We depart Los Angeles International Airport on an overnight journey to Israel.

We land at Ben Gurion Airport, where our guide will meet us and help us through arrivals before we board our private, deluxe motor coach for the short drive into Tel Aviv. If time allows, we will stop first in the ancient port town of Jaffa, where Peter received the vision recorded in Acts 10 on the rooftop of Simon the Tanner’s house. In that vision, God showed Peter a sheet lowered from heaven filled with animals and told him, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” The vision prepared Peter to go to the household of Cornelius, a Roman centurion, and it was there that God made plain what the vision meant: that the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the salvation He offers, was not for Jews only but for the Gentiles as well. Jaffa marks the turning point where the good news began moving out to the whole world. Dinner and overnight Tel Aviv Area. Herods Herzliya or similar. (D)

After breakfast, we check out of our hotel and travel to Caesarea Maritima, the grand coastal city built by Herod the Great and later a center of Roman administration. Its Roman, Byzantine, and Crusader ruins still stand along the shore. Here we will recount the story of Cornelius, the Roman centurion who became one of the first Gentile believers, and we will trace how Caesarea served as a launching point for the Apostle Paul’s journeys, through which the Gospel spread west into the Roman Empire and beyond. From Caesarea we continue to Mount Carmel, where the prophet Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal in one of the Old Testament’s great demonstrations of the Lord’s power. We will discuss why Elijah chose this site for the contest and what the account still teaches us about faithfulness to God in the face of opposition. After lunch on your own, we travel to Nazareth, the town where Jesus was raised. We will climb the Mount of Precipice, the hillside associated with the moment recorded in Luke 4, when the people of His hometown rejected Him and tried to drive Him from the town. From this height, overlooking the Jezreel Valley, we will also talk about why many Christians identify this plain as the setting for the climactic battle described in Revelation 16:16. We then continue on to the Sea of Galilee, passing through Cana, where Jesus performed His first recorded miracle, turning water into wine at a wedding feast. We check in to our hotel upon arrival. Dinner and overnight at the Sea of Galilee, Nof Ginnosar or similar. (B, D)

Overnight Sea of Galilee area.

This morning we visit the Ancient Boat Museum, home to a 2,000-year-old fishing boat recovered from the floor of the Sea of Galilee, a vivid reminder of the world Jesus and His disciples knew. We then set sail ourselves on a replica of that same style of boat, taking in the water and the surrounding hills much as the disciples once did. From there we visit the Mount of Beatitudes, traditionally identified as the site of the Sermon on the Mount, and we will spend time reflecting on that teaching. We continue to Capernaum, the town Jesus made the base of His Galilean ministry and the site of many of His miracles. After lunch on your own, we travel to Tabgha to visit the Church of the Primacy of Peter, built at the traditional site of Jesus’ third post-resurrection appearance to His disciples, when He restored Peter and commissioned him to “feed my sheep.” We then continue to the Jordan River, where those who wish will have the opportunity to renew their baptismal vows, before visiting Magdala, hometown of Mary Magdalene. Dinner and overnight at the Sea of Galilee, Nof Ginnosar or similar. (B, D)

This morning we leave Galilee and follow the Jordan Valley south to Beit Shean, once the leading city of the Decapolis and among the best-preserved Roman and Byzantine sites in the country. We will recall the account of King Saul’s death, whose body, along with those of his sons, was hung on the city walls after the battle at Gilboa. After lunch on your own near Jericho, we visit the Tel of Jericho, the mound of ancient ruins that many believe holds the remains of the city walls that fell before Joshua and the Israelites. We continue to the traditional site along the Jordan River associated with the ministry of John the Baptist. From there we travel to Qumran, the settlement above the Dead Sea where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered by a Bedouin shepherd in 1947. We will see the caves and the ruins of the community that produced them before transferring to our hotel in Jerusalem. Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem, Grand Court or similar. (B, D)

We begin the day at Masada, the mountaintop fortress built by Herod the Great and famous as the site of the Jewish defenders’ last stand against Rome in 73 or 74 AD. A cable car will carry us up to see the ruins, now recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. From Masada we continue to Ein Gedi, the desert oasis where David hid from King Saul and where several of the Psalms are believed to have been written. In the afternoon we will have free time at one of the Dead Sea beaches before returning to our hotel in Jerusalem. Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem, Grand Court or similar. (B, D)

After breakfast, we visit the City of David, the oldest settled part of Jerusalem, including the Pool of Siloam, where Jesus healed the man born blind, and the newly excavated Pilgrimage Road, which pilgrims once walked on their way up to the Temple. We continue to the Southern Wall excavations, where the retaining walls of the Temple Mount are still visible, and we will pause at the ancient steps that once served as the main entrance to the Temple, where rabbis taught their disciples. From Jerusalem we travel to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus. We begin at the Shepherds’ Fields, the traditional location where the angels announced Christ’s birth to shepherds keeping watch over their flocks, and which is also associated with the events of the Book of Ruth. We then visit the Church of the Nativity to see the traditional site of Christ’s birth before returning to our hotel. Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem, Grand Court or similar. (B, D)

This morning we walk to the Western Wall, the surviving retaining wall of the Temple Mount and the holiest site in Judaism, before ascending the Temple Mount itself to discuss its central place in both the Old and New Testaments. We continue to St. Anne’s Church and the nearby Pools of Bethesda, the traditional site where Jesus healed the paralyzed man described in John 5. From there we go to the Mount of Olives for a panoramic orientation over the Old City, tying together the biblical events tied to Jerusalem and the prophecies of Christ’s return. We then visit the Israel Museum to see the Second Temple Period Model of Jerusalem, a 1:50 scale reconstruction of the city as it appeared in the first century AD, and the Shrine of the Book, home to the Dead Sea Scrolls. We will also spend time in the archaeological wing, focusing on artifacts connected to biblical history. We close the day with a visit to the Upper Room, traditionally identified as the site of the Last Supper. Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem, Grand Court or similar. (B, D)

We begin by walking the Palm Sunday Road down to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed in agony the night before His crucifixion and was betrayed and arrested. Nearby we visit the traditional site of the house of Caiaphas, the high priest before whom Jesus was tried, and the Ecce Homo site, associated with Pilate’s presentation of Jesus to the crowd. From there we walk the Via Dolorosa, the traditional route of Christ’s path to the cross, ending at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built over the site many believe to be Golgotha and the tomb of Christ. We close the day at the Garden Tomb, the alternate site many visitors associate with Christ’s burial and resurrection, and we will have time there for quiet reflection and worship. Your flight home may depart late tonight or the following day. If the following day and an overnight is required, overnight in Jerusalem, Grand Court or similar. (B, D)

For those continuing on to Jordan, we depart Jerusalem and cross the border at the historic Allenby Bridge, with departure fees included. En route to Petra, we stop at Mount Nebo, the mountain from which Moses viewed the Promised Land before his death. Dinner and overnight in Petra, Petra Moon or similar (B, D)

After breakfast and check-out, we spend the day exploring Petra, the ancient rock-carved city and one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Afterward, we transfer to Amman. Your flight home may depart late tonight or the following day. If the following day and an overnight is required, overnight Amman, Amman International or similar (B, D)

Your flight home may depart the previous night or today. If today and time allows, breakfast is included today. Either way, later today we will arrive back in Los Angeles (LAX).