The Isaiah Scroll

The final day of our trip was a free day. My friend and I went to a local shopping area, as well as to the Israel Museum to see the Isaiah scroll. 

It was so neat to see the oldest remaining whole Isaiah scroll—1000 years older than any others' previously found!

The museum also had a model of the Second Temple, which was pretty cool to see!

Via Dolorosa

The Via Dolorosa, or "Way of Suffering", is the traditional path believed to have been taken by Jesus to the cross in the Catholic faith.

Along the way are 14 stations where it's believed certain things happened as depicted in the Bible, like Simon of Cyrene picking up the cross, or where Jesus stopped and talked with Mary.

In addition to going to the Garden Tomb and seeing the possible location of Calvary nearby, we walked the Via Dolorosa to experience this as well. There were different churches along the way, and the road wound through a particularly crowded section of the city. We walked single file through a market in the narrow streets until we reached the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Included in this church were the locations where it is also believed Jesus was beaten, crucified, buried, and then rose again. It was dark, crowded, and difficult to see, and I personally didn't experience the same peace and confirmation as I felt in the Garden. In addition, there are some pretty valid arguments of this location being inside the city walls at the time. However, it was still beautiful to see this place of worship.

The View from the Mount of Olives

The view from the Mount of Olives is beautiful. From the top, you can see down into the Kidron Valley and back up into Jerusalem. We know that this is the road Jesus took when entering the city on a donkey on Palm Sunday. It's also a road lined with important landmarks, like old cemetery, where the first person buried was Absalom, David's son.

Walking down this road, I couldn't help thinking of Jesus and how He wept for Jerusalem as He entered that final time. And, I can't help but notice the sealed gate and the cemetery in front of it.

See, the Bible says that when Jesus returns to stand on this earth, He will first set foot on the Mount of Olives. He'll have to pass through both a cemetery (unclean for a Jew) and a sealed gate in order to get to the Temple Mount. 

Something tells me that won't be a problem.

The Jerusalem Cross

The Jerusalem cross is a beautiful symbol found throughout Israel.

Formed by one giant cross and then 4 smaller crosses in each "quadrant", it symbolized the good news of Jesus reaching all corners of the earth—north, south, east, and west.

This particular image is from a piece of pottery in the courtyard of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.