The final part of our journey today, took us to the far north of the country, in fact, very close to the border of Israel with Lebanon, and Syria. We visited what today is called Banias, but which in Jesus' time, was called Caesarea Philippi. This comprised a complex of temples devoted to the worship of the god, Pan. Worship involved the sacrificial offering of goats into a watercourse at the back of a large cave. This was regarded as the gates to the underworld or Hades, which really unpacks the meaning behind the Biblical passage which I have printed out for you;-

Matthew 16:13-20New International Version (NIV)13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter,[a] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[b] will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be[c] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[d] loosed in heaven.”20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

This is the sort of amazing information that you discover on these pilgrimages, that totally changes your understanding of  the Bible. Even if this was considered to be such an awful place, it was very interesting, and beautiful, so here are some pics!