Jerusalem—A Place to Come to Cleanse & Purify One’s Heart!
Sunset over the Old City of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives.
My introduction to the Old City of Jerusalem was measured, gradual, and exponential. First to drive around its perimeter outside the walls, find a parking spot, walk in the Dung Gate to experience the Western Wall on the Sabbath. Upon returning to Jerusalem a second time then finding and ascending to the Mount of Olives just in time to see a majestic sunset over the Old City. The next day journeying to Bethlehem and then back to find the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and in the same day to witness and pray where Jesus was born, crucified at Calvary and resurrected from the dead.
Great parking space!
Now to come back for a third time and take an amazing tour that started at the Jaffa Gate and took us along our winding way through the nooks and crannies of a place 40,000 people call home. First through the Armenian and Jewish Quarters then emerging at the Western Wall and upwards to the Dome of the Rock. Down through the Muslim Quarter we found the Via Dolorosa which led us through the Christian Quarter to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Inside was Calvary and the Empty Sepulcher (Tomb)–where Jesus rose from the dead—the Cornerstone of Christian faith.
Join me on this tour as I relive this spiritual experience in the picture gallery below of 88 pictures…
The Jews, Muslims, and Christians all have a spiritual home in the Old City of Jerusalem. For me I felt the presence of Jesus and a cleansing and purifying of my heart that left only love compassion, and mercy for any relationship—Divine—with my self—and with others whether family, friends, or strangers.
This spiritual experience would continue throughout this Christmas Eve visit and again later in the Spiritual Journey to Israel & Palestine when I would come and stay for three nights within the walls of the Old City at the Christ Church Guest House.
I walked in the Old City of Jerusalem where Jesus walked near the Temple area and later where Peter performed miracles:
“The feast of the Dedication was then taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter. And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon. “—Mark 10:22-23
“Now Peter and John were going up to the Temple area for the three o’clock hour of prayer. And a man crippled from birth was carried and placed at the gate of the Temple called “the Beautiful Gate” every day to beg for alms from the people who entered the Temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the Temple, he asked for alms. But Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” He paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them. Peter said, “I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have I give you: in the Name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, rise and walk.” Then Peter took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles grew strong. He leaped up, stood, and walked around, and went into the temple with them, walking and jumping and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the one who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, and they were filled with amazement and astonishment at what had happened to him. As he clung to Peter and John, all the people hurried in amazement toward them in the portico called “Solomon’s Portico.””—Acts 3:1-11
“Many signs and wonders were done among the people at the hands of the apostles. They were all together in Solomon’s portico. None of the others dared to join them, but the people esteemed them. Yet more than ever, believers in the Lord, great numbers of men and women, were added to them. Thus they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on one or another of them. A large number of people from the towns in the vicinity of Jerusalem also gathered, bringing the sick and those disturbed by unclean spirits, and they were all cured.”—Acts 5:12-16
Jerusalem—A Place to Come to Cleanse & Purify One’s Heart!
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”—Acts 1:8
The Dome of the Rock (Qubbat As-Sakhrah) is the spot from which the Islamic prophet Muhammad ascended to Heaven accompanied by the angel Gabriel. For Jews and Christians this stone is the site where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac (Genesis 22:1-19).
“As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people, from this time forth and forevermore.”—Psalm 125:2
“Thus says the LORD: “I have returned to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts, the holy mountain.””—Zechariah 8:3
“Jerusalem—built as a city that is bound firmly together, to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD. There thrones for judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David.”—Psalm 122:3-5
The Western Wall or Wailing Wall (Kotel) is an ancient limestone wall that is considered to be closest to the former ‘Holy of Holies,’ which makes it the most sacred site recognized by Judaism outside the ancient Temple itself.
“At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart.”—Jeremiah 3:17
“But Judah shall be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem to all generations.” —Joel 3:20
“And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.”—Zechariah 12:9
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre contains the two holiest sites in Christianity: the site where Jesus was crucified at Calvary (Golgotha) and Jesus’s Empty Tomb where he was resurrected from the dead.
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! “May they be secure who love you!”
—Psalm 122:6
“And he carried me away in The Holy Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven from God, having the Glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.”—Revelation 21: 10-11
“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”—Revelation 21:2-3
With All Credit for the abover ten Jerusalem Bible Verses to ChristianQuotes.Info.
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