Good Friday…

Good Friday is the holiest day of the year in the Christian calendar. It is a day of remembrance and… a day of sorrow. But it’s also a day that we, as humans, are reconciled to our Lord and Savior.

From the beginning of the Bible in Genesis through to Revelation, the entire story, His story, is revealed.

God the Father knew man would sin before He created the universe. So, it wasn’t a surprise to Him when man fell in the garden in Genesis 3. Throughout the Bible, we see God’s plan of salvation in the form of Jesus Christ.

Although there may be those who do not believe in the Bible, but for those of us who do, Good Friday is a day of remembrance to reflect on the impact Jesus had on society in His day through the centuries to today.

I marvel at His capacity to love us so much that He willingly went to the cross and died for our sins so we could live with Him in eternity. It’s what we, as Christians, believe.

About ten years ago, my husband and I had the distinct privilege of visiting Israel with our church. The ten-day trip took us to the Sea of Galilee where we boarded a boat and had a Bible Study in the very area where Jesus walked on water.

We visited many places while there: Nazareth, Capernaum (where the Apostle Peter lived), Masada, Tel Dan, the Valley of Megiddo (where the battle of Armageddon will be held), Ein Gedi (where David hid from Saul), the Jordan river (where John the Baptist baptized Jesus), the Dead Sea, Gideon’s Spring (where God culled Gideon’s army to three hundred men), and finally Jerusalem.

We traveled underground and walked the length of one wall of the temple mount. The wall’s stones, which were at least twenty to thirty feet long and four to five feet high, had no mortar between them. It was simply astounding. I stood in wonder at the feat of building such a wall in ancient times. But what happened at the end of the quarter mile trek to the corner of the temple wall would be something that would stay with me for the rest of my life. Our guide told us the stones we were standing on were the same stones that were in the streets of Jerusalem in ancient times. I imagined Jesus walking through Jerusalem on the very stones I was standing on.

But there was more…

Struck by the stark beauty of the thousand-year-old Olive trees in the garden of Gethsemane located at the foot of the Mount of Olives, we stood in awe of them. While there are paths and the garden seemed small to me, I imagine it wasn’t small in ancient times. Most likely, there were no paths or walls surrounding it.

We stood on a platform and stared at Golgotha, also known as the place of the skull, where the crucifixion of Jesus took place. Sadly, it is now a parking lot for a bus station. But on the stony hill above the blacktop, the eyes and the nose of the skull are still visible. But photos from the 1800s show the entire face of the skull.

 

On the last day of our trip, we visited the tomb. It is empty. Empty because Jesus arose on the third day is in heaven preparing a place for His bride, the church

Having been a believer for many years, the Bible came alive for me while in Israel and I could see Jesus every place we visited where he walked.

Visiting Israel right before Easter left us with an indelible impression, a reverence for the Almighty. And I will never be the same.