Day 7: The Upper room, Garden Tomb

We had lunch at a place where the common foods are offered, Flafel and Shwarma...Both are pita bread sandwiches, Flafel is made with ground chickpeas, so is a vegetarian sandwich and the Shwarma is made with chicken...both are great!

We also found the local Lutheran Church which is just outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre...their bells ring out at noon everyday!

We then went to the Upper Room where Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with His disciples and instituted the Lord's Supper where he revealed that HE was the Passover lamb and that the bread is His body, the wine is His blood...

The Upper Room is also the place where the disciples were when the day of Pentecost came as we read in Acts 2. So as we were in this room, I read the story from Acts 2...I have really enjoyed sharing Scripture lessons as we have gone to different places...

This Upper Room is also in the area where King David was buried, so there is a statue right outside this room as you can see...

From there we went to a place called the Garden Tomb. For most of us, this was the highlight of the trip. While many believe that Jesus was crucified and buried at the location of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, there was as a discovery in the last 100 years of a possible alternative for Golgotha.

It has, in the stone around it, something that looks like a skull in the rocks, there was a garden or vineyard back in the time of Jesus there and there is a tomb that fits the type where Jesus was buried. Regardless of whether this is the actual place where Jesus was buried, it was for most of us, a much more authentic experience since there isn't a shrine built around it, far more contemplative and powerful!

The organization that runs it is also very evangelical and are very good at sharing the message of Christ and the power of His resurrection. They also gave us place to talk about our experience and then to have communion together...I shared the gospel account in Luke 24 of the women who came to the tomb and the angels that asked, "Why do you look for the living among the dead, he is not here, he is risen!!!" He is risen indeed...it was an amazing time that touched all of our hearts!

Full of grace and God's presence we left to our hotel...thanks be to God!