Wonder of the Cross

Scandalous

“How dare you approach the mercy-seat of God on the basis of what kind of day you had, as if that were the basis for our entrance into the presence of the sovereign and holy God? No wonder we cannot beat the Devil. This is works theology. It has nothing to do with grace and the exclusive sufficiency of Christ. Nothing.

Do you not understand that we overcome the accuser on the ground of the blood of Christ? Nothing more, nothing less. That is how we win. It is the only way we win. This is the only ground of our acceptance before God. If you drift far from the cross, you are done. You are defeated.

We overcome the accuser of our brothers and sisters, we overcome our consciences, we overcome our bad tempers, we overcome our defeats, we overcome our lusts, we overcome our fears, we overcome our pettiness on the basis of the blood of the Lamb.”

—D.A. Carson, Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 103

My Day Off

For the next two days we will be going on our field study of Shephelah, Negev, and the Judean Wilderness and the Dead Sea so I thought I should update this before I go. Yesterday (Sunday) was our day off, and I decided to go check out a church service in Jerusalem. I ended up going to a Lutheran church here with some people from JUC and it was in a small chapel. The pastor was a women from somewhere in the southeast in America, and she was very energetic to say the least. The service was in the form of liturgy reading and the whole congregation was pretty much American, hehe, so much for a new experience...although going to a Lutheran service was a new experience. One of my friends, after the service said: "I could tell she was feminist and pro-palestinian." The service lasted for about an hour, and they had communion as well. After the church service my group went on the Rampart walk, which is when you can walk along the top of the Old city walls, and that was really fun. I got to know my fellow colleagues a bit more, and it was a great time! We then headed back to the school, and I took a nap first of all because I was locked out of my room, and secondly, I didn't feel too well. As I am typing I am feeling congested and my throat burns...sad! But anywho, I took a nap and then realized that I had to study because we had a test today (Monday), so I studied with the girls, even though I had no idea what to study first and where to even begin to look, we have covered so much! The test went well... I think.. :) At least now I know the format of the test and what to expect. Since we had a test this morning followed by two hours of lecture, they allowed us the afternoon off, so me and some of the girls went into the old city to walk the other half of the Rampart walk. We got off at Dung gate and went into a shop that was called "Temple Treasures" where a Jewish man from England told us we should drink since we are old enough to drink here in Israel. Then he gave us the directions to a wine shop and told us to tell the guy there that he sent us, and that we should taste the wine. We were all laughing as he said "I'm serious." Don't worry guys, we didn't go there. After that, we came upon the Church of the Sepulcer, where they say Jesus tomb is (ummm he's not in the tomb, He defeated death and rose again!), and where they also say to have a piece of the rock in which the cross was mounted on Golgotha. It was really crowded, and people were rubbing the rock and kissing it...these things here, these places are being worshipped by people. Noooo! It's really hard to try and reflect upon all of these places because there are so many tourists and people. From there we went down to the Christian Quarter and visited Zac's and Shabaan's shops again...I think those are the only places I've really shopped. They are both really nice and its cool to hear their stories. As we made our way back to JUC in the cool of the evening, we heard the sound of singing and acoustic guitar as we came into the gate, and so we headed over to it. The people from Western Seminary were having a time of worship and prayer, and it was great, I am so grateful to God for these people. By that time though, I was so congested, I couldn't sing one note. I was okay with that, and understood that maybe God just wanted me to listen this time. I haven't known how to take in everything that I am learning here, and everything that I am seeing around me...all I know is that my heart breaks. I am here, somewhere near the place where Christ bought me with a price...His precious blood.

Sabado. :)

I am getting used to the time change now. :) I didn't wake up tired! yeahhh. Hoy, we went to the top of Mt. of Olives and from there we could see Gibeah, Navi Samuel, Dome of the Rock, and the size of the Temple platform, it's huge! And we could also see everything else pretty much. It's great because if you go to the top of any hill, you can see the whole land, everything is so close to each other! and you can see the valleys, the Dead Sea, everything! From this side we could see the "golden gate" which tradition says is the gate that the Jewish Messiah will go through when He comes, and apparently it has been blocked in an attempt to keep him from coming. He has already come! I could see the Hidron Valley below us, where the disciples went to hide according to another tradition. I could see the Mount of Offense where Solomon built houses and temples for his wives, the Potter's field where Judas killed himself by hanging or fell and spilled his guts, a cemetery below us with tombs that date back to Jesus's time and Solomon's pillar on a tomb but it is most likely not his tomb, but a tomb that belonged to a priest from the second temple period with the same name. Tradition here has it that those who are buried on the Mount of Olives will be resurrected first. Where did this idea come from? So you can imagine all the tombs that are here.
We went down to see the church of Dominus Flavit which is a church in commemoration of the time when Jesus came over the Mount of Olives and wept over Jerusalem. It is in the shape of a teardrop, kinda. We also saw the Church of all Nations which commemorates the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was betrayed by Judas after praying so hard he sweated blood. Judas knew where Jesus was because Luke 22:39 says it was Jesus's custom to go there.
We also went to Herodium and got to look around at the remains of King Herod's palace, it was so cool, he had tunnels carved out in the mountain! so we go to go in and walk through these tunnels inside the mountain. It was done for the water system and for soldiers. It was nice and cool in there which was nice because it was kind of a hot day today. They have also recently discovered Herod's tomb, so we got to see that also.
The last place we went was to Bethlehem to see the church commemerating Jesus birthplace. It was built in the Byzantine era and has great big pillars and lots of decorative lamps and stuff hanging from the ceiling. Historical documents and Greek Orthodox traditions say Jesus was not born in a manger but in a cave, and so we got to go see that. We waited about one hour in line, and then went underground into a room which had a fourteen point star on the ground which is where they say Jesus was born. Why a fourteen point star? For all of the generations of the house of David. It was not that exciting, there were so many people around and there were vendors inside of the church trying to sell incense and candles. Three different groups share this church for services: Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Christians (don't know what denomination..). We ended the day with going to get another view of Jerusalem from a hill...it was really nice. :) God gave us an amazing breeze! I really enjoyed seeing where Biblical accounts happened....We have a day off tomorrow! I'm hoping to go check out a church service in the city... I left out all of the academic stuff but if you're interested in it let me know! It'll help me study for my test on Monday...ahhh! :) Miss you all!! God Bless you. :)

Friday

Wow, I didn't even know what day it was...on Wednesday I said "It's Monday right?" lol, yikes. :)

Friday we headed out to Jericho. We saw donkeys and camels just chilling on the hills along the way. :) We stopped in The Wilderness and it was so beautiful. At least to me it was beautiful in that moment in time. I know it would probably not be as beautiful to me if I were wandering around in it with little food and water though. It was what seemed an endless range of mountains that looked really dry, but apparently they are "green." As I looked down, I could barely see the crevices of the valley below , and we read part of Psalm 23 which reads:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

To actually see it come before my eyes was amazing. To me it had always been a metaphor about trials and hard times in my walk, but I have seen the sheperd and his flock here in The Wilderness, the "green" pastures to which King David is saying God is allowing him to lie in, and even the outline of the valley of the shadow of death here below me in the distance. The Wilderness is where many things happened including where Jesus went and where He was tempted. It has three ongoing characteristics: it is associated with having been a place of refuge for the nation of Israel, a place for retreat and solitude, and is the first line of defense for Jerusalem. It is so quiet out here, and it is no accident God had his people out here....it provided a dependency on God, intimacy in the relationship, and it didn't allow for any distractions at all...

Day 3- Hezekiah's Tunnel

Wow, I am so sore. My calves are seriously really really tight, it hurts...good thing I brought Icy-Hot. The reason I am sore is because we are walking about 4-5 miles a day so far, and the streets are steep and stone so it definitely takes a toll on my legs. One of the cooks here heard me say, "I'm tired" and he was so shocked when I told him it was from walking. He said, "But you are so young! Everyday I go to lift weights, and I go on a run, and I go swimming, plus all of the walking in the city." I just thought to myself, "Wow, I am a lazy American... :("
So today we went to Hezekiah's tunnel in the City of David! It was sooo cool. The tunnel was built underneath Jerusalem by King Hezekiah around 700 B.C. to protect the main water source, the Gihon Spring, from the invading Assyrians. The tunnel starts at the Gihon Spring and ends at the Pool of Siloam. I'm really glad that I am not claustrophobic because the tunnel was so dark, narrow, and the ceiling got so low sometimes that even I had to duck. There was water in tunnel and it started out at almost my waist but then dropped to my knees. We walked in it for about 30 minutes, and if you didn't have a flashlight it was pitch black. When we got out we ended at the pool of Siloah. We also got to go to the North and South end of the temple mount and see a street that remains since the second temple period (Jesus' time). The temple walls are so high! It is an amazing structure. We saw some remaining ritual bath structures where people had to immerse themself in water to purify themself before they could go into the temple. We talked about Acts 2:38-39, and this verse: "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself." Thank you Father for drawing me to Yourself, because if You had not loved me first in my depravity, I would refuse you still. This verse is SO important...repent and turn away from your sin and trust in Christ, because He is the way, the truth, and the life. Repentance is necessary! Because your sin is against a Holy God. "He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power" Hebrews 1:3. He took on the wrath of God for His glory and our sin. Wow, what grace. We didn't go that deep into the verse but it got me thinking.
When we were leaving the city of David a whole group of about 40 or 50 young people my age were walking towards us in military uniforms with guns. I was surprised because they were all my age! Brian told us that girls are required to join the military right after high school for a year and a half, and that boys are also required but they can go to school after highschool and then join. Wow! After that we came back to the school and had class from 1:30 to 5:00. I dont' know why they have class after we get all tired from walking and then right after lunch which makes it worse...we all try our hardest to stay awake and pay attention. :) It's all very interesting, we learn about the geography of the land and also what the Bible says about it.
Overall, another great day. I kind of missed home today...tomorrow we are going to explore Benjamin, and Bethlehem, and a couple of other places... yay!

Walking the Old City

It is 6:33 pm here in Jerusalem, and I just got done with class about an hour ago. The past two days have been really great. We had orientation, and after showing us our schedule, the owner of the place told us we will basically be running where Jesus walked because they packed our schedule with class time and a lot different places to go. I also asked Brian what my name in Hebrew is and he told me it "Javan." Pretty cool!  Yesterday and today we got to walk the Old city. It was very cool... We got to go to A LOT of places, like temple on the Mount, David's tomb, the Western Wall, Pool of Bethsheda, the upper room, and we also saw the first Protestant church and many other historical sites. The JUC is on Mt. Zion, although, I found out that the people here have changed which hill they called Mt. Zion about 2-3 times. From the city streets we can see Mt. of Olives and Bethlehem. We also got to go up to the temple mount and it was cool to picture Jesus teaching at the temple and the disciples preaching the Gospel there! It was huge. When we were there, Brian was not allowed to talk about the Biblical History of the temple, and no Bibles were allowed because now the Dome of the Rock is there and Muslims go there to pray.  I asked my friend loudly "Do you have your Bible?!" because I wanted to read about when the disciples and Jesus were there...completely forgot it was forbidden.


The four main groups of people found here in the old city of Jerusalem are Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Armenians. When we were at the Western Wall, I was able to witness Jewish males and females of all ages reciting the Torah and praying. The women are only allowed about one third of the wall while the men are separated by a barrier with 2/3 of the wall available to them. Yesterday was the beginning of the feast of the Pentecost which is found in Acts 2. It says "When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting." It was actually a windy morning yesterday, whereas the day before had been hot and dusty, so the professor excitedly pointed out the "mighty rushing wind" that we had yesterday morning, on the day of the Pentecost. When we went into the city that day, the Jewish Quarter starting getting less busy as the people went home to prepare for the feast. Later that night, we went back into the city to see them celebrate the feast at the Western Wall. There was music and dancing. It was amazing to see, but it also made me sad at the same time. I was sad because the people are not worshiping Jesus. They are worshiping the Wall and the Law. They worship the idea of righteousness through works. Where is their hope when their works  fail?

We also got a chance to walk through the gates surrounding the city: the Zion gate, the Damascus gate, Dung gate, and Herod's gate. The Damascus gate led us through blocks and blocks of little shops, it was pretty overwhelming! I was nervous because they told us girls we had to be careful around there.
Even though I was modestly dressed I still felt nervous. The way you dress is really important here. At Holy sites we have to wear clothes that cover our neck to our knees, and women should never show their knees or shoulders.


Two rules that Brian told us about different sites that we go to around Jerusalem: 1)If a place has a name that's not really where it happened and 2)If it has more than two said locations it is historically true. Oh and we witnessed a fight, it was intense. This has been interesting. :)


While we are learning the Biblical History of the land, I have also had a chance to meet some AMAZING believers here. It has been a joy to meet people who are so passionate about the Gospel. :) There are about 100+ people here at the school, and most all of them come from great Gospel centered seminaries around the U.S. Included in these believers is Zac, one of the shop keepers. He is a believer and he is so passionate about Christ and sharing the Gospel, and he is in one of the best areas to do it! Its definitely dangerous for Him to be doing that but He does it anyway, Glory to God! :) It has been a great time here so far. There is so much more I could write but I can't remember it all now....I waited to long to write this, hehe. But there are only four computers so I can't be on too long unless it's really late or really early.

Alas, I have arrived in Israel!!

It is currently May 18th, 6:13 am here in Israel. :) I arrived yesterday after a very long flight, I was soooo tired. And yet here I am awake at 6:13am. It is really amazing to be here in Jerusalem, the city of the King! We are staying at Jerusalem University College, and it has great big walls that make it look like a castle. Karen, me and the other girls did some exploring of the school and it has staircases everywhere, its so beautiful! We managed to find the roof of the school and it was breathtaking to look out on the city last night. :) Pictures will come soon. Today we get to walk the city, I am SO very excited. Glory to God for giving me such a cool opportunity as this. May you have a blessed day!