The end of March is now upon us. Here in America that means two things. First, that means spring is breaking through. The grass is turning green, flowers are blooming, and trees and flourishing. This also means that allergies are starting to flare up again. Yeah me!
Secondly, it is now time to celebrate Easter. I have always loved Easter time. I love seeing all of the colors coming back to life, daylight lasts longer, and we get to celebrate our Lord and savior. I am always down to worship God. So this blog is going to be dedicated to Easter. Primarily I want to discuss some of the archeological and historical sources that we have that validate Christian beliefs. I think more people should be very knowledgeable when it comes to this subject. But before I get into a rant on apologetics I will just launch into the topic at hand.
The Jesus Boat
This one is not really proof about Jesus or anything, but more of a cool discovery. So back in 1986 Israel went through a drought. During the worst part, the Sea of Galilee’s water level dropped significantly and a submerged boat was discovered. After carefully excavating it from the mud they discovered a few things about it.
First, the boat was about 27 feet long. It was also almost 8 feet wide and 4 feet deep. This would make the boat quite comfortable to sail in. Carbon dating put the boat around the 1st century BC or AD. This makes the boat the same type of boat Jesus would have sailed on during His ministry.
Synagogues
This next one is a whole lot more important when it comes to Biblical evidence. The Bible mentions synagogues quite often. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all describe Jesus entering a synagogue at some point. Jesus taught in synagogues, healed in synagogues, and confronted the Pharisees around synagogues. But there was a problem for a long time concerning these buildings of worship; we couldn’t find any.
But, that is not a problem anymore! we have uncovered around 10 different synagogues all dating before the destruction of Jerusalem (70 AD). This date is important because many scholars thought that synagogues did not become popular until after the second temple was destroyed. This means that Jesus would have these buildings just like the gospels write.
Pool of Siloam
The last item for this blog is the Pool of Siloam. This is the pool where Jesus healed a blind man found in John 9:7. The actual location of the pool was hypothesized, but unknown. There was a pool constructed in the 5th century by Empress Eudocia about 70 yards from the actual pool. It was built because the original pool was buried. It wasn’t until some repairs were being done on a drainage pipe that the original pool was discovered.
6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
John 9:6-7
The amazing thing about the Pool of Siloam is that it matches perfectly the description given in the gospels. For the sake of brevity I won’t go into the details, but just know that when the gospels describe something they have never been proven wrong.
Time after time a site has proven the gospels. Humanists and naturalists have tried to explain away the Bible, and they have failed every time. This is why I hold my faith in the Bible. I believe in the things that haven’t been proven because every time we think the Bible is wrong, it is proven right.
Part 2 will discuss the really cool finds that focus heavily on Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. But until then, have a great Holy Week!
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One response to “Evidence for Jesus Part 1”
[…] a long way. I think a very easy category to begin with is history. That is why I made part 1 (link here) and a part 2 discussing historical evidence for Jesus. The six things I want to focus on for the […]
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