Joppa

Sandy in Tel Aviv
Joppa is about 30 miles northeast of Jerusalem on the Mediterranean. It’s harbor naturally made it the port of Jerusalem. It was to Joppa that Hiram floated down from Tyre the fir trees of Lebanon (2 Chron. 2:16). Here Jonah embarked for Tarshish (Jonah 1:3). In Joppa Peter raised a little girl from the dead (Acts 9:36), resided for quite a time with Simon the tanner (Acts 9:43), saw the vision of the great sheet let down from heaven (Acts 10:8-16), and received the summons from Cornelius (Acts 10). This was the first step in opening up the church to the Gentiles.

Modern-day Joppa is within the city of Tel Aviv. And there is house on the shore of the Mediterranean that is identified as Simon Tanner’s house, with a Catholic Church built next door. I was hoping for a vision from God while we were here, but alas, I wasn’t allowed to go up on the roof of Simon’s house to take a nap. Next stop Jerusalem.