Cover All

Today was the day to walk the Via Dolorosa. The Way of the Cross. In some ways, it can be so hard to make a real deep connection with where you are. (That can be true always.) But I always am trying to watch out for our first timers... whispering a phrase that cuts through all of the history lessons and sermons and just says... Jesus carried the Cross here for you. One of my favorite reactions to one of these phrases came from Pastor Deloris Henderson. We were transitioning from one site to the next. I whispered to her that our next stop was Calvary and that she would be able to place her hand in the hole where the Cross had been. She physically pulled back from me, hand went to her heart, eyebrows shot up in surprise, and her mouth shaped into "What?! I didn't know that was possible!" It tugged at my heart so much. It brought it all alive for me again. Her connection, reminded me of my own. And that was what today was a series of echoing connections. What sparked in one person and they would share, ignited their neighbor. God designed our walk of faith that we would not only cooperate with Him, but also with each other. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and your neighbor as yourself."

Y'all! Did we ever get to be with some neighbors. I honestly do not remember the City of Jerusalem being this crowded. Roby (our tour agency owner) says that April-May & September-October were the high holy days... but now March has been added to the mix. He and I had a great chat in the lobby last night. He said he had like seven other groups in Israel right now. So he was answering every call to make sure they had everything they needed, just like for us. "No Problem!" We are normally his only group. I am so thankful for the prosperity of a full schedule. God continue to bless Yarkon and all they facilitate. 

So it is very crowded. Every site. Packed from wall to wall. Rabbi Moshe shared with us not to be distressed by how many pilgrims were here. They are prophecy being fulfilled. I tried to remind our group to look at the people. To be thankful for them. That all of them are here because they love Jesus too and want to "identify in His sufferings" but I also encouraged them not to be afraid to use their Jerusalem elbows. Haha. 

So Meir gave us a real treat. Many people who come to Israel never get to walk up to the The Golden Gate. This is the one pictured in the very front of all of the pictures of the full city picture from the Mount of Olives. This is the gate Saladin sealed up. because they heard the Messiah... the savior would enter the city through this gate. So they sealed it super thick. Of course Meir said... an Apache helicopter would deal with that in a split second. There is nothing, no not one thing that will stop Jesus from opening that Gate. Besides a New Jerusalem will descend that has an open door.

I explained to the group that this is a place spoken of as the Judgement Seat of Christ. He will decide who enters the city. This is where the Book of Life is read. 

Romans 14:10
But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

We moved on to the Pool of Bethesda. The church of St. Anne. Pastor Thomas reviewed

several miracles he personally saw redeemed in that place. One was a woman who was having marital problems. Her husband told her: "If you go on this trip to Israel, I will not be here when you get back. Make your choice." She came anyway, because she couldn't ignore her desire to obey what she believed the Lord had shown her. Prayer was made for her & her husband by the area of the pool. It was moments later the that the group emergency cell phone rang. It was her husband apologizing to her for making life so hard on her. He told her he hoped she had an amazing trip and that they would talk more when she got home about the future. Won't God do it!

Then Daddy asked Sheba to share her testimony which she does so excellently in this video:

We used this stories to stir up our faith just like the waters were stirred by angels in times past. Everyone asked to be anointed either for themselves or someone dear to them. We had prayer and lifted all up.

We stepped in the very crowded sanctuary of the Church of St. Anne. I had asked Tanieya to be ready to sing. She stood before us and poured her heart into "Open the Eyes of My Heart" A priest stepped up to her and whispered for her to turn around and sing into the

open basilica instead of facing the people so the sound would carry. I thought it was very kind of him. Normaly this room has an 8-second decay, but it was so crowded the sound could not bounce off the walls. But Tanieya did amazing! She worshipped on through!

Then we went to the Terra Sancta Museum. It is a small presentation at the Church of Flagellation or Humiliation. Last year it had opened only a few weeks before James and I came to the Holy Land. So no one in our group had seen it. Not even Meir. He didn't know it was there. It is a presentation told from the point of view of Jerusalem herself. She talks of all the times she has been destroyed, but she always is resurrected. Meir said he would be bringing groups back. 

The Pavement was next. Meir shared with us that if he were us... this would be one of the most emotional spots for him because it is one of the few places that they are confident Jesus would have been. This is where the Romans gambled over his clothes. He was stripped of everything. He owned nothing of his own at this point. He was left with nothing. He chose to remain in this state of nothingness so that we might have all.

Meir called on me to sing, "Holy Ground." 

HOLY GROUND

As I walked through the door, I sensed His presence
And I knew this was a place where love abounds
For this is the temple, Jehovah God abides here
We are standing in His presence on holy ground

We are standing on holy ground
And I know there are angels all around
Let us praise Jesus now
We are standing in His presence on holy ground

In His presence there is joy beyond all measure
And at His feet peace of mind can still be found
And if you have a need, I know He has the answer
Reach out and claim it for we are standing on holy ground

We are standing on holy ground
And I know there are angels all around
Let us praise Jesus now
We are standing in His presence on holy ground 

It was nice that by the end of the song… I did feel that presence. Especially in the second verse.

From here, we had lunch at our friend’s restaurant. We’ve been coming here for years now. We needed to have a quick lunch if we were going to make our next stops and they surely accommodated! We were in and out in 20 minutes or so! I did lean over to some of the other tables and say we were headed to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre next. That eating lunch was not one of the stations of the Cross. Jesus did not stop to eat, but He did make a way so that we could.

We stood in the courtyard area of the Holy Sepulchre and Meir shared with us about the site that there were 7 denominations under one roof. They rarely agreed on anything. Including the ladder on the second floor window. One day a monk came to wash the window using that ladder without permission. When the other groups heard about it, he was ordered to stop, but they could never decided which

group should be allowed to remove the ladder… Guys, this ladder has been there for 60 years or more. People are weird. But we need each other.. The Coptic priests of Ethiopia are very poor, they could not maintain this facility on their own. The Roman Catholic and the Greek Orthodox cover the costs of the sanctuaries from their large donations. They still need each other.

Continuing the conversation of the multiple denominations, I explained to our pilgrims that none of the denominations trusted the other with the key to the front door to the church. They were afraid that the other would lock them out and change the locks. So there is a Muslim family that lives in the neighborhood that has the keys and the responsibility for locking and unlocking Calvary every morning and every night. I finished saying these words and we walk over to where my dad was. Pastor Thomas sat on a bench within the entrance of the church. A man was seated next to him. They struck up a conversation. He was of the very family I had just spoken of. Daddy introduced us all to this man who has shook the hands of the popes, presidents and royalty. He had shown dad the pictures of him meeting all those people near that very place they were standing. He asked us all to thank him for his years of service and his family’s service to the church. He nodded. He then reached into his wallet and handed Daddy a business card. So cool.

I took a group up the steep stairs to the place where they could place their hand in the hole where the cross had once been. There was a long line so I took the opportunity to use the sound system Whisper packs. Each pilgrim has a listening device and I have the microphone (or Meir does). We laugh because he asks if I want to do the tour at certain sites. Lol. I explained that we were standing on the hill. 

I told them that a couple of trips I ago I started doing some research into the artwork and structures that we visit that we don't always pay attention to. When I was looking into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, I kept coming across a room known as the Chapel of Adam. Chapel of Adam? What does that have to do with Calvary? According to Jewish tradition, Noah gathered the bones of Adam and placed them in the ark. Eventually Adam was buried at the place of the skull. (This also gives the name Golgatha... place of the skull. It could mean Adam's skull.) The Chapel of Adam is located directly below where the hole where the Cross was placed in the ground. When you step into the alcove underneath the cross you can see that there is a split in the rock that goes deep into the ground. This is because when Jesus was on the Cross, a great earthquake happened and the cross split the rock below. You can still see the crack. Jesus poured out every drop of blood within Him. This means it flowed down the Cross... through that crack... and potentially on to the bones of Adam. So the blood covered the First Adam... and just like the Christmas song, "Hark the Herald Angels Sing":

Adam’s likeness now efface,
  Stamp Thine image in its place:
Final Adam from above,
  Reinstate us in Thy love.

I told our group that from that day on many of the churches we walk in depicting the crucifixion in artwork... there I find a skull at the base of the Cross. Symbolizing this very thing.

Aaron spoke up after I shared while we were still in line. "It is so wonderful that His Blood reaches back to the beginning." And it reaches all the way forward.

On the ceiling of the area where the Cross is are little mosaics of important figures in the Bible. All standing to bear witness to the Messiah. Having played their part in the greatest story ever told, they stand as witness just as the people standing in the room are witnesses to His powerful work in our lives.

We went on to the City of David. This is the excavation of the palace of David, but also the place where King Hezekiah carved tunnels to reroute the water so Jerusalem had enough supply during siege. 

Meir was excited about showing us the oldest toilet they have found in Israel is right there in the City of David. He made sure to share an old saying, “you know how wealthy a man is by how close his bedroom is to his toilet.” Well this house they found was a house of a wealthy individual. Lol.

We went down to the Gihon Spring. James shared about Solomon being anointed King down by this pool. Before Solomon was crowned… before David was even gone yet another man organized his own coronation, Adonijah. He conveniently did not invite the priest, the prophet, nor the rightful king. Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet and Solomon were not invited. Why? Because they would have put a stop to the matter… which they did

anyway. 

James shared that there is a proper order to the way things are done. God likes order. David goes on to order Zadok, Nathan, and Solomon to be taken to the spring we were standing at. Along with David’s mightiest warrior Benaiah (who according to 2 Samuel 23:20 … “He did many heroic deeds, which included killing two champions of Moab. Another time, on a snowy day, he chased a lion down into a pit and killed it.”)

No one is going to mess with a lion chaser guarding the future king.

Adonijah heard the parade while he was feasting at his own coronation… thinking the festivities might be for him… but finding out while he was celebrating, David made Solomon king in front of everyone.

Adonijah begged for forgiveness from Solomon. Solomon spared him saying, if you do anything wicked, I will change this stay of execution… What does he do? He asks for the hand of the woman that was basically King David’s electric blanket back in the day. Abishag was a young virgin who slept next to the king to provide body warmth but King never knew her. Adonijah asked Bathsheba to ask King Solomon to give him Abishag, for her to be his… Solomon responded: 

²² “How can you possibly ask me to give Abishag to Adonijah?” King Solomon demanded. “You might as well ask me to give him the kingdom! You know that he is my older brother, and that he has Abiathar the priest and Joab son of Zeruiah on his side.”

²³ Then King Solomon made a vow before the Lord: “May God strike me and even kill me if Adonijah has not sealed his fate with this request. ²⁴ The Lord has confirmed me and placed me on the throne of my father, David; he has established my dynasty as he promised. So as surely as the Lord lives, Adonijah will die this very day!” ²⁵ So King Solomon ordered Benaiah son of Jehoiada to execute him, and Adonijah was put to death.

In Solomon’s wisdom he knew granting such a request would give legitimacy to his brother’s claims, but King David had promised the throne for Solomon to Bathsheba long before.

James went on to reaffirm his point that if we do things out of proper order, it could end up costing us so much on the other end.

Solomon needed proper covering from the priest, the prophet, the king and the warrior to see his throne established.

We kept heading down hill. Y’all I wish you could heard Ms. Deloris’s laughter and protests echo off of the walls of the tunnels. Shes not a big fan of heights, depths, or closed in places… oops. Jeff had ahold of her arm helping her and I heard her shout while I was way above her in the cave, “The Lord Jesus is going to have to come way deep to save us today! Lord help us!!!” and then shed laugh. She said, she would ask more questions next time. Haha. Like “Are they stairs? Or are they STAIRS!” 

But Jennifer…. She was ear to ear excited. It reminded me of Mari, my sister’s, first trip down through there. 

 

We reached the Pool of Siloam and it was very crowded and completely renovated… absolutely stunning. I shared about the man blind from birth, who Jesus spit in some clay, rubbed in the man’s eyes and told him to go wash in the Pool of Siloam. This man was interrogated by the Pharisees. This sassy blind man, said you’ve already asked me about this over and over. Are you wanting to hear the testimony so that you can become his disciples as well? They threw him out of the place. When Jesus heard about what this man said… He found him:

“Do you believe in the Son of ^[g]God?”He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.”Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him.And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”John 9:35-39

This guy had to have some help to get to the pool. The Pharisees were not looking to cover. They were looking to expose. They thought fraud was being committed. But Jesus came back and covered the man and invited Him to believe.

We must cover one another. God made this wild world that we needed to rely on Him and we need to rely on each other. 

The service this night was great and I will input the notes later, but it has a lot to do with needing each other.