Every day in the holy land archaeological discoveries is being made that reinforce what the Bible says concerning persons or events mentioned in Scripture.
The land of Israel is a bastion for archaeological treasures dating back nearly 4,000 years. More discoveries are being made and put on display for the public.
One recent archaeological find brought such excitement and was reported by the media of an event that took place some 2700 years ago under the reign of king Hezekiah.
I have been to this area many times and I had no idea, nor did the archaeologist until now this was the place where the judgment of God fell on Israel’s enemies around 701 B.C.
We see various passages that describe this event in 2 Kings 19:29-35; Isaiah 37:33-36; and 2 Chronicles 32:21. This recent find supports the epic biblical account.
God used the Angel of the Lord, in Hebrew, Malach Adonai, מלאך ה', to judge a wicked nation hell bent on the destruction of the Jewish people and God’s holy city, Jerusalem.
When we see the phrase, Angel of the Lord it refers to a preincarnate appearance of Messiah Jesus or what is also called a Christophany in the Old Testament.
The year is 701 B.C. and Assyria has invaded the land. Sennacherib the king of Assyria destroys Lachish and sets his sights on Jerusalem and sends a message to Hezekiah.
Sennacherib sends his representative Rabshakeh to Hezekiah ordering him to surrender the city and give tribute to him. Hezekiah refuses to do so, and the Jewish prophet Isaiah tells Hezekiah God will judge the Assyrians.
Prior to this invasion Hezekiah ordered the digging of a water tunnel to bring water into the city so the Assyrians would no have access to it. You can walk through this tunnel today, Hezekiah’s tunnel, (2 Kings 20:20).
The night before the Assyrian invasion of Jerusalem God struck the Assyrians first by annihilating the Assyrian army in one night by the hand of the Angel of the Lord.
Isaiah 37:36 tells us that the Angel of God killed a hundred and fourscore and five thousand Assyrians. That is 185,000 Assyrian troops killed in just one night.
Fox news reported, newly found Assyrian camp supports epic biblical account in the Hebrew Bible in 2 Kings 19:35 of the angel striking 185,000 Assyrian troops.
They found in Jerusalem an oval shaped Assyrian military camp dating back to around 700 B.C. This would be some 700 years before the birth of Jesus the Messiah.
The site of the Assyrian camp is in Jerusalem on Ammunition Hill on the western side of Mount Scopus. It was the sight of fierce battle between Israel and Jordan during the 1967 six-day war.
The 19th-century archaeologists thought it was a Roman camp, but the excavation records indicate that the camp is oval. "Roman military camps were rectangular, whereas the photos indicate that this was roughly oval, consistent with an Assyrian camp,"
The Bible says Sennacherib never took the city and was later killed by his two sons when he fled back to Assyria. He recorded his exploits on what is called the Taylor Prism on display in the British Museum today.
This is what Sennacherib said, “I trapped Hezekiah of Judah like a bird in a cage”. However, me makes no mention of conquering Jerusalem in his annals. Why would he record such a humiliating experience?
Once again archaeology reinforces the biblical account showing that the Bible is indeed an accurate historical book that comes from the very heart of God Himself.
Just as God used the Angel of the Lord to carry out his judgment on nations in biblical times, He will do the same during the 70th Week of Daniel’s Prophecy.
During the tribulation period God will unleash three sets of judgments comprising of Seven Seals, Seven Trumpets, and Seven Vial judgments on earth.
Jesus Himself will open the seven seals in Revelation 6 that will result in a fourth of humanity perishing. That is about 1.7 billion of eight billion people on planet earth.
However, God will use angels to carry out the seven trumpet and seven vial judgments on earth. In Revelation 9:15 when angels sound the seven trumpet judgments another one third of humanity perishes.
That is another 1.7 billion people perishing. Between the fourth seal combined with the sixth trumpet judgment will reduce the world’s population to one half its pre-tribulation level.
In reference to the seven vial judgments poured upon the earth by angels the Bible does not give us a number, but I could only imagine the carnage during the last seven vials of God’s wrath.
God will indeed keep His word and His promises as He did in the Old Testament, He will with the prophecies in the New Testament in the book of Revelation. The Bible is an accurate book historically and futuristically
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