This week is Passion Week.

To mark this significant time in the ministry of Jesus, we’d like to invite you to come on a virtual journey through Jerusalem, following Jesus from His triumphal entry on Palm Sunday to His resurrection.

Our friends at Keshet Journeys have recorded an eight-part journey that reveals the behind-the-scenes stories of the key moments of Jesus’ Passion and provides a deeper understanding of His story in the ancient City of God.

This collection of stunning videos will connect you to the historical geography of the Passion Trail – from the Mount of Olives, the Southern Steps, the Garden of Gethsemane, the House of Caiaphas, Pilate’s Palace, Golgotha and finally the Garden Tomb.

Here is an example from the Mount of Olives…

What was it about the Mount of Olives that Jesus loved so much? Was it that it gives the most majestic natural view of the city of Jerusalem and the Second Temple than any other place in the area? Is it because it has been a place set apart for millennia as sacred, waiting for the Messiah to physically stand upon it? 

Jesus walked this mountain, prayed on this mountain, taught His disciples on this mountain – and each time, He always had a view of the Temple Mount.  His face was always toward the Temple, as the Jewish people have always had their eyes toward the Temple – the place of the Glory of God. Today the Mount of Olives Viewpoint is structured as a ridge of an amphitheater and the story of the life of Israel unfolds today before the viewer. 

Were the proliferation of olive trees on this mountain significant for what would occur in Jesus’ own life at the appointed time. With all the times He visited the Mount of Olives, was He drawing a parallel between the life and processing of the olive and His own life, that one day there would be a crushing that would ultimately produce the salvation of many and the release of the Holy Spirit as oil represents?  

In the book of Genesis, just after the Flood, it was the olive tree and branch first mentioned signifying the renewal of God’s Kingdom. It is recognised as the symbol of peace. So many analogies can be drawn from the olive tree, the olive oil, the olive branch that connect Jesus and Jerusalem together.   

The name, Jerusalem, is said to mean, “The City of Peace”. In Isaiah 9:6 the prophecy of the coming Messiah would be that He would be the Prince of Peace. That those walking in darkness have seen a great light. It is interesting that Dominus Flevit, or the Chapel of Weeping below this Viewpoint, is the location where Jesus, the Prince of Peace, would weep over those in darkness; and just below this site is the Garden of Gethsemane, where again, the Prince of Peace would weep to the point of shedding blood… all tied in to the pain and the suffering about to occur to Jesus and to the people of Jerusalem. 

Here was Jesus, the Prince of Peace, standing possibly at the same place this Viewpoint is established so that we could see what Jesus saw before He was crucified. And possibly, this is the site where He will stand at His return before He enters directly into Jerusalem and establishes His Kingdom where the New Jerusalem will come down from Heaven. 

Today, at sunrise, the first beams of sunlight shine directly over the Mount of Olives onto the Temple Mount – as if God is saying, “From here it began and from here it will finish!” Jerusalem, the Holy City of God, welcomes all of us. 

Description written by Teresa Craig and Keshet Journeys

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We love that by sharing these resources with you we can bring the Bible to life, but even more so, look forward to the day we can set foot in Israel again.

Andy Hopper