Sunday, July 4, 2010
The most incredible, moving day so far! We decided to do the rampart walk around the walls of the old city of Jerusalem. We went outside at the crack of 9 and were surprised to discover that it was hotter than it had been on the other days, but being women of our word, we set out to do what we said we would. We started at the Jaffa gate and climbed up on the walls. Our walk was slowed down by the many picture that we took as we oohed and awed at all the sights. Michelle and Sheila were a bit freaked out by the heights and the rickety stairs and railings involved so we prayed for fear to leave them and they did great!
We had to exit at the Dung gate near the temple mount and I wanted to go into the archaeological museum but no one else wanted to so they four of them offered to go shopping and to lunch to give me the time I needed. I was thrilled to see the archaeological digs and to see how deep the history goes there. There was also a computer 3D model of the temple and the changes that happened over the centuries. As my oldest son wants to go into 3D animation, that also made it very interesting on that level. I learned that the wailing wall isn't the only wall left standing of the temple as I had thought, it is part of the base of the temple mount and it is just the closest area (other than the tunnels underneath) to where the temple stood. We were allowed to go right up to the wall of the temple mount that had the main gates going into it in Jesus' time. They had even uncovered some of the original steps which I cherished walking, and sitting on. I don't know how much longer they will let people do that, but what a privilege to experience it now! There had been a muslim palace built right over it but the palace was destoyed by an earthquake centuries ago. It wasn't until recently that the rubble was removed and the area was opened to the public. There was only 4 of us there as most tours don't give their people enough time to explore that area or most don't know about it. I agreed with a mennonite man who was there when he said it was a hidden jewel, and he couldn't believe the area wasn't crowded with tourists. When I looked at my watch I couldn't believe 2 hours had passed so quickly so I had to rush out, run up a gazillion stairs and make my way through the old town to meet the Fantastic Four. We continued our rampart walk on the other side of the Jaffa gate. By now it was 2 pm and very hot. We trudged along, not as enthusiastically as before, but we still enjoyed peering into the backyards and rooftops of the homes and schools of the old city. I was surprised at the life and community in the old city, the schools, sports fields, kids playing. I had never thought of old Jerusalem as an actual community. Anyway, we marched on, sweating and
grasping for any whiff of breeze that came our way. Finally, an hour and a half later, we reached the Lion gate on the other side of the city. We could see the Muslim cementary there and we know the prophecies that say Messiah (Jesus) will come again through the Eastern gate. We also knew that the muslims had fulfilled the prophecy from Ezekiel 44:1,2 which says "Then the man brought me out to the outer gate of the sanctuary, the one facing east, and it was shut. the Lord said to me, "This gate is to remain shut. it must not be opened; no one may enter through it. It is to remain shut because the Lord, the God of Israel has entered through it." That had happened on Palm Sunday and the muslims, hearing the prophesy of the Lord's second coming to be the Eastern gate, decided to seal the gate and put their graveyards right up to it as they knew rabbinical jews would not defile themselves going over dead bodies. Anyway.......we determined that we wanted to see the gate up close so we walked through the graveyard and came right up to the gate. You have never in your life seen people more excited about a sealed
up gate. We prayed and sang and cried. Oh , to be where our Savior will soon be again!
Time flew by again, and we decided to catch a cab to the King of Kings church whose services start at 5. We waited for a cab, to no avail, then decided to pray, not just for a cab, but a van that would fit all of us. Within minutes a van cab showed up and we piled in. As it turned out, we liked him, and hired him to take a tour next Saturday up to the Galilee. We made it to church on time, the worship was amazing, including a song about the gate being opened and the King coming in. The sermon was probably good but myself and a couple other of the fab five kept falling asleep because we were so exhausted from our amazing day.
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