TJ in the Holy Land – Last Day and final thoughts

Day 8-Last day

Unfortunately, today is my last day in the Holy Land. I have enjoyed every bit of of my stay here. But, i still have today to see our last bit of touring around, so I have that to look forward to. The food here is just so good and I’m so glad that I tried all of this new food because I really enjoy it. My personal opinion is that the food in Israel (Middle Eastern) is better than American food. Though at times it may not look physically unappealing, it is all just so good. Now that I’ve got you all hungry, let’s move on..!

We started off our day much later than usual because we had a smaller day of tours, which is due to our upcoming flight today. We began our tour going to Mount Zion, which is just on the outside of the old city. Mount Zion is the area where Jesus and the disciples had The Last supper, in the Upper Room, which actually was a bit deceiving because the room where they had the Last Supper was probably on the lower floor of the building. The Upper Room is underneath a building that used to be a Byzantine church to mark this sacred place, but later it was taken by the Muslims and was converted into a Mosque. But at the moment, just thinking that under our feet is where Jesus said long ago the words that we hear so often, “Take it, this is my body.” He also said, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” -Mark  14:22-24.

In addition to  the Upper Room, Mount Zion is also the place where Caiaphas’s house was. As you might already know, Caiaphas is the Jewish high priest who arranged the plot to kill Jesus. On top of the place of Caiaphas’s house was the Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu, a beautiful church, definitely one of my favorite churches in Jerusalem. Inside there were very nice looking paintings of Jesus, his disciples, angels and others from the Bible. On the ceiling there was a gorgeous stain glass window that took form of a latin looking cross. On the glass there were tons of smaller Latin crosses that had bright and  vivid colors on each one. Underneath the church was Caiaphas’s house or his basement where he kept his prisoners, in terrible conditions, and most importantly it is where Jesus was held overnight. We got to see the opening to the prison, which was just like a well. So Jesus would have been lowered into the prison and left there without much light. As we left Caiaphas’s basement and the Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu, we encountered the door which the picture of Jesus pointing at Peter and holding up three fingers was carved, this shows Jesus telling Peter that he will deny and reject Jesus. But as we exited Jesus, was pointing at me, that I would reject and deny him. It was a pretty powerful thing to realize that I have rejected and will reject him in time to come. I honestly did not notice this until my dad pointed it out when we left, so I’m not going to take all of the credit. Hopefully his E-news letter hasn’t been copyrighted yet…

Near this place was the Tomb of King David, a very sacred place for the Jews. Here, many Jews prayed very deeply and even cried out to God. I always think it is cool to visit other people’s religion’s sacred places because it helps me understand more of other people’s faith. As Christians we should be able to understand and respect other people’s beliefs but be able to know and continue in our own faith as well. Personally, I believe that learning about other people’s religious beliefs helps me grow closer in my own faith. But, beside that point, we were able to go into the place of King David’s tomb. As I walked in I met a Jewish man, who looked at me and pondered for a moment. After a couple of seconds he said, “Do you have any family that is Jewish, or any past generations?” So then it was my turn to think for a moment and then I was able to say, “No sir, I don’t think so. Maybe I did, but I honestly have no idea.” So then the man said, “You look very Jewish.” When I left the building, I was pondering this. What did that mean? Was that a compliment? Thanks…I guess? Should I be offended? But then, i thought, I was just thinking about it too much. I actually found it kind of funny because I had later found out that he told my brother the same thing two years ago!

Our last stop on our Journey was to The Garden Tomb, a place that let’s you see what Jesus tomb would have looked like and where it would have been. Some people actually believe it to be the place where Jesus was buried. The Garden Tomb is just like you would think it would look like, a garden that had beautiful plants and flowers in it. On the outside of the garden there was a hill that, many years ago looked like a human skull. It had the eyes, nose and mouth just like a skull and In Hebrew Golgotha means Skull. So this is one of the reasons why people actually believe that this was the place where Jesus was buried, because it was by a hill that looked like Golgotha- skull. In addition to the hill and the garden there was a tomb carved out of a cave. This is the tomb where people believe that Jesus was buried. It was cool to look inside and see what the tomb maybe would have looked like.

 My personal opinion, which may be different than others, is that The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the real and true place of Jesus’s Crucifixion and burial tomb. The definition of Sepulchre is translated to “a place of burial.” In addition to this historic church and it’s name it also has other historical facts and traces that lead back to the first century and when Jesus was there, including a historical carving, which dates back to the first century and an area where it is believed that the Romans dumped Jesus’s cross, on which he was crucified on. Anyways, i felt a stronger spiritual encounter with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre than with the Garden Tomb. To me my spirit was drawn to the place and I feel like the Holy Spirit really moved in me when I was there.

Later at the Garden tomb we met all together and had a service of prayer, praise and communion. Bishop Fairly led us into our service and he preached a very emotional and powerful sermon which was about how “we can’t go back to the way we were.” Which was about after all of the things that we saw and experienced we can’t go black to the the way things where before and that our faith has been made new and stronger. His sermon pretty much left all of us in tears and in amazement at what we’ve seen. 

Being in the Holy Land was not only awesome, but it allowed me to put on a new faith and let my faith be made stronger. Before I went on this pilgrimage, I sort of had a jumbled up understanding of the Bible and where and how the events took place. If anything, it had simplified my understandings and cleared it all up for me. Being able to see where these events happened made me just have an “ohhh” moment. After visiting the Holy Land there isn’t any part in me that doesn’t doubt the Bible and the understanding of my faith. After seeing all of the places where all of the Bible studies and historical and theological things occurred, it allowed me in my faith to grow. After all that I have seen on this trip there is not one bit in me that was skeptical that the Lord was in this place. As Christians our beliefs are not only built on faith but also in fact and in proof. After being in these Holy, sacred spaces, my faith was not only made stronger in what my spirit was moved in, but also all of the “facts” that I continuously read and discovered were right in front of me. I have not only been changed as a person, but also as a child of God. This is my most favorite and greatest “souvenir” of all.  Before I went on this trip, I prayed continuously to God to create in me a new faith, so that I could see all of the works that God has made so lovingly for us. I have not only gotten what I prayed for but even more. God has given me a true understanding of his word and the truth of his never ending love for us. Not only that but the Holy Spirit has, again, moved me in any unimaginable way. I would not trade this experience that I had for anything else in the world. It gives me even more faith that God had something big in store for me in the future. I am not sure what that will be but I trust in God’s ways and I am excited to experience what he has in store for me,  in what is to come and also what will happen now. I know that God has shown me so much on this trip, but it is great to know that he is not done yet, and I am ready to move on and not be  upset to move forward because he has some thing greater in store for me in my life.

So thank you all so much for joining with me in this life changing experience. I have enjoyed sharing this with you all and letting you in on my point of view. Thank you for your support and comments throughout the journey. I hope that by reading this you may have a better understanding of the Bible and scripture, maybe not as well as I got to experience but good enough to give you an idea of the truth to all of it. I encourage you, if you have the chance and are able to, to go and take a pilgrimage. Whether it is to the Holy Land in Israel, or if it is another spiritual place that allows you to grow in your faith. But, if you can’t that’s okay. That’s why there are blogs and people that will share their experiences with others to help them see Jesus better. So good bye for now and I am excited to see how God will change you and your spirit in the present and in what is to come!

God Bless you and protect you!

-TJ Nichols