Depart the USA for Tel Aviv

Welcome to Israel! You will be met at the Tel Aviv airport and transferred to your hotel in Tiberias for dinner and your overnight stay.

At the peaceful Mount of Beatitudes overlooking the Sea of Galilee, reflect on the words of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. In Capernaum, stand in the ruins of the 4th-century synagogue built on the site of the synagogue in which Jesus taught. See the excavations that include where Peter’s house is thought to have been located. Continue to Kursi, considered part of the region of the Gadarenes in Christ’s time and remember where He cast the demons into the swine. Today’s boat ride on the Sea of Galilee will help you understand the special place this lake had in Jesus’ ministry. Finish the day at the Yardenit Baptismal Site of the Jordan River, where you can renew your baptism.

Today, experience the northern regions of Israel. Walk the streets of Chorazim, described as a “city of woe” by Jesus. Continue to Tel Dan, one of ancient Israel’s boundary markers, “From Dan to Beersheba,” and journey to Caesarea Philippi, where Peter proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah. Travel through the Golan Heights and better understand their strategic importance to the security of Israel.

This morning, travel to the Mediterranean coast at Caesarea Maritima, where Paul was brought for trial before Festus and King Agrippa before his journey to Rome. See the extensive ruins, including the ancient theater and aqueduct. Travel the ancient caravan route to Tel Megiddo, where 20 different cities lie superimposed upon each other, overlooking the plains of Armageddon. Visit Nazareth, the boyhood home of Jesus, and stand on Mount Precipice, the place where an enraged hometown mob attempted to throw Jesus off the cliff. Return to Tiberias for dinner and your overnight stay.

Bid the Galilee farewell as you travel south along the Jordan River. Your first stop will be Beit Shean, a city continuously inhabited for over 5,000 years and which was part of the Decapolis in Jesus’ day. Explore the theater, Roman bath and colonnaded streets. Travel through the Jordan River Valley, the route often taken by Jesus and other Galileans as they traveled to and from Jerusalem. View the Dead Sea, the area of Sodom and Gomorrah and the lowest place on earth that is above water. Pass through the Judean Wilderness paralleling the ancient Roman road to Jerusalem to check into your hotel for dinner and your overnight stay.

Stand on the Mount of Olives, where Jesus ascended into Heaven forty days after His resurrection, and take in the remarkable panoramic view of the city of Jerusalem. Walk the Palm Sunday Road down to the Garden of Gethsemane and pray among the olive trees. Visit Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus. Look out on the Shepherds’ Field, where angels spread the Good News.

Journey to Mount Zion to stand in the Upper Room, revered as the place of the Last Supper, and view the traditional site of King David’s Tomb. Walk through some of the ancient rooms in the House of the High Priest Caiaphas. It is believed it was here where Jesus was held overnight before His crucifixion. At the Davidson Center, sit on the 2,000-year-old Southern Steps that once led into the Herodian Temple complex on the Temple Mount. At the first-century model of the city of Jerusalem, gain a better understanding of Jerusalem at the time of Christ.

Walk through portions of the Old City of Jerusalem and visit the Pool of Bethesda, where the man who was sick for 38 years was healed on the Sabbath. See some of the streets known as the Via Dolorosa and walk along the Cardo, the ancient marketplace where sights and sounds of modern shops mingle with ruins dating back to the Judean monarchy. Reflect on the agony of the cross at Gordon’s Calvary and at the Garden Tomb, and experience the exhilaration of Jesus’ resurrection.

Return home with a transformed faith and memories to last a lifetime.