that was about to lay siege to Jerusalem. Until Hezekiah's Tunnel was completed, water from the Gihon Spring, Jerusalem's fresh water source, flowed into the Kidron Valley just east of Jerusalem. Hezekiah's Tunnel diverted Gihon Spring's water to the Pool of Siloam inside Jerusalem (the ancient City of David was situated downhill from the later and present "Old Jerusalem") so that it supplies water to its residents while letting none of it flow to the besieging invaders outside the city.*

The Pool of Bethesda

The Pool of Bethesda is very close to the Church of St. Anne, near the Lions Gate. The imposing remains of a pool with two baths and five porches confirm the story told in the Gospel according to John. There was once a gate there called the Sheep Gate, near where a sheep market was held, and animals to be used in the city's sacrifices were washed in the pool.

Jewish Quarter

Jerusalem

The Jewish Quarter is one of the four traditional quarters of the Old City of Jerusalem. The 116,000 square meter area lies in the southeastern sector of the walled city, and stretches from the Zion Gate in the south, along the Armenian Quarter on the west, up to the Street of the Chain in the north and extends to the Western Wall and the Temple Mount in the east. In the early 20th century, the Jewish population of the quarter reached 19,000.

Zion Gate, Jerusalem

This famous location also goes by the name of Shaar Zion, or Bab Sahyun. The locals also call it the "Jewish Quarter Gate. It is one of eight gates that were built into the walls of the Old City.

It is built into the south side of the wall, facing Mount Zion and Hebron. As the Arab name for this structure implies, it leads directly into the Armenian and Jewish Quarters. It is also sometimes called David's Gate. And if the legends are true about the famous king being buried on Mt. Zion, then the name fits well.

In 1948, some of the underground forces of the Jewish people repatriated the Jewish Quarter by means of this opening into the town. The stones in the walls and homes here are chipped from the battle. The holes made during the conflict are still visible today.

Miscellaneous photos from the Holy Lands…