Depart the USA for your study tour of the Holy Land.

Arrive in Tel Aviv. Time permitting, visit the ruins of Old Joppa. Enjoy a refreshing walk in this biblically rich place and peer down from a 4,000-year-old ruin-mound to a strategic harbor where Jonah set sail to Tarshish to flee from the Lord. Joppa is also where Peter had a vision of clean and unclean animals at the house of Simon, the tanner. Transfer to the Netanya hotel, with a view of the sunset on the Mediterranean.

Travel to Caesarea-by-the-Sea was built as the imperial center for the Roman government and was one of the palaces of King Herod the Great. Its harbor, theater, and marbled streets signal the arrival of foreign occupation in the Heartland and, not surprisingly, the beginning point for Christianity in the Gentile world. Paul set sail on his journeys to spread the gospel from this harbor. Paul was also held prisoner here. Visit the ruins of Cornelius, the Centurian house, where Peter leads many gentiles to faith in Christ. Visit the 2000-year-old Roman aqueduct at the shore of the Mediterranean, where you will be able to dip your feet in the sea. Visit Tel Megiddo, an ancient city and command post. Many battles were waged in its shadow, including those of Israelite kings and Egyptian pharaohs. Walk down into the ancient cistern. Visit the top of Mt. Carmel, where Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal, and enjoy the view of the valley of Megiddo to the west and the Mediterranean to the east. Before continuing to Nazareth, see the overlook at Mount Precipice, where the people of Nazareth tried to push Jesus off the “brow of the hill.” In Nazareth, walk through the Church of the Annunciation, a structure built over the traditional home of Jesus. Transfer to Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee overnight.

Begin the day at the Valley of the Doves with a short hike on a significant Roman pathway called the Via Maris, where Jesus and His disciples walked as they traveled from Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee. Under certain conditions, the wind blowing through this valley can sound like the cooing of a dove. Travel a short ride up to the Mount of Beatitudes to the church overlooking the possible hillside where Jesus preached the sermon on the Mount. Visit Tabgha’s Church of the Loaves and Fishes and walk along the shore of the Sea of Galilee at the Church of the Primacy of Peter. (John 21). Walk the grounds of Capernaum, the center of Jesus’ ministry. Visit the synagogue that stands on the site where Jesus taught and see the ruins of Peter’s house. Board a boat for a memorable sail across the waters of the Sea of Galilee Travel to Magdala, on the edge of the Sea of Galilee, once home to Mary Magdalene, and visit a recently discovered first-century synagogue and a church dedicated to the women of the New Testament. View impressive remains that illustrate the fishing industry from the time of Christ. Dinner and overnight in Tiberias

Visit a museum in a kibbutz that houses a 2000-year-old fishing boat that was discovered on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Spend the day driving north up on the Golan Heights to the base of Mount Hermon, where the Jordan River starts. Hike a nature trail at Tel Dan, where we will see a 4000-year-old gate that Abraham walked through when he came to rescue his nephew Lot. We will also see the king’s seat at the gate of Tel Dan. Visit Banyas [Caesarea Philippi], where Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” See amazing views of Lebanon and Syria Drive back to the Sea of Galilee on the Eastern side. See where the herd of swine ran into the sea after Jesus cast the demons into the swine. Dinner and overnight in Tiberias.

Leave the Galilee behind and head south, down the Jordan River Valley. Stop at Beit Shean and see the fantastic ruins of one of the ten cities of Decapolis. Visit Gideon’s spring at Ein Harod at the base of Mount Gilboa, wherein the days of the Judges, Gideon chose his warriors by the way they drank water out of the spring (Judges 7:1-8). Visit the dig at ancient Jericho. Experience baptism at the traditional site baptismal site of Jesus, also the location of the crossing of the Israelites into the Promised. Float in the Dead Sea and enjoy the healing minerals found in the mud along the shore. If time allows, stop at Qumran, the community that created and preserved the Dead Sea Scrolls. End the day dining with “Father Abraham” in the Judean Wilderness in a Bedouin Tent at Genesis Land. If you have ever wanted to ride a camel, this is the place! Get our first view of the Old City of Jerusalem as we drive into the city. Transfer to Jerusalem hotel.

Climb to the top of the Herodium, the mountain palace of Herod the Great, and see amazing views of the mountains of Jordan, the Dead Sea, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem. From here, travel to Shepherd’s Fields, where the angels appeared to the shepherds at the birth of Jesus. This site also overlooks Boaz’s fields, the threshing floor where Ruth lay at Boaz’s feet. We will head to the Nissan Brothers, a Christian family business in Bethlehem, and see their craftsman at work on olive tree nativity statues. We will transfer to a Palestinian guide who will take us to the Church of the Nativity, the birthplace of Jesus and the oldest Christian church in the world. Please stop at the Haas Overlook of the ancient city of Jerusalem before we drive to the Israel Museum, where we see the enormous model of NT Jerusalem ties together our own experience of the city. Linger in the Shrine of the Book to see the Dead Sea Scrolls and some of the most important manuscripts of the Bible.

This morning we start our day on top of the Mt. of Olives, where we will get the best view of the old city of Jerusalem. Walk down the Palm Sunday Road, stopping at the church of Dominus Flevit, remembering where the Lord wept over Jerusalem. Spend time in the Garden of Gethsemane and the beautiful Church of All Nations. Walk to the closed Eastern Gate of the city and then enter St. Stephen’s Gate and walk the path of the Via Dolorosa. Tour the Pool of Bethesda, where Jesus healed the lame man on the sabbath, and the nearby ancient Church of St Anne, which has the most fantastic acoustics of any church in the Holy Land. We will be singing worship songs at many places in the holy land, but this place will make us sound good! Visit the Church of the Flagellation. Visit a site dubbed the most sacred in all Christianity: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus are celebrated today. Visit Herod’s palace at David’s Citadel, where Jesus was held and interrogated by Pilate and Herod. Visit Herod’s palace at David’s Citadel, where Jesus was born and interrogated by Pilate and Herod. End the day at the Garden Tomb

Begin this day on the Temple Mount, where Jerusalem’s ancient Temple stood and the Western Wall. Walk down to the City of David, King David’s Jerusalem, David’s Palace, Warren’s Shaft, the Canaanite Tunnel, and see Hezekiah’s Tunnel/Gihon spring and the Pool of Siloam, where Jesus healed the blind man. Explore the Southern Teaching steps. Continue to Mount Zion to visit the House of the High Priest Caiaphas, where Jesus was questioned on the night of His betrayal. (Matt. 26:57) Meditate on the events of the Last Supper as you visit the traditional location of the Upper Room. (Mark 14:12)

Enjoy a free morning to stroll Jerusalem’s Old City streets. Transfer to the airport for your flight home.

Arrive home with memories to last a lifetime.