Exploring Israel (May 31, 2018)

okay today was our fourth full day of exploring and on this day and in this video uh we're going to visit the Western Wall uh we're actually going to go inside the wall I didn't even know that you could do that uh we're going to go inside the wall not the wall that you see in this picture but to the left and uh you know it's it's it's not that wall it's it's other walls that are connected on this side of the the true Western Wall but I'll explain that probably in just a few moments uh we also visit visited the pool of Bethesda I'll take you there and explain that a little bit we also walked down to Via Delarosa I'll take you there and explore that a little bit and then we went to the Church of the Holy Seiler and while you may not recognize that name almost certainly you'll recognize the picture uh whenever you see it and then we uh among other things we uh visited the King David's tomb and so we'll talk about that in just a second as well this uh picture that you see that you're looking at right now is actually the Western Wall and um this is something that I'll get into explaining here in just a few moments so let's uh let's start the first thing is as we uh got up that morning and as we went into the old city of Jerusalem we went through the dung gate d n g the dung gate uh and this gate faces the southwest of the old city of Jerusalem uh I don't even know how old these walls are uh but it was the gate through which uh the people walked um eons ago you know a couple thousand years ago and more there a gate through which people walked to put their trash in the henm valley um right gehenna Jesus talked about he whenever sometimes in our Bible translations it's translated hell but if you look at the word that is that that was actually used it's the word gehenna um and so this is the gate that they would have walked through to take their trash their filth their Refuge out to gehenna but there was also something else that happened in the valley of gehenna that would you know where they would walk through these Gates um there were sacrifices there were children sacrifices that happened in fact king manasse would have walked through this gate to perform a child's sacrifice as he Bur burned his children in the fire to the god of mollik in the valley of gehenna so that is just crazy to think of the evil um that passed through these Gates or this gate here I took this picture of the sun rising over the Western Wall the sun had been up for a while but uh you know maybe an hour or so uh but it had to come up over the the Mount of Olives on the far side side and then you know as we made our way to uh this Western Wall it had to come up over the wall um our tour guide uh informed us of what we already knew she said that uh many people call it the Wailing Wall um but she said that's an uninformed name they don't call it that they she said if you just listen people are not wailing at this wall they don't go there to whail they go there to pray and so they simply call it the Western Wall uh and this would be the Western Wall of what is thought to be where the temple resided um if you watch the video from the previous video uh whenever I was in front of the church of all Nations down in the kidan valley by The Garden of Gethsemane uh I showed you a picture as I turned around and then I also um showed you a video of what this wall looked like on the Eastern side so that was the eastern wall this is the Western Wall um so this massive wall I believe poses a huge problem for Bible believing Christians it does pose a huge problem for me um and it's this if this is the site of the Jerusalem Temple if this really is the wall outside of what was the place where the temple existed then I believe believe that Jesus prophecy that he made in scripture did not come true um Matthew chap 24 verses 1 and two as Jesus left and was going out of the temple his disciples came up and called his his attention to its buildings okay so they're not just talking about the temple they're talking about the buildings all of the stuff everything Jesus replied Matthew 24:2 Jesus replied to them do you see all these things now as far as I know I mean in the csb of course it says things if I look I looked in the KJV it said things I looked in the original language it's the Greek word hutas which means things and so Jesus isn't just talking about the temple he's not just talking about the building he's talking about you see all of these things I certainly believe that includes the the foundation on which the temple was built the wall that was built around the Temple Mount uh I believe that's what Jesus is including he said do you see all these things truly I tell you not one stone will be left here on another that will not be thrown down just in this picture you see in this picture you see hundreds of stones that are on top of each other hundreds of stones and this wall goes for a long time right until to the left and then the eastern wall on the other side goes a long ways from the right and the left there are t I would say tens of thousands of stones that are on top of each other if if this is where the temple was then I believe that Jesus unless we're misunderstanding it I believe Jesus words did not come true and I cannot go there because when Jesus says something as God he is not only the way he is the truth and so as he spoke he was telling the truth and so I have serious doubts about whether this is actually where the temple resided if the temple resided on the other side of this I have serious serious doubts um I and so you may say okay well um what do you think this was uh and where is the temple well if in fact Jesus prophecy did come true and not one stone is left on top of another then we would say that the where the exact location of the Temple of the Old Testament Temple and of not only Solomon's Temple but zerubbabel's Temple the second temple and then the zerob temple is the one that Herod revamped and in fact was continuing to revamp it when Jesus was in the temple area if in fact no stone was left on another we should not be surprised that there is no clue anywhere of uh of where this Temple is because there is no Foundation there there are no walls there there is certainly no Temple and no buildings there if Jesus was telling the truth whenever he said no stone will be left on another well what's this building this building very well could be the Roman Fortress because when you look in the book of Acts um and uh Paul was taken captive and you know was was being held as a prisoner here in Jerusalem in the book of Acts and I can't remember the exact passage but in the book of Acts and you can look this up there was a plot on his life and someone uh got wind of it and went to the Roman um General the Roman who whoever was in charge I can't remember exactly the details but you can look this up and uh so what they did is they took Paul By Night from Jerusalem to cesaria maritima remember a few uh um videos ago whenever we were in cesaria Mari and I showed you the the the uh the hip Hippodrome where they would race around with their chariots and I showed you where the uh the crusaders had built walls uh there in that place well Paul was taken there to cesaria maritima but one of the things that's very interesting is that Paul was not just sent by Night by himself he wasn't sent with just a handful we're actually told that hundreds of Roman soldiers went with him hundreds of Roman ran soldiers went with him you would think that if hundreds of Roman soldiers were sent with Paul to cesaria mariama that they're not going to leave Jerusalem exposed they need hundreds of Roman soldiers here in this place as well and so for them to send was it 400 or so Roman soldiers with Paul you would think there would need to at least be that many that are left in Jerusalem to keep the peace uh cuz Jerusalem was like a Tinder Box it was always just waiting for something to blow and this thing would get out of control and if it got out of control then whoever the Roman general and all of those Roman centurions were that were over this area if it got out of control their heads were on the chopping block so they did not want to leave Jerusalem exposed so given the 400 or so that went with Paul given the assumption that there were at least 400 left in Jerusalem where are you going to put 8 to 1,000 800 to 1,000 r Romans at least 800 to 1,000 Romans where you going to put them you would think in a big fortress and you would think that when Titus came in in 70 AD that he would destroy the temple the place of worship so that he would um disillusion the Israelites as he just destroyed their city and their place of worship but he would have no incentive to destroy his Fortress right and so it very well could be that as the Holy Land uh as the Israel ites were were scattered as the Turks came in as the Muslims came in as the Crusades happened the Christians came in back and forth that it's quite possible that some sites were misidentified unless there was something clear that identified that site it's quite possible that sites were identified I would just encourage you um not to take it as scripture but just as something that I find very compelling uh to consider getting the book called Temple it's simply called Temple and it's by a guy named Bob cornuke Bob his last name is spelled c r in UK and in there I think he builds a very compelling very interesting case for the fact that the temple never did reside on this place but in fact probably resided south of this location in What's called the city of David and what's called Zion and uh in uh the next video I'll show you a model of the city and where it is that the temple probably resided we're not sure but uh I'm just telling you that there there is a debate on this that if Jesus truly did tell the truth when he said no stone on another then this wall is a huge huge problem and it's not just this wall it's many walls around this place so this is the Western Wall I um uh able to see it a little bit better the sun is higher up in the sky um and so if if you look look carefully uh there's many people that are up against the wall right now if you look uh down the way a little bit you can see a dark I think it's dark brown curtain uh that splits this area that's because the men are on the left side all the way down to the curtain and then on the other side of the curtain that's where the women would go the men and the women did not go to the wall together the men went in the left side the women went in the right side uh also you see that little box down roughly in the center bottom of the picture and that box had yamakas uh and in order to go in it it I don't know that it was required but it was highly requested that you put a yamaka so I I put one on my head it didn't didn't stay a gust of wind came and took it away but I did go down and just spend a little bit of time here it's history and so I just wanted to experience that so I did go down to the Western Wall um to respect that area I did not take a picture while I was down there though uh here's a video that I took from over on the women's side of the Western Wall and you get a little bit of a an idea of what this looks like and what it feels like there okay so I'm going to stop the video really quick okay so the Western Wall is there on the right now do you see we're at 90° in the center of this and it comes out that part to the left is where we're about to go in when I say we went into the wall I'm not saying we went into the Western Wall we didn't go in there my understanding is we went in the left side of this and so here in just a moment we're going to be in the wall we're not on the Western Wall we're in that section there to the left uh it's just as old but it's it's not the Western Wall so here is the women's side and then the men on the other side of the curtain just give you an idea of what it looks like not sure what that is and there you go so we went into the uh section that I just told you about we went into the The Rock um this is not the Western Wall this is that section to the left but it was pretty interesting inter in going into this if you're overweight or claustrophobic it's probably not the place for you that was Kim up ahead of me and again I'm thinking that we were in a Roman Fortress an old Roman Fortress where you've got all these tunnels and all of these you areas that are built out you know for rooms and you know where where maybe they would bunk and where they would eat and everything else I it's treated like it's the temple where the temple was but I'm just not sure that that's what this was so here as we were going through that wall area this actually it actually opens up every now and then to the Western Wall I believe this is part of the Western Wall inside of the area that we we were in and so this is where some ladies had gathered up against the wall and they were praying I assume they were praying this is just another picture inside as we're just making our way through this maze um I think that it's quite possible I could have gotten lost in there if it hadn't been for our tour God continually pointing the way uh getting us to go in the right direction uh this gives us you know that there were plaques everywhere and this gives us a better idea of uh what we were uh walking in um the Western Wall was to the right like I you know pointed out while ago but we were walking in the area on the left or directly in front front and so this is the area that we are walking in so let me show you this video I believe I look through a glass in the floor yes and you really can't see it but there's just ruins down below okay so here this sign uh says that what we were walking in was the pavement of the second temple now the first temple was the Temple of Solomon that was the Glorious Temple the second temple was when the Israelites came back from captivity and zerubabel uh LED in the rebuilding of an inferior Temple much smaller lot less glorious and it was that Temple that Herod built around uh and revamped all of it around there um as uh you know as Jesus was uh walking the Earth here at that time so this is presented as um the uh the the period of the second temple again I doubt it it may be [Music] though just look up don't know why I looked up because Paving is below us just wanted to show what it looked like up above me in this [Music] [Music] [Applause] area then the pavement below [Music] us well warn who knows how many millions of people have walked across this area after we uh walked through that we came out in a different area I wouldn't be able to find that location on a map but we came out and our tour guide continued to take us on uh a walk through this area I believe that it came out close to the pool of bethesa um now if you look at at this uh you see the fencing there in the middle center right up the middle left uh you see the fencing there well if you were to follow that fence line uh that's a walkway uh if if and I did this I walked along the fence on the inside obviously the inside of that and then you went down some steps if you look a little closely you can see the fence goes down uh toward the center of the picture and uh so I went down those steps and then there's an opening and I went through the opening and I continued to descend even much more quickly farther and farther down and finally came down to a pool of water down below so the water is way down below this surface I wish I would have taken a picture wish I would have taken video but honestly I felt like cuz I was the only one down there I was thinking oh my goodness you know who's who's to say somebody with ill intent isn't down here cuz you know I'm the only one so I didn't I just quickly made my way back up wish I would have taken uh a picture or a video while I was down there but what happened at this place uh well in John 5: 1-9 we read about how Jesus uh went to a place uh at at this location and it says that he had been disabled for 38 years and when Jesus saw him lying there and realized he'd already been there for a long time he he said to him do you want to get well sir the disabled man answered I've no one to put me into the pool and when the water is stirred up but uh but while I'm coming someone goes down ahead of me get up Jesus told him pick up your mat and walk instantly the man got well picked up his mat and started to walk and so that happened as far as we know in this location in this location all right so once again there was a plaque that was put here I assume archaeological evidence made it clear that this was that pool um but uh but this plaque certainly identified it as such so then um I can't remember if we got on a bus or if we walked some more but we ended up on the Via doar Roa and I'm telling you that as I saw this sign in my mind I could hear Sandy Patty singing down the Via doar Roa in the recesses of my mind this was just pretty surreal uh whether or not this was the root that Jesus actually took on the way to the Cross is uh it's speculative the Catholics certainly believe so um but it was special to be on this road so I've got some pictures and videos for you this is a video that I took and this is just one of just a small section the Videl Ro is a good good walk I don't know I'm thinking maybe a mile I'm thinking um where it ends up at the church of the holy Seiler where the last Stations of the the cross are um but this is just one small section and we saw quite a few people going up and down this road uh the road veers it goes left and right it it does all sorts of things you you walk in between buildings there are also section where there are stores you're going to see that in just a second but there are also people that walk up and down this road carrying crosses and I only assume that they are doing so to gain favor with heaven but uh but you'll see a gentleman carrying a cross beside us as we're standing here just kind of regrouping and talking about U where we're going to be going [Applause] next own the V I tell you within the heart of so many people while they don't have the information of the Gospel while they don't understand that it's simply received salvation is received by grace through faith within the heart of people there is a desire to to gain merit with God to to to do things that that get them in a right standing with God and uh many of them are misinformed in that so we've got to share the gospel um but I you know as I saw that man walking by I just chose to give him the benefit of the doubt and believe that he was someone that just wanted to demonstrate his his desire to gain the favor of Heaven as he was carrying that cross down to Via Delarosa here's another video we're farther down to Via doar Roa this is actually a section that's actually got a lot of business a lot of um a lot of stores uh it's in the old city of Jerusalem and every inch is claimed it's it's crowded um there are no spaces between buildings every inch is claimed um and there's a lot of shops scattered throughout the journey and even TVs in this place that uh has structure that are couple thousand years old or so so here's a little video I took along the Via delosa television I think it was CNN lots of shops and Muslims are in this area uh but there's just a mutual respect that everybody has for each other there's no hos I didn't see any Hospitality southern hospitality uh people just went on their way uh generally ignoring uh other people but there seemed to be a mutual respect that people had for each other here in this place so then we finally got to the end of what is called the Via Delarosa and uh came to the Church of the Holy separer that is supposed to be built on the site where Jesus was crucified buried and rose again um in the previous video I showed you g G's Calvary I showed you the garden tomb I think the evidence for that side is compelling although we're still not sure I don't think this is the place but some believe that this um Church of the Holy Seer which is what you're seeing right in front of you with the two windows at top and the two well the one entrance on the left at the bottom the other is blocked in uh this thing was built it was thought around the 300s during the time of Constantine to designate this site so there would have been 250 years you know uh since Jesus actually died buried and was and and rose again and so this was just speculative um the open door there on the left um of this picture is the entrance into the church and honestly I got a personal story about that that it is a tall building if you can see a person standing actually in the doorway um they're they're not even halfway up to the top um that those doors are thick and massive um and uh there was a procession and I'll show you a procession that happened inside of here but there was a procession that was going on as we were leaving this building after we had gone in explored it and then came out and uh as the procession was going I guess protocol was for whoever was in charge to close those doors well I made it outside some of our group made it outside I was outside and the son Kim was still inside and I was yelling for it Kim get over here get outside cuz I did I was not going to be separated with from my wife cuz I didn't know how long those doors were going to be closed and I didn't know how to get around to her inside that building so one of the church officials was yelling for people to to get in get out one of the other and he started closing the doors and I physically held that door open against his will until Kim was able to get out so hey maybe my fingerprints are on that door somewhere the and also one of the things you'll notice is up there you see the two windows at the top on the left the the one in the well actually there's three windows but the two that match on the left the window on the right that's actually a center window see the ladder under it it's an interesting thing just shows then the story is that that that's a picture of church division that this I think this building is has the I think it's the Catholics I think it's the Greek Orthodox I think it's the Armenians and maybe there's some others that are inside of here um but uh the word is is that somebody hundreds of years ago was using that ladder to clean the window and uh one of the other groups other Christian groups that owns this said that they had no right to do that and so that latter has just stayed there because who has the right to remove it the Catholics the Greek orthod Ox the Armenians or whoever else now I have seen videos of where that actually had ladder actually has been moved and and probably even replaced because it's a wooden ladder it's not going to last for hundreds of years like that but anyway just about any picture you see of this building it's going to have that ladder in it up there at the top uh inside this building inside the Church of the Holy seple there's a lot of Gody fixtures there's Furniture there's statues it smells like like you know candles have been burning for a long time just many other things that are here um and this is uh inside of of this church building it's it's just it seems as if I don't know if it's showing off the wealth of the church or if it's just trying to say that a place of this importance is worthy of this kind of wealth I'm not sure but there's just a lot of it in it and I just as a Protestant you know as someone one who reads scripture I just can't see that Peter and the Apostle Paul and many of the other leaders of the first church would ever have approved of something like this inside of a church building uh they tended to be a lot more simple um as they gathered for worship at least we're led to believe that now here's a video and before I show you the video of this and I believe it's called the Rotunda um this is uh a place where if you see the on the left and and you'll see it as I as I start the video on the left that's another building it's a very small building inside of this Church of the Holy Seiler and that building if I say it if I'm saying it correctly is the edicule I think it's the edicule and that's supposedly built around the tomb where Jesus body lay now one of the things that I did not mention I didn't even take a picture is when we walked inside of those two wooden doors that you you know you saw the opening in the previous frame there was a big slab that was there on the ground it was a big rock slab and I think it looked if I remember correctly it looked like maybe it was 2 and 1/2 3 foot off the ground it was it was resting on the ground it was about that thick maybe it was about 3 or 4T wide and maybe about 6 7ot tall and so this was a big rock and uh the word was is that that was the slab that Jesus body lay on and it made me sick it made me sick because that rock that supposedly Jesus body lay on and I'm just not so sure that it was um but people were kissing it people were weeping over it shedding tears over it people were touching it just to touch the rock that supposedly Jesus body laid on and I just thought of that again I think I've mentioned this already in a previous video that if you look in the Book of Numbers there was a time when the Israelites um they uh were complaining against the Lord and so the Lord sent poisonous snakes against them and so God told Moses hey this is the way that they will be healed uh form a bronze serpent on a bronze pole and put it up and when people look to that they will be healed but if you read later on I think it's in one of the book of Kings 1 or second Kings that that poll actually came to be called nushan nushan I believe it was King Josiah who said you know what enough is enough and so he destroyed that pole that Moses built the bronze pole that Moses built why because people were worshiping it they turned something that was helpful at one time that God used and they turned it into a God that was being worshiped and so it had to be destroyed and so that's why I believe many of these sites that were so special in scripture were just not sure where they are I think it's not just because it was lost in human history I think God himself intended that these places not be found because he knows what could happen and that slab was being kissed and wept on and um it was just it was just sad but this supposedly this building is is built around the tomb where Jesus body lay so here's the video now you can get an idea there's a building inside of the Church of the Holy Seiler that building is supposedly built around where Jesus body lay in the [Music] Tomb all right so let's go to the next slide and now uh I got to another location we'd actually gone around and now they're beginning their [Music] procession and this is that procession that went by those wooden doors where I held that door open until Kim got out [Music] now it may be that some of us um New Testament Believers that are in What's called the Protestant movement uh we may look at this and say oh that's just a bunch of religiosity that's just a bunch of Pious ritual but I'm tell tell you if you look at the Old Testament God gave the Israelites specific things to do and they were to to March around you know they were to to March around Jericho in a specific way and have the trumpets blowing in front on that seventh day on the seventh time whenever they were traveling they we believe they probably had banners and they had maybe instruments that were playing and so if you were to watch the Old Testament Israelites uh making their way through the Wilderness it wouldn't have looked like this but there would have been similarities to this and so while I saw this honestly some of my heart found pleasure in the religiosity the formality the high Church you know worship um but I also just was hoping that the people involved in this were not just engaging in mere external stuff but actually were striving to enjoy the Lord their God and actually had a relationship with the Lord Jesus but uh but I kind of liked I kind of liked it a little bit so after this uh at some point I can't remember I don't think we did anything after this other than just go to lunch our group scattered for lunch we were given a general area and said hey you know go find a place to eat and uh then gather back at a set time and so uh Kim and I went to a restaurant and uh we had to go up the stairs to go to this restaurant we got our food and then from where we got our food we actually found some stairs cuz it seemed a little crowded downstairs so we got went up the stairs uh to spend some time by ourselves so we actually went into this room and when we first got there there was nobody there and uh then we took a look around from the table where we were sitting we looked across this uh this this area and we were looking at the Mount of Olives that's the Mount of Olives on the other side remember uh one of the First videos I showed you actually I think it was actually I think it was the third video I showed you where we were on the Mount of Olives and we had all of those elevated uh grave sites uh of the Jews the Jewish people the Muslim people the Christians well we're looking at that right now and so we were able to enjoy our lunch while we were looking at the Mount of Olives out that window after finishing eating I went over to the window that you see right now and I looked over and took that picture and we were that close to the Mount um the temp what's called The Temple Mount um and actually that's a a Muslim temple Muslim synagogue it's the Dome of the Rock it's called L oxa I think it's also called that um but we were really close to that area then we went downstairs and uh gathered with our group and we went to what is called King David's tomb um we were uh in the old city of Jerusalem I believe in this area and we went into what is called King David's tomb not only am I not certain that Kings David's remains are in this casket those that uh you know talked about this site are also very doubtful that King David's remains are actually in this site my understanding is what happened is is after the Jews came back to their location I think after the Turks after the the Islam the Muslims had it they found this casket I think that's when this was discovered they found this casket it was in this area that was in the old city the city of David it uh the the the casket I think demonstrated that whoever was inside was someone of great importance with a lot of wealth and so it was kind of assumed that it was King David's remains but uh we're not at all sure at all that uh that it was King's David's remains um again again why all the confusion about SES and caskets and such because when Rome destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD they set off a lot of people stepping in to claim the holy land for themselves in the last 2,000 years Greeks have claimed it Romans have claimed it Turks have claimed it Arabs have claimed it Jews have claimed it and Christians have claimed it and so when they were all passing it off back and forth they didn't say okay let me give you uh you know the Run down on what all of these locations are before you take it from us they didn't do that and so whoever was claiming it had to come up with their own conclusions and even after a thousand years or so the Jews you know they're they're a thousand years removed from knowing what these sites were so it's you know many of them doubted and so they were relying upon archaeological digs and artifacts to adequately identify a location um absent the archaeological digs these sites are just mere speculation after well actually I think I've got a video yes I do I've just got a video I didn't want to disrespect anybody um I didn't catch any faces here I did want to just show you what it was like as some Jews were here at this site Orthodox Jews I believe at the black hats I think they're reciting scripture and then as I stepped out of this room and uh the guys were on the right side here and then there was a partition right there to the left of this gentleman in front of me and that partition on the other side of that partition that's where the women were uh but as I stepped out of this gu's area this gu's access to this casket uh there were a lot of Jews there with with I I assume scriptures um and they were just reciting those scriptures and going over those scriptures outside of this they were treating this as an incredible sight now one of the things we did go to right after this is we went upstairs I believe it was right above King David's tomb and our tour and so we stepped into just a a big room and our tour God said that that was the the upper room where uh Jesus met with his disciples the NAU he was betrayed we all looked at each other like really nowhere in scripture are we uh told where that was and as far as I know no archaeological evidence identified that site so I didn't even take a picture of it but then after that uh we had completed uh full day a lot of Walkin a lot of visiting and so we made our way back to our hotel to kind of process and rethink a lot of the stuff that we had enjoyed looking forward to sharing some of the stuff with you tomorrow uh as we visited if I'm not mistaken I think on the next day we visited the Israeli Museum and uh quite a few other really cool sites even the model city of Jerusalem if I'm not mistaken I think that's in the next video

Channel: Matt Ellis

Views: 24

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Id: V6vGgOTdu7Q

Length: 42min 14sec (2534 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 10 2024