Israel – Day 3

Today’s sites included a couple of very old Old Testament spots and a couple of places that hosted significant events in Jesus’ life and ministry.We started off with a beautiful sunny and much warmer morning, heading to northern Galilee. Our first stop was the ancient city of Hazor, one of the cities conquered by Joshua, and then under Israel rule for the next thousand years. Hazor had been home to ancient civilizations for over a thousand years before Joshua, and the layers unearthed by archeologists reveals much about their lives over the generations. Being here was a reminder to us that God always keeps his promises. He promised Jacob that he would bring his family back from Egypt and give them cities that they did not build. Hazor was one of these cities.Dan was another one. But this city, the furthest northern city of ancient Israel carried with it another message. It was discouraging to find pagan alters used by the northern kingdom of Israel under Jereboam, to worship false gods. Despite God’s faithfulness to us, we tend to wander. We prayed that God would keep us faithful.Perhaps our favorite site for the day was a very pagan city, established for the worship of the Greek god, Pan. In Jesus’ day, it was called, Caesarea Philippi. Despite its deep pagan roots and activity even in the first century, Jesus waded right into it and spent some get-away time here with his disciples. It was here that he asked them, “Who do you think I am?”, and Peter responded, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!” Jesus followed this statement with a promise to build his Church, which he said, “...the gates of hell will not withstand against it!”Our day ended with a magnificent sunset overlooking the Sea of Galilee from the cliffs of Gadara, where Jesus cast the demons from Legion into the swine, who then fled over the cliffs and into the sea. The backdrop of our beautiful view was the Mount of Transfiguration, as see in the picture.