Jordan- Mount Nebo

Wilderness where the Israelites walked around for 40 years

We started our tour from Jordan and the first place we visited was Mount Nebo. This was the place where Moses stood and saw the promised land which is in Deuteronomy 34:1-3,"Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There, the Lord showed him the whole land—from Gilead to Dan, all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea, the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar." Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.”

                Memorial of Moses

Till today Moses body has yet to be discovered as it says in Deuteronomy 34:5-6, "And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said. He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is." There has been so many attempts to find his body till today but no one has yet to find his body. There is a memorial built on Mount Nebo to honor Moses. 

This proves that our God honors his word as in Proverbs 30:5, it says that “Every word of God is flawless” and in Psalm 33:4, “For the word of the Lord is right and true and he is faithful in all he does.” Sometimes we as humans think that we can outsmart God but we fail to realize that he is our creator and it is not the other way round.

A learning lesson for me that I learnt standing there where Moses stood overseeing the promise land, was that we need to learn from Moses about how his anger and disobedience cost him his journey into the promised land. Sometimes, we refuse to obey what God wants us to do and we end up disobeying him. Some of us may argue that Moses deserved to enter the promised land after all that he has done, but we fail to see the fact that it is not about the favors or services that we do for God, but rather our obedience and submission with humility to the tasks that he has put out for us. 

   Where Moses Stood overseeing the Promised Land

Nazareth- Nazareth Biblical Village

Type of cross that Jesus had to bear

Traditional Wine Making process

Shepherd mending his sheep

Wine Press used Thousands of
years ago

We entered into Israel from Jordan the day after visiting Petra, in Jordan. The first place we went to, was the Nazareth Biblical Village. It was a land that was purchased by Christians and it was to replicate how the village would have looked like during Jesus time. It was to help us to understand the type of life that Jesus lived in the village for 30 years before he begun his ministry.

There was a wine press that was discovered at Nazareth that had been used thousands of years ago. As stated in Luke 2:52, Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. I felt really amazed at how simple Jesus chose to live his life and despite being the son of God, he even obeyed his earthly parents as stated in Luke 2:51, where he was obedient to them. 

Carpenter is not an easy job as they would have to toil and work hard for long hours everyday but yet Jesus was able to be in good terms with both God and man, which shows that he really did well in his job and also walked closely with God. Jesus is the perfect role model for all of us about how we need to take pride in the work that God has placed us in and at the same time, walk closely with God in terms of our personal relationship with him.

In the synagogue where Jesus could have stood
while reading the scrolls to the people

I also visited the synagogue in Nazareth, whereby Jesus came back to his hometown to read the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. As recorded in Luke 4:18-19, he said that “The spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the bling, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” After closing the scroll, he said in Luke 4:21, that “today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” But yet the people completely missed out the fact that he said that he was the Messiah and they even drove him out of their village.

Galilee- Cana in Galilee

 Cana in Galilee

Ancient Artifacts

Entrance of Cana  

 This was the place that Jesus performed his first miracle when he turned water into wine during a wedding, after the wine had ran out. As stated in John 2:11, that was his first miracle that revealed his glory and his disciples believed in him. The interesting thing in this incident is that Jesus did his first miracle at a wedding. A wedding is a place whereby a men and women gets married and takes their vows to be together as long as they live. This was the perfect place in my opinion for Jesus to perform his first miracle as the word wedding has often been associated with the second coming of our Lord Jesus. 


It is an interesting place to visit today, as many married couples travel all the way to there, to renew their marriage vows in the place that Jesus performed his first miracle 2000 years ago. 

Renewal of Marriage Vows

In our journey, all the married couples renewed their marriage vows with Dean Phillip as the conductor of the ceremony. Some of the couples were moved to tears with it and it was a really significant moment in their life. I was also touched when I saw how much love they still had for one another, despite being married for so many years. 

I loved the theory that Dean Phillip shared whereby the key to a successful marriage is that both the man and woman, should look to grow deeper in their walk with God like a triangle whereby God is at the top of the triangle. As they grow deeper with God, their marriage will also be better and during testing times, they should look to Christ for solution and spend time with God. It was also very educational for me and I can see the love for God in all of their lives.

Sea of Galilee

Picture of Tung Ling Alumni with our
Dean Ju and Dean Phillip

Boat ride in the Sea of Galilee

We took a boat ride in the Sea of Galilee which is also called Lake Tiberias. It is a place that is very rich in the biblical history and although it is a lake, it is called a sea due to its tradition. Therefore the water is not salty and it is the country's largest and most important source of drinking water, as it is Israel's largest water reservoir.

Sea of Galilee

It is the place that is commonly remembered for 2 major incidents in the bible. The first is that it was the place where Jesus calmed the raging storms in Mark 4:39 and later rebuked his disciples for having little or no faith. The second is in Matthew 14,26-31, whereby the disciples saw Jesus walking on water and was terrified and Peter walked on water towards Jesus. The moment Peter looked down on the water, he was afraid and begin to sink and cried out to Jesus to save him and immediately Jesus extended his hand and caught him and rebuked him for having little faith.

Boat ride with the Israel and
Singapore Flag hoisted above 

While we were on the boat ride during the worship session, I had a vision whereby I found myself all alone, standing in the middle of the Sea of Galilee and I started to panic and cried out to God and asked,“Where are you Lord?” I was afraid and lonely and then I heard a gentle voice telling me that, “Why do you fear? Just because you can't see me does not mean that I am not with you. I am always with you even when you can't see me.” 

I started to tear and I realized after the vision, that I had always felt that God was not there during my problems in the past as despite calling out to him, nothing seemed to change in my life. However that vision taught me that God is always with us despite the fact that we can't see him 
during our darkest phases in life and he is in control.

Slope near Tabgha- Mount of Beatitudes

Hollowed Slope

This was the place where Jesus spoke in Luke 6 and it has a hollowed slope which serves as a natural amphitheater that amplifies any speaker’s voice. That was the reason why in Luke 6:17-18, he stood at a level place below the hill and his voice was able to be heard by the large number of people who were gathered there, from all over Judea, Jerusalem and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon. 

View from the Mount of Beatitudes (1)

This was where Jesus delivered his speech to his disciples in Luke 6:20-26, about how they would be treated after he was gone and in Luke 6:27-45, he also taught many lessons to the people about loving your enemies, and to not judge others and how a tree is known by its fruit.

View from the Mount of Beatitudes (2)

He then delivered his final speech in Luke 6:46-49 which was about the wise and foolish builders, whereby he questioned the people and said that “Why do you call me Lord, Lord and not do what I say?” Jesus said that anyone who listens to his word and does what it says, is like a wise man building a house upon the rock, that does not shake when a flood comes and hits it.

Jesus then compared it to someone who hears his word and does not put them into practice, by saying that he is like a foolish man, building his house upon the ground, without a foundation that collapses when a torrent strikes it.

I think that in today's age, many of us go to church and many bible studies, but yet we fail to obey God when he wants us to change certain things in our life. We are like the foolish builders as we listen to his word, but yet we do not do what he wants us to do or change in our life.

Caesarea- Caesarea Maritima

The yellowish-white blocks are the remains of the
once great Palace of King Herod

View of the Hippodrome

View of the Theatre (1)

This place will be remembered perhaps as one of the greatest harbor city that King Herod built.The city was named Caesarea to honor his friend Caesar Augustus. This place was said to be his crowning achievement despite all the other amazing places that he had built. He built palaces, temples, a theater which is larger than the Coliseum in Rome,  a marketplace, a hippodrome which was a famous stadium that housed chariot races and other competitions and water and sewage systems in the city. This place was simply breathtaking and until today people actually talk about this place when they talk about King Herod. 

 Sculpture of Horses and Chariots that

once took part in races thousands of years ago 

Inside the Hippodrome

After the destruction of Jerusalem, Caesarea became the most important city in the country. However, it was raided by the Persians and later taken over by the Muslims before the crusaders came to rebuilt it. However, it was destroyed again after the crusaders retreat. This place was also destroyed mostly from earthquakes, storm waves and wars that took place over there after the reign of King Herod. The place had started to rebuild again in the year 1873 and the work continues today.

Signboard about Pontius Pilate during the trail 

of Jesus

In terms of the bible, this is also a place that was very rich in terms of certain events which occurred in the bible, This place was believed to be where Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea at the time of the crucifixion of Jesus lived. 

Most importantly, it was at the household of Cornelius in Acts 10, at Caesarea where Peter preached the good news about Gentiles also being accepted into the kingdom of God along with the Jews. Previously Salvation was only understood to be for the Jews but the vision that Peter had before at Joppa, taught him that salvation will be for every one who believes in God regardless of Jews or Gentiles.The Holy Spirit also fell among the Gentiles for the first time and they started to speak in tongues and Peter baptized the Gentiles after they were filled with the spirit, in the name of the Lord. 

This place is also where Paul traveled often and in Acts 25-26, gave his case about his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ before Felix and King Agrippa after being imprisoned for 2 years. 

View of the once great Port thousands of years ago

Today, we Gentiles, need to remember that it was at this place whereby the Lord declared through Peter that whoever believed in him regardless of any nation will be saved and the Lord shows no partiality to anyone. It was also the first baptism of the Gentiles and today as the gospel has spread to most parts of the world, this place was the very beginning of the 
good news of Jesus Christ, to the Gentiles which is to us.

Capernaum

Entrance of Capernaum

Our next stop was Capernaum. After Jesus Christ was rejected by his own hometown in Nazareth, he went to Capernaum and started to preach and did many miracles including casting out of demons. In Luke 4:36, the people were amazed at what authority and power his words possessed and that the evil spirits obeyed him and fled from his command. 

This was also the first place that news about Jesus started to spread like wildfire, after he casted a demon out of a man in Luke 4:33-35. His teachings and miracles in the town caused such a stir and impact among the people that crowds of people were coming to see him. Jesus Christ spend most of his 3 years of ministry in this town whereby he taught and healed many people.

Remains of Capernaum (1)

Today, there are only remains over there after it was partially destroyed in the Persian conquest and the churches and synagogues were totally destroyed during the Arab period after that. The area was purchased in 1894 and rebuilt over several seasons after that. It is a tourist attraction today, whereby many people come from all over the world, to see the once famous town that Jesus ministered in.

Remains of Capernaum (2)

A learning lesson for me in this, is in Mark 1:35, whereby after Jesus had a busy first day in Capernaum ministering and healing many people, he woke up early the next morning to go to a isolated place to pray before he continued his ministry. Jesus could have chosen to get a few more hours of sleep after such a long and tiring previous day, but yet he chose to seek God first early in the morning. Jesus spent time with God in the morning to prepare himself for the day ahead. 

              Remains of a Jewish synagogue   

Sometimes, God may be preparing us for the day ahead or may have a word to say to us. Sometimes, we will need to renew our strength from God and other times it could be just spending intimate time to wait upon him to speak to us. The reason why it is important for us, to be in quiet places, is so that we can learn to communicate with him or meditate on his word without any distractions.