Israel Expedition with Abingdon Baptist Church

The day has arrived and we board our ground transfer which will take us from Abingdon Baptist Church to Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT). Once at the airport we will begin our overnight journey to Israel.

Today we arrive in Israel at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport. Time permitting, we visit the ancient town of Jaffa wherePeter had his vision on the roof top of the house of Simon the Tanner. Metropolitan Hotel or similar. D.

Overnight Tel Aviv

This morning after breakfast, we travel towards Caesarea Maritima (entrance included), where we will have a brief visit to the magnificent city with Roman, Byzantine, and Crusader ruins. Here we will elaborate on the story of the baptism of Cornelius, the first gentile convert to Christianity, and on the travels of Paul — those events that led Caesarea Maritima to become the springboard of Christianity to the West. We continue to Mount Carmel (entrance included) and consider the contest between the Prophet Elijah and the false prophets of Baal, discussing the reasons why the Prophet chose that place for the contest, and the lessons we learn from the story. We visit Tel Megiddo, which offers a view of the Armageddon Valley. Then it’s on to Nazareth where we will climb the Mount of Precipice, the brow of the hill on which the city was built. There we will reflect on the rejection of Jesus by his family and friends in Nazareth. While there overlooking the Armageddon Valley, we will also discuss the reasons why we believe this will be the setting for the final battle between good and evil mentioned in Revelation 16:16. We depart for the Sea of Galilee, passing Cana of Galilee where Jesus preformed his first miracle. Leonardo Club or similar. B, D.

Overnight Tiberias

This morning we visit the ancient boat museum containing a recently-discovered 2000-year-old fishing boat (entrance included). We then sail on the Sea of Galilee on a replica of that boat (included). Afterwards, we will drive to Magdala (entrance included) the hometown of Miriam Magdalena. Then we will visit the Mount of Beatitudes and discuss the sermon on the Mount. We visit Capernaum (entrance included), Jesus’ Galilean ministry base. We enjoy a lunch of St. Peters’ Fish (included), before moving on to Tabgha where we will see the Primacy of Peter where Jesus appeared to the disciples for the third time after the resurrection. Our last stop of the day will be to the Jordan River where you will get a chance to be baptized. Leonardo Club or similar. B, L, D.

Overnight Tiberias

After a buffet breakfast, we leave the area of Galilee, following the Jordan Valley Road to Beth Shean (entrance included), the capital of the Decapolis. There we will see the ruins of the Roman and Byzantine cities. We will also discuss the demise of King Saul and his sons, whose bodies were hanged on the walls of Beth Shean. We will then continue traveling south to Bet Arabah where John the Baptist was baptizing on the Jordan River. We will visit the Tel of Jericho (entrance included) with its ancient ruins, pointing out what possibly could be the foundations of the ramparts that Joshua and the Israelites brought down. This afternoon we visit Qumran (entrance included), the location where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found by a Bedouin boy in 1947. There we will see the caves and other buildings where the Essenes, the group of Jews who wrote the scrolls, lived. Grand Court or similar. B, D.

Overnight Jerusalem

This morning we travel to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus. We begin with a visit to the Shepherds’ Field, where the angels appeared to the shepherds and announced the birth of Our Lord. These fields are also the setting of some of the events of the Book of Ruth. We travel to the Church of the Nativity and view the actual place where, according to ancient tradition, Our Lord was born. This afternoon we travel to the Israel Museum (entrance included), where we will visit the Second Temple Period Model of Jerusalem, a 1:50 scaled model of the city from the 1st century AD, followed by a visit the Shrine of the Book where the Dead Sea Scrolls are on exhibit, in addition to the archeological section where many artifacts are displayed. We will pay special attention to those items that relate to Bible history. Grand Court or similar. B, D.

Overnight Jerusalem

We begin our day visiting Masada (entrance and cable car included), the fortress built by King Herod the Great and made famous by the Zealots in 73/74 AD with their standoff against the Romans. We visit the fortress and see the ruins that are considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. We then continue to Ein Gedi, the oasis in the desert where the meeting between David and King Saul took place and where many of the psalms were written by David. In the afternoon free time will be given at one of the Dead Sea beaches. Grand Court or similar. B, D.

Overnight Jerusalem

This morning we enter the Old City and visit the Western Wall, a section of the Western retaining wall of the Temple Mount, and Judaism’s holiest site. We will ascend the Temple Mount, discussing its connection to both the Old and New Testaments. Then it’s on to visit St Anne’s church (entrance included) and the nearby Pools of Bethesda where the healing at the pool took place. We continue our day with an orientation over the holy city from the Mount of Olives, pointing out important locations within the Old City, connecting them with Biblical stories and prophecies about the return of Jesus. We will walk down the Palm Sunday Procession Road. We visit the Upper Room, the traditional place of the Last Supper. Grand Court or similar. B, D.

Overnight Jerusalem

We begin our day with a visit the Garden of Gethsemane, where we walk between the ancient olive trees. We visit the home of the High Priest, Caiaphas (entrance included). We visit the Southern Wall excavations (entrance included) where ruins of the retaining walls of the Temple Mount are still visible. We then gather at the teaching steps, the main entrance to the Temple where Rabbis met and taught their disciples. After lunch we walk the Via Dolorosa, the traditional path that Jesus walked from the Antonia Fortress to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is a potential site of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial and resurrection. Then it’s on the the Garden Tomb (entrance included), another potential site. Here we will worship together and celebrate communion. The balance of the day will be spent at leisure in Jerusalem. Grand Court or similar. B, D.

Your flight home may depart either late tonight or the following day. If the following day, and an overnight is required, overnight Jerusalem.

Your flight home may depart either the previous night or today. If today and time allows, breakfast is included today. Either way, today we arrive back at CLT, where we will meet our transfer which will take us back to Abingdon Baptist Church.