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My First Trip to Israel
Posted in: Uncategorized by DannyTice on April 28, 2010
I am sitting in a hotel just off the shore of the Sea of Galilee as I write this. I have a few more days before flying home. Walking in the land where Jesus came 2000 years ago has made me realize how real Jesus is. I spent three days in Jerusalem and saw many incredible things. The most amazing thing was what is loosely called the “Pavement”. It is under what used to be the Fortress Antonia on the North End of the Temple mount area (where the ancient Jewish Temple used to be). Many sites of Jesus’ life are speculative – and they aren’t completely sure where they exactly are. They are very certain this is an authentic site. The Fortress Antonia was the headquarters of the Roman military in Jerusalem. It was where Pontus Pilate was when they brought Jesus to him before he had him scourged and then crucified. We walked under where this building used to be and had to duck our heads under low cement arch ways. As we climbed down a series of stairs we finally reached the level that was the floor 2000 years earlier, this was the courtyard where the Roman soldiers scourged Jesus. The archeologist have found engraved on the floor a circle with the Greek letter Beta appearing just below the inscribed circle. Scholars know what this symbol means. It was the symbol of what is called the “Game of the Kings”. The Roman soldiers used to inscribe this on pavement before whipping criminals that were condemned to die. The person standing in the middle of the circle would soon die. This cruel game was called the “Game of the Kings”. I suddenly realized that I was standing exactly where Jesus would have been after he was commanded to be whipped by the Pilate. I stared at the circle on the pavement realizing that this was where Jesus was nearly beaten to death. I knelt and rubbed my hand on the stone floor and imagined what it must have been like 2000 years ago. The scholarly Jewish guides showed us where the Via Delarosa would have begun – just a few feet from the circle on the pavement. “The other sites in Jerusalem of the Via Delarosa are uncertain but this one is certain,” Doran our Israeli guide said. I moved around from the stone pavement and stood where the bloody Jesus would have begun carrying his cross to Calvary. One does not need a holy site to feel close to the Lord but this was a special moment for me. May I never again question God’s love and grace. His love and mercy are profound. Jesus really did die for the sins of the world and was resurrected to verify the power of his claims. On this trip I sat on the steps of the ancient temple, steps that Jesus and the disciples would have walked on. I went to the Mount of Olives, Garden of Gethsemane – rode in a boat on the Sea of Galilee but visiting the stone pavement was a life changing moment. His love for you and me is more real that we realize.
John 19:13-14 13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14 It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour. NIV