Prophecy of Zechariah after the birth of John the Baptist, found in Luke 1: 68-75. It’s displayed in 24 languages at St. John’s Church.

By the time we made it to Ein Karem, it was after a long day of exploring Old Jerusalem, so I hope you are good with short explanations. I was quickly losing brain battery power at this point.

Church of St. John the Baptist in Ein Karem.

This church marks the spot where experts believe John the Baptist was born. It is also near the Church of the Visitation, where Mary visited Elisabeth. I thought we visited both churches, but I could only find photos for the church of St. John.

Not sure who John the Baptist is?

He’s the “voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord.”

In the Bible, the Old Testament teaches that before Messiah comes to reconcile man to God, a prophet will go before him. John the Baptist was the prophet to go before Jesus, proclaiming forgiveness of sins, by faith in God’s salvation because the Messiah has paid the price for our transgressions.

tile wall of St. John Ba-Harim 

This is THE cave of the birth.

After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion.²⁵ “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”   Luke 1:24-25

We saw many beautiful churches in Israel.

Part of Zechariah’s Prophecy:

And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
    for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
⁷⁷ to give his people the knowledge of salvation
    through the forgiveness of their sins,
⁷⁸ because of the tender mercy of our God,
    by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
⁷⁹ to shine on those living in darkness
    and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.”    Luke 1: 76-79

The proper name of the this church is “St. John Ba Harim Church”.

I always say that art tells the story best. These 3 carvings tell the story of the birth of John the Baptist. This one is the first of 3. The other 2 are pictured towards the end of this post.

What I actually remember best from Ein Karem was the beautiful location. 

I wanted to just stand and breathe it in and take photos, so I did. The group had to wait for me for a few minutes, but no one complained.

Ein Karem means “spring of the vineyard.” The spring is a big deal because obviously Mary drank from it when she visited Elisabeth.

This is at Mary’s Spring. It’s under that arch there, but it was crowded and we were tired….ha! So this is the best we can do today.

beautiful Ein Karem

Ein Karem

Ein Karem

Because the Turks and Arabs conquered this land and dwelled in it for so long, there are mosques, both in use and out of use, everywhere.

St. John Ba-Harim Church

St. John Ba Harim Church

Once we finished looking around Ein Karem, we packed up into our bus and drove back to the hotel in Tel Aviv.

saying good-bye to our fabulous tour guide

I hope you are enjoying the Israel series. We have so much more to share!

Here are the links to a few of my other Israel posts:

Jerusalem Part 2: Where Jesus was Crucified

Jerusalem Part 3: The Via Dolorosa

The Western Wall

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