After traveling up to the Mount of Olives to admire the breathtaking view of Jerusalem lying before us, we slowly strolled downhill to spend a reflective time at the Garden of Gethsemane. It was as if we could almost touch time as we rubbed our fingers down the trunks of the trees that are over 2000 years old and would have been growing in the Garden when the Lord Jesus agonized in prayer before His crucifixion.
If those trees could talk what would they tell us? Would we have grown weary as the disciples did? How often have we grown weary and fallen asleep during spiritual warfare?
Our journey then took us up a row of steps, some of the only authentic stones in Jerusalem that are the actual steps He walked as He was ushered to the palace of the high priest Caiaphas after His arrest and betrayal by Judas.
We saw the place where Peter denied Him and heard the cock crow. My heart was convicted as I pondered how many times I have denied Him by my thoughts or my attitudes?
It was an emotional and deep spiritual moment as we climbed down the narrow staircase down to the pit where He was imprisoned the night before He carried His cross to Calvary. The walls were spattered with blood. We don’t know but could this be some of the blood He shed for us?
After we walked the Via Dolorosa following His road to Golgotha, we finished our day in prayer at the Wailing Wall with a deeper, sensitive appreciation of the awesome cost of our salvation.
1 Peter 1: 18-19 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold. But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
