Jerusalem and Christ Church – Israel Day 3!

The day began as last night ended – snow and more snow!

 

 

 

 

The view from my hotel room shows the early morning. Snowfall records were broken and the city stopped. They do not have snowplows here, so nearly everyone stayed home. Even our bus could not take us to the Old City, so we walked! It snowed steadily and footing was dangerous across lots of hills, stairs and footpaths.

Finally we reached a point across the Valley of Hinnom where we could see the walls of the Old City. This was originally all there was of Jerusalem – in fact in a much smaller area than today, and virtually no one lived outside of the walls until the late 1800s. Today modern Jerusalem is a large city, and the Old City just a small part of it.

 

 

The Valley of Hinnom is also called Gehenna. It was a constantly burning garbage dump in the time of Jesus, and is the word used for Hell in Matthew 18:9, “And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”

 

Here’s how it is described in Jeremiah 7, “30 The people of Judah have sinned before my very eyes,” says the Lord. “They have set up their abominable idols right in the Temple that bears my name, defiling it. 31 They have built pagan shrines at Topheth, the garbage dump in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and there they burn their sons and daughters in the fire. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing! 32 So beware, for the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when that garbage dump will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. They will bury the bodies in Topheth until there is no more room for them.”

 

This area had been used in more recent times as a reservoir for the Old City, but after a modern water supply was built the valley was drained and part of it is now an outdoor theater that will hold about 8,000 people. Recent archaeology has turned up large numbers of bones, apparently those of children and adults that were sacrificed to the idol Molech. Awful. Truly this was hell.

We crossed over the valley and began the trek up the path to the Zion Gate of the Old City.  In Hebrew it is pronounced “Tsion.” This was a heavily defended entrance to the City, just slightly wider than a car, in an “L” shape. You go in and have to immediately turn right; this was to prevent enemies who breached the outer door was rushing in with horses and chariots. There is above the outer opening, and above the area immediately inside, ports near the top for spilling boiling oil on any attackers.

 

 

If you look closely (double click any picture to see it enlarged) you can see a breach in the back wall and numerous bullet holes surrounding the gate. These are from the 6 Day War in 1967.

 

 

 

 

 

The Old City is home to countless small shops selling food, jewelry, spices, Christian souvenirs, Judaica and much more. Usually these are all open and bustling, but today was a “snow day,” and almost nothing was open. We did find one small bakery doing land office business. Everyone was cold and wet and the bakery was warm and dry!

 

 

From there we looked at the ruins of an old Roman road, called a “cardo.” This one was the “Cardo Maximus” or main road, running north-south, through every major Roman city. It was twice as wide as the average suburban street today, and lined on both sides by a covered sidewalk which was home to many small shops.

 

 

 

 

This picture is an artist’s rendering of what it may have looked like, though the center part was probably much wider. It was basically a Roman style mall!

 

If you look in the bottom right of this picture you’ll see something out of place. Find it?

 

It is a boy wearing a baseball cap, talking to a young girl: he is stepping from our time back into hers, and she is handing him a pomegranate.

 

From there we went to see the remains of Hezekiah’s wall. This was built by Hezekiah around 700 BC to protect against an attack by the Assyrians. The wall was built from stones of local homes, and was 20 feet thick and perhaps 30 feet high. It proved to be unneeded, because prayer defeated the invincible Assyrians. You can read about it in Isaiah 36-37. It really is quite extraordinary.

 

From there we walked down to the Western Wall. This is not the wall of the Temple in Jerusalem built by Solomon (destroyed by the Babylonians around 586 BC), nor rebuilt by Herod (destroyed, as prophesied by Jesus in Mark 13:1-4, in 70 AD by the Romans), but rather the wall of the foundation platform for Solomon’s Temple. Today it is a place of fervent prayer for both Jews and Christians.

 

To reach the wall you must go down many twists and turns of stairs, through security, and finally arrive at a wide plaza. It was snowing and raining incessantly as we went, and we all looked like drowned rats! Here’s a photo of me, soaked and cold, but really happy to be right there!

 

 

 

 

I prayed at the wall for those I loved and care for. It is a remarkable and powerful experience. God is truly there.

 

 

 

 

Finally we made our way up to the Christian Quarter for lunch at Christ Church, and an introduction to the work of CMJ (Christian Ministry among the Jewish people) by David Pileggi, Linda Cohen and Aaron Eime.

 

 

This church and this movement have been a key part of the development of modern Israel and the return of the diaspora (the Jews scattered around the world). Long before Israel became a state in 1948, there were many poor Jews living in the area, which was dominated my Muslim rulers.

 

English Anglican evangelicals, including Charles Simeon (one of my personal heroes), in their careful reading of Scripture, realized that the Church had drifted from its Jewish roots and become cut off, and largely Gentile in its worldview and even theology. (As an aside, I deal with much of this in my book, What We Believe and Why.)

 

They realized that Jesus was Jewish, the disciples were Jewish (except possibly Luke), and their presentation of the Gospel and of Jesus as Messiah, was all Jewish: it all started from and returned to the God of Israel. And so they felt a holy obligation to the Jewish people, so many of whom had been persecuted and even killed by Christians over many centuries. They also believed that Jesus was and is the Jewish Messiah. How better to demonstrate this than to serve the Jewish people?

 

So they established a ministry in and around Jerusalem, including workshops to produce goods for Christian pilgrims, a hospital, and they built the first modern building in Jerusalem: Christ Church. It took 14 years to negotiate with the Muslim rulers and to build a church (they were prohibited), and it was completed in 1849. This picture is of the altar inside the church.

 

 

Note that its carvings, like those of the windows and other elements of the church, are distinctly and intentionally Hebrew. It was the beginning of the Messianic Jewish movement which has now multiplied and spread worldwide: Jews do not surrender their Jewish identity when they accept Jesus as Messiah. They value and continue in who they are. Please do go to the link and read more. This is an amazing place, and I have recently joined the Board of Directors of CMJ-USA, which supports this ministry. It is an honor.

 

More to come. This is SO exhilarating. I’m still really looking forward to bringing you here!

 

-Pastor George