More Sharing from the Holy Land 2017 Pilgrimage

By George Tan & family (Sydney BPC)

On behalf of my family, I thank God, Calvary Pandan and the planning committee for the opportunity to participate in this year’s Holy Land trip. Indeed it was with a great sense of excitement as we travelled through the very ground that our Lord Jesus walked while He was here some 2000 years ago. Words alone and the feelings within cannot describe our appreciation to be here, having a sense of God’s mercy and grace upon all of us through His sacrificial love for all mankind.

Walking around and experiencing the varied places helped us to appreciate the Bible that much more and in a way strengthened our faith in our love for and our walk with Christ.

In the world that we live in today, our Christian faith has been attacked and diluted partly due to the lack of and understanding in the knowledge of God’s Word. I’ve seen a lot of Christians who are not finding God real in their lives or are following in the wrong direction. Our moral standing in society today is so badly corrupted and values have been turned upside down. It is sad but the reality is happening right before our eyes.

Personally, throughout this trip, I’ve realised that I’m also lacking in the knowledge of the Old Testament as I struggled to understand the historical places and the events that took place at each of these sites. I must confess that I’m not a great fan of history and was always lacking in school times.

Like every pilgrim, my heart was stirred as I saw and heard the biblical lessons taught each day and what our God wants all of us to learn.

In conclusion, one of the many lessons that I’ve learned throughout this trip is to continue to read and hide God’s Word in my heart, to learn to meditate and find its true meaning and understanding, and to apply it into my daily Christian life.

I would also like to thank each and everyone in this trip for their love and friendship.

May God continue to bless us as we journey on till Christ’s return!

 

By Helen Yeh

I thought going to the Promised Land was just a dream that would not come true. I never thought it would become a reality. All praise and thanks be to God.

For me, this trip is different from any other vacation. It is a spiritual journey for which I longed for many years and I must say nothing is impossible with God. I thank the Lord for His grace in allowing me to make this pilgrimage.

The experience of worshipping the Lord by the Sea of Galilee in the midst of that beautiful sunrise and remembering Jesus feeding the five thousand and walking on the Sea of Galilee and saying to the disciples, “it is I, be not afraid” were so comforting and encouraging. Indeed it is a reminder for me that no matter what difficulties or trials I am going through, Jesus will also say to me, “be not afraid I will be with you always.”

Looking at the sky daily during this trip also reminded me of God’s goodness towards the Israelites, protecting them as they sojourned to the Promised Land, with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to guide and comfort them.

I praise and thank God, for He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Every day, He was guiding and keeping us safe and blessing us with good weather and smooth traffic all the way. He also kept us in good health (except for a few minor illnesses) and strength, protecting the little children from harm, fall and danger.

Having the Lord’s Supper at the Garden tomb was a joyful experience and I thank the Lord for His great work of salvation so that I can now serve Him and have the hope of eternal life.

All glory and thanks be to God for making this trip possible for me.

Lastly I want to thank the brethren for sweet fellowship.

God willing I hope to visit this land again with my husband who is an unbeliever. Please pray for his salvation.

 

By Teo Tiong Kiat

My wife and I are thankful to God for enabling us to participate in this pilgrimage.

81 of us assembled on 8 Dec 2017 amidst news of possible unrest in response to US President Trump’s announcement two days earlier. MFA had just issued a travel advisory to avoid the regions. With much prayer and trust, we proceeded with the trip and it was a most wonderful journey.

Right from the beginning, we experienced God’s protection and provision, throughout the 14 day study. I could sense this tour would be an amazing trip as we passed through immigration and custom clearance points smoothly, finally finding that our group was the only one at an empty Tel Aviv airport. Since then, thoughts of safety and security seldom crossed my mind again.

We enjoyed good weather, knowledgeable tour guides and very skilful and experienced bus drivers as we travelled across the land of Israel from Caesarea to Mt Hermon in the Golan Heights, to the Sea of Galilee and Nazareth, then southwards to Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the West Bank and the Dead Sea.

We covered over 50 biblical locations that gave us much insight and appreciation of the geography and history of the places our Lord and His disciples had walked and even back in years to Old Testament times of King David, Solomon, Hezekiah and others. It was a special moment when we arrived at Bethlehem. This is the pivotal point in human history which took place some 2000 years ago; it was in this quiet town that God the Son came to earth in the most humble manner in his full humanity and the world didn’t recognise Him.

We started each day with a wake-up call as early as 5.30 am and a prayer before each journey. We walked much as we explored into the strange places we have read about. At the end of each day after dinner and debrief, I was very tired and fell asleep immediately when I arrived back to the hotel room.

On the 7th day, we visited the Garden of Gethsemane. As Matthew 26:40 was read out, “...and findeth them asleep.” and after He returned the third time said, “Sleep on now, and take your rest.”, my soul was pricked as I realised how sorrowful and long suffering my Lord must have been, knowing His crucifixion was at hand. I recollected a hymn many of us loved to sing: “It is a thing most wonderful”; “I sometimes think about the cross, and shut my eyes, and try to see, the cruel nails and crown of thorns, and Jesus crucified for me.”

Yes, this was a trip like no other and is a thing most wonderful over and above learning about the geography and history of the lands. Each location we visited brought me to a deeper understanding of Jesus and His person. I feel excited to read through the Bible again with greater understanding and pray that God will touch our hearts to love and seek Him with greater urgency.

Finally, I wish to thank Deacons Chung Seng and Milton and the unseen hands who worked so hard to make our trip a pleasant, enriching and unforgettable one.

 

By Michelle Ong

The past 13 days have been a trip like no other; going through mountains, seas and tunnels, being able to visit the places that Jesus was in, reading the Bible, praying and dining together, singing hymns and listening to beautiful singing from the young people, together with likeminded brethren. God led us as we travelled. In addition, Bernard and I had many loving nannies, photographers who took beautiful photos for us and also helpful brethren who helped with our bags and pram. Most of all, it has been an unforgettable and blessed trip for Bernard and me.

Thank God for safety and watching over our footsteps especially the children when we were hiking up. I was also worried that I might slip and knock Isaac’s head. Thank God for preserving us.

One week prior to the trip, both the children fell ill. Thank God that both recovered sufficiently for the trip.

Please allow me to share four encounters or moments.

Firstly, on the second night in the hotel, Isaac cried very loudly and for a rather long time (since he was born), likely due to tiredness and blocked nose as he was still recovering. I felt the pain and carried him. I questioned if we had made the right decision to come. That was when I realized that I had not trusted God. Why was I questioning if we had prayed about the trip just because my son was crying so hard. I prayed with him and asked God to forgive my sin. Thank God that he recovered and was well throughout the pilgrimage.

Secondly, about mid way through the tour, I had flu and cough. That morning while we were in the old city of Jerusalem, I was feeling very giddy from the flu and wished that I could just lie in bed. We were tracing the footsteps of Jesus from the time He was betrayed to His crucifixion. I felt my body giving in as we walked and I continued to pray for strength to carry on. At one point, while we were in the museum, I was carrying Isaac in my arms as he slept. I dozed off. Sister Lenny told me that she and Abigail were by my side waiting to catch Isaac if I should drop him. Thank God for strength. Christ carried the cross and the pathways would have been different from what we walked the other day. He suffered so much. This touched me at that time and gave me the strength.

Thirdly, each day was long and tiring especially during the first half of the trip. However, every morning was always a fresh one, with renewed strength ever ready to visit the places again. This reminds me of how God provided for the Israelites with manna and how we need to put our trust in Him day by day. We have no lack, for His grace is sufficient for us.

Lastly while I was walking through the dry Hezekiah’s tunnel with Isaac in the carrier, Sister Angel led me to sing ‘God leads us along’. Truly, God is able to see us through all the trials and difficulties, whether physically, emotionally or mentally, as what Pastor shared with us about his experience in the wet tunnel which was much longer and more challenging.

Many of my friends and church members were shocked that we were taking a 6 month old baby plus a 4 year old for this trip. Bernard and I thank God we went, especially so after what we had gone through and seen in the past 13 days. All thanks to God that we were able to visit the holy land.

I pray for more fervency to read the Bible and to teach my children God’s Word daily, and to re-consecrate my life to Him, to be a good testimony and a godly stay-home mum.

In conclusion, Bernard and I are very grateful for all the help rendered. Thank you all the nannies and wonderful “jie jies” and “gor gors” to Isaac and Emma. I think Isaac especially will find the house very quiet when we get back, having to face just his sister and me most of the time.

All glory to God.

 

By Justina Tan (Sydney BPC)

“I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the LORD.” Ps 122:1

This pilgrimage has been a very rewarding and eye-opening experience, despite the early starts (almost every day!), seemingly never-ending bus rides, and occasional illnesses sustained by each pilgrim. Personally, I think it was worth flying all the way from Sydney to join Calvary Pandan’s contingency, and I truly thank the Calvary Pandan brethren for making us Sydney BPC brethren feel welcome in their midst.

As a Sunday School teacher and YF leader, I often struggled to describe the context of certain events in the Bible, as all I had were Bible commentaries, maps and teaching aids. However, I feel that I am now more equipped to teach those under my charge, like what it felt to be amid the Judean desert or wilderness wandering, or how it felt to be in a boat tossed upon the choppy waves on the Sea of Galilee; to possess that physical first-hand knowledge is truly invaluable. But retaining all that head knowledge is nothing if it isn’t reflected upon spiritually. I hope to utilise this knowledge to better enrich my students’ learning, and hopefully one day when they are old enough or have the means to, they’ll want to take a trip to the Holy Land too!

One thing that struck me as we were visiting all these sites was the blatant idolatrous worship of icons, objects and places. To some extent it was even scary to set foot into these ‘holy places’, where a myriad of painted depictions of Jesus, the twelve disciples, Mary, Joseph and other biblical or historical figures were put on display and worshipped. It is sad to see how these inanimate objects were being venerated and how far from the Word of God these worshippers were deviating from (Romans 1:23)! I thank God that all the tour guides made sure to mention at one point or other that many of them were just traditional sites and no one knows for sure whether they were the actual places where Biblical accounts happened at, but as sure as the Word of the Lord is in our hands, we can be sure that all the Biblical accounts definitely occurred. It didn’t matter if it occurred at the very places where we traversed, all we needed to know was that they occurred and praise God for that.

Another aspect of the trip that I found enlightening was a better understanding of the Jewish faith and traditions. I had vaguely known a little about the Jewish laws and how they kept their Shabbat (Sabbath) holy and kosher laws, but to experience it in their country was a whole different story! It really put into perspective the way the Jews in the Bible acted and carried out their day to day living. Yet again, it is a pity that despite the Jews being really sincere about keeping kosher and in line with all their Jewish traditions and laws, they are going about it being sincerely wrong (Isaiah 64:6, Rom 3:10). Many do it out of familial traditions being passed down from generation to generation (“I was born into a Jewish family, so therefore I am a Jew”), and sadly these religious traditions are done at face-value with no spiritual significance felt. On the flipside, it prompted me to evaluate the actions and things that we do in church (such as the Lord’s Supper), and whether we do it just out of habit or rote, without any regard to its spiritual significance.

This pilgrimage has definitely shown me all my spiritual shortcomings (my lack of knowledge in many parts of the Bible) and has spurred me on to better my Biblical knowledge, so that hopefully, God-willing if I get to return to the Holy Land, I’d be able to better appreciate certain places.