Milestones in Biblical Archeology

Recently, the question, “What are your milestone moments?”, has caused me to think back over my career in geology. Personally, I haven’t made any notable discoveries or great impacts on the geological world at large. However, there are key moments in my geology career that I reflect on with great fondness.

These include the afternoon in the lab when I looked through the microscope and found dolomite ooids in the Coconino sandstone, or when I saw osteocytes in a cross-section of a Nano Tyrannosaurus bone, or, one of my favorites, when I held a seismite from the Dead Sea dated at 33 AD. For reference these findings are related to evidence for Noah’s flood, a young earth and the resurrection of Jesus, respectively.

It is an indescribable feeling when you can hold something physical in your own hand that connects you with what you’ve read in the Bible. It not only creates a physical connection but a personal connection to the Word of God. There can be a disconnect for us as Christians with the events in the Bible because many of them took place so long ago, in a culture and geography very different from ours. However, there have been people throughout history who have taken steps of faith to unearth physical evidence that enable us to make those personal connections. One such person was Queen Victoria.

In 1865 a British society in London founded the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF). The PEF mission statement was ‘for the purpose of investigating the Archaeology, Geography, manners, customs and culture, Geology and Natural History of the Holy Land.’

Queen Victoria, a founding patron of the PEF, tasked Lieutenant Charles Warren of the Royal Engineering Corps to excavate the Temple Mount, the Old City of David and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Lieutenant Warren could not have known that this would be the first of many major excavations of the Temple Mount that would eventually usher in a new age of Biblical archeology. He made several important discoveries, even finding the foundation walls of the Temple.

It was said that for three years Warren explored Jerusalem’s tunnels by candlelight, sometimes partly submerged in water (with inches to spare) and that is how he mapped out the extensive tunnel network that included Hezekiah’s Tunnel.

Isn’t it amazing to learn about the faith and foresight of Queen Victoria who sent not only a team of religious experts to the Holy Land but also a team of engineers and academics, who together formed a scientific exploration team?

All scientific and archeological discoveries are educational and beneficial to our society but I believe biblical scientific and archeological discoveries are in a category of their own. I know that those who have made pilgrimage to Israel would say the same thing. Parenthetically, RMCC‘s next pilgrimage to Israel is scheduled for April of 2022 and if you’d like more information email contactus@calvarychapel.ca.

There is nothing that compares with walking the same streets Jesus walked, sitting in the same places where Jesus taught and seeing the places where Jesus made the lame walk and the blind see. This personal connection reminds us that we are part of an ongoing story.

What’s more, the Bible doesn’t just give accurate historical records, it also makes prophetic statements about what is yet to come. Jesus will walk again through the Eastern gate into Jerusalem just as He did on Palm Sunday some 2,000 years ago. He will rule and reign from Jerusalem and we will be with Him as His beloved bride. Seeing and touching these pieces of history reminds us of the hope we have in our future.

Finally, I have to include a gem from my study of Queen Victoria. It is a quote from Rev. Billy Graham,

“In the biography of Queen Victoria there is a heart-warming story told. She went into the slums of London and visited the home of an elderly lady. When the Queen rose to leave, she asked, ‘Is there anything I can do for you?’ The woman said, ‘Yes, ma’am, Your Majesty, you can meet me in Heaven.’ The Queen turned to her and said softly, ‘Yes. I’ll be there, but only because of the blood that was shed on the cross for you and for me.’ Queen Victoria, in her day the most powerful woman in the world, had to depend on the blood of Christ for her salvation; and so do we.”

Won’t it be incredible to stand with Queen Victoria and see Jesus, the King of Kings, take His rightful place in the location she helped excavate so many years ago?