The Coffin

One of the most outstanding archaeological findings took place during the Fall of 1945, when Dr. Eleazar Sukenik of Hebrew University uncovered a First Century Jewish Catacomb at the southern end of the Kidron Valley on the road to Bethlehem.

He found several osssuaries with the sign of the cross, Greek inscriptions, and a coin minted in A.D. 41 for King Herod Agrippa I. This would seem to indicate that the tomb was sealed no later than at least A.D. 42.

Professor Sukenik stated that the ossuaries "contain almost the whole dictionary of names in the New Testament."

One of the coffins had an amazing inscription in Greek to Jesus followed by the exclamation "y'ho." When translated the inscription actually says, "Jesus is Jehovah (or Lord)."

Keeping in mind that these tombs and the inscriptions date back to 42 A.D., this would mean that within 10 years of Christ's death, resurrection and ascension the eye and ear witnesses of Christ were proclaiming that Jesus was indeed Jehovah God!

Christian theologian, Professor Alexander Hopkins, comments on the impact that this inscription has on modern New Testament scholarship:

  • "The inscription which was hidden for almost 2,000 years and inscribed at least two decades before any part of the New Testament was written... bears a personal testimony of faith... a message from the past with a very modern meaning for the present."

    • Evangelist Grant Jeffrey writes:

  • "In light of the A.D. 42 date for the sealing of this tomb, the presence of this dedication to 'Jesus, the Lord' attests to the acceptance by Christians of Jesus Christ as God within ten years of the death and resurrection of Jesus." (All quotations taken from Grant Jeffrey's book Final Warning [September 1996 Harvest House Publishers, Inc.; ISBN: 1565074793], p. 321)

    • William Lane Craig comments:

  • "Studies by New Testament scholars as Martin Hengel of Tubingen University, C.F.D. Moule of Cambridge, and others have proved that within twenty years of the crucifixion a full-blown Christology proclaiming Jesus as God incarnate existed. How does one explain this worship by monotheistic Jews of one of their countrymen as God incarnate, apart from the claims of Jesus himself?" (Craig, Apologetics:An Introduction, p.160
    •

    "10 years of Christ's death, resurrection and ascension the eye and ear witnesses of Christ were proclaiming that Jesus was indeed Jehovah God! "

     

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