A smaller group of us headed out at 7:45am to the City of
David. This is where David’s palace was. It is outside of the Old City walls of
today. This was early Jerusalem days.
Pastor Taylor Keller (Plainfield, IN) gave us a beautiful
mini version of the sermon he brought in Parker City last fall at the RFOD
reunion meetings. He spoke on the waters of Shiloah. And today, we were heading
to those waters. They flow from the Gishon spring.
He shared:
The scripture from Isaiah I am about to read was written in
the time of Hezekiah, who’s tunnel we are headed to today. To put this word in
context, Hezekiah’s dad was King Ahaz and his kingdom was under attack (Isaiah
7). Instead of listening to the prophet, Isaiah, and trusting in God as their
source. He trusted in the strength of the kings around him. ‘I am going to
trust my military/political alliances.’
Ahaz refused it, but because of his position as representing
the people. God says through Isaiah:
Isaiah 8:5
The Lord also spoke to me again, saying:
“Inasmuch as these people refused
The waters of Shiloah that flow softly,
And rejoice in Rezin and in Remaliah’s son; (their political
alliances)
Now therefore, behold, the Lord brings up over them
The waters of the River,(Euphrates) strong and mighty—
The king of Assyria and all his glory;
He will go up over all his channels
And go over all his banks.
This contrast is made between two waters is made. The waters
of Shiloah that flow gently and softly and sweetly. Compare that to, the waters
of the River that represent raging, swelling, flooding. It is the difference between trusting in the
way of God and man. Trust in man? You always get more than you bargain for in a
bad way. But if you trust in God, it may not seem like there is any power in it
in the moment or strength. How are we going to be protected from being under
siege? This little water source, but what the waters of Shiloah represented was
the provision of God. God made the statement that you have refused the waters
of Shiloah.
The word Shiloah it means “Sent”. Same root word as Siloam.
It means God sends them from the source. The source is the Gihon Spring. The
Gihon Spring is one of only a hundred intermittent springs in the whold world.
The spring we are about to see is one of the most famous. It means that it will
burst forth periodically throughout the day, a couple of times a day. It varies
between wet season and dry season. That is why the channels can fill up and
empty.
Refusing the waters of Shiloah means refusing what God has
sent. That is the key issue. It still very relevant to the people of God today.
When God sends something into your life. It may not look like the most
effective or powerful solution. It probably will not look like that. It will
probably look like the waters of Shiloah that flow gently. It may not be the
timing.
Because these people refused the waters of Shiloah, refusing
what God has sent, they are going to get flooded out. That principle still
remains for people today when receiving or refusing what God has sent to them.
I’ll put this at the end. Ahaz refused the waters, but
Hezekiah did not refuse them. He actually utilized them. He made tunnels for
them. He said we are going to use these. Hezekiah, he was a man of God and he
listenend to voice of the same prophet his father ignore. May we be people that
receive the waters.
In the New Testament, Jesus said to the man, “go wash in the
pool of Siloam” Which is the exact same waters. “Go wash” in the sent waters.
That was a man who later believed received what was sent and received his
healing.
And those are the waters we are headed to.
We climb the overlook. This is where the palace of David
stood. This is where the original City of David was. It is located outside of
the walls of Jerusalem.
Shany (our guide) read Psalm 125 with us:
As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
So the Lord surrounds His people
From this time forth and forever.
We are standing here surrounded by these mountains.
She shared with us that she did not grow up in a religious
household. She looked at the Bible and said I need proof that these words are
true and really happened?
Psalm 125
I wanted to find proof of the scripture. How do I know David
was really here?
In Jeremiah... we
find the names of the people that would be the king’s scribe. We found the seal
of this person just a coupe of steps away from where we are standing. The king’s
scribe the one mentioned in Jeremiah, his seal was found here… It
becomes problematic as a non religious person like me when such proof presents
itself. This scripture has roots in the ground. They are buried in this ground.
Shiloah spring as Pastor Taylor shared with us is under our
feet. Hezekiah builds a tunnel. This is also written. But the diggers also
carved their signature into the walls of the tunnel. Biblical graffiti. Ancient
emojis. Here in this place is another testimony that the words in the stories
on the pages of this Book. They happened and they happened here. Let’s go.
We started the first descent of many flights of stairs. We
paused at a construction zone. The workers were busy at their jobs. Yesterday,
Rabbi Moshe explained to us that every piece of
We stood there and watch as these men were literally rebuilding
the house of David. The palace of David. Considered the Capitol Hill of ancient
Israel. The seal they found here was a bula.
They would tie the seals to the letters sent from here. They found arrows
because their was guards in the palace.
There is no record of who covered the City of David in
rubble. But over the last 10-12 years they have been excavating.
Down below us in the valley was the exit of the Shiloah waters.
Shany shared. (And this amazes me. We were on the bus and
she was busy with the driver, but kept her ear tuned to Pastor Taylor. This was
like a half hour after he finished sharing.)
“Two things Pastor Taylor said echoed with me:
First, when we spoke of the water being an intermittent
spring. It's a heartbeat of water pulsing. The city has a heart beat of this
water. The waters of Shiloah pulsing below it.
Second, Refusing water. We are in the desert. We work with
drought. California as you know has had a terrible drought and wildfires.
Israel offered to California the
technology of desalination so that ocean water could be used to replace what
they were lacking in fresh water. You may or may not know this but California
is a very liberal state. (We laughed and said we were aware). California
declined this offer of help because many of them, they don't recognize Israel
as having a right to exist. Refusing water. Refusing the waters of Shiloah.
Here is a modern day
example. They eventually agreed to receive help because of
their need. They had to walk past their opinions and receive.
So back to Hezekiah, he is here in the city. Assyrians taking
the cities of Israel one by one. There is a threat. To protect the people of
the city, Hezekiah knew they needed a water source within the city walls so
they could survive longer. So he devised this plan to reroute the waters of
Shiloah, so they could use them to save the city.
We kept descending into the mountain. Down through the
layers of history.
Shany told our young ones to cover their ears. She quoted
one of her favorite Israeli poets: No one will ever see Jerusalem naked. There
are too many layers. The more you find, the more there is yet to uncover.
Every where there is a water source you will find evidence
of the people that lived here. Jebus people worshipped idols so we have found
idols. David’s general, Joab entered the city by this shaft. To conquer the
city and reclaim it for the children of Israel.
We descend into the excavation of a Canaanite city. There is
a representation of a pool there.
We spoke yesterday about the people of Israel & their
rulers. The priest, prophet & king.
Right here most likely at this pool:
So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of
Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on
King David’s mule, and took him to Gihon. 39 Then Zadok the priest took a
horn of oil from the tabernacle and anointed Solomon. And they blew the horn,
and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!” 40 And all the people
went up after him; and the people played the flutes and rejoiced with great
joy, so that the earth seemed to split with their sound.
King David taking care of his son determining him to be his
heir. Had him anointed right here to silence any confusion over who his
successor was to be. You have to have running water living water for
purification. This is the place where king Solomon was anointed. You take the
prince of Israel to the protected side.
Wow. King Solomon who would be the wisest. Who would rebuild
the temple was anointed right here.
We walk further down. Hezekiah fortifies this section to
cover the spring. 10,000 people would have been normally living in
the city during this time. The Assyrians attacked. People of Israel ran to
Jerusalem. The city grew exponentially. They needed enough water for all of
those seeking shelter.
Jerusalem was rescued.
Brent asked “Was there enough water for everyone?”
Shany: The shiloah. This
is the water company of the Jerusalem of today. They still drink from the
spring today. The Old City uses the Water of Shiloah today.
They do not refuse them. There is still more than enough to
go around.
2 Kings 20:20
20 Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah—all his might,
and how he made a pool and a tunnel and brought water into the city—are they
not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
The question mark is here because it is that important,
Hezekiah’s acts are so well known, that it doesn’t need to be repeated here. In
fact, it is still here. It testifies of the validity.
The plan for digging the tunnel was that one group started
from spring and the other group starts from the pool. They meet at the middle
point. This is crazy because what if you miss each other? You will dig right
past. They were very accurate. They dig from different parts and the find each
other. On the finial day of digging, they start hearing each other hammering.
So they start dig toward each other and the sound. There is soft limestone that
makes it easy.
We finally get to the tunnel they carved. We did not do the
wet tunnel much to great grief of Natalie and Katie, but I did walk them down
to the 45 degree waters in the wet tunnel and let them touch it. It was a
beautiful rushing sound. That filled the cavern walls. We then went through
the dry tunnel. Of which we always just keep moving because it is barely big
for one person to walk through, let alone stop and have a conversation. Plus we
want to be careful for our people that have the slightest bit of
claustrophobia. So we keep moving.
We come out of the tunnels and head to the Pool of Siloam.
Shany begins the introduction to Herod. He was Jewish and
was taken and trained by Rome to read and write, etc. They brought him back to
rule Jerusalem. He marries Mary of the
Maccabees. A very prominent Jewish family here. He does renovations all over
the country and in its palaces. He did it to show his own wealth, but also to
win the hearts of the people.
He is afraid of no one but himself. This is the atmosphere
Jesus is arriving to. The priests were closest to Herod because of his pockets.
Herod gave them finance and a good living to keep their influence over the
people under his control. This is the way of man, not of God. These priest were
supposed to be God’s men
So when Jesus comes, he begins preaching basically: Do not
relate goodness to the pockets of the king. He stirred things up.
Shany asks me to read in John where Jesus spit in the clay
and applied it to the eyes of the man blind from birth. Shany says look at the
dirt. It is clay here.
I shared that this place that we were sitting was the first
thing this man saw in his life. He went to the waters of Shiloah.
Earlier when the disciples saw him who could not see them,
they asked:
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was
born blind?”
Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,
but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of
Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As
long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” John 9:1-5
May we recognize that our difficulties may be there so that
God can get the glory.
We returned to the bus and went to the hotel to pick up the
rest of the group.
Our next stop was FOZ (Friends of Zion). My mom and dad
(Barbara and Thomas) came here with Pastor Jerry and Susan last year. For the
past eight months, mom refused to tell me anything about it and forbade me from
googling it. I get it now. I don’t want to ruin the experience for anyone. My
highest birds eye view of it would be it is a place dedicated to remembering
the Christians who have believed and walked out their belief for the Jewish
people to have a homeland. It is an exquisite Thank you letter. I will say this
I walked out strengthened and convicted.
It is one of the most modern museums in the world right now.
And it is dedicated to the concept of Pastor Jerry’s sharing from yesterday. Of
standing between the porch and the altar. Of interceding… of standing in the
gap. Of not following blindly as sheep, but taking a stand. One of the new
phrases we learned there was Hanini. It is Hebrew for “Here Am I”. You see this
response in Abraham, in Moses. In many others. This willinginess to allow their
lives to be altered forever in service to God and to His people.
It is time for us all to say Hanini to what the Lord is
asking of us which is to stand in the gap.
Last night in service, Pastor Jerry reviewed one of his
first memories of Rolland Abraham. Rolland was 17 years old when he started
attending the church Pastor Jerry was ministering at (much like in the position
Taylor is) They were working on a project. Rolland look at Pastor Jerry and
said, I am so thankful to be able to give my life to something of greater
significance than just myself. Here is this 17 year old! Who thinks this way?
And yet now he is the principal 2500 high school students. He prays for them.
Sometimes staying up into the night. He walks the halls and prays. He visits
them in the hospital and prays for their healing. He responded with Hanini at a
very young age and is now influencing those coming of age. Here am I. I will
give my life for something greater.
Beautiful.
We sat there in the lobby of the Friends of Zion and did
what we always do when we come to this part of the day: Pray about where we
were to go for lunch. Lol.
Before we got to that. Pastor Jerry began to tell us this
story:
Sunday night they were overbooked in our hotel. Pastor Jerry
and Susan having stayed in the Old City, graciously volunteered to take the
night away and stay within the Old City walls at Christ Church(bucket list for
me!).
Earlier in the day when we were walking through the Jewish
Quarter. The Lord spoke to Pastor Jerry and said you will see Ruth soon.
Ruth was our guide about 14 years ago. One of the most
amazing stories then was that we were outside of the Church of the Holy
Selpulchre (Calvary). Once again trying to pray about where to go for lunch.
Daddy explained to her that when he prays and gets to the right answer it is
She began to talk about the Urim and Thummim. And talked
about how the letters in the stones would light up on the breastplate and then
the priest would decipher what the king was to do, what the nation should do.
She looked at us very skeptical about it actually being
something active or working in him. Especially, after his next question:
How many McDonald’s are there in Jerusalem?
Im sure in her mind she was thinking: “Yes… sure… an
American thinks he is being led to McDonald’s…” She humored him: “Four
McDonald’s.” He asked her to number them.
The one God operated on was not the most convenient. It was
in a neighborhood, it wasn’t a tourist type place. But she obliged.
We stepped off of the bus. She took three steps. There was
her 13-year old son. Who had skipped school and was walking around with a group
of girls on the exact of opposite side of Jerusalem he was supposed to be in.
She got him in a head lock. His punishment was that he was grounded with us for
the next week. She wasn’t letting him out of her sight.
So I still don’t know what she thought about it, but God
testified of the validity of His leading in that we were in the right place at
the right time.
Back to present day. God has impressed on Pastor Jerry to be
looking for Ruth. He kept paying attention. There in the Jewish quarter. But he
never saw her.
After their night in the Old City, Pastor Jerry and Susan
went to the Western Wall early for prayer. This morning he was standing at the
flagpole there having already prayed and simply waiting for Mrs. Susan. When
this woman walked up with a couple and stood right beside them. She was speaking
in German. Pastor Jerry turned and saw Ruth standing three feet away from him.
Once she had finished speaking, she turned and looked at him
and he said, “Ruth!” Her face lit up and she attacked him with a hug. Pastor
Jerry was able to ask about her son (who is Taylor’s age). He is doing well.
They just had an amazing time.
The point of the story. God gave a heads up to Pastor Thomas
and we found Ruth’s son in the process. God gave a heads up to Pastor Jerry
about seeing Ruth, whom he hadn’t seen in 14 years. That she would walk up next
to him. When according to the itinerary he wasn’t necessarily scheduled to be
there, but obviously, he was meant to be there.
So back to sitting at FOZ trying to decide where to go to
lunch. We got to Ben Yehuda. As soon as
he heard it Brent came to me and asked if it might be possible for me to help
him find Uri’s shop. We did:
We then went to Gordon’s Calvary and had a sweet time of
worship and a service.
Blessings to you all!
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