Jerusalem

For our first day inside the city of Jerusalem, we began at the city wall. The old city of Jerusalem was completely enclosed by a large wall and eight gates. The city is divided into four religious groups that all believe this city is significant to their religion. The Armenians, a form of Orthodox Christianity, and Christians believe this is the city where Jesus taught and was crucified. The Jewish and Muslim religions believe that the Temple Mount, which is supposedly Mt. Moriah, the mountain where Abraham was going to sacrifice Issac, is the center of their religion. The Temple Mount happens to take up a majority of the Old City. It is the meaning behind their entire belief system. This is part of the reason why Jerusalem has been fought over for years. These two religions have fought over the Temple Mount, also known as the Dome of the Rock, for thousands of years. The first temple constructed on Mt. Moriah was by King Solomon and was destroyed on 9/11 in 516 BC. Shortly after that King Herod built a second temple on Mt. Moriah and it was also destroyed on 9/11 in 19 BC. Those dates coincide with the destruction of the World Trade Centers on 9/11 in 2001. Muslims currently have rights over the Temple Mount and they have built a huge masque and a large octagonal shaped building with a golden roof over the rock which is called the Dome of the Rock. This dome was constructed in 7th century. Because the Muslims own the Temple Mount, they can control who can go to and from the rock. They say that only Muslims are allowed inside the Temple Mount. This is such a devastating thing for the Jewish religion and because they are not allowed in they have created what is known today as the Wailing Wall or the Western Wall. This wall is a small portion of the western wall of the Temple Mount that the Jews have marked off as spot for them to go pray to the sacred Dome of the Rock. It is a very interesting thing to witness hundreds of people, as close as they can get to this wall, praying in a language that you do not understand. We were very privileged to take a tour of the western wall tunnels. In 1864, an Englishman named Charles Wilson discovered many tunnels that ran all along the Western Wall. In this discovery, they discovered the closest point that anyone who is not Muslim can get to the Dome of Rock. It is exactly 270 feet from Mount Moriah.

City Gate

Temple Mount in the Distance

Temple Mount

Closest Point to Mount Moriah

Western/Wailing Wall

Underneath the Temple Mount

From the discovery of the tunnels, Charles Warren discovered the ancient city of King David in 1867. This city is mentioned in Genesis 14, 2 Chronicles 3, and 2 Samuel 5. Warren was also from England and was 27 when he made this miraculous discovery. From the discovery of this city, we found what is known as present day Hezekiah's Tunnel. This was a tunnel that ran under the City of David. It was used to retrieve water if the city was under attack so that the people could continue living. We had the chance to walk down this tunnel. It is around a mile long, pitch black, and the water at some points came up to my thigh. It was so cool! While we were walking down the tunnel, we even got to sing. It was pretty incredible to be able to sing praises to God while walking right beside the city of so many biblical stories.

Water Level in Hezekiah's Tunnel

Walking into the tunnel

After Hezekiah's Tunnel, we went to St. Peter's Gallicantu. What is that exactly? It is a church built over Caiaphas' house. This is the house where Jesus spent hi last night on Earth before his crucifixion. We were blessed to be able to walk down into this room and read from Psalms 88. This room was a solid cement hole. Back then, there were no doors or steps. They lowered Jesus down a tiny hole in the ceiling. It was awful.

Next, we went to the exact location of the Upper Room, also known as where the Last Supper took place. It was not the same building, but we are positive that it was the exact spot.

After that, we went to the supposed tomb of King David. We were told by our tour guide that we are pretty sure that David was not buried here, but for now this is the official spot of his burial. It was a very interesting but I got kind of aggravated because while we were in there it was very difficult to get a picture. People were worshipping the tomb like it was something special. I agree that David was an important guy and all but you are only to worship the one true God.

Next, we went to the Dormition Church which is where some of the world believes Mary's tomb resides. In the world, there are three different views on where Mary was buried. Some people believe she was buried in Ephesus, some people believe she was buried in Jerusalem, and a few believe that she transcended.

After that, we went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is an Orthodox church outside the city walls. Inside this church is where many people believe Jesus was crucified and buried. When you enter the church, there is a large building in the middle. Inside the building, there are two rooms, one where candles can be lit and the other is the room where Jesus laid in the tomb. Upstairs, there is an area marked off as Golgotha, the place where Jesus was crucified. You can go up and "touch tthe mountain" by reaching in a hole in the floor.

Golgotha

Outside the Church

Tomb of Jesus

Entrance to the Tomb

Entrance inside Tomb to the room where Jesus laid

Table where he laid

Room where Jesus laid

Outside of Tomb

To finish up our day, we went to the Garden Tomb, another possible place where Jesus could have been buried. It was very interesting because in the bible it mentions that Jesus was crucified on Golgotha which means 'Place of the Skull' and this place just happened to have a place in the rock that looked like a skull. They also found a tomb that could have possibly been where Jesus was laid. It may not have been the place where Jesus was buried, but it looked exactly how I imagined it to look.