So, today is Saturday, May 21st and most of you know it's the day that it was predicted to be the end of the world and Jesus would come again...of course, we know that Jesus said, no one will know the day or the time, but hey, a reminder he could come back at any time...
On top of that, we were scheduled to be on the Mount of Olives that morning, where Jesus is suppose to come back and bring the dead in Christ first and then those who are still living will be caught up with Him in heaven...so I'm thinking, wouldn't it be cool to have a front row seat for all of this...sadly, I was disappointed that He didn't return as we walked on the Mount of Olives, but still had an amazing day...
We all saw the billboards telling us of the immanent return of Christ, I laughed when I saw this picture of the billboard put up the day after May 21...gotta keep a sense of humor!:)
You need to know that the Mount of Olives is just outside the walls of the city of Jerusalem...directly across from the Mount of Olives is the Golden Gate, the Gate Jesus came into when he rode in on the donkey on Palm Sunday...it's the gate that the Jews still look for the Messiah to come in...we as Christians believe that has already happened...as you can see by the picture, right now the gate is sealed up....
Also, the Jews who are able, have their loved ones buried on the Mount of Olives in the hope of the Resurrection, so you see all these boxes which have the bones of the Jews who have died, awaiting the resurrection...very powerful...
We were, by no means, the only ones one the Mount of Olives today...
We then went to the foot of the Mount of Olives where the Garden of Gethsemane is. This, of course, is the place Jesus went to pray before he was betrayed and then crucified. There is a church there (there is a church in the place of every significant event of Jesus' life!). It is dark inside to commemorate the darkness of that time, very powerful...
As we were there, this little lady from an unknown country speaking an unknown language came up to Jeff and through sign language explained that she wanted him to get up on the fence and grab an olive branch from one of the trees for her...Jeff did his best until a guide came and said that was frowned upon...all the branches are just out of reach so people can't do such things...such a cool story though!
Some of the trees in the garden are very old, like at least a thousand years old...some say that some of the trees are even as old as 2000 years and could have been there when Jesus was there...doubtful, but wouldn't it be cool if they were there as Jesus sweat drops of blood preparing to bear the sins of the world...
From there we went into the city of Jerusalem along the Via Dolorosa...I'll speak of that next...
When I was in Athens the guide pointed out some trees that had been around for about 2500 years. So maybe those trees WERE around when Jesus walked the earth!
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