3ABN On the Road

The Arab, The Jew And Jerusalem

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Pr. Tony Moore

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Series Code: OTR

Program Code: OTR000706


01:01 We welcome you back again,
01:03 that first program we saw together was fascinating
01:06 but we're glad you're back for part two
01:09 and we're gonna be looking at the Middle East.
01:10 You know, it's kind a hot today here in Wichita,
01:14 but it's much hotter over in the Middle East
01:16 for different reasons.
01:18 There is a lot of unrest
01:20 and tonight hopefully we'll learn something
01:23 that can help us understand
01:24 more than just what we see on the television many times.
01:28 And we're glad that you are here with us.
01:30 Let's just bow our heads
01:31 and ask the Lord to bless us as we study together.
01:35 Father in heaven, we're indeed grateful
01:38 that we can come and that we can again learn
01:40 and grow and we are thankful
01:42 that You oversee every part of the world,
01:47 whether it is here,
01:49 whatever place anyone is watching this evening
01:53 wherever anyone is You oversee it all.
01:55 We're thankful for Your all powerful,
01:57 all knowing love.
01:59 Tonight we ask that Your spirit would especially be with us
02:02 this evening as we study together
02:06 and we come in Christ name, amen.
02:09 Before we look at the what some have called the Holy City,
02:12 we're going to hear about the Holy City
02:16 and again, Rafael Scarfullery is with us
02:20 and he's going to be playing what I think many times
02:24 as I listen to people as what many people most enjoy
02:27 and that is the piece called "The Holy City."
07:58 Thank you so much Rafael, for that beautiful song.
08:04 Truly enjoy that, you told me earlier
08:06 you began playing the guitar
08:07 when you're 15?
08:10 About 15, amazing.
08:13 Well, we gonna go to Jerusalem not to that Jerusalem perhaps,
08:16 we're gonna go to a little different Jerusalem
08:17 tonight on the screen.
08:19 We're glad that you join us for this study
08:22 "The Jew, The Arab and Jerusalem."
08:25 How many have you been to Jerusalem?
08:28 Few of you, one, two.
08:30 Only two of you, okay.
08:32 Well, tonight we're gonna be going to Jerusalem
08:34 and the nicest thing about is
08:38 that you don't have to worry about bombs tonight or bullets.
08:43 You can go and see all the sites of Jerusalem
08:45 and its very, very safe I guarantee it,
08:48 right here in this church or right here on your homes.
08:51 Well, perhaps I should really rename
08:53 this evening presentation
08:54 The Jew, The Arab,
08:57 The Christian, The Muslim, and Jerusalem.
09:01 For technically there are many Arab Christians
09:04 as well as Arab Muslims.
09:07 And by the way Arab Christians
09:09 in their Bible call the name of God, "Allah."
09:13 And so a majority of the Arab town of Bethlehem is Christian.
09:17 A majority of the Arab town of Ramallah
09:22 in the West Bank is Christian.
09:24 Yet the city of Jerusalem
09:25 has long been divided into the four quarters,
09:28 the Jewish, the Arab, the Armenian,
09:31 and the Christian quarters.
09:33 Jerusalem is a tremendous city of significance
09:36 to millions of people.
09:38 Now Israel cannot boast the pyramids of--
09:43 of ancient Greeks of ancient Egypt
09:46 or the classical ruins of the Acropolis of Greece,
09:49 but this land alone lays claim to the title Holy Land.
09:55 Sacred as a spiritual epicenter
09:57 for the three monotheistic religions.
10:00 Jerusalem draws religions pilgrims
10:02 from around the world with an irresistible force.
10:05 Now the name Jerusalem means "City of Peace."
10:09 But few cities have been subject to more war
10:12 or bloodshed than this one.
10:15 During its 4,000 year history
10:17 it's been besieged and conquered by Israelites,
10:21 and Egyptians, and Syrians,
10:23 and Babylonians, and Persians,
10:24 and Greeks, and Romans, and Arabs, and Seljuqs,
10:27 and Crusaders, and Mameluks, and Ottomans,
10:29 and The British, and The Jordanians,
10:31 and finally after 3,000 years
10:34 Israelis have conquered it once again.
10:36 The city has been totally erased,
10:38 that is totally destroyed on three different occasions.
10:41 Once by the Babylonians in 586, once by the Romans in 70 AD
10:46 and again by the Romans in 135 AD.
10:49 Now as you approach the city of Jerusalem for the first time
10:52 you are impressed by the walls at loom large on the horizon.
10:56 Inside the walls of the old city--
10:59 inside the walls lie the old city of Jerusalem.
11:02 Now coming from relatively new land like America,
11:05 we're not use to wall cities, are we?
11:07 We don't really need them at a time of mortar shells
11:10 and airplanes that drop bombs.
11:12 But through out the long history of Jerusalem
11:15 these walls have been critical to the defense of the city.
11:19 One afternoon I was visiting with Palestinian shepherds,
11:23 near the Jaffa Gate
11:24 along the walls of the old city of Jerusalem.
11:27 We set and we visited it was during Ramadan
11:29 and most of us have learned more about Ramadan
11:31 in the last few years, haven't we?
11:33 When Muslims did not eat during the day time
11:36 and so they were sitting there with their sheep
11:38 waiting for sunset so that they could eat their meal,
11:40 and I was visiting with them and I laughed
11:42 and I walked across the Hidden Valley
11:45 over to King David Hotel into that area.
11:49 And I heard what sounded
11:50 like firecrackers going off in the distance.
11:53 As a matter of fact, I turned to my friend
11:54 and he said, oh, they're celebrating,
11:56 and I said, that's not celebrating, that's a nosey.
11:58 I said, we got to go, I could see what happened.
12:00 And he says, no, if it's nosey, we are gonna back.
12:02 And I said no, we're gonna back and what happen.
12:04 So ran back across and would you believe it
12:07 the very men that I been talking to
12:09 just a few minutes earlier,
12:10 zealot had come by a member of the Sakhara,
12:13 had come by an emptied two flips of the nosey
12:15 into the four men.
12:17 Well, I went the next morning
12:21 and I was amazed as I actually saw the blood on the rocks.
12:25 One man lost his life
12:26 and other three were critically injured.
12:29 And I was amazed that how that the peace I'd sense,
12:32 the fragile peace on previous visit Jerusalem
12:35 had now been removed.
12:36 As a hostilities were spilling out
12:38 and even blood was spilling on to the rocks.
12:42 Well, City of Jerusalem has a seven open gates
12:47 that lead into the city.
12:48 The Saint Stephen's Gate,
12:51 that you see in the picture of
12:52 is known as Saint Stephen's Gate
12:53 because it's believed that Stephen was lead
12:55 through that gate to the Kidron Valley
12:57 that be stoned, it's also know as the Lions Gate
12:59 because there are embossed lions above them.
13:01 Then there are-- are gates
13:04 that lead to the north The Herod's Gate,
13:06 The Damascus Gate,
13:07 There is a gate to the east a New Gate, the Jaffa Gate,
13:11 there is a gate to the south called The Zion Gate,
13:13 and it's a even a gate to the south called the Dung Gate.
13:15 Can you imagine what went through that?
13:17 You know, that was gonna taking animal bodies
13:20 and things like that from the temple
13:22 out to be burned in the Valley of Hinnom,
13:24 which we also think of as Gehenna or Hell.
13:27 And so things will be burned out there.
13:29 Well, I have to confess I spend over three months in Jerusalem
13:33 and no matter which gate I through,
13:34 I still get lost
13:35 and I'm wandering around in the Old City.
13:37 But I loved to wander through that city
13:39 to walk on the narrow cobblestone walkways
13:42 and streets, and the twist trough the fruit markets,
13:46 and the spice markets, and the meat markets,
13:47 and the clothing bazaars.
13:49 Not to mention the one selling religious goods
13:51 to pilgrims and tourists.
13:53 As you walk through the streets
13:54 and as you talk to the shopkeepers
13:56 you sense an uneasy peace and this the city of peace.
14:01 During the first intifada
14:03 I actually had to run through the Damascus Gate
14:05 because tear gas had been shot.
14:07 Had to cover our faces to the escape
14:10 that chocking sensation.
14:11 And I remember walking down the street
14:14 and-- and being confronted by mass Palestinian youths
14:17 with Palestinian flags over their faces
14:19 and rocks in their hands, and it was very unnerving.
14:22 During my last trip when we were working
14:25 on the series on "Life of Paul,"
14:26 we were filming there, we were there for week
14:28 and we had three car bombs
14:30 during the week that went off in the city of Jerusalem.
14:32 And so the easy fragile peace that have been there is
14:36 now been replaced and you sense it,
14:39 it's a very discouraging thing.
14:42 I have to tell you this,
14:44 there is no market that I'd rather visit
14:46 than the Old Souq of Jerusalem.
14:48 The color, the smells, the food,
14:51 the shopkeeper who actually challenges you
14:54 not to buy his goods,
14:55 haggles and ancient customing the bazaar
14:58 with for carved olive wood from Bethlehem
15:00 or in laid boxes from Damascus
15:02 or ancient coins on earth in a dig
15:05 or better one garments that sought,
15:07 hello, hello, its beckons you to come in,
15:10 sit down and have a cup of tea
15:12 and haggle over something that they want to sell to you.
15:15 None but the most iron willed
15:17 will leave without purchasing something.
15:19 Baklava, I had some today with pastor.
15:22 You know that, wonderful pastries
15:24 made with walnuts.
15:25 In this part of the world,
15:26 it's made with pistachios in that part of the world.
15:28 I have to tell you that there are--
15:29 that I have maybe a kilo
15:30 to sustain me on my journeys over there
15:33 and that part of the world.
15:34 I was a wondering around the old streets of Jerusalem
15:36 and saw this man, he was making sort of a pancake
15:39 and so I said, okay, I'll buy a kilo of it
15:41 and I ordered a kilo
15:43 and ultimately as up in the Galileo
15:45 and I had to feed it to the birds,
15:46 I couldn't take it, it was just didn't taste good at all.
15:48 But anyway the Baklava was great anyway.
15:52 Fruits always seem to be
15:54 in a great abundance in Jerusalem.
15:56 This lady here, she had a portable store,
15:59 she was carrying the oranges on her head,
16:01 she had the little scale on her blouse
16:03 and she get wiped it out and just a moments times.
16:05 She seems to also have two prices,
16:08 one for everybody else and one for me.
16:10 So, the sites and sounds of the spices market
16:15 and the coffee section are essential to lie.
16:17 I'm a vegetarian so I try and avoid the meat market,
16:19 but it seems like every time that's where I ended up
16:21 when I'm wandering around in Old Jerusalem.
16:24 We're in the Old City is also the Via Dolorosa,
16:27 the 14 stations with the cross,
16:29 the holiest spots within Christendom.
16:32 Within the Old City is also the Western Walls,
16:35 some people call it the Wailing Wall,
16:37 know as a place where Jews have come for centuries
16:40 to mourn the loss of their temple.
16:43 And of course dominating the city state
16:45 is the Dome of the Rock, the Dome of the Rock,
16:48 third holiest spot in the Islamic world.
16:52 Now tonight, before we explore
16:54 the holy places of these three religions,
16:56 I want to share with you
16:58 the historical background of the city
17:00 in the religions within.
17:01 You see all three religions
17:03 they look back to a common ancestor,
17:06 to a spiritual ancestor by the name of Abraham.
17:11 Abraham was known as the Khalil of God,
17:13 the friend of God, he is known the father of the faithful.
17:16 All three religions look back to one and the same God,
17:20 they look back to common stories
17:21 found in the Hebrew's scriptures
17:23 also called the Old Testament.
17:26 Nowhere is this clearer than down in Hebron
17:28 where Abraham bought a cave from Ephron for 400 shekels
17:32 in which he buried Sarah.
17:34 Later the patriarch himself will be buried here
17:37 with his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob
17:40 and their wives.
17:42 This was a very special place.
17:44 Now inside the building is a Jewish synagogue
17:50 and a Muslim Mosque.
17:51 On my earlier trip in 1987 we discovered that the...
17:59 here we have the cave,
18:00 the building that King Herod built in honor of Abraham
18:06 and his burials.
18:08 Here and on my earlier trip I was able to go in,
18:12 you could sense the uneasy peace
18:14 between the Jewish synagogue and a Muslim mosque there.
18:17 But a several years later a real tragedy took place here,
18:21 a zealot came in and he open fire on the worshipers
18:25 who are inside.
18:26 He unloaded his bullets and you can actually see them
18:29 here on the screen some of the places
18:32 where the bullets actually ricochet off
18:36 and there were a number of worshipers
18:38 who were killed that day.
18:39 And so there is a terrible tension between the peoples,
18:42 now as a dividing wall
18:44 between the synagogue and the mosque,
18:46 and it has a higher security of experienced
18:48 in the entire country of Israel.
18:51 Very, very high security.
18:53 Well, Abraham came down
18:54 and he steeled in a place called Beersheba.
18:56 He dug a well here.
18:58 And he found a peace treaty with the local people.
19:01 He maintained extensive flocks
19:03 and live in a goat hair tent
19:05 much like the modern better one lived today.
19:08 Now the tents are very particle in this hot climate
19:11 because they are very portable,
19:13 and during hot weather
19:14 you can just kind of bring the sides up
19:16 and the breeze will flow through,
19:18 they are also warm in the winter,
19:19 and they are also very, very expensive.
19:22 Goat hair tents fascinate me.
19:23 There was a special place up in Tarsus
19:26 called Cilicia by the Romans.
19:28 And you might remember that cilia is hair
19:30 because they-- they had a--
19:32 they developed a special breed of goats
19:33 up in the mountains grown nowhere else in the world.
19:36 And when took the cilia from those goats
19:38 or the hair and you made it into the goat hair tent
19:40 it allowed smoke from your camp fire to pass through the tent.
19:44 It allows sunshine to string through,
19:46 and it repelled rain.
19:47 It was the cortex fabric of the day.
19:49 And by the way, just for a bit of trivia,
19:52 Paul was from that area of Tarsus in Cilicia,
19:56 and what was Paul by trade?
19:58 A tent maker.
19:59 I've often wondered do you think
20:00 he actually sewed tents
20:01 or do you think he was a prevarior of goat tents?
20:04 It had the best connection in the world
20:05 for the finest material in the world
20:07 for making goat hair tents.
20:10 Well, I went down to Beersheba,
20:11 I wanted to research the lifestyle of Abraham.
20:14 The well in the town is named after him
20:16 although it's actually dug after he was there.
20:19 We are on a tight budget
20:20 so we slept on the ancient Tel that night,
20:23 and we slept inside the walls
20:25 and it was very-- very nice, very comfortable.
20:29 The next morning I was up before sunrise
20:31 because I was researching the lifestyle of Abraham,
20:33 and so I went down I found this Family Nowade.
20:37 I saw flocks of sheep and goats and camels going down
20:40 and this family was there washing their animals
20:44 before shearing them and sending them to market.
20:46 And so the animals would resist the efforts girls
20:49 and finally a brother would get them
20:50 and pull him into the watering hole
20:52 and they pass them from one to another
20:53 and finally the father would inspect them
20:55 and soggy animal would try
20:57 and make his way out of the watering hole.
21:00 I went back and found my son, who was 10-years-old
21:02 he had made friends with the Babylon boy
21:03 who was watching a group of camels.
21:05 And so they were taking turn for riding the camels,
21:07 Steven would ride for a while
21:08 and then the other boy would ride for a while.
21:10 And so even though they couldn't speak
21:12 the same language
21:13 they were able to have the language of friendship
21:16 and I was very pleased by that.
21:18 Yes, the ruins of the they Tel at Beersheba
21:22 did not go back to Abraham's time,
21:24 but they-- the well that we see in the town
21:28 will be very similar to the one that Isaac dug here.
21:31 In a presentation that we saw earlier fabulous tales
21:34 the Tel tells
21:35 we talk about some tablets discovered in nosey that--
21:38 that explained the custom of how a barren woman
21:41 could choose a surrogate for her husband
21:45 to have an heir through.
21:46 And as I said, I'm sure that she found
21:49 the most beautiful woman in the village
21:50 and said honey, this is the one that you can have, right?
21:53 Well, anyway probably didn't have enquired that way
21:57 and but the law guaranteed the rights of the slave girl
22:01 but the law also said that
22:03 if the-- the wife the original wife
22:05 later had a child that child was to be the heir.
22:10 And so we think about this story
22:13 playing out, taking place.
22:15 Sarah suggested that Abraham follow this custom
22:19 and she gave him her handmaid
22:22 whose is an Egyptian maid servant Hagar.
22:25 They had a child and the child was named Ishmael.
22:30 Ishmael, you see, el, e-l is God.
22:34 It means God hears, God hears.
22:37 Abraham loved that boy,
22:39 but as you can imagine there was an uneasy tension
22:41 between Sarah and Hagar in the home.
22:44 He loved that boy but 14 years later
22:49 he had a child through his wife
22:53 and they named the child Laughter, right.
22:57 She was laugh--I'm an old woman I can't have a child.
23:00 She began to laugh and the angel said that,
23:03 and so when he was born they named him Laughter
23:05 which means Isaac today.
23:07 And so the domestic trouble increased
23:10 between Hagar and Sarah
23:13 and finally, when Ishmael was 17-years-old
23:18 he and his mother had to leave the camp.
23:21 It was difficult for Abraham to send them away.
23:23 They wandered out the Bible says,
23:25 and they came through a bush in the desert
23:28 and there is-- Hagar would be sat down
23:31 and began to cry.
23:34 She thought they're gonna die in the wilderness.
23:36 The Lord appeared to her and showed her a well nearby
23:39 and then the Lord proclaimed this name to Hagar.
23:42 He said, I-- My name is Elroy, El God, the God who truly sees.
23:49 God saw Hagar and Ishmael in their plight
23:53 and He answered their prayer
23:54 and you know what,
23:56 He sees us in our situations today
23:58 no matter how difficult they might be.
24:00 Hence we pray He is the Elroy, the God who truly sees.
24:06 No matter what we go through we need to remember that.
24:08 Well, God came and he promised to Hagar
24:11 that he would make her son Ishmael a might nation,
24:14 that he would be the father of 12 rulers.
24:18 And indeed Ishmael became the father of the Arab tribes
24:22 who inhabit this part of the land today.
24:25 Jews are the decedents of Abraham
24:27 through the line of Isaac and Jacob.
24:30 Another nation of the past were the Edomites.
24:32 Remember were the Edomites came from?
24:34 They lived down in thatcher we saw in a presentation
24:38 "Fabulous Tales The Tel Tells."
24:40 That was Jacob's twin brother.
24:43 Now Abraham had a nephew and his nephew's name was Lot.
24:49 Lot had two daughters.
24:51 He was the father and the grandfather,
24:54 go figure of two boys named Moab and Ammon.
25:00 Today the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan is the land of Moab,
25:04 the capital of Jordan is Ammon.
25:07 Can you hear it? Ammon.
25:08 Ammon we see the name of Lot son and grandson
25:11 as the capital of the kingdom of Jordan today.
25:14 So these are the players,
25:16 these are the people who were there.
25:18 Isaac and Ishmael seem to be able
25:20 to get along quite well together
25:21 while they were alive.
25:23 They participated in a joint burial of their father Abraham.
25:28 But through the years their descendants
25:30 have disagreed and fought.
25:32 They go back to a common ancestor,
25:35 but their animosities it run very, very deep.
25:38 Abraham was instructed by God
25:40 to take his son to Mount Moriah and to sacrifice him.
25:44 It was a test of his faith.
25:45 Now the Bible is very clear
25:46 that his son that was taken to Mount Moriah was Isaac,
25:51 however it is interesting in Muslim tradition,
25:53 it was not Isaac who was taken but, Ishmael.
25:57 Very interesting, isn't it?
25:59 Well, the Bible tells us that Isaac willingly went
26:01 with his father up to Mount Moriah,
26:02 high place outside of Salem or Jerusalem
26:05 and as they were going along remember Isaac said,
26:08 dad, we have wood and we have fire,
26:11 but where is the sacrifice?
26:13 And Abraham said, prophetically,
26:15 God Himself will provide a sacrifice.
26:20 And as Isaac willing laid there on the altar
26:23 Abraham raised his hand and the angel stopped his hand
26:27 with the knife and it saying,
26:28 now I know that you love me
26:30 for you've not withheld from your only son.
26:33 And Abraham turned over into the bushes
26:34 he saw a ram caught in the think it by its horns.
26:39 And that was Mount Moriah
26:42 the same place that Jesus would later wear a crown of thrones
26:48 as the Lamb of God as He went to Calvary.
26:52 And so we see the story run very, very deep.
26:55 Mount Moriah was in the vicinity
26:57 of that small Canaanite village Salem.
26:59 It was a Canaanite high place,
27:01 later it will be the sight of Solomon's temple.
27:05 Abraham paid tithe to Melchizedek
27:07 who was the priest king of Salem.
27:10 The Israelites came in and they took the Promise Land,
27:13 they destroyed but did not occupy the side of Salem,
27:16 the Jebusites returned and live there.
27:19 It was know as the city of Jebus,
27:22 before David's time.
27:23 When David came in he wanted to unify the entire territory
27:27 and so she came in and tried to take the city of Jebus,
27:31 the Jebusites city.
27:32 He was confidant by a well fortified city however.
27:35 And the Jebusites inside their walled city
27:40 said this to David and his man,
27:41 "You will not get in here,
27:43 even the blind and the lame can ward you off."
27:47 Well, history reveals the Jebusites
27:50 were overly confident in the security of their city.
27:54 David and his men look for a weakness to exploit.
27:58 There was only one source of water
28:00 for the city of Jerusalem,
28:01 it was known as the Gihon Spring
28:04 and it was outside of the walls of the city.
28:08 And so the people of Jebusites
28:10 they had developed the tunnel that you could go down
28:13 and you could drop your water bucket
28:15 on a rope down into the spring,
28:18 you can get your water bring it up
28:19 and go back into the city.
28:21 So David and his men began to examine the city
28:24 and think what can we do?
28:25 Well, the Bible tells us what they would do.
28:28 The Bible identifies it
28:29 and says, "On that day David said,
28:32 'Anyone who conquers the Jebusites
28:34 will have to use the water shaft
28:36 to reach those "lame and blind" who are David's enemies.'"
28:40 The Bible tell us the Joab scaled up the shaft,
28:43 he came into the city, open the gates
28:45 and David and his men came in
28:46 and they conquered the Jebusites city
28:48 and it forever the-- or it became the capital.
28:53 David and his men actually moved in there.
28:55 Charles Warren has excavated the sight
28:59 in 1870 with excavating in Jerusalem,
29:01 he discovered the shaft through which Joab entered the city.
29:04 Today it's been clear that it challenges
29:06 modern Joab's to climb its walls.
29:08 Well, David established his residence here
29:11 at Mount Ophel,
29:12 it became known as the City of David,
29:16 the City of David.
29:17 Today the City of David actually lies
29:19 outside of the present walls of Jerusalem.
29:22 And here is the City of David
29:24 outside the present walls of Jerusalem.
29:26 And but this was the original city
29:28 and it was built down at the base of the hill
29:31 because that where the source of water was.
29:34 They haven't developed the technology of cistern jet,
29:36 like we talked about in our previous presentation.
29:39 And so they have to live down at the base of the hill
29:43 and over a period of time they developed new technologies
29:46 and they move up to the top of the hill.
29:49 They move up to the top of the hill.
29:50 So David establishes his royal residence here on Mount Ophel
29:54 and he expands and fortifies the city
29:58 and he ultimately brings the Ark of the Covenant
30:02 to the city of Jerusalem.
30:04 By doing that he forever united the religious
30:07 and the political center into one.
30:10 He was not however permitted to build the--
30:14 he was not permitted to build the temple
30:17 because he had blood on his hands,
30:19 but he was able to purchase the threshing floor of Ornan
30:23 for the temple site and he was able
30:25 to gather the materials so that his son might build the temple
30:29 there on that site.
30:30 Solomon would build the temple around 960 BC.
30:34 He would enlarge and beautify the city.
30:36 Two hundred and fifty years later
30:38 King Hezekiah was confronted by the Syrians
30:40 and he hardly refortify the city of Jerusalem.
30:43 He remembered the weakness of the water source
30:46 and so he said we have to do something for this.
30:49 Now Hezekiah prayed, he met with Isaiah the prophet
30:52 and they prayed and they prayed
30:54 but he said the water source is still outside the city,
30:59 we have to do something.
31:00 And so they began to build the tunnel.
31:02 They build a tunnel you can see in the pictures
31:04 people are actually walking in the water,
31:05 the water is about knee deep to waist deep
31:07 and they built this tunnel to bring the water
31:10 inside the city wall
31:11 so they'd be protected from the Assyrians
31:13 who are coming down to try and take the city.
31:17 The water ultimately emptied
31:20 into what is known as a pool of Siloam.
31:22 You read about that in New Testament, don't you?
31:24 Jesus worked a miracle at the pool of Siloam.
31:26 Well, there was a fascinating experience
31:28 that happened here a number of years ago.
31:30 There are some children playing in 1880
31:32 and they discovered an inscription
31:34 about how this tunnel was built.
31:36 Now I want to read it to you,
31:38 it says, "When the tunnel was driven through,
31:41 while were still axe each man toward his fellow."
31:44 In other words the Assyrians are coming,
31:46 the enemies are coming,
31:47 they are coming to take you city,
31:48 and they started building the tunnel
31:49 from two different directions
31:51 so their axes are against each other, okay.
31:53 Talking about quarter of a mile they are trying to dig.
31:56 "Each man toward his fellow
31:57 and while there were still three cubits to be cut through,
32:00 there was heard the voice of a man calling to his fellow,
32:02 for there was an overlap on the rock
32:04 on the right and on the left."
32:05 You get the picture?
32:06 They are coming from different directions
32:07 but they miss each other by three feet,
32:09 but they can hear each other calling.
32:10 They're underground about 150 feet
32:12 under the ground and so they are excited.
32:14 And as you actually go down this tunnel
32:16 you can actually feel
32:17 and see the pick marks in the wall
32:20 and you can see them going one direction
32:22 and then soon you can see them coming the other direction.
32:24 And again the Assyrians are coming,
32:26 these were the bad guys of antiquity.
32:27 They're coming, we're gonna talk about them
32:28 on Sunday evening "When Iraq Ruled The World"
32:30 and they are coming to conquer the city.
32:32 Well, we go on with the inscription,
32:35 "And when the tunnel was driven through
32:37 the quarrymen hewed the rock, each man toward his fellow,
32:41 axe against axe and the water flowed
32:43 from the spring toward the reservoir for 1,200 cubits,
32:48 and the height of the rock
32:49 above the heads of the quarrymen
32:50 was 100 cubits."
32:52 Can you imagine it, 1,200 cubits
32:55 that means 1,800 feet they had tunneled under the ground--
32:58 tunnel from two different directions
33:00 and they-- they met each other, 150 feet under the ground.
33:04 Now the water is ailed to flow safely
33:06 into the city of Jerusalem,
33:07 they close up the entrance to the Gihon Spring,
33:10 and the Assyrians cannot poison their water
33:12 or they cannot enter into the city in that direction.
33:15 Well, the tunnel came out as I said,
33:17 in the pool of Siloam, within the city walls,
33:19 the city would now have a safe
33:20 and secure source of water during siege the same pool
33:24 where Jesus healed the man by telling him
33:25 to go and wash his eyes in the pool,
33:28 and his eyes were healed.
33:29 He was no longer blind.
33:31 Today it's a place where children love to fall,
33:33 they can play on hot summer days.
33:35 Well, I immerged in the tunnel during the visit
33:38 during the intifada there was a lot of excitement,
33:40 as a Palestinian flag had been painted there
33:43 and-- and we had the ushered away very, very rapidly.
33:46 Hezekiah also extended the wall.
33:48 He fortified the cities, he extended the wall
33:51 and on the screen
33:53 you can see a picture of Hezekiah's new wall,
33:56 and he built this wall up to defend the city
34:00 and today has been excavated
34:01 and you can actually see this
34:04 as you go into a place called the Cardo.
34:07 The Cardo was an interesting section
34:09 of the Jewish quarter of the city.
34:11 It has unusual shops
34:13 that are down into the old archeological ruins.
34:17 The wall was eight meters above the street in those days,
34:20 but today its several stories below the modern street.
34:24 Remember what I told you in our presentation
34:27 "Fabulous Tales The Tel Tells" over period of time,
34:29 cities tend to grow vertically
34:32 and you can see this very clearly here.
34:34 Several pits have actually been dug
34:37 that actually show the level of the city
34:39 in the days of Hezekiah.
34:41 Now Jerusalem survived the siege of Sennacherib
34:44 the Assyrian king when the other cities of Judah fell,
34:46 but 100 years later a Babylonian king
34:49 came under the leadership of a guy name Nebuchadnezzar.
34:53 Nebuchadnezzar, now Sunday evening
34:54 we are gonna talk about "When Iraq Ruled The World"
34:56 and how God gave a prophecy to this--
34:58 this ancient Iraqi king Nebuchadnezzar.
35:01 Well, Nebuchadnezzar besieges the city
35:03 the king surrendered in 605 BC
35:06 and the king took several of the princes of Jerusalem off
35:10 in the captivity in the Babylon,
35:12 including Denial and his three friends.
35:16 And there they were able to witness
35:18 before the king of Babylon in ancient Iraq.
35:22 Now there were several interesting ostracon
35:24 that were discovered in the gate tower
35:26 of the city called Lachish.
35:27 We talked about ostracon when they would write on--
35:29 on pieces of pottery, you know that.
35:31 And these ostracon were found
35:33 and they said, the signifiers of Hezekiah have seized.
35:39 Now these, the nearest town to us
35:41 they can't signal us anymore
35:42 because the Assyrians have conquered the city
35:45 and they coming after us next.
35:47 And indeed that's what they did,
35:48 they came, they conquered the city of Lachish.
35:50 It fell, it was destroyed,
35:52 it was a terrible, terrible time,
35:54 but they came on and they were not able to conquer Jerusalem.
35:58 The Assyrian king couldn't conquer Jerusalem.
35:59 As a matter of fact, he wrote on his--
36:02 he wrote on his prism
36:04 that I had Hezekiah the Jew caged like a bird
36:08 in his royal city of Jerusalem.
36:10 But it was sore grapes
36:11 because he couldn't capture the city.
36:14 The city was delivered from his hand.
36:17 Well, there is a--
36:19 here we can see the old ruins of Mount Ophel
36:22 and the City of David from the time of Jeremiah,
36:24 that had been excavated.
36:25 But I was most fascinated by this,
36:27 because this is--
36:28 this is the broad wall of Hezekiah
36:32 and they found this ash layer and on the ash layer
36:37 they found these spear heads, can you see them?
36:39 These are Babylonians sphere heads
36:42 expended by Nebuchadnezzar's army
36:44 when he conquered Jerusalem in 605 BC.
36:47 Isn't amazing?
36:49 And so they-- they found these sphere heads
36:51 and it just conforms the story
36:53 that we read about in our Bibles.
36:55 Well, the Persians permitted the Jews to return
36:57 and rebuilt the city, and the temple,
36:59 in 515 the government was restored
37:01 and the walls were rebuilt.
37:03 Alexander the Great was the next ruler
37:05 who came to the area,
37:07 and Alexander the Great was very found of the Jews.
37:09 So matter of fact,
37:10 he the Jewish writings tell us
37:13 that he actually seen a vision of someone
37:16 coming out in white garments
37:17 and the high priest went out to met him
37:18 and went out and according to the story
37:21 actually tells him about Alexander
37:24 being named in prophecy in Daniel Chapter 8
37:27 and I think you're gonna be studying
37:28 about some of those great prophecies
37:29 as this series continues.
37:31 Daniel Chapter 8 and that
37:32 he was identified as a goat there.
37:34 Well, that's was kind of impressive
37:36 because the goat was victorious,
37:37 Alexander became a defender of the Jews
37:39 and then that was great but future kings,
37:41 they were not so kind.
37:43 Some of the kings were really very bad.
37:46 There was a king by the name of Antiochus,
37:48 Antiochus IV Epiphanes,
37:50 and he actually goes in and he takes a pig
37:53 and he scarifies it and puts it on the Jewish altar.
37:55 Well, a pig is unclean to Jews.
37:57 And so this was a major desecration.
38:00 And so they would not be so kind as time would pass.
38:03 Well, the next people who would come and rule
38:05 would be the Romans.
38:07 And the Romans appointed a king
38:10 by the name of Herod to rule over the city in 37 BC.
38:14 He repaired the walls of Jerusalem
38:15 and he adorned the temple
38:19 and he rebuilt the city in classical style.
38:22 The temple was five centuries old
38:24 and so King Herod, he actually restored the temple.
38:28 Now he could not enlarge the temple itself,
38:31 he couldn't make the temple any bigger
38:33 but he could enlarge the plaza on which it stood.
38:36 And King Herod made it
38:38 the largest man made gathering place in the ancient world.
38:41 It was large enough for 10 soccer fields
38:45 with the bleachers to be inside the gates of the temple,
38:48 okay, the temple court.
38:49 It was larger than the esplanade of the plaza
38:52 and on the Acropolis of Athens,
38:54 the largest man made gathering place in the ancient world.
38:57 So Herod does this, he decorates the temple
38:59 with marble and gold and it was a fabulous, fabulous scene.
39:03 Now the Rabbi's didn't like Herod very much.
39:05 He was actually related to Edom and Esau
39:08 and they didn't like that very much
39:09 and they kept saying, you're not a pure blood,
39:11 so you know, he did?
39:12 He burned down the section of the temple
39:14 had all the records in it, and he said now you prove
39:16 your pure blood, all right.
39:17 Okay, so he doesn't like it very much,
39:19 but the Rabbi's actually said,
39:22 "He who has not set eyes upon the structure of Herod
39:25 has not seen a structure of beauty in all of his life."
39:29 Herod couldn't enlarge the temple
39:31 but he could cover with white marble
39:33 and he could put gold on the lintels.
39:36 He could enlarge the platform.
39:37 Yes, it was a fabulous building over 200,000 people
39:40 could congregate inside of the temple courts.
39:44 Well, the Tyropoeon Valley ran beside the temple
39:47 and here is when the Tyropoeon Valley,
39:48 he place these gigantic foundation stones
39:51 over 40 feet long, he made the joints so perfect
39:54 that you didn't have to use mortar between them.
39:57 It was a fabulous building.
39:58 It had eight gates
39:59 that opened to the different points of the compass.
40:02 The Huldah Gate was named after the prophetess Huldah,
40:06 and it fronted down the to the City of David.
40:08 Jesus would have walked up on the stairs
40:11 to go through these gates into the temple
40:13 from the City of David down below.
40:16 Herod expanded the southern realm with--
40:18 he widened the-- the Royal Porch.
40:20 He put a 162 Corinthian columns there,
40:23 four straightly rows.
40:24 This was the area of the court of the gentiles
40:27 and there was sign it said if you're gentile
40:29 and you pass here and you loose your life,
40:31 we've warned you, don't come here,
40:33 don't come here.
40:35 Well, it was a fabulous city.
40:37 There were two royal stoa as it went across,
40:42 one for priest, one for the royalty of the king
40:45 and led up into the upper city.
40:47 It was fabulous city and we can see the ruins today.
40:51 There were actually three valleys
40:53 that cut through the city of Jerusalem,
40:55 making it on five hills.
40:56 And it's important to understand this,
40:58 there was-- these three hills and...
41:06 and the three valleys
41:07 and here we have a picture
41:08 on the coming on of a burned house.
41:11 What's significant about this picture is
41:13 that in 70 AD the city was destroyed.
41:17 Now we're talking about prophecy here as well,
41:19 and Jesus actually predicted the city will be destroyed.
41:22 Here we see the ruins of a priestly house
41:27 upon top of the hill that was destroyed in 70 AD
41:30 in fulfillment of Jesus prophecy.
41:32 Here we see a Menorah
41:34 and what significant about this Menorah is
41:37 that is different than Menorah
41:38 that Titus put on to his Triumphal Arch in Rome.
41:42 What so special about that?
41:43 Well, this took place
41:45 right before the temple was destroyed, and so many feel
41:48 that this would be much more reflective
41:50 of what the Menorah actually was in
41:51 when the Titus had stylized when he built the--
41:56 the Triumphal Arch back in Rome.
41:59 Herod also built this building
42:01 this is called the Antonia Fortress.
42:03 He named it after Mark Antony, was right there on the edge,
42:05 like they have soldiers
42:07 because often they were uprisings
42:08 that were taking place in the temple-- temple walls.
42:13 As I said, Jerusalem is built on five hills,
42:15 there are three valleys,
42:17 and here we can see some of the valleys,
42:20 this is actually the Thyropian Valley,
42:22 that right along the edge of the temple
42:24 and came down by the pool of Siloam.
42:26 Out side the city is another very famous valley
42:28 is called the Kidron Valley.
42:30 Kidron valley ran right by the Mount of Olives.
42:32 And then there was another valley
42:33 it's quite important
42:34 it's called the Valley of Hinnom,
42:35 I mention that a minute ago, Gus valley,
42:38 Gehenna is a Valley of Hinnom, all right.
42:41 And remember the Dung gate
42:42 dumped out into the Valley of Hinnom,
42:43 and so that's where they actually burn things
42:46 and so it was a dump in Bible times it actually burned
42:50 and that's where we get the idea of burning Gehenna
42:52 or burning hell, okay.
42:54 And I was quite surprised during the intifada
42:56 because I was there, they were had a rock concert
42:59 about a week before with Bob Dylan there.
43:01 But this particular Sabbath afternoon,
43:03 hell was burning again.
43:05 It was not burning because of the animals,
43:07 it was burning because of tires they been brought there
43:10 during the uprising called the intifada
43:12 by the Palestinians.
43:14 And it reminds us again
43:15 the uneasy peace in this part of the world.
43:18 Well, the Mount Olives is associated with so many stories
43:21 relating to Jesus, so many shrines marking what Jesus did.
43:25 On the top of the hill is a church
43:27 that actually commemorates for Jesus ascended to heaven.
43:30 There is another church that commemorates the--
43:32 the prayer of Jesus in over 40 different languages,
43:37 the prayer of Jesus.
43:38 My favorite church on the Mount of Olives
43:40 is called Dominus Flevit, the Lord wept.
43:43 It's a Roman Catholic Church
43:45 in its form in the shape of a tear.
43:47 And I love to go there and I love to go and sing hymns,
43:49 it's really wonderful acoustics
43:50 but what so special there is a actually a mosaic
43:54 and I call it the chicken mosaic.
43:56 And the chicken mosaic is special
43:57 because Jesus paused here and He said, "O, Jerusalem,
44:01 Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets
44:03 and stone those sent to you,
44:05 how often I have longed to gather your children together,
44:08 as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,
44:11 but you were not willing.
44:14 Look, your house is left on to you desolate."
44:19 Mathew 23:37, 38.
44:22 Jesus stopped on this spot and He is looking across the--
44:25 the Kidron Valleys,
44:27 He is looking across at the temple
44:28 and He looks across at the temple,
44:30 His disciples gather around and say, "O, Lord
44:32 what a marvelous building our people have built.
44:35 Isn't this marvelous?"
44:36 Look at this."
44:38 And Jesus makes a stunning prophecy,
44:42 a stunning prophecy,
44:43 He said, "You see, all this marvelous buildings,
44:45 I tell you the time is coming when not one stone will be left
44:50 standing upon another."
44:52 The disciples are shocked, how could that be?
44:54 This is a fabulous building, it's well protected.
44:59 Jesus actually predicted the destruction of the temple,
45:02 He said, "And they shall not leave one stone upon another."
45:06 Luke 19:44.
45:08 He then gave them a sign as to when this would happen.
45:11 He said "When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies,
45:14 you will know that its desolation is near.
45:17 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains,
45:20 let those in the city get out,
45:22 and let those in the country not enter the city."
45:26 Jesus predicted the destruction of the city of Jerusalem.
45:30 He gave a sign to His followers.
45:31 He say, "When you see those armies surrounding Jerusalem,
45:33 you know it's time to get out.
45:37 This is what happened historically.
45:39 Revolt broke out against Romans 66 AD,
45:42 when Jewish zealots part of the Sicarii the "dagger-men,"
45:46 they ambushed Roman soldiers at Masada.
45:51 Later that year Cestius Callus he came down from Syria
45:55 and he attacked Jerusalem.
45:57 But then for some seemingly unknown reason
45:59 he withdrew his troops.
46:02 Well, the people inside said, God's getting us victory,
46:05 and they went chasing after them,
46:07 but the people who listened to Jesus,
46:09 they didn't go chasing after them
46:11 because Jesus had given a sign.
46:13 When you see the armies surround Jerusalem,
46:16 you know that its destruction is nigh.
46:19 And so when the armies laughed
46:21 and zealots went chasing after them,
46:23 the people, the believers, disciples,
46:27 who believed in the words of Jesus,
46:28 who headed the word of prophecy,
46:30 they left the city and their lives were spared.
46:34 For a year later Titus returned with his legions
46:38 and surrounded the city of Jerusalem,
46:41 and besieged it until it was destroyed
46:46 and fulfillment of Jesus prophecy.
46:49 It was an incredible time, four legions of soldiers,
46:52 they built battering rams and siege engines,
46:54 they pelted the city.
46:57 A breach was made and they caught
46:59 fleeing citizens as they try to go away,
47:02 and Josephus tells us that they actually put people
47:04 on crosses until there were no trees left in the city.
47:08 It was terrible time.
47:11 The city continued to hold out for another five months
47:14 and they made another breach
47:15 and the soldiers had entrance into the city.
47:17 The zealots took refuge in the temple.
47:20 Now its fascinating Titus had given specific instructions
47:23 do not destroy the temple,
47:25 it's a most beautiful building upon the earth,
47:27 don't destroy the temple.
47:30 And yet the zealots went into the temple
47:32 and of course you will see for a prophet when now said,
47:35 God's gonna give us deliverance.
47:37 We'll fight from temple, God is for us
47:39 because we're God special people.
47:41 And so they went to the temple and they began to fight.
47:44 Roman soldiers through a fire brand in to smoke them out,
47:48 they caught the cedars of Lebanon on fire,
47:50 the fire raged,
47:51 the God melted went down between the stones.
47:54 And so after destroying the people
47:58 they took the stones apart,
47:59 one stone after the other that they might recover the gold,
48:03 that it melted, and went down between the stones.
48:06 It was a terrible time
48:08 over a million Jews lost their lives
48:10 according to Josephus.
48:11 The charged temple stones were throne down into the--
48:14 to the Tyropoeon Valley,
48:15 you can see them today, they been excavated.
48:17 I'm standing beside one you can see how large it is.
48:19 You actually see the fire marks on the stones.
48:22 Josephus says, that the fire was so hot
48:24 there were explosions being heard.
48:25 Well, they didn't have arms like they have today.
48:28 The fire was so hot that the lime stone,
48:30 the water in the lime stone began to expand
48:32 and they cause this terrible cracking sound.
48:34 And then those stones were pushed over
48:36 and as you go there, you can touch them,
48:38 you can see them,
48:39 in fulfillment of Jesus prophecy.
48:42 Only the larger stones of the western wall,
48:44 the retaining wall are still intact today.
48:47 Here Jews have come for centuries
48:49 to mourn the loss of their temple
48:50 as know as the Western Wall, the Wailing Wall.
48:53 It's the holiest spot on the world for Judaism.
48:56 The ravages of the destruction of Jerusalem
48:58 are apparent here at the burnt house,
49:00 recently discovered.
49:01 You can see the ash layers there on the ground,
49:04 you can see where things actually fell in 70 AD
49:07 in fulfillment of Jesus prophecy.
49:09 They found bodies there in position showing that
49:11 they were trying to get out through the sewers.
49:13 It was a tremendous--
49:15 tremendous destruction that took place.
49:18 It was a great victory for Titus.
49:20 Titus came back
49:21 and he commemorated this victory
49:24 by building the Triumphal Arch, here in the city of Rome.
49:27 What's fascinating about this arch is,
49:29 that you can see that he is coming back,
49:31 he had captives in his--
49:32 in his train to use a biblical term
49:34 and you can see the articles of furniture from the temple.
49:38 There you can see the Jewish Menorah,
49:39 you can see some of the--
49:41 the other articles that he took back to Rome.
49:43 Titus took this booty back to Rome
49:45 and he used it to build a large building
49:49 called the Colosseum.
49:51 The Colosseum and it was called the Colosseum
49:54 because it was built down by a colossal statue of Nero,
49:58 one of the former rulers.
49:59 And so it was the Jewish booty
50:00 that actually financed the building of the Colosseum
50:03 there in Rome.
50:05 Well, 62 years later the last Jewish revolt
50:08 took place under the leadership of Simon Bar Kokhba.
50:11 He was proclaimed messiah by a man,
50:16 a Rabbi named Rabbi Akiva,
50:18 that wasn't unusual that Rabbi Akiva.
50:20 He was the Rabbi who transitioned temple Judaism
50:23 to modern Judaism.
50:25 He's a leading man of the day
50:27 and he comes to this man Simon Bar Kosaba
50:30 and he renames in Simon Bar Kokhba,
50:32 Bar is son of and Kokhba is star.
50:37 Simon the Son of a Star.
50:38 Do you remember that prophecy about the star?
50:40 Star-- Balaam said, shall rise,
50:43 okay, and so he names him messiah.
50:47 This messiah leads the people in Jerusalem
50:50 to another revolt.
50:51 He leads to another Jewish war.
50:53 They take up arms,
50:54 and they chase the Romans out of the city.
50:56 As a matter of fact they, they make coins
50:59 and these coins are stamped
51:00 with the words "Freedom of Israel"
51:03 and indeed they run the people out of the city for three years
51:09 then Hadrian returns.
51:11 Hadrian comes down with the vengeance.
51:14 He comes down and he sacks the city of Jerusalem.
51:17 He raises the city, he scrims it flat to the rocks.
51:20 So when walking the old city of Jerusalem,
51:22 when you walk on those old cobblestone streets,
51:24 they don't go back at the time of Jesus,
51:26 they go back to the time of Hadrian in the second century.
51:29 He built a new city called the Aelia Capitolina,
51:31 the new capital of Rome.
51:32 It was built on prudential Roman style.
51:35 What's fascinating is, he made a decree for bidding Jews
51:41 to come within 50 miles of Jerusalem.
51:44 Now at this time
51:45 Christians were considered a sect of the Jews,
51:48 at least in the western part-- the eastern part of the empire.
51:53 In Palestine they considered the sect of the Jews,
51:55 so that meant that
51:56 Christians couldn't go to the city of Jerusalem.
51:59 So the Christians in Rome and in Alexandria,
52:01 they began to try and distinguish themselves
52:04 from Jews so they could go back to Jerusalem
52:06 and not be punished with Jews.
52:09 And this lead to some very interesting things
52:11 that would later impact Christian teachings
52:14 and Christian doctrines in years to come
52:17 because of the anti-Semitism that went back to that point.
52:21 Well, Bar Kokhba
52:24 lead this rebellion Hadrian came through,
52:27 he destroyed the city, he annihilated the population,
52:30 Jerusalem was turn into a heathen city,
52:32 Jews were barred from it.
52:34 Hadrian built a temple to Jupiter on the Temple Mount,
52:42 and he went to the place for the Christians
52:43 honored the crucifixion, resurrection of Jesus
52:45 and he built the temple to Venus there.
52:48 A temple to Venus there.
52:49 Well, Rome was not very kind,
52:54 but what a contrast we have between Jesus and Bar Kokhba.
52:59 Bar Kokhba died with the sword in his hand,
53:02 Jesus died saying, "My kingdom is not of this world."
53:07 What a contrast, what an ending for the two people.
53:14 Two hundred years later,
53:17 after the conversion of the Emperor Constantine
53:19 to Christianity.
53:21 His mother Helena would go to this part of the world
53:23 and she searched out the different holy spots,
53:26 and she came and she asked the Christians
53:29 where was Jesus crucified and buried?
53:32 And they took her to the place where the temple of Venus was,
53:36 where Hadrian had desecrated the site 200 years earlier.
53:39 And that's where she built the church
53:41 for the Holy Sepulchre over that ancient place.
53:44 So most likely this would the place
53:47 where Jesus was actually crucified
53:50 and rose from the dead.
53:52 This would be the place.
53:53 Well, beginning of the seventh century,
53:55 there is a Persians sweeping through,
53:57 they destroy Christians through the whole area.
54:00 They butchered Christians, they sell them in slavery,
54:02 it was a terrible time.
54:03 The Byzantine Emperor and Constantine
54:05 he liberates the city 15 years later in 629 that eight years
54:08 after that the whole dynamic changes.
54:12 A Muslim army stands at the gates of Jerusalem,
54:16 and they initiate what's they called a Jihad, right.
54:19 A Jihad and so we see that
54:21 there something new is going back and forth
54:23 between Christians and Muslims, back and forth
54:26 and it would burn for centuries.
54:28 According to Islamic legend Muhammad
54:30 came to the city in the night and the night vision
54:32 and he stop there at the city of Jerusalem,
54:34 and he went to Bethlehem and Mount Sinai
54:36 and they believe that
54:37 the Arc Angel Gabriel took him to heaven
54:39 and that became the holy site in the world for Muslims
54:41 and today it's a third holy site after Mecca and Medina.
54:44 And they built that dome of the rock
54:46 over the-- the site to commemorate
54:49 that is not a mask, it's a shrine,
54:51 it's a axioms just down from that.
54:55 Crusades went back and forth
54:56 between Jerusalem going back and forth
54:58 between Christians and Jews for many centuries.
55:01 Finally the Ottoman's took it in 1517
55:04 Suleiman the Magnificent built the modern temple,
55:07 the modern walls of the city in the 16th century
55:10 and then the British conquered the city during World War I.
55:14 Today, it is called Al-Quds the holy one by the Arabs.
55:18 They believe their prophet
55:19 ascended to heaven from the rock.
55:21 Believed to be it's Salmon's temple,
55:23 and about a mile for a third of a mile
55:26 from the dome of the rock where Jesus is said
55:28 to have been crucified and rose from the dead.
55:31 So Jerusalem is sacred to Jews and is sacred to Christians,
55:34 and it sacred to Muslims.
55:36 For centuries Jews have come here,
55:37 for centuries Christians have come here,
55:40 it's the holiest place in-- in the world for Christians
55:42 and of course, is a place where Muslims also come
55:46 to remember Muhammad and his ascent into heaven.
55:50 It's an interesting place for Christians
55:52 because here Jesus taught in the temple,
55:54 this is where Jesus died.
55:56 According to traditions Jesus was crucified here
55:58 and it's marked and the second century chapel,
56:02 that we see on screen.
56:04 It was noted for His burial here.
56:05 And here is where He came back to life.
56:07 Now I like to go out and remember the story of Jesus
56:10 at the Garden Tomb because this is much easier for me
56:13 to imagine as a God that preferred that spot,
56:16 I prefer that spot, all you can kind of see the...
56:21 the skull on top of the hill,
56:24 you can see the little eyes sockets in the skull
56:26 and it's a very moving place.
56:30 But ultimately it doesn't matter
56:31 whether it was the Garden Tomb
56:33 or the Tomb of the Holy Sepulcher
56:35 because the important thing is Jesus is not in any tomb.
56:40 Jesus rose from the dead, and the tomb is empty
56:44 and that's the most important thing of all for us, isn't it?
56:47 And that's what the whole Christian faith is about.
56:50 Well, let's pray together.
56:51 "Father in heaven, thank You for a few moments
56:54 that we have tonight to travel back in time
56:56 to visit the city of Jerusalem, to see these incredible sites.
57:00 And Lord, I thank You that it is true.
57:03 You are not in any tomb tonight,
57:05 that there is no shrine, no muslin marking Your grave,
57:08 for You have risen from the dead.


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Revised 2015-05-14