Gethsemane

The Garden of Gethsemane is near the Mount of Olives. Olive trees still grow here including some, as pictured above, which may be over 2000 years old. Gethsemane is the place where Jesus prayed and prepared for the cross. Near these olive trees, Jesus poured out His heart in passionate prayer to the Father and surrendered His will to God’s purpose in saving mankind. He was to “taste death for every one” (Heb 2:9). Jesus lived all his life under the shadow of the cross, and now it was time to drink the cup of suffering for all our sins. The Bible tells us that He sweated drops of blood as He agonized over the prospect of His imminent death. As gruesome as the physical suffering of the cross was, greater still was the terrible prospect of experiencing spiritual death. In this very garden where Jesus prayed-- we prayed. Individually and in small groups we prayed the prayer of Jesus “Not my will but Your will be done” I prayed with our family members on the trip - Deb, our daughter Kelly, our son Josh and his wife of two months Kaytie. We prayed to know and do God’s will, and just as Jesus fulfilled His destiny, so would we. Jesus came to seek and save the lost (Luke 16:11)… So His passion is our purpose as well. Here in this ancient garden Jesus surrendered fully to the Father and went to Gethsemane to Calvary for you and me. Our group walked away from the garden with an enormous sense of gratitude for what Jesus has done for us.

Pilate’s Pavement

As if that wasn’t emotional enough, we also gathered the group at the Antonio Fortress that contains pavement etched with Roman games dating back to the time of Christ. This means we were looking at the place where Jesus was mocked and beaten by Roman soldiers and then tried and convicted in the court of Pontius Pilate. Here the precious blood of Jesus was poured out. We stood under a first century arch where Pilate said “Ecce Homo” which means, “Behold the Man.” If you saw the movie the Passion of the Christ you will recall the violent beating of Jesus… beaten and bloody He was then led away to the cross to die. Rick Briscoe sang, “Behold the Lamb” and we walked away in silence remembering the One who was slain before the foundation of the world. His love for each one of us is eternal and we are forever saved because of what Christ did for us at Calvary.


To experience a Biblical-spiritual trip to Israel is to never be the same. I can’t wait to tell you more the next time- Jack