Can We Trust The Bible? (Part 4)

Now let's look at the New Testament and archaeology. Can we trust the Bible? The answer is yes. Let's look at why. So what do the skeptics and the atheists have to say? Well, they say Pontius Pilate was not a real person. They've said that there's no evidence that Caiaphas existed outside of the Bible. They've said that the Romans would never let crucified criminals be buried. Let's see. Again, this is a four-part series. If you followed along in the first three parts, thank you. Thank you so much, and I look forward to sharing this fourth talk on the archaeology of the New Testament with you. What we're going to do is look at the New Testament and ten archaeological evidences that supports the historicity of the New Testament. I want to introduce you to a term that archaeologists often use. It's called synchronism, and the definition is, in biblical archaeology, a synchronism or historical synchronism is a fixed point in time where the biblical narrative intersects with or aligns with external archaeological evidence or historical records from the ancient Near East. It is used to date archaeological remains by anchoring them to known established dates for events, people, or places mentioned in the Bible. Okay, that's a mouthful. Let me give you kind of a description of this. So, here's King Ahab. He was considered the most wicked king of Israel. He's talked about in 1 Kings chapter 20. So, we have this king that's mentioned in the Old Testament. Well, when we add this stele, which is outside of biblical history, and it's talking about the historicity of this King Ahab, what we have is a biblical synchronism. We have something that's mentioned in the Bible and then an external source that corroborates the historicity of the person or the place, for instance, mentioned. How many of us recognize this slide and the saying, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away? Isn't it so reassuring that as Christians we can have faith and hope and not a blind faith or a blind hope, but we can have evidence that supports the credibility of the Bible and the faith that we have. Whenever you see something that's being told, starting with a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, you know what's about to happen next is mythology, is a story, it's a fairy tale. And how far from that is the credibility of the Old Testament and now

what we're going to look at with the New Testament. So, let's fast forward to or go back in time to the first century AD. Let's open up with just a quick introduction video. Have you ever visited an ancient ruin or held an ancient object and wonder what stories it could tell you? Well, here we are in Jerusalem looking across the Kidron Valley and this city speaks so much to us from the ancient world and that's the world of the Bible, the world where biblical events took place. And at a time in history where there's so much skepticism, so much doubt about whether the Bible speaks of history or mere myth and legend, we have archaeology. Archaeology is not so much about proving the Bible. What archaeology does is it demonstrates to us that what we read in the Bible fits with what we know of the ancient world. The Bible is illumined by archaeology. Sometimes our reading of the Bible is challenged by archaeology. So that's Dr. Chris Sinkinson. He has a PhD in biblical studies. He's involved in numerous biblical field archaeology digs and he teaches biblical archaeology. So let's look at evidence number one as we go through our ten evidences. Number one is the Pool of Siloam. In John chapter 9, scripture says, as he went alone he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents? That he was born blind. Neither this man nor his parents sinned, said Jesus, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work. While I'm in the world, I am the light of the world. After saying this, he spit on the ground, he made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. Go, he told him, wash in the pool of Siloam. So the man went and washed and came home seeing. So this is in John chapter 9, Jesus healing a man that's been blind by putting mud on his eyes and telling him to go wash in this pool of Siloam. So this is a picture of the pool of Siloam which was excavated in 2005 and 2006. Now there's been a pool that many visitors to Jerusalem have seen at the end of Hezekiah's tunnel, which dates back to about the 5th century AD. But the pool in Jesus's time was not known until 2004. Now there

were some workers doing some repairs on some drainage systems and they discovered a couple of ancient steps. So then the archaeologists were called in and they excavated the area. What they discovered was a large pool of at least 20 steps leading down to the street into the pool as well as pottery that dated to the 1st century and even older into the Old Testament time. Now at this point it was officially identified by archaeologists as the pool of Siloam. And it is the place where the blind man was washed and he received his healing by Jesus. Incredible. Evidence number two is the Pilate stone. In Matthew 27 scripture says, when morning came all the chief priests and the elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put him to death and when they had bound him they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. Now this is the Pilate stone which confirms that Pontius Pilate was the prefect of Judea. Now one of the most infamous people in the gospel accounts is Pontius Pilate. He's the man that sentenced Jesus to death. Historians have been going back to Josephus and the historian Philo who wrote about him but up until fairly recently there was zero archaeological evidence supporting his reality. But then in 1961 archaeologists found a stone that was inscribed. It was part of a dedication to Caesar Tiberius and it was put there by Pontius Pilate the prefect of Judea. And here's a close-up look of that stone. The thing that is really interesting about this stone is that it not only confirms further the historical reality of his existence but it also confirms his title. The Roman historian Tacitus mistakenly referred to him as a proconsul but he was actually a prefect. So this confirms what he was. The New Testament doesn't specifically reference his title but simply refers to him as a governor. So the Bible was accurate with just the general term. Just incredible historical and archaeological evidence that further supports the credibility of the New Testament. And here on the slide you can see on the map this location of Caesarea. And this was significant because during the first century people often referred to Caesarea as the Rome of the East because it was so extravagant and so fantastic. And you can see on the map things like the Forum or over to the left the Great Lighthouse in the harbor. Or down towards the south you can see the Roman Theater. And the reason why this is significant is because it was at this theater this is where the Pilate stone was found by archaeologists. And I want to introduce you to Dr. Scott Stripling. He has a PhD in biblical archaeology. He's involved in numerous biblical field archaeological digs for instance currently at Shiloh. He teaches biblical archaeology and he's also the director of excavations at the Associates for Biblical Research.

Here he's going to say a few things about the inscription. The Pontius Pilate inscription. We have a replica of this in our museum next door. You can see the name Tiberius, the name Pontius Pilate on here. It dates to the third decade of the first century. And there's a little controversy that surrounds this because prior to 1961 what students of the Bible were being taught is that there was a problem with the New Testament manuscripts. Because the New Testament says that Pontius Pilate's title was prefect. The Greek word is prefect. We translate it into English as governor. But we have a secular source from the second century whose name is Tacitus. Cornelius Tacitus, very famous Roman historian. He wrote in the annals that Pilate's title was procurator. The New Testament says it was prefect. Tacitus says it was procurator. So clearly the New Testament's wrong. I mean that's how it comes down. Because how could Tacitus possibly… be wrong about something like this title, it's proof that the New Testament was written much much later, you can't trust the Bible is the message of this attack. Well in 1961 as you can see at Caesarea Maritima in this beautiful theater, if you've been to Israel you've probably seen this beautiful theater, in secondary usage the Pontius Pilate inscription was found and you can see what it said in Latin and then the English translation, you can make out the words Tiberium which is a structure in honor of Tiberius which Jesus was crucified under Tiberius and Pontius Pilate and then Pontius Pilate's name and look at his title, Prefect of Judea. Now was Tacitus wrong? Well Tacitus is writing in the early second century, maybe the title of the governors of these regions has changed by the second century, the New Testament writers get it right, that tells you it was written when it purports to have been written and now nobody makes this case anymore, we all know that it is authentic.

Now no one apologizes you understand, they don't come back and say, gosh we were wrong, we assume the Bible was guilty and you know it wasn't, they just move on to the next accusation often. Here's a coin of Pontius Pilate that we excavated a couple of years ago, dates to the year 29 and with many coins of Pontius Pilate and all the other rulers of the New Testament. If a ruler is mentioned in the New Testament like Festus or Felix or Herod the Great or Agrippa or Agrippa the Second or Nero, I mean anyone mentioned in the New Testament we have their coins, you can go right next door to our Joshua Judges Jesus Museum and see these coins for yourself. The Bible is talking to us about real people, real places, and real events. Here's a couple more of the coins of Pontius Pilate, you can see the cultic symbols on these. Normally rulers like Herod the Great they avoided putting pagan symbols on these coins circulating in Judea, they didn't want to offend the Jews. Apparently Pilate wasn't concerned about that, you can see these are symbols of the imperial cult where you worship the emperor as if he is God. Remember what the authorities said when Jesus was standing before Pilate, they were arguing for him to be crucified rather than Barabbas and they said, we have no king but Caesar, no king but Caesar pledging their loyalty to the state. These are the symbols of emperor worship enshrined on the coinage. We have here the coin, I'm sorry the ring of Pontius Pilate, this was found at Herodium just right a mile or so from Bethlehem back

in the 1960s but they found so much stuff that they didn't process at all. There were still boxes sitting around, finally five years ago or so somebody processed this material and lo and behold there was the name Pontius Pilate on this ring, real people, real places, real events. You're looking here at what the Bible calls the Lethostratus, the stone pavement upon which Jesus stood trial before Pontius Pilate. Now Pilate's praetorium is Herod's old palace which has been converted into his judgment hall, his praetorium. And in this next slide you can see Jordan and Angela McClinton standing on some steps, those steps are going somewhere through a wall which seems kind of weird but that wall is only 400 years old, these steps are more than 2,000 years old, these steps are going through to a pavement that takes a turn and it's on those steps where Jordan and Angela are standing that Jesus stood trial before Pontius Pilate. So next we have number three, the Caiaphas Ossuary. In Matthew 26 scripture says, Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled. But Peter followed him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. He entered and sat down with the guards to see the outcome. And this is the archaeological find, the Ossuary of Caiaphas, the high priest who oversaw the trial of Jesus. So this Ossuary is a stone box that for a short period in history, the Jewish people would put the bones of a deceased in

these bone boxes. On this particular bone box, archaeologists discovered the name Caiaphas. It was discovered in 1990 by a construction team building a water park. Now the archaeologists found the remains of a six year old man in it. Here's a close up look of it. The Jewish historian Josephus records the full name of Caiaphas was in fact, Joseph Caiaphas. And on the ornate Ossuary was the name Joseph, son of Caiaphas. So scholars think this is the very bone box of Caiaphas. And on the ornate Ossuary was the name Joseph, son of Caiaphas. and the physical remains of the high priest that presided over the trial of Jesus in the Gospels. And here's just a bird's eye overview of the actual archeological site where Caiaphas' ossuary box was found. Here's another view vantage point of that place where the box was found. And if we look at a closeup look of Caiaphas' ossuary, you can see the actual hand inscription saying Joseph, son of Caiaphas. Evidence number four is the crucified man. So in Matthew 27, scripture says, when they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head, they placed the written charged against him. This is Jesus, the king of the Jews.

So here is an archeological find, the heel bone of a man that was crucified in the first century. Now the nail is still embedded in this heel. It testifies to the violent death. Now the death, the burial, and the resurrection is the most important event to Christians around the world for all time. Archeologically, there is now evidence of a Roman crucifixion. We knew about crucifixion from writings and many historians and writers that documented and described the brutality of the Roman executions. But now we have a heel bone of a man. And in 1968, a construction crew dug up some tombs, ossuaries, and in them, the archeologists found a heel bone with this nail still embedded in it. And this allowed scientists to study Roman crucifixion for the first time through an archeological artifact. And here's an example of this. This confirms the biblical description of crucifixion where Jesus was nailed, not just in his hands, but also in his feet. Some scholars even say that the remains of this man crucified had his legs broken, which was reported to be common practice by the Romans. This is also a significant find because critics would say prior to this find that Jesus wouldn't have been buried in a family tomb

because he was tried as a criminal. Now, criminals would have been left to a common grave with other criminals, but we now have archeological evidence that shows that this was not the case. Crucified victims could receive proper burials in family tombs just as the Bible describes and just as Jesus had received. Here's a short video from Dr. Singleton talking about Jesus's crucifixion and the resurrection. In Acts chapter two, we read that Peter preached to the crowds on the day of Pentecost. And that would have been happening somewhere in the vicinity of these steps. And Peter preached on that day, reminding the crowd that they knew where the body of David had been buried. "'King David,' he says in verse 29, "'died, was buried, and his tomb is still here to this day.' "'However, Jesus,' Peter says in verse 31, "'God would not let his body see decay.'" It used to be said by skeptics that Jesus having been a crucified man would not have been given a burial. Considered cursed, his body would have been thrown on the garbage and maybe burned to lime. In 1968, archeologists found a bone box in Jerusalem from the first century, which contained the skeletal remains of a crucified man. Yohanan, his skeletal remains showing how crucifixion was carried out,

included the very gruesome discovery of an iron nail through his heel, which even had a piece of olive wood still attached to it from the cross on which he'd been crucified. So we can be confident that crucified people were given proper burials when people loved them and took care of their remains. Jesus, loved by many, would have been given a proper burial. But 40 days later, Peter could declare, we don't know where the body is. We know where the body of David is, but not far from here, the tomb where Jesus had been laid was empty. The bones were gone because Jesus had risen from the dead. And this is Dr. Titus Kennedy. I've referred to him before. He has a PhD in biblical archeology. He also has two master's degrees in biblical archeology and ancient Near East studies. He teaches biblical archeology and is the author of three books on biblical archeology. He's talking here about the Romans and Jesus's crucifixion. What happens? Christ starts to become known throughout even the pre-Torah. guardian guard and the house of Caesar. Paul tells us this in Philippians. So even people who were close to Nero, this horrible emperor who persecuted Christians,

even they were starting to become believers. We know that Christianity was widespread and the knowledge of the gospel was known throughout the city of Rome because of things that the Romans themselves left behind, like this graffito called the Alexomenos Graffito. This is actually the earliest artistic depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus. It was found in Rome on the Palatine Hill inside a building, so really the center of Rome, near where the emperor lived. And yet it was made by pagans who rejected Christianity, but we can see they knew about it. They knew about the crucifixion of Jesus. And they were trying to mock Christians and Jesus, so they gave Jesus the head of a donkey. And then they wrote this inscription under it that says, Alexomenos worships his God. So to them, it was ridiculous that Christians would worship a God who was crucified. This was a horrible form of execution, typically reserved only for non-citizen criminals. But it's exactly what Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians when he says, we preach Christ crucified to the Jews, a stumbling block, and to the Greeks, foolishness. So it was foolishness to the Greek and the Roman mind. Paul, of course, talks about the crucifixion in the Book of Romans, chapter six, verse six. He says that we shall also be in the likeness

of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him. Josephus, who was writing from Rome in the late first century, he also knew about the crucifixion. So all these things are converging to demonstrate to us that the gospel was well-known throughout the city of Rome. If we are to go just a few decades later, we see the Romans themselves writing about some of this. Pliny the Younger, writing to the emperor Trajan in 112 AD, he says, Christians were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang an alternate verse, a hymn to Christ as to a God, and bound themselves to a solemn oath not to do any wicked deeds. And then a Roman historian, Tacitus, he also writes about the crucifixion of Jesus, but he's specifically talking about this time, the reign of Nero, the time of the Book of Romans. And he says that Nero falsely blamed the Christians for the fire in Rome, and then he started persecuting them. And then he tells us that the pernicious superstition, that is Christianity, and specifically the belief in the resurrection, repressed for a time, broke out again, not only through Judea, where the mischief originated, but through the city of Rome also. So all throughout the city of Rome. And this was Paul's ambition or aspiration

that he tells us near the end of the letter to the Romans. Let's conclude with that, Romans 15, 20 and following. Paul says, and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation. But as it is written, those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand. This is the reason why I've so often been hindered from coming to you. But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain. So Paul eventually made it to Rome. He built up the church and encouraged the church there, and he set an example for all believers. And you can see on the slide, this is what Dr. Kennedy was talking about, this graffiti in Rome during the first and second centuries. The local Romans just thought it was ridiculous. The idea that God would come in the human flesh and be crucified like a common criminal. And some more graffiti, and crucifixion was depicted on different things throughout the Roman Empire. Evidence number five is the Nazarene inscription. In Luke 24, scripture says, on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices that they had prepared and went to the tomb.

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wandering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed. like lightning stood beside them. In their fright, the women bowed down with their faces to the ground. But the men said to them, why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, he is risen. Remember how he told you while he was still with you in Galilee. And this is the archeological find, the Nazarene inscription. This is a first century imperial edict pronouncing the death penalty for anyone caught stealing bodies from tombs. So this is a marble slab with a Greek inscription. It was found in Nazareth and it is an edict of Caesar dating to the reign of Emperor Claudius. It poses the death penalty in Israel to anyone who is caught stealing bodies from family tombs, specifically sealed tombs, which much like the tomb of Jesus was buried in. So what is really fascinating, why would the Roman Emperor Caesar feel the need to make such a decree? During ancient times, there has always been tomb robbers.

We know them as tomb raiders, but they would steal items of worth and significance like treasure and jewels and money, et cetera. The robbers would never think of stealing bodies. Why would they do such a thing? And here's a close-up inscription of this find. Why would they do that? There would be zero value in doing such a thing. That's why we have so many Egyptian pharaoh bodies, but almost all of the treasure and jewels are gone. And this particular inscription seems to be directed at the Jews. Now what situation could explain this particular artifact? The Bible records that the Jewish leaders made up the story and started spreading it around that the disciples had stolen Jesus's body when he rose from the dead. It is likely that this specific news report reached Caesar's ears, and it's possible he saw this new Christian sect as a danger to Roman rule in the Jewish province. Evidence number six is Sergius Paulus inscription. In Acts 13, when the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord. At this stone, it's bearing the name Sergius Paulus, and it was discovered near Antioch at the site of a family estate. Now in Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas set off on their first missionary journey,

and they headed over to Cyprus. While that they were there, they ended up leading the proconsul to Christ, and his name was Sergius Paulus. This is another zoom in of that archeological find. There have been numerous Sergius Paulus inscriptions discovered. This one was found in 1877, which mentions the proconsul Paulus. Another stone with his name also ties him to the Roman emperor of the time, Tiberius. So we have a convergence of several elements of history, affirming this account in Acts 13, another example of biblical synchronism. Evidence number seven is the inscription of Delphi. In Acts 18, while Galio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews of Corinth made up a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment. This man, they charged, is persuading the people to worship God in ways that are contrary to the law. The Galio inscription from Delphi in Greece confirms that Galio was the proconsul of Achaia and dates to the spring of 52 AD. Now, the apostle Paul spends about a year and a half in Corinth on his second missionary journey. In Acts 18, verse 12, we read that when Galio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united front to arrest Paul and bring him before a tribunal. This specific inscription, the Galio inscription, also called the Delphi inscription,

was discovered at Delphi, and it is an inscription by Claudius the Roman emperor. He refers to Junius Galio, my friend and proconsul. Now, the reason why this matters is because it's actually dated between January and August of 52 AD. Now, this inscription demonstrates that Galio served as a term as proconsul, confirming the information recorded in Acts and providing a useful chronological detail that situates Paul in Corinth. Corinth around 50 to 51 AD. So Paul was likely brought before Galileo in 51 AD, and then we can use the chronological markers in the Book of Acts to pinpoint other dating. In Acts and the Epistles, both Luke and the Apostle Paul often recorded the names and titles of people that Paul encountered during his missionary journeys, allowing readers like us and investigators to test and confirm the accuracy of his historical narrative. Evidence number eight is the Erastus inscription. In Romans chapter 16, scripture says, Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, send you his greetings. Erastus, who is the city's director of public works, and our brother, Quantrus, send you their greetings. So this is the Erastus inscription in Corinth. It's a seven inch tall with letters that at one time were filled with bronze. Now when Paul, the Apostle Paul, wrote his letter to the Romans, he did it from Corinth. Now right at the end of the letter, he wrote that he sends his regards from a man named Erastus, the city treasurer. Well, in 1929, archaeologists were excavated in Corinth and they came across this large paving stone. On it was the inscription that says, Erastus, in return for his leadership, laid this pavement at his own expense. Now the seven inch tall letters would have been filled with bronze back at that time, but the brass is gone now. Now a man in Erastus' position would have been in charge of taking care of public buildings, streets maintained, and the overall basically taking care of the market. So the Erastus that laid this paving stone was very likely the Erastus that Paul mentions and sends his greetings to the church in Rome from Corinth. And this is Dr. Kennedy again talking this time about people like Erastus. So Paul takes a three month break or visit in Corinth and this is when he writes

to the Romans. We see at the end of the book of Romans that Paul singles out several people and names them. A few of these are prominent Christians who lived in Corinth or the nearby area. The first of those is Phoebe. Phoebe is mentioned as the person who delivered the letter of Romans to the church in Rome. So she is very important since she's the one that took this text that we have to that church in Rome. She's mentioned in Romans chapter 16, one and two there. And it tells us, I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cancria, that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well. He also mentions Gaius who was hosting him in Corinth. And then near the end of the chapter, Paul mentions Erastus and we will look at him in just a minute. But let's go to where the letter departs. And that was at the port city of Cancria that Paul mentions there associated with Phoebe. So Cancria was attached to Corinth. It was to the east because Corinth was inland, but it had these different ports. So Paul wrote the letter in Corinth, delivered it to Phoebe. She went to the harbor, which you see in the photograph there, got on a ship and then sailed west to Rome where then she delivered that letter. So Cancria, think of it kind of like a suburb or even a neighborhood of ancient Corinth. Paul also mentions some other people you might be familiar with from reading the book of Acts, and that is Aquila and Priscilla. Aquila and Priscilla, we read in Acts 18, had been living in Rome, but then they were kicked out along with many other people, and they ended up in Corinth where Paul had met them seven years earlier. Now they are back in Rome, and they are actually hosting a house church there. And then finally he gets to Erastus, Erastus of Corinth. He calls him the city treasurer, and he says, he says, sends his greetings from Corinth to the church at Rome. Well, what is important about Erastus? Well, first of all, Erastus was a prominent citizen. He was in the local government, so we can see that Christians came from all walks of life. Some of them were businessmen like Aquila and Priscilla. Others were involved in the government. The early church was not just composed of outcasts and poor people.

But Erastus is also attested in the archeological record, and in fact, this phrase or this job title that Paul gives him in the Book of Romans, the city treasure of Corinth, we see that in an inscription that was discovered at Corinth. It was found near the theater on a pavement area, and it reads, Erastus, in return for his aedleship, which is the Latin term for city treasurer, laid the pavement at his own expense. This inscription was dated by the excavators to around the middle of the first century, around 50 AD or so, which is right at the time that Paul wrote this letter and uses this same title. So when this artifact now was created, this is right at the time that Paul knew Erastus. And so we can see that in the Book of Romans, he's writing about real places such as Corinth, real people such as Erastus, many of whom are attested in the archeological record today. And evidence number nine is P52, the papyrus. This is also referred to as the John Rylands papyrus. So the John Rylands Library papyrus, P52, contains parts of John 1831 through 33. It is the earliest New Testament manuscript discovered to date. It is a small fragment of the New Testament, but what's exciting is it's been dated to about 125 to 150 AD. Early church history records that John did write his letters in the late first century AD,

so these fragments date within 100 years or less of the time that it was written. And moreover, this papyrus piece manuscript was discovered in Egypt, which is pretty far from Ephesus, where John wrote his letter, which means that within less than 100 years, the message of the gospel was being copied, distributed, and widely shared geographically. Now to date, there are about 5,800 Greek manuscripts but like we covered in history one, there are over 24,000 early manuscripts of the New Testament. And this is Dr. Stripling again, but he's talking here about the P52 papyrus. And Pilate asked him this question. You can go to the next slide. Pilate asked him, what is truth? Now Jesus said, I am the truth, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. He, the creator of the world, truth himself, is standing before Pontius Pilate and Pilate asks him, what is truth? Trying to engage in some existential question with Jesus. This fragment on the screen is what we call P52. It is the oldest fragment we have of a New Testament manuscript. It dates to the first century. Out of all the fragments that we could have, out of all the passages, we have the one from John chapter 18

where Pilate asked Jesus the question, what is truth? And so the Pontius Pilate inscription is powerful evidence of synchronism between the archeological data and the biblical text. All right. And evidence number 10 is the temple warning inscription. In the book of Acts chapter 21, scripture says, when the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him shouting, fellow Israelites, help us. This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law in this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place. Well, this is an archeological find that was found in 1937. It's called the temple inscription. It's housed in the Israel Museum. And it says, no foreigners to enter within the railing enclosure around the temple. And whoever is caught will be responsible for his subsequent death. Now the temple warning inscription, There's another example of this in the Istanbul Museum, in the archeological museum. And there are trace amounts of red paint that have been found within the letters indicating that the inscription once stood out in bright red. Now think about it this way, Jesus would have walked past these warning signs

multiple times during his life as he visited the temple. Also, when Paul talked about the dividing wall of hostility between taking down, to be taken down in the letter to the Ephesians, most scholars think that he would have been referring to that which was on the wall that barred the Gentiles from going to worship further where only the Jews could worship. And the inscription was found at the base, this is an inscription found at the base of the temple, and it reads, to the place of the trumpeting. So additionally, there's been this inscription, the trumpeting inscription. In 1968, archeologists found a three foot long piece of stone block that had fallen, probably thrown from the temple courts during the fall of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD. And on it was an inscription that said, to the place of trumpeting. Now Josephus describes how priests would blow the trumpets at the temple. And these temple inscriptions are the clearest archeological evidence that we have that testify to the second temple period and really get us close to that incredible place of Jewish worship in the first century that Jesus was really familiar with. Now there are some other finds of interest, for instance, the Shroud of Turing. You'll notice that I did not mention those

in the 10 examples of the New Testament, or the burial location of Jesus, or James's ossuary, or both Peter and Paul's bones in Rome. The reason why I didn't mention these in these 10 examples are not to say that there's not significance behind all of these mentions, but these are also shrouded in lots of controversy. The 10 examples that I just went through, the vast majority of archeologists, biblical study PhDs, and academics rally behind as very convincing finds of the New Testament. But that's why I haven't mentioned some of these other ones because they are quite contested, or even in some cases, highly contested. Well, let's look at what scripture says. In the book of Luke, scripture says, "'Many have undertaken to draw up an account "'of the things that have been fulfilled among us, "'just as they were handed down to us "'by those from the first who are eyewitnesses "'and servants of the word. "'With this in mind, since I myself carefully "'investigated everything from the beginning, "'I too decided to write an orderly account "'for you, most excellent philosophers.'" And this is just a closing salute from Dr. Stinkinson about the evidence and the reason for the Christian faith. There was once a storm on this lake. We read about it in the Gospel of Mark. And Jesus, in Mark chapter four, verse 39,

he rebuked the storm. He said, be quiet, be still. And we read that immediately it was calm and the waves were still. Now, I love archeology, and I love the fact that we can find evidence for what we believe. But I know there are some things that go beyond the evidence. You can't prove that a miracle like this happened. But that's where faith comes in. Archeology provides us with good reason to trust this eyewitness material. But by faith, we believe in its significance. You know, the disciples, when they saw that miracle, in Mark chapter four, verse 41, they said, who is this that even the wind and the waves obey him? Well, you know, I want to follow Jesus with my life because I've discovered that he is who he claimed to be, the Son of God. So at the beginning of this talk, we started with five words, can we trust the Bible? And a fantastic memory mechanism that you can use on those same five fingers has been developed by Alan Schlieman, but I've kind of tweaked it. And if we look to our thumb, we can remember, can we trust the Bible? Absolutely, because of the testimony of the saints. Think of the Old Testament prophets, the New Testament apostles, and the early church fathers. We can look to our index finger to remind us

of all the historicity, the history, and the archeology that continues to confirm the reliability and accuracy of both the Old Testament and the New Testament. On our. finger we can think of the transmission process and the accuracy and the tenacity of the scribes in the Old Testament and the Apostles in the New Testament. To our ring finger we can look for the unified account that Scripture talks about from the book of Genesis all the way through to the 66th book, the book of Revelation. Unified, wonderful description of God's love story for humanity. And then finally our pinky where we can remember a pinky prophecy. Fulfilled prophecy, it is almost impossible to foretell the future and to do it consistently and accurately time and time again. The Bible does that not only in the Old Testament but in the New Testament. So these are five different pillars that we can turn to regarding the reliability and the trustworthiness of Scripture. And when we close those fingers we have a fist. And again in no way shape or form am I condoning any kind of struggle or arguments because we do not fight against flesh and blood as Christians. What the fist is symbolic of is that the Bible stands firm on its own. And in fact all of these evidences that we've gone through in this talk, can we trust the Bible, are really just cherries on top because God's Word stands on its own merits alone. Because God has given us his Word with his credibility and he is of substance and he can do that. So these evidences are just further support not only for believers and our discipleship but for people that are seeking out what is true in the world that we live in today. In Acts 28 Scripture says, "...he proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance." And Acts 28 is talking about the Apostle Paul. He was bold and he was unhindered. And let him be an example to us as we go forth in this world. Some resources that I highly recommend specifically regarding the New Testament archaeology. Dr. Titus Kennedy has the book Unearthing the Bible, 101 Archaeological Discoveries that Bring the Bible to

Life. This is an excellent book. There's another book, The Handbook of Archaeology by Dr. Randall Price. And if you are a Prime member or you are a streamer, there is a series online called Drive Through History and specifically Acts to Revelation. This is an in-depth video series that go through all the books of the Bible and the archaeology that helps confirm and illuminate Scripture. And this is a very, very well done walk through the New Testament. So if you haven't seen it, I would highly recommend it, Drive Through History. Thank you so much for spending your time listening through these talks and I hope that it's been beneficial to you and I hope you share it with others and it will be beneficial to them as well. Thank you.