Welcome back friends! I hope you are enjoying the journey with us. We are through our first full tour day and it started with a bang! If you missed our earlier post regarding our first morning, be sure to check it out. We had an incredible experience with Holocaust survivors and other elderly Israelis. But the day wasn’t done!

Following our incredible morning, we boarded our bus for Caesarea Maritima. There are two Caesareas in Israel. This is the one on the Mediterranean Coast, featuring an ancient theater and one of Herod’s palaces.

Yoyokim (our guide) reminded us of the account in Acts 10 where God spoke to the Roman centurion, Cornelias, in Caesarea, instructing him to send a cohort to Joppa (near modern-day Tel Aviv). They were to summon the apostle Peter to Caesarea. What happened then is critical to most of us…but put that thought on hold.

We were on the bus traveling north on the very pathway those men would have taken between Joppa and Caesarea! It is a major highway that runs north-south along the Mediterranean Coast through Israel. Our guide showed us that Israel literally connects Egypt to the west with empires in the east, and even what we know today as Eastern Europe. That ancient highway is known as the Via Maris (Way of the Sea). See the map below. That highway is only one of three major trade routes through the area that provided commerce and military routes.

Now, what important thing happened in Caesarea for which every Gentile should be grateful? When Peter responded to the summons and went to Caesarea, he shared the gospel with the Roman centurion and his family. It was the first time the gospel went to the Gentiles. Our door of salvation was opened!

Modern Caesarea is a small upscale town whose residents include Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (No, we didn’t stop for a visit!) Ancient Caesarea, though, was a large, thriving metropolis situated on the trade route. Herod was a master builder and liked nice things, so he chose to build a palace for himself that stretched even into the Mediterranean waters on the cost of Caesarea.

Following that, we made an unscheduled stop at the ancient aqueduct outside Caesarea that provided water from up north near the Carmel range. (Unfortunately, the aqueduct is now fenced off due to damage from people climbing on it.)

Below: Yoyokim giving us the lay of the land with the model (theater in the background), Yoyokim’s teaching inside the ancient theater, a group photo at Caesarea, our group listening as Yoyokim describes the remains of Herod’s palace, the newly excavated dungeon in which Paul was imprisoned (referenced in Acts 23:23-35), the area of the palace in which Paul appealed to Felix, sunset over the Mediterranean and beyond the aqueduct, and a Jewish children’s art class on the beach.

But wait…there’s more! We were truly blessed to hear from Dr Golan Broshi from One for Israel. If you have seen any of One for Israel’s podcasts or many of their videos, there is a very good chance you have see Dr Broshi! He is a common face of the ministry. He shared his story of growing up on a kibbutz, knowing nothing of the Old Testament, much less the New, until he was told by a friend in the military to go read the New Testament. Surprisingly, he found a copy on his parents’ bookshelves, given to them by a missionary. As he read, He understood the truth of God’s Word and ultimately became a follower of Jesus.

Dr Broshi’s depth of Bible knowledge and his quick Israeli wit made it a very enjoyable evening, despite the fact some were still wrestling with jetlag. Here we are with Dr Broshi after the evening of Q&A, fun and laughter:

Day 1 is in the books and we head to Haifa to visit the Ebenezer, the Messianic retirement home to meet believers who live there. Then we head to Mt Carmel, Megiddo, Nazareth (including a meeting with an Arab pastor), and ultimately to our next overnight stop in Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee. It will be another fabulous day and I hope you will follow us there!

Shalom from Netanya!