10 Reasons a Tour to Israel Belongs on Your Bucket List

People often ask me, as many times as I’ve been to Israel, if I still benefit in going to the Holy Land again. My answer is an overwhelming, “Yes.” Here’s why.

(Photo: Mount Arbel overlooking the Sea of Galilee. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

Whether you go to the Holy Land one time or a thousand times, there are benefits that remain timeless. I’m convinced you should do your best to take a tour to Israel at least once in your life.

Here are 10 reasons you should consider.

(Photo: Boat on Sea of Galilee. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

10 Reasons to Go to the Holy Land

1. Faith and reality. You’ll experience the reality that your faith is connected to history—to events that occurred in time and at places that haven’t moved.
2. Take a sniff and a taste. You’ll learn the Bible with all your senses—the most effective way to study and remember. That’s one reason, I believe, the Lord worked all of our senses into the celebration of Communion.
3. Geo what? You’ll grasp the enormous benefit of understanding why the Bible mentions geography on most every page and how it can add to your understanding of the biblical events—and even biblical application.
4. Read and see. You’ll read words like “Sea of Galilee” and “Jerusalem” in your Bible and then look up and see those places—the real thing.
5. The very place. You’ll see the spot where the entire universe, including you, was redeemed—the place where Jesus died and rose again. (Yes, we know where it happened, most very probably.)
6. Perspective. You’ll visualize the relatively short distances between biblical sites.
7. Logic and location. You’ll understand why biblical sites are where they are—and why, after suffering destruction, they were rebuilt on the same sites. In addition, you’ll realize how and why biblical events that occurred centuries apart often happened in the same locations.
8. The real news. You’ll see, unfortunately, how selective the news is about the Middle East.
9. Focus. You’ll enjoy a time of undistracted focus on learning the Bible—almost two weeks of immersion in Scripture and in biblical sites.
10. Life change. You’ll join the 99% of Christian pilgrims who affirm that a journey to Israel strengthened their walk with God.

To be sure, there are more reasons than these. But I’ve experienced these 10 reasons so often I’m confident you too will experience them.

Tell me what you think: What reason would you add? To leave a comment, just click here.