Participants: John Bradshaw (Host), Michael Hasel
Series Code: IIW
Program Code: IIW001377A
|
00:06 >: It has stood the test of time.
00:11 God's book, the Bible. 00:16 Still relevant in today's complex world. 00:21 It Is Written, sharing hope around the globe. 00:37 JB: This is It Is Written. I'm John Bradshaw, 00:40 thanks for joining me today. One of the most colorful and 00:43 significant characters in the entire Bible is King David. 00:47 As a shepherd boy, armed with just a handful of stones and a 00:51 leather sling, he took down the giant Goliath. 00:55 With his bare hands he killed a lion and he killed a bear. 00:59 He ruled Israel during a period of greatness. 01:02 Jesus is known as the Son of David. 01:05 King David, did he even exist? 01:08 From an archeological point of view 01:10 what evidence is there that validates the existence of David 01:14 and the existence of his once-mighty kingdom? 01:17 My guest today is Dr. Michael Hasel, 01:19 an archeologist and a professor of archeology at 01:22 Southern Adventist University. Dr. Hasel, 01:24 welcome to It Is Written. MH: It's great to be here, John. 01:26 JB: Thanks for joining me today. Let's talk about this character, 01:29 David, because in archeological circles for years there have 01:32 been many who have said he didn't exist, or his kingdom 01:35 didn't exist, because we find no evidence. 01:38 And from an archeological, historical point of view, 01:41 that's significant. If we can't prove 01:45 the existence of David, that then calls the Bible-- 01:48 the entire Bible-- into question. 01:50 Tell me something about your work and what we've learned 01:52 about David, his existence, his kingdom, and more. 01:55 MH: David is a central figure, as you've said, in history. 01:58 If we remove David, we remove a huge portion of the Bible. 02:02 And we do much more than that, as you mentioned. 02:05 Jesus is the Son of David, so it's through 02:07 the line of David that the Messiah is promised. 02:10 David reigned in about 1000 BC for a period of about 40 years. 02:15 His first seven years as a king was in Hebron, and later he 02:18 established the capital of Jerusalem. 02:20 Jerusalem still serves as the capital today, 02:22 after 3,000 years. It's hard to believe. 02:24 I don't think you can compare a lot of other capitals of 02:27 the world like that. JB: Right. 02:28 MH: So, what do you do with Jerusalem without David? 02:30 That's another big question. But there's been a controversy 02:33 about David in the last 20 to 25 years. 02:36 Was the kingdom of David as large or as extensive? 02:40 Now, the first question that came along early on was, 02:44 did David even exist. Today that question is not as 02:47 big of a question anymore, because in 1993 an inscription 02:51 was found at Tel Dan that documented not only the king of 02:55 Israel, but documented the House of David, referring to 02:58 the kingdom of Judah. And David was clearly mentioned 03:00 for the first time as the founder of a dynasty that was 03:04 remembered, in that inscription, 140 years after his reign. 03:09 So David we know existed now. The question has turned to, 03:13 was his kingdom as extensive as the Bible describes. 03:16 Was his son Solomon's kingdom as extensive as 03:18 the Bible describes. That's really where things 03:21 lie right now. And part of the problem is that 03:23 archeology has not uncovered a lot of evidence for cities 03:30 during the time of David particularly, up to this point 03:33 in time, until just recently. JB: Are there good reasons 03:36 for that? MH: I think there are. 03:37 Jerusalem has been an occupied city continuously over the 03:40 centuries and it still is an occupied city today. 03:43 And the places that can be excavated in Jerusalem are very 03:46 limited, because people live there, they have houses there, 03:49 they have businesses there. The temple mount is a holy place 03:52 still today for Islam, the third most holy place for Islam; 03:55 where the temple mount was, now the Dome of the Rock stands. 03:59 Now, in the village of Solon and down along the spur of 04:06 Mt. Moriah, you have the ancient city of David, the historical 04:11 remains of that city, and that's currently being excavated by an 04:14 archeologist named Eilat Mazar, and she has made some amazing 04:17 discoveries in recent years relating to that period. 04:21 JB: So tell me about some of the things that have been found, 04:23 unearthed, turned up by archeologists that we can say, 04:28 now we have this evidence that answers certain questions. 04:32 MH: In Jerusalem it's difficult because there's so much overlay 04:35 of one building after another that it's difficult sometimes. 04:39 Later buildings destroy earlier buildings, so it's difficult to 04:43 really ascertain whether we're dealing with a structure from 04:47 the time of David or not. Eilat Mazar has made a very 04:50 strong claim that she has found part of the palace of David 04:53 in Jerusalem, and that's been 04:55 a contentious claim because, again, only part of that 04:58 building was found. What does it date to, how does 05:00 it relate to later constructions and so forth? 05:03 So there it's a little bit less clear. 05:06 We do know now, based on excavations that we conducted in 05:10 the Elah Valley where the famous battle between 05:12 David and Goliath took place, according to 1 Samuel 17, 05:16 we have discovered a new site with the modern name of 05:19 Khirbet Qeiyafa. And that site in the last seven 05:22 years has contributed major new data on the history of David. 05:27 JB: Okay, I want to ask, how did this become identified 05:30 as a site? Because you're dealing 05:32 with something that's 3,000 years old. 05:35 How do you know when you're dealing with something 05:37 of significance? That's part A. 05:40 Part B, what do you find 05:43 when you go to these places? Are you walking into rooms, 05:46 are you digging into the ground and sifting buckets of dirt? 05:50 What's found? MH: My colleague Professor Yosef 05:53 Garfinkel from the Hebrew University needed a biblical 05:57 site to excavate, and one of his students directed him to this 06:00 particular location. This site has been known 06:03 for over 100 years. The walls of the city are still 06:06 visible from above ground. The walls, I should say, of the 06:09 later city. There's two cities superimposed 06:12 on top of each other. That Hellenistic wall is still 06:15 known today; you can see the site today physically. 06:18 And when they began excavations there in 2007 for only two weeks 06:21 with a few students from the Hebrew University, 06:24 they uncovered a gate-- a massive gate that 06:27 predated the Hellenistic city, made of monumental boulders-- 06:32 some as large as this desk, weighing five to six tons each. 06:38 And this monumental gate had a double wall connected to it 06:42 running to the north and another one running to the south. 06:45 And they saw that, based on the pottery, 06:48 which is what we use for dating, and the changes in pottery, 06:52 they determined that that gate dated back to about 06:54 1000 BC. They thought this would warrant 06:58 further investigation, so it was a trial excavation and they 07:03 decided to start a long-term project. 07:06 And Professor Garfinkel met me in San Diego at our professional 07:08 meetings and said, "Michael, I need a senior American partner. 07:11 Would you like to join us on the project?" 07:13 So that's how Southern Adventist University got involved. 07:15 JB: They found a gate, they found boulders. 07:17 How did they find them? What are they finding? 07:20 Walk me through the process an archeologist goes through? 07:22 MH: Sure. We're excavating from the 07:24 surface down through various strata, or various layers. 07:27 We try to start from the known, so if we see some architecture 07:31 from the surface or from the side, we try to begin with 07:35 some kind of idea. We don't just start randomly 07:38 many times. We try to make an educated guess 07:40 of where we're going to find the most, the most bang for our 07:43 buck, if you will. What they saw on the outside of 07:46 the wall area, a very nice straight line and then a turn 07:51 in, kind of like a tower, and then another straight line and 07:54 then it stopped. It looked like a gate that had 07:57 been blocked in antiquity. So they began excavating, 08:01 moving down to bedrock where this gate was established. 08:05 They found two drains leading out of this gate, one dating to 08:10 the Iron Age, one dating to the Hellenistic Period. 08:13 The gate had been reused in the Hellenistic Period, 08:16 one dating back to 1000 BC and then one 700 years later. 08:20 And what they found was a massive gate into a small, 08:24 fortified garrison city located right on the border between 08:28 Philistia and Israel. What we decided in subsequent 08:32 years is to expand excavations around the site 08:35 and around the city. We found houses connected to 08:38 those city walls, we found thousands of pieces of pottery. 08:44 Some intact pottery pieces, like this lamp which dates 08:48 back to the time of David. This is an Iron II Period lamp. 08:52 You can see the burn marks here, around it. 08:55 This is very typical, this was not found at Khirbet Qeiyafa, 08:58 but this is very typical of that period. 09:00 The wick would have been placed here, 09:01 the oil in here, and this is a lamp that people 09:03 would have been carrying around. So we found lamps, 09:06 we found bowls, we found large storage jars. 09:10 There was a massive destruction of the site, and what was left 09:14 behind was a very rich deposit of material that helped us date 09:18 and helped us understand who lived there and what they were 09:20 doing there. JB: Also helped us, and helped 09:23 us to understand that the Bible we hold in our hands today 09:26 can be trusted. And not only trusted, 09:28 but in many times verified archeologically that what the 09:32 Bible says is true, is actually so. 09:35 We'll have more in just a moment, don't go away. 09:38 ♪ [Gentle Melody] ♪ >: Every Word is a one-minute 09:40 Bible-based daily devotional presented by 09:42 Pastor John Bradshaw and designed especially 09:45 for busy people like you. Look for Every Word on selected 09:48 networks, or watch it online every day on our website, 09:51 ItIsWritten.com. 09:54 ♪ [rythmic melody] ♪ 09:59 JB: Haven't things changed over the years, and with the 10:01 relentless march of technology things are still changing. 10:05 Time.com reported that in America the following things 10:08 will be gone for good within five years: 10:10 DVD and blu-ray players; standalone in-car GPS units; 10:14 dial-up Internet access; low-end digital cameras, and, 10:17 interestingly car keys. Now, that's a prediction 10:21 not a promise, but it could well be right 10:23 and it indicates that the times, they are a-changin'. 10:27 But what will never cease to be relevant 10:28 is the Word of God. Isaiah 40 verse 8 says that the 10:32 grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God 10:36 stands forever. It will never go out of style. 10:39 It won't ever be obsolete. And try as they may, 10:43 people will never find a viable replacement for it. 10:45 In a changing world, hold tight to the Word of God. 10:48 I'm John Bradshaw for It Is Written. 10:51 Let's live today by every word. 10:54 JB: This is It Is Written. I'm John Bradshaw. 10:57 Thanks for joining me today. We are being joined by 10:59 Dr. Michael Hasel, archeologist and professor of archeology, 11:04 discussing the kingdom of David and how the existence, 11:07 or the nonexistence, of David's kingdom 11:11 impacts the Bible and our understanding of the Bible. 11:13 Now, Dr. Hasel, we've discussed the existence of David 11:16 pretty well accepted. David's kingdom, well, 11:20 there's the question, because today there are those 11:23 who say it didn't exist to the extent-- 11:26 it wasn't as great or grand-- as the Bible says. 11:29 What are people basing those claims on? 11:31 MH: They're basing them, basically, 11:33 on the absence of evidence. They're looking at Jerusalem and 11:35 saying we don't have a whole lot of evidence for David in 11:38 Jerusalem. We have some possible, 11:40 but it's not undisputed. We don't have a whole lot of 11:43 evidence outside of that area for David. 11:46 So maybe David was only a shepherd king, and maybe 11:51 Jerusalem was not a fortified city and it was only 11:53 a tent village. There were no fortified cities 11:56 during this time of history, and also during the time of Solomon. 11:59 There is no evidence for extensive literacy during 12:03 this time and writing. There is no evidence for a 12:08 capital city and extensive wars with the Philistines, 12:11 as the Bible describes, during this period. 12:13 There is no evidence for David and Solomon, really, much in the 12:17 archeological record and for a kingdom to exist 12:21 to the extent that it does. JB: It sounds like these are 12:22 valid arguments. MH: In some ways, but in other 12:26 ways it's always dangerous in science to make an argument 12:29 out of silence. Just because the evidence 12:32 doesn't exist doesn't mean it didn't happen 12:34 especially in archeology. We know that there are certain 12:37 evidences that don't survive; we know that we're a very young 12:41 discipline, we haven't found all that there is to find. 12:44 There are many different kinds of reasons why we might not find 12:47 the evidence. Jerusalem has been destroyed and 12:49 destroyed and destroyed over the centuries. 12:51 It has been razed to the ground. We might not find all the 12:54 evidence in Jerusalem that we're looking for, for this period. 12:57 There are good reasons also to explain the lack of evidence, in 13:01 some cases. JB: You mentioned something 13:03 that, some things don't survive. So we are dealing with somebody 13:06 3,000 years ago. What doesn't make it 13:09 down to today? What are we never going to find? 13:11 MH: Well, we're not going to find a lot of written documents 13:16 on parchment or on leather or on papyrus or that kind of thing. 13:22 Those things would have all deteriorated, at least in 13:24 Jerusalem and in the vicinity that we're excavating. 13:26 JB: So we're hopeful to find, then, inscriptions that have 13:29 been carved into stone. MH: Either carved into stone or 13:31 written on pottery. There's not a lot of them that 13:34 have been found during the 10th century BC. 13:36 There was one inscription, the Gezer inscription, a calendar 13:39 that was found, that dates back to the 10th century. 13:42 But in the last few years it's been very exciting because 13:44 we've found a lot more, at least in comparison. 13:48 At Khirbet Qeiyafa, in the second season of excavation in 13:51 2008, a discovery was made that was quite sensational. 13:56 It was on a broken piece of pottery, like this one, and it 14:01 was five lines of writing on that pottery. 14:04 That particular piece of pottery was found in a house right 14:08 adjacent, just north of the gate, in situ, in context. 14:13 It was written in letters that were legible 14:17 to a certain degree. Obviously the ink had faded over 14:20 3,000 years and some of the letters were more legible 14:23 than others. We sent it to the top labs in 14:26 the United States, imaging labs at Megavision and Cedars Sinai 14:30 Hospital, to get the best images we could for reading it. 14:33 And there have been a number of different readings of it. 14:36 But most scholars agree that it probably is written in Hebrew. 14:40 If it was written in Hebrew, it would be the oldest 14:42 Hebrew inscription ever found in history. 14:45 Now, that's quite amazing, because you're talking about an 14:47 inscription that is between 1,000 and 800 years older than 14:51 the Dead Sea Scrolls. JB: Yeah. 14:53 What else has been found that talks to us about David and the 14:56 extent of his kingdom? MH: Well, the fortification 14:58 question. So there were no fortifications 14:59 during that time. We have a massively fortified 15:01 site, with double, or we call them casemate walls, 15:05 surrounding the whole city. We have a gate here, we have a 15:08 second gate that was discovered in 2009 over here. 15:11 One facing Philistia, one facing Jerusalem, 15:14 or the road leading up to Jerusalem. 15:16 So we have this massive fortified site-- 15:19 we're estimating between 100 and 200,000 tons of 15:22 stone were used to build the fortification system. 15:26 This is not a cow pen or a sheep pen that some farmer 15:30 was using for their purposes; this was a garrison city. 15:34 We have found weapons in the city. 15:36 We've found three iron swords, in 2010. 15:39 One of our students from Southern Adventist University 15:41 suddenly uncovered these swords. And they were iron, which also 15:45 was interesting because the Bible talks about the 15:48 Philistines having iron capabilities, 15:50 not the Israelites. There's a lot of intriguing 15:53 things that are happening at this site. 15:55 Seven seasons of excavations now, and we've excavated 30 15:58 percent of that site-- because it's a fairly small site, 16:00 with not a lot of accumulation. We have uncovered thousands and 16:05 thousands of bones. This now speaks to the identity 16:08 of who lived at the site. Because some of the critics have 16:12 said, well, it could have been a Philistine site, it could have 16:15 been a Canaanite site. What makes it an Israelite site 16:17 or a Judean site? JB: Fair question. 16:19 MH: It's a fair question. JB: Sure. 16:20 MH: So, we look at the bones. And you've heard the expression, 16:24 you are what you eat. JB: Yeah, sure. 16:26 MH: So, we're looking at the bones. 16:27 These are bones that people have left behind. 16:29 They weren't vegetarian, they were eating. 16:31 But we haven't found a single pig bone in the entire field 16:37 seasons of excavation, among thousands of bones. 16:40 By contrast, at Gath, where Goliath came from-- 16:43 which is our neighboring site-- and at Ekron-- 16:46 I've excavated at Ekron for many years-- 15 to 30 percent 16:50 of the bones are pig bones. The Philistines ate pig; 16:54 the Judeans did not. And this is very good evidence 16:58 that we have a Judean site. The architecture is Judean. 17:02 That double casemate wall is Judean. 17:05 The pottery is Judean. This is a Philistine 17:08 piece of pottery, just to give you a comparison. 17:10 They're brightly painted, many times with different colors. 17:13 This is a bi-chrome ware, which has two colors: 17:16 red and black. This is a bird, by the way. 17:18 This is the wing of the bird, the neck of the bird. 17:21 This is a typical bi-chrome crater that was coming from 17:25 Philistia. We find a few of these pieces, 17:30 but 99.9 percent of the pottery at Khirbet Qeiyafa is typical 17:34 Judean ware. And so, while it came probably 17:39 from Ashdod, from the coast, maybe a few imported pieces 17:42 came in. The majority of the material 17:44 is Judean. So we believe we're excavating, 17:47 or we have excavated a Judean site, the architecture of which 17:50 becomes a prototype for other important Judean cities like 17:54 Beer-Sheva and other sites that we excavate 200 years later 17:59 in the territory of Judah. JB: So the life of an 18:01 archeologist in the field, I imagine finding 18:04 those swords, that's when you get real excited. 18:07 MH: Sure. JB: Finding a sword, 18:09 that doesn't happen every day, does it? 18:10 MH: No. JB: As exciting as Indiana Jones 18:14 made it seem, there's just got to be a lot of long, 18:17 hot days in the sun. What makes it worthwhile? 18:20 MH: You're uncovering not only history, but you're uncovering 18:24 the world of the Bible. To me, that's what makes it 18:27 exciting. And when you discover a site 18:29 like Khirbet Qeiyafa, that dates back to the time of David, that 18:32 may actually have been built by Saul or David, we actually think 18:36 that we have identified that site with one of the biblical 18:39 sites mentioned in the story of David and Goliath, 18:41 in 1 Samuel 17. Because when David slays Goliath 18:45 and chops off his head, it says the Philistines ran along the 18:48 Sha arayim road, back to the gates of Gath and Ekron. 18:51 Well, Sha arayim in Hebrew means "two gates." 18:55 Sha ar means gate, ayim is the dual ending, it means two. 18:59 So, Sha arayim means two gates. We have two gates at Khirbet 19:02 Qeiyafa, that's very unusual. All of the cities, in Judah and 19:07 in northern Israel, all of them that have been excavated have 19:09 only one gate. The exception is Jerusalem, 19:12 but all of them only have one gate. 19:13 So why is this called Sha arayim? 19:16 We believe we may have found the city of Sha arayim that we have 19:19 been excavating. And if that's the case, 19:21 we've actually found a city that has never been identified; 19:23 a biblical city that's never been identified. 19:25 And we've connected it back to David. 19:28 Sha arayim is mentioned three times in the Bible, 19:30 twice in connection with David. 19:32 Here is a very important element, I think, again in the 19:36 pieces that begin to fit together. 19:39 And, no longer can it be said that we don't have 19:42 fortifications during this time period. 19:44 No longer can it be said we don't have literacy. 19:47 Interestingly, only about two years ago, 19:49 Eilat Mazar in Jerusalem also found a broken piece 19:52 of a jar with an incised inscription on it, in Hebrew, 19:57 that dates a little bit earlier even than our inscription. 20:00 So we now have a piece from Jerusalem, 20:02 we have a piece from Sha arayim, or Khirbet Qeiyafa. 20:06 And all of these pieces are pieces of the puzzle that begin 20:09 to come together, to give us a better picture of literacy, 20:14 of what the kingdom of Judah looked like during 20:16 its earliest period. JB: Biblical archeologists 20:19 are finding, buried in the sands and 20:22 in the dirt of the Middle East, those things that for you and me 20:25 are faith building and help us to say yes, we have 20:30 more reason now to believe in the Word of God. 20:32 I'll be back with more with Dr. Hasel 20:34 in just a moment. 20:37 ♪ [Musical Interlude] ♪ 20:47 JB: The book of Daniel tells the dramatic story of the fall of 20:50 ancient Babylon. During a royal party, mysterious 20:54 handwriting appeared on a wall to send a jolting message: 20:58 You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. 21:02 Babylon was overthrown that very night. 21:05 Now, that happened thousands of years ago, 21:07 but the Bible predicts a modern Babylon will rise 21:11 and deceive much of the world. So, how can you avoid 21:15 being deceived? To learn what the Bible says, 21:17 request your free copy of "The Fall of Babylon." 21:21 Just call (800) 253-3000, and ask for "The Fall of Babylon." 21:27 If the lines are busy, please do try again. 21:29 Or write to It Is Written, Box 6, Chattanooga, TN 37401, 21:36 and we'll mail a free copy to your address 21:38 in North America. It Is Written is 21:40 a faith-based ministry, and your support makes 21:42 it possible for us to share God's good news with the world. 21:46 Your tax deductible gift can be sent to the address 21:48 on your screen, or through our website, 21:50 ItIsWritten.com. Thank you for your continued 21:53 prayerful support. That toll-free number again is 21:56 (800) 253-3000, and our web address is ItIsWritten.com. 22:06 JB: This is It Is Written. Thanks for joining us today. 22:08 Dr. Hasel, in talking about archeology, what are the things 22:14 that get archeologists excited? If I found this, 22:18 if we can discover that. What are the buzz words in the 22:20 language of archeology? MH: Archeologists get excited 22:23 about a lot of different things: the ways that people lived, 22:28 and so forth. But I think really down, down, 22:30 you know, somebody once said an archeologist is just a boy who 22:34 never grew out of the sandbox. We like to dig. 22:37 We like to dig for treasure, in a sense. 22:39 We're not treasure hunters, but these are treasures. 22:42 These are gifts that we have from ancient civilization that 22:45 help us understand them better. For me probably one of the most 22:48 exciting things that an archeologist could find would be 22:51 inscriptions that talk about ancient history, that talk about 22:56 kings, what took place. That would give insight into the 23:01 thinking behind people. We have to imagine from these 23:04 artifacts, many times, what people thought and 23:07 what they did. We have to kind of reconstruct 23:09 the past. There's a lot of interpretation. 23:12 But with texts, we can also then compare. 23:15 How do these texts match up with what we find in Assyria or what 23:18 we find in Egypt or what we find in the Bible? 23:21 And to me that becomes very, very exciting. 23:23 JB: Now, excluding the obvious things like the antiquities in 23:26 Turkey and Egypt, excluding that. 23:29 Have we found all the good stuff yet, or is there a lot more 23:32 waiting to be discovered? In your opinion. 23:34 MH: Israel is one of the most excavated countries 23:37 in the world. They have a whole government 23:40 agency focused on excavation. The national parks in Israel are 23:44 archeological national parks. It's a huge tourism industry as 23:48 well as anything else, I mean, people flock by the millions to 23:51 Masada every year and to other sites. 23:54 I think there's a huge amount left to uncover in Israel. 23:58 We've barely scratched the surface. 23:59 Yes, there's wonderful things that have been found, but there 24:03 are sites that we know about, that haven't even been touched, 24:06 let alone excavated. And I think the future in 24:09 archeology will bring us even more. 24:12 Look at Khirbet Qeiyafa, what it gave us for David. 24:15 How many other Khirbet Qeiyafas are there for other periods 24:18 of history? That's what the future of 24:20 archeology holds for us. JB: Now, I'm happy to talk about 24:23 evidence that supports believing in the Bible. 24:25 MH: Right. JB: I think that's good. 24:27 MH: It is good. JB: However, the Bible says 24:30 man shall not live by archeology alone, 24:34 but by every word that proceeds 24:36 out of the mouth of God. Do I as a believer-- and I'm not 24:40 trying to discredit archeology, and you understand that-- 24:42 do I need archeology in order to be able to 24:45 have a solid faith in God? Do I need to be able to say, 24:48 that's where David lived, and that's where Jesus was 24:51 crucified, and here's some temple or a piece of pottery? 24:55 Let's put that in its place. What's the actual role of that? 24:58 MH: No, I don't think we need archeology. 25:01 And Christianity and Judaism survived for thousands of years 25:04 without archeology. People lived and died for their 25:07 faith without archeology, and people are still doing that 25:10 today, many of them ignorant about archeology. 25:13 So, where I think archeology plays a role, it's a tool. 25:16 It's a tool to illuminate the Bible, and particularly in the 25:19 skeptical postmodern age in which we live, 25:22 it answers many questions, I think, that people 25:25 are asking today about the Bible. 25:27 People who want to really understand the Bible from a 25:29 three-dimensional way, that's where archeology 25:32 plays a role. But the Bible stands alone 25:35 as the Word of God. JB: How do I then build my 25:38 faith, grow my faith in God? Archeology or not, how do I 25:42 build my faith in the Word? Now, for me, I'm happy to admit, 25:46 when I encounter archeological discoveries, I say, aha! 25:49 That strengthens me. MH: Sure. 25:51 JB: How would you recommend to anybody, 25:53 grow your faith in God-- MH: Just what you did 25:54 right there. You open the Word of God. 25:56 You read the Word of God. You eat the Word of God. 25:59 You digest the Word of God, and it will change you. 26:02 It will change you. It's proven to have done that, 26:05 over and over again in the lives of millions of people 26:07 around the world. God becomes real. 26:09 He speaks to you through His Word. 26:11 And, through that experience, then, you can become a deeper 26:15 Christian, a deeper person, understanding what God has and 26:19 planned for you in your life. JB: Michael, thank you again for 26:22 joining us today. It's been a blessing 26:24 and I wish you every blessing of God on future 26:26 archeological expeditions. You have no intention of slowing 26:30 down anytime soon. MH: Well, I don't know about 26:33 that, but we have a few seasons left to go. 26:35 And I know that as long as the heart is willing we'll continue 26:39 to be working in the field. JB: May God bless you in that. 26:40 MH: Thank you. JB: Let's pray together now. 26:43 ♪ [underscore of music] ♪ Our Father in heaven, we thank 26:45 You today that You have given us evidences to support the faith 26:50 that we have in You. We are grateful that we can 26:53 see Your handiwork in nature about us. 26:57 We thank You that each day is a gift, a miracle. 26:59 Life is a miracle given by the God of heaven. 27:02 I pray that as we consider those supports to our faith, 27:07 that You'd give us grace to grow in faith, 27:09 that we would be men and women, all of us, who would 27:11 stand on Your Word. Live by faith. 27:14 Live according to the principles You've outlined in Your Word, 27:18 and grow daily in our faith in You. 27:20 That our connection with You would grow strong. 27:22 I want to pray right now for that one who, in his or her 27:25 heart, knows the connection is not strong, the faith is weak. 27:28 Come close to that individual. And friend, if that is you, 27:30 I encourage you to surrender your life to Jesus now 27:33 and take Him at His Word, and live your life by faith. 27:36 Today, we thank You Lord. We ask Your blessing and we pray 27:40 in Jesus' name. Amen. 27:42 MH: Amen. [music fades] 27:47 ♪ [It Is Written Theme Music] ♪ JB: I'm so glad you took the 27:49 time to join us today. I look forward to seeing you 27:51 again next time. Until then, remember: 27:54 It is written, man shall not live 27:57 by bread alone, but by every word 27:59 that proceeds from the mouth of God. 28:02 ♪ [music swells] ♪ |
Revised 2015-11-16