Day 11
June 4, Tuesday {the ending}
Our tour is coming to an end, we can feel it, the very air is
changing around us…we want to prolong the moments, to make them last, but resolve
to know that all good things come to an end.
We are at The Israel Museum; the Knesset sits proudly in view, flag
flying, waving in the breeze, marking the Israeli Parliament building, built
from the red stones of Jerusalem. We are at the museum to visit the Shrine of the
Book; the home for one of the greatest finds of God’s word. We stand on the
grand patio flanked on one side by the White Dome representing the ‘sons of
light’ and on the other, by the Black Wall depicting the ‘sons of darkness’; these
two designs, enticing thought and emotion, are a testament to the way God preserves
His Word. On the outside, the White Dome mirrors the lids of the jars that held
the scrolls; copies of the Old Testament that remained hidden for over two
thousand years; writings of the Essenes. Inside, in a circular room, looking up
to the contours of the white dome; under low lighting; in cold temperatures, unrolled
and behind glass, are the Dead Sea Scrolls…Holy.
We move slowly; yes, prolonging the moments; taking in the weight of
these unrolled scrolls…the unchanging word of God…Holy.
“The making of many
books is without limits…
In particular those
which make for the welfare of soul and body”
Josephus Flaveous
We wind our way down to the model of Second Temple Period Jerusalem;
an amazing ‘lego’ like structure built to scale, a representation of the city
of Jerusalem. These two weeks we have
been touring the walled city and here it all comes together, seen in the scan
of the eye. And we have been able to put
all of Jesus’ travels into the perspective of His time, out of our imagination
and into His real world. We have discovered
that every place where Jesus goes in Jerusalem is but the scan of an eye. Here, standing on the hill; look there and
there and over there…some places touching one another or connected by a narrow cobbled
roadway or a tiered stairway or an open gate; an arched doorway; a roof top.
From this fabulous model, David takes us on a tour, where we can see
every move and every place; he maps out the route from the Mount of Olives
looking out to the Kidron Valley to Mount Moriah; to the City of David and into
the Old City; the Muslim quarter, the Jewish quarter, into the Christian quarter and
the Armenian quarter; all the gates we entered in, Herods Gate, the Zion Gate,
the Jaffa Gate and the Dung Gate; every building, every home, house and roof top…the hidden waterways; to the Garden of Gethsemane and over there to Golgotha. Up to the
Western Wall, the Temple Mount, the common steps where Jesus entered in...and where we stood too.
“I rejoice with those who said to me; let us go to the house of the LORD.
Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem.”
Psalm 122:1-2
Our eyes scan the breadth of it, around the walls, inside the gates; we take it in, all of this filling our hearts souls and minds ...prolonging the moments.
I love that.
