Caesarea Maritima - Mount Carmel - Megiddo

We began our first day in Israel by visiting the well-known, ancient, biblical city of Caesarea. This city was absolutely perfect. It sat right on the Mediterranean Sea. The city was built by Herod the Great. He wanted a different palace that everyone would be amazed by. So, he built the city of Caesarea and built his palace out into the sea. It was an architectural feat, but in the end it turned out to be astronomical. Paul was actually imprisoned in this palace for two years. They had a very well preserved theater that is still use today for events. They also had a well preserved stadium that was used for chariot races and other events. Behind the city, there were remains of a crusader fortress. What does that mean you ask? That means that Christians fought for this city and their faith back during the Holy Land Wars. But.. right across from it was a masque. Ugh. The Muslims tried to take over. But I have faith that the Christians did not let them and that they all were strong in faith. This was one of my favorite places that we have been to so far.

Standing in front of the remains of Herod's palace where Paul was imprisoned

Stadium

Crusader fortress

Pretty daisy that reminded me of home

Muslim masque

Theater

Pretty cool mosaic of Romans 13:3

After visiting the city, we visited the aqueduct on the outskirts. It was used to bring the city water and is still very well intact. It was pretty cool.

Next, we went to Mount Carmel and it was amazing. This is the exact spot where Elijah built the offering to God. The story goes like this: This group of people who were followers of Baal are tempting Elijah and saying that his God is not real. Elijah told all of the followers of Baal to meet him on top of Mt. Carmel. Once they all got up there, he told them to prepare a bull on the altar to Baal and he did the same on the altar to God. He said do not set the fire, we will both call on our own god and whichever god lights their bull on fire first, he is the true god. The followers of Baal danced and shouted form morning until noon but nothing happened. Elijah taunted them saying that maybe their god was busy. They continued shouting and dancing until evening and nothing happened. Then, Elijah said come to the altar of my god. He told them to soak the altar and wood. They did this three times. Then, Elijah prayed to God. Fire reigned down from the heavens and burned up the water, bull, wood, stones of the altar, and even the dirt around it. It was such an amazing miracle and I was standing on that mountain! If you want to read the whole story, it is in 1 Kings 18.

To end our day, we took a trip out to Megiddo, also known as Armageddon. This place is mentioned by John in Revelation 16. He basically says the end battle of all persecution will happen here. Most conservative Christians believe that this is where the end of the world will happen. It was a pretty cool place archaeologically because so many wars have been fought here in fear of the end of world. It was like a quadruple layered pie. There were so many layers to acknowledge in this one place. 

Model of ancient Meggido

Water reservoir