Three Dungeons

Absolutely the most depressing places you could ever visit in Jerusalem are the dungeons located at the judgments of Christ. This triangle of despair is another story written in stone for all to see. The first dungeon is a ten by ten square room chiseled in the rock down below the courtyard of the Jewish high priest. There is a small round hole in the stone yard where prisoners were lowered or raised from the pitch dark room. Did Jesus wait in this hole on the dark night he was arrested? We know he was taken from the garden on the east side of town, up the hill to the south side where the Jews lived. They went to the house of Annas who was the retired high priest. Then Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas the high priest. John 18:24 Caiaphas was his son in law that lived in the large house with the dungeon. It was just around the corner because their houses were built against one another. The Jewish rulers held discussions all night.

In the morning Jesus was taken to Pilate’s palace which is north of the temple. This trip would have been right through the middle of the city on the main street. The chief priest, with the elders…and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate. Mark 15:1 By the way, it was not legal for the Sanhedrin to meet at night. Pilate’s dungeon was in the rock under the palace. Inside the door are two niches in the wall where a prisoner puts his legs into rock holes and is chained against the wall in the standing position. About six feet in front of that is a great hole with stairs going down thirty feet. At the bottom are chains on the rock walls to hold about eight men. The darkness and the terrible echo of a frightened voice cuts deep into your soul as you descend the tiny stairs on the wall. Across from the stairs is a pit in the dungeon floor. One man at a time could be lowered into this deep wet pit of no hope. Barabbas was being held somewhere in this place.

Herod also has a dungeon under his palace. You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths…You have taken from me my closest friends and have made me repulsive to them. I am confined and cannot escape; Ps 88:6-8 How many of these three dungeons did Jesus visit during this long terrible day of agony? To finish our three dungeon story, it was later in the day when Pilot learned that Jesus had been living under the jurisdiction of Herod. So Pilot sent Jesus across town to Herod’s palace which is on the west side overlooking the road to Jaffa. After they mocked Jesus, he was sent back across town to Pilot. Luke 23:12 says that these two men became great friends on this day. Maybe they were both afraid to kill an innocent man? These three dungeons were all holding tanks so to speak. They were not used for punishment like we do today. Actually, if you left anybody in them for a prolonged time they would die. Do not let your friends die in the dungeon’s of sin.

The Next Hill to the Northwest

Most people know that Jesus grew-up in the quiet town of Nazareth. This little town is on a hill looking south onto the Jezreel valley. However, you may be surprised to know that a large city on a lower hill two miles northwest was a part of our Saviors life as he grew up. Sepphoris was the Roman capital of northern Israel when Jesus was a young man. This Roman city had forty thousand people with a large theater that could hold 4000 people for their many plays. If anyone living in the small Jewish town of Nazareth wanted something in the big city next door, they could easily walk there in 30 minutes. Because there was lots of spring water in Nazareth, an aqueduct was built to carry water down to Sepphoris. This aqueduct is still there today. We can even walk along the bottom of the huge cistern today and look up at the water levels on the giant walls. It makes you wonder at which level the water was when Jesus looked at the city water supply.

 The conclusion of intellectual thought, on the fact that Jesus grew up alongside a large city, is that we don’t really know what kind of a person the Savior was. Scholars believe that the knowledge of several languages and availability of Roman plays, history and etc. were influences over His thinking. We may not credit Jesus with all his knowledge of this world but Christians certainly know what Jesus was thinking while on Earth and how He lived His life. At times we can actually feel for lost souls the way He did. There were four large Roman cities when Jesus walked in Israel. Caesarea is on the coast, Sepphoris next to Nazareth, Tiberias by the Sea of Galilee, and Bet She’an near the Jordan River. Jesus did not minister in these four cities because of His mission to the Jews. Remember when the woman who was “not” a Jew asked Jesus to heal her, He said; I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. Matt 15:24

Speculation is made that Jesus worked as a carpenter in this large city to the Northwest. It does not seem possible that Jesus was a carpenter at all. When He was a teenager he told His mother that; I must be about my Father's business. Luke 2:49 This passage went on to say that Jesus grew in favor with God and men. Jesus probably did not have time to work as a carpenter because becoming the savior of the world was a full time job. People sometimes say “if I could only have been alive during the ministry of Jesus things would be different.” The truth is that if we had lived in one of these four Roman cities at the time, we would not have received a visit from the Savior.  As a gentile it would “not” have been a good experience living in Israel. If we could only understood the benefit of the Spirit living in us, our faith would really grow.  The Spirit reveals what Jesus is like directly to our hearts and His life becomes our life. May we forget the next hill which contains the neon signs of this world.

Megiddo and the Great Road

Everyone visiting Israel seems to know that Megiddo is the location of the great battle of Armageddon. This huge battle will soon determine whether Israel will survive or be wiped from the face of the Earth. However, to the many people who traveled through the history of this land, this was the important city of Israel located on the “great highway” from Damascus down to Egypt. A continual flow of commerce from Egypt came through Gaza then Megiddo and finally Damascus and back again with the goods of all the northern countries. When you stand on the hill of Megiddo and look out over the great valley of Jezreel you can feel the power of possessing the high ground in a battle. It is hard to believe until you see it but this huge valley slopes “away from” the Mediterranean all the way back to the Jordan Valley.

Leaving Megiddo and traveling south you climb through a wide pass in the Carmel Mountains allowing room for any size army to travel down the Coast. Many armies in history have traveled this Great Road. The greatest builder of Israel was King Solomon and he made Megiddo into a strong hilltop fortress that controlled this part of the Great Road. This road was very important to the world in the old days. When some part of the road was blocked for some reason the world came to a halt. If our world had no fuel for transportation we would have a similar situation. People of every different civilization must rely on the roads of their time. Because Israel is located in between the north and the south of the world they have always had the good or bad of every situation.

Not only is the Great Road important in history but it will also serve a purpose during the Millennium. The prophecy says; In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. Isa 19:23 During the last one thousand years of man on earth, the Great road will be used to bring worshipers of God together according to this scripture. During our history this road was used for war and business. Now for a thousand years it will be used for the purpose of worship for the first time. What an amazing God we have. Of course, the hilltop fortress of Megiddo will no longer be necessary. When the people of the world put God first they will become the light shining from that city on the hill. And when travelers feel the dry wind coming from the desert there will be no need to run for the city. A traveler will know that it is the comfort of God that they feel and not a dust of death covering the road.