Archeology and the City of God
Searching the past can help us find the future and that’s so true when it comes to archeology and the Bible. Welcome to Haven Today. I’m Charles Morris telling the Great Story, it’s all about Jesus. In a few minutes we’ll be joined by the president of Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary and Old Testament Scholar Dr. Walter Kaiser on a program called, “Archeology and the City of God”. Later I’ll tell you all about the just released Archeology Study Bible and if you’d like to see a video about it and some other information, just head to our homepage, haventoday.org. Now let’s get ready for a good time together as we worship the Lord.
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I want to thank you for joining me as we worship the Lord together, and that’s how we always start a Haven Today including this one called, “Archeology and the City of God”. On the line with us from Boston is Dr. Walter Kaiser, president of Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. He’s also part of the team of the just released Archeology Study Bible. Dr. Kaiser, in the early 1900’s archeologists thought they had found the ancient Jericho of biblical fame and then in the 1950’s that evidence was called into question. Then just a few years ago a little box, an ossuary was found that had the name James on it and it was speculated that this was the brother of Jesus. Then it was decided that this burial box was a fake. So, I guess we have to be careful and we can’t depend on archeology as a basis of faith, but there are many real finds that have been substantiated, aren’t there?
WK: Yes, that’s right. And we need a lot of discernment and making a distinction between the two. For example, the James bone chest, or ossuary as they are called may still indeed be real, the jury is out on that.
CM: OK
WK: They have debates going on constantly in Israel and it’s supposed to be brought to trial. But the evidence is sort of balanced right now as far as I have been able to read in the journals like “The Biblical Archeologists Review” which has carried a lot of that. There’s another one, of course, the “Jesus boat” that was found on the Sea of Galilee. Now it’s not Jesus’ boat, but –
CM: Although I must say, the media, when it first came out, the question was, “Could this be the very boat that Jesus was in on the Sea of Galilee?”
WK: Well, that helps the publicity a little bit and helps tourism, but the only thing that I think we can say is there’s nothing on the side that says belonging to Jesus. I think though, it is very typical of that era, and that’s a good illustration of what we mean by archeology illuminating the text of the Bible and helping us. As far as Jericho is concerned, Jericho has gone back and forth and more recently they have gone back to that site and looked at it again and wouldn’t you know, the evidence is sharpening up even more and more even with regard to the state of the walls falling out. I think we’re going to get a wonderful surprise on that. I just read an article in the “Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society” from a chronological standpoint and my oh my, I could not have believed that 20 years ago that we could have made the strides forward that we’re making today. So stayed tuned and let’s see what’s going to happen to these things.
CM: Dr. Walter Kaiser, Old Testament scholar and president of Gordon Conwell Seminary. The Bible contains the story of 2 great cities. One made by humans the other whose architect and builder is God. Christians live in the city below, but we have our citizenship in the city above. This is Haven Today.
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We bring glory to God in music and in word on every Haven Today and I want to thank you for being with us. Archeology tells us something far more important than where an ancient city might or might not have been. What do archeologists do? Well they dig down in the earth to find the remains of ancient cities and ancient peoples. All that’s left is typically a foundation, the outline of a few walls, maybe some broken pottery. The very fact that there is a science of archeology tells us that those cities did not last. What humans build never lasts. But the Bible tells us much, much more. It tells us why, what and how. It tells us 3 things: one, why those cities didn’t last, and two, what Jesus has done to build a city that will last and third, how to become a citizen of that more important city. Why don’t human cities last? There’s a story running through the Bible. A story of two very different cities, there’s the city that humans build and the city that God builds. Let me throw out some names to you, you’ve heard of them no doubt, Babel, Jericho, Nineveh, Sodom, Gomorrah, Babylon those are all individual cities located in a certain geographic region of the ancient Near East. But in the Bible you get God’s perspective on these cities. Throughout the Bible you see God coming against them in judgment and bringing them down, always for the same reason: unrighteousness. You come to understand that God lumps them together, all the building that humans do, and all the commerce and activities the world is engaged in are spoken of spoken of by the prophets as if they were all one, one big unrighteous city. Jericho, we talked about that a while ago with Dr. Walter Kaiser. It’s a classic case. Its walls came crashing down supernaturally. The captain of the army of the Lord appeared to Joshua to make it very clear that this was God’s action, God’s warfare. He was against this city. In the long run, the answer to why cities don’t last, why the things that human beings build don’t last is simply this: God doesn’t allow them to last, because of the unrighteousness that permeates everything we humans do. You see it right at the beginning of the Bible in the story of the first city that God brings down, Babel. In Genesis 11 the people of the earth get together and say to each other, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered about the face of the whole earth.” The whole motivation of the building plan was fundamentally unrighteous. They were building a monument to themselves. They were organizing and planning and building something that would exalt themselves, that would make them great, and they completely left God out of the picture. That’s the problem with everything the human race ever seems to do, and it’s so much a part of the way things are that we don’t see anything wrong with it, but God does. The essence of unrighteousness is to think that we can do great things and leave God out of the picture. The Lord is against that and he doesn’t allow it to succeed indefinitely. He even brings down the city that bears his name, Jerusalem. He allows it to be dismantled and he sends his own people into exile. When Jesus came and entered Jerusalem, what did the city do? It didn’t welcome him as Messiah. It crucified him. The earthy Jerusalem was no different from all those other cities. And Jesus predicted before his death that not one stone would be left standing on another and that’s exactly what happened. The city, with its temple, was destroyed. In the very last book of the Bible, in Revelation 18, you see how this is all going to play out in the end. Babylon will be judged with a final judgment. Babylon is the biblical name, not just for a city in the ancient Near East, but for the entire structure that humans have built for themselves. It was built by humans trying to make themselves great without God. That’s its foundation. And God is going to cause it to fall, and great will be the fall of it. But there’s another city in this tale of two cities, the city of God. In Galatians it’s called the heavenly Jerusalem. This is what we Christians long for, it’s where we’re going and it’s that place where we will be together, in person, with our Savior Jesus Christ at last.
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I can’t wait to be with Jesus face to face. I hope you’re looking forward to that day. One of the great themes of the story of the Bible is the longing of God’s people for this city, to be with their Savior. It’s a city that will last, that will be filled with God’s glory. Hebrews 11:10 says that Abraham was “willing to live like a stranger in the Promised Land because he was looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God.” In the last chapter of Revelation you finally see this city, the heavenly Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven, filled with all of God’s people with God living in the midst of them. What has Jesus Christ done to build the wonderful city of God, this city that will not be brought down to the dust that will last forever? He’s done two things, he’s laid its foundation already and he’s opened its gates so that anyone may come in. First, the foundation, the Bible says that Jesus has become the foundation, the chief cornerstone. He laid the foundation when he laid down his life. His obedience became the basis, the bedrock of the city of God. Jesus was obedient to God with his entire life, his whole being. He lived for God. He died for God. He did everything for God’s glory and God’s city is built on his righteousness. He is its king. He is the king of righteousness. But there are also the gates. Isaiah 26:1 and 2 talks about this, “In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong city, God makes salvation its walls and ramparts. Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith.” Ancient cities were surrounded by walls and you could only enter through the gates which could be shut and locked to keep out intruders and they normally were shut every night. You and I would be considered intruders in God’s city if it weren’t for what Jesus did to open the gates wide for us. In a word, he died. And in his death he removed the sins of his people. When we put our faith in him he declares us righteous on the basis of his righteousness. Because of what he’s done we can be called the “righteous nation” and we get to go in. The walls of the city is the salvation he has bought for us. Anyone who wants to be one of his people can go in at the gate. The Bible says that Jesus welcomes sinners. The gates of his city are wide open. How do you become a citizen of God’s city? There’s something that needs to happen in order for us to inherit this city and have a part in it. It’s what Jesus said to Nicodemus. “You must be born again,” or born from above. God’s city will be populated with people that have been reborn in the image of his Son. When you put your faith in Jesus and receive him as your Savior and King, he pours out his Spirit on you and you’re reborn from above. This isn’t something we have to do; it’s something he does for us. In fact, the whole city of God is something he’s done for his Father’s glory and for us, so that we can be with him where he is. That’s what he prayed in John 17:24, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory.” Hebrews 13 says, “And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us then go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that’s to come.” This is Haven Today and the program’s called, “Archeology and the City of God.” I want to say thank you again to Dr. Walter Kaiser for being on the program again today. If you missed the longer interview we had with him on the program yesterday, we have it posted on our website, haventoday.org under the “Going Deeper” section, that’s haventoday.org. And while you’re there why don’t you take a look at the short video we have and other materials about the just released Archeological Study Bible. Each Bible contains full color photographs – 500 of them – of places and then also objects found in the ancient Near East that relate to God’s Word. There are countless articles and study notes that discuss major finds in archeology that relate to God’s Word, and also places in the Bible are explored, and also spots in the Word that have given people problems and led to skeptics doubting the infallibility of the text. We’re making the Archeological Study Bible available to you as our thanks for your financial underwriting of Haven Today. Our expenses go on every day, and so we’re always looking for ways we can bless you and then you bless us like through this new 2300 page Archeological Study Bible. So, you can make your gift and help us and then get a copy of the Bible in either hard back or leather by going to haventoday.org and be sure and watch the video while you’re there. Or you can call us at 1-800-65-HAVEN, that’s 1-800-65-HAVEN. Please let us know the station where you’re listening when you get in touch with us. I’m Charles Morris and thank you for being with me and Dr. Walter Kaiser. Come back again tomorrow. We’ll still be talking about archeology, but we’ll be doing it in light of telling the Great story, it’s all about Jesus here on Haven Today.
