Our last adventure in Jerusalem was at the Tunnel of the Western Wall. All of us have seen pictures of the Western Wall. That’s where Jewish men and women in Jerusalem go to pray and cry out to God to rebuild the temple and to send Messiah. (We have heard it called the Wailing Wall, but the Jewish people do not like it called that, so we are respecting their wishes.) But this area is just a small section of the full wall and much of the wall itself is covered by current buildings or actually hidden below the street level. However, a tunnel has been excavated along the full length of the wall revealing things that were concealed for centuries.
We entered the Western Wall Tunnel near the exposed wall
where the Jews pray. It is a high security area because the Muslims are concerned that the tunnel will extend under the Temple Mount and someone could blow it up with a bomb. However, the tunnel just runs the external length of the wall. Years back, an archeologist wanted to know how deep the Western Wall extended underground. He was given permission to dig a good ways away from the wall, but then he tunneled inward until he reached the wall and then went down to the bedrock. The wall is over 100 feet tall from bedrock to the top. Before Herod’s day, the Temple Mount was a smaller area. But Herod wanted to make it larger, so he raised the plateau on the southern side and dug out the bedrock on the northern side to make the Temple Mount flat. After the destruction of the temple in 70 AD and various other conquests of the city, additional arches were built over lower structures and the Muslim section of town was built on top of that. Even the street level at the current wall where the Jews assemble to pray is at least 20 feet higher than at Herod's time. To get to the street level from the time of Jesus Christ, we needed to go northward in the tunnel along the wall until we met the bedrock.
We walked along an underground area, where excavations are still
proceeding, and saw the massive stones of the wall. The stones are just fitted one on top of the other with no mortar. Only the sheer weight of the stones holds them in place. The largest known rock of the wall could be seen in this area. This rock was carved out of the existing mountain side and then the wall was built up with smaller stones until it reached the height of this large rock, so that it could merely be slid over on top of the structure. The rock is about forty-four feet long, 10 feet wide and weighs approximately 570 tons. What a marvel it is the think how they moved it into place – by ropes and pulleys we were told.
Along the way, we entered a demonstration room to see a model of Jerusalem at the present day. An automated portion of the model changed it to show Jerusalem at the time of Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. We could see the Robinson’s arch/bridge and the Wilson’s arch/bridge which the priests used to bring the sacrifices into the Temple. Then they highlighted the current visible portion of the Western Wall; it was a tiny, tiny portion (187 feet in length) along this massive structure (1600 feet). The full wall stands 105 tall, but only 62 feet are exposed today. We can only imagine how magnificent the city would have looked when it was in its fullness. At one point the bedrock actually becomes part of the wall and, since stones were not needed to be laid one on top of another, the masons carved the bedrock to look like individual stones, making the wall appear uniform. Roman columns from buildings were also excavated and could be seen in the tunnel as we reached the level from the time of Christ, near the bedrock end.
Huge stones from the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. where the Romans from inside the city pushed the wall stones outward, are left piled up and crushing the streets below as a reminder of the devastation to this place. Jesus told us this would be, "And Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. And He answered and said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here shall be left upon another, which will not be torn down" (Matthew 24:2). Also as a reminder of this destruction is at every Jewish wedding, when they take a moment from their joy and crush a glass under their feet signifying that joy is not complete because the temple is still destroyed.
But prophetically speaking, God will rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, so the current Muslim mosque will come down when God has readied the world for Jesus’ return. ""Then say to him, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, "Behold, a man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of the Lord. Yes, it is He who will build the temple of the Lord, and He who will bear the honor and sit and rule on His throne. Thus, He will be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices"' (Zechariah 6:12-13). "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne" (Matthew 25:31).
Maranatha, Lord Jesus, Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!
We entered the Western Wall Tunnel near the exposed wall
where the Jews pray. It is a high security area because the Muslims are concerned that the tunnel will extend under the Temple Mount and someone could blow it up with a bomb. However, the tunnel just runs the external length of the wall. Years back, an archeologist wanted to know how deep the Western Wall extended underground. He was given permission to dig a good ways away from the wall, but then he tunneled inward until he reached the wall and then went down to the bedrock. The wall is over 100 feet tall from bedrock to the top. Before Herod’s day, the Temple Mount was a smaller area. But Herod wanted to make it larger, so he raised the plateau on the southern side and dug out the bedrock on the northern side to make the Temple Mount flat. After the destruction of the temple in 70 AD and various other conquests of the city, additional arches were built over lower structures and the Muslim section of town was built on top of that. Even the street level at the current wall where the Jews assemble to pray is at least 20 feet higher than at Herod's time. To get to the street level from the time of Jesus Christ, we needed to go northward in the tunnel along the wall until we met the bedrock.We walked along an underground area, where excavations are still
proceeding, and saw the massive stones of the wall. The stones are just fitted one on top of the other with no mortar. Only the sheer weight of the stones holds them in place. The largest known rock of the wall could be seen in this area. This rock was carved out of the existing mountain side and then the wall was built up with smaller stones until it reached the height of this large rock, so that it could merely be slid over on top of the structure. The rock is about forty-four feet long, 10 feet wide and weighs approximately 570 tons. What a marvel it is the think how they moved it into place – by ropes and pulleys we were told.Along the way, we entered a demonstration room to see a model of Jerusalem at the present day. An automated portion of the model changed it to show Jerusalem at the time of Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. We could see the Robinson’s arch/bridge and the Wilson’s arch/bridge which the priests used to bring the sacrifices into the Temple. Then they highlighted the current visible portion of the Western Wall; it was a tiny, tiny portion (187 feet in length) along this massive structure (1600 feet). The full wall stands 105 tall, but only 62 feet are exposed today. We can only imagine how magnificent the city would have looked when it was in its fullness. At one point the bedrock actually becomes part of the wall and, since stones were not needed to be laid one on top of another, the masons carved the bedrock to look like individual stones, making the wall appear uniform. Roman columns from buildings were also excavated and could be seen in the tunnel as we reached the level from the time of Christ, near the bedrock end.
Huge stones from the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. where the Romans from inside the city pushed the wall stones outward, are left piled up and crushing the streets below as a reminder of the devastation to this place. Jesus told us this would be, "And Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. And He answered and said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here shall be left upon another, which will not be torn down" (Matthew 24:2). Also as a reminder of this destruction is at every Jewish wedding, when they take a moment from their joy and crush a glass under their feet signifying that joy is not complete because the temple is still destroyed.
But prophetically speaking, God will rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, so the current Muslim mosque will come down when God has readied the world for Jesus’ return. ""Then say to him, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, "Behold, a man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of the Lord. Yes, it is He who will build the temple of the Lord, and He who will bear the honor and sit and rule on His throne. Thus, He will be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices"' (Zechariah 6:12-13). "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne" (Matthew 25:31).
Maranatha, Lord Jesus, Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!
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