The Remnant On Line History Page

It was Ash Wednesday the day after Mardi Gras, the day before thousands of people walked the streets of Mobile to celebrate Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) in the city where it was birthed in North America. Up and down the streets of Mobile there was another type of celebration and it was a celebration of the oldest written form of the word of God. The advertisements were posted on each light standard down Old Government Street, it was the exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Emporium near Mobile’s waterfront area.

It was amazing how they had organized the exhibit. It was only going to be here for 95 days, so you knew it was going to be special. The people who worked so hard to bring the scrolls here had accomplished one thing that no one else could do in this city for hundreds of years. Every denomination you could find had brought a group to this temporary shrine. Rabbis, Baptist preachers, Catholic Priests and Pentecostals found a common unity with the word of God that was displayed at the Emporium.

As you walked from item to item you had a small description of every item by pushing the buttons marked on the headset player that was given to you at the beginning of the exhibit. A small explanation of each item appeared and the description of why and how each item was celebrated.

How strange it was that this particular exhibit had come to Mobile at such a time. The actual artifacts were discovered by a Bedouin boy in the winter of 1946-1947. How unique was this that these scrolls were found at the time of the rebirth of Israel. Israel became a nation again after 2,000 years on May 12 of 1948, new Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel from its new capital in Tel Aviv. It was the beginning of the "ingathering of the exiles" from its new capital in Tel Aviv. It was almost prophetic in nature as the word came forth from two thousands years of hidden captivity in a cave and then the people came forth after 2,000 years of captivity scattered throughout the world. After being gone for two thousand years and entire people, language and nation was resurrected.

The initial find of the scrolls was brought to the City of Bethlehem. Bethlehem birth place of the Jesus means Bread of Presence, and the word of God to the Jew and to the Christian is the bread of life for belief . The scrolls where advertised by an antiquities dealer named Kando in the Wall Street Journal. There was more than just this one cave where scrolls were discovered over the next decade ten other caves would be discovered with more hidden treasure. The scrolls were wrapped in a cloth, but even though the people who wrapped them took care when archaeologist began to work with them they fell apart. Some of the scrolls had been damaged by the sellers as they put them back together with scotch tape. The scripts were written on goat skins and that was unique for its day because most of the written work was done on papyrus paper at that time. The goat seems to be the common element of this whole story because it was a lost goat who led Bedouin boy to the initial cave site. Since the written word was not put on papyrus the scrolls could be identified and pieced back together by identifying the fragments by a DNA code of each goat.. The DNA of a living organism is the finger print of an animal or a person. Many of the fragmented scrolls were put back together though DNA testing. Every book of the Old Testament had been preserved in these caves except the Book of Esther. In some of the other caves an entire book of the Old Testament was completely in tact and is now displayed in Jerusalem at the Shrine of the Book, located in the City of Jerusalem. God had put His hand on the time and the situation of the discovery of the written documents to be found, its as if the people who had put them away were led by God to do it. The timing of the find and the timing of Israel coming together as a nation was not coincidence.

The carbon testing of the cloth that wrapped the scrolls dated the documents more than 2,000 years ago. It’s believed that many of them were written during the time of Jesus in Jerusalem. The Essences were of group of intellectual monastic Jews who lived away from Jerusalem. They withdrew from Jerusalem at the time because of the persecution of the intellectuals of the day. Other sects of Jews had punished them for their stick living of the Jewish laws of Moses. At the time the Jewish Temple had been built by Herod the Great. The Temple as it stood during the time of Christ was larger than Solomon’s Temple which was built before the Second Jewish Captivity. The Essens lived in a desert environment at Qumran at the edge of the Northern end of the Dead Sea with the Judean Desert and Jerusalem to the west. Herod the Great was a builder and not even The Dead Sea escaped his dominion. Close to a 100 miles to the south Herod he built a place where he could escape to if Rome ever decided to deal with the Jewish uprisings. It was called Masada and it was like a Qumran, but on a grander scale built on the top of a mountain. Within that small community the last signet of Israel withstood the Roman Army. Within Masada were cisterns and a complete city with a small place of worship. After the fall of Jerusalem in 63 AD, the Romans attack Masada by building a ramp to kill off the last established Jewish sect called the Zealots, before the Romans could enter the Zealots took their own lives to make sure the Romans never had the honor of defeating them in battle. This was the last known sect of Jews to stand in Israel until the return of the nation on May 12, 1948.

One of the best parts of the entire exhibit was upstairs in a small projection room. In that room an entire overview of the Old Herodian Temple could be seen. It was done on a small surround screen with a young lady speaking about the various parts of the old Jewish Temple. She explained that the Herodian Temple was several times larger than Solomon’s Temple. During her talk she asked if there was anyone who had ever visited the Western Wall of the Herodian Temple. I was the only one to raise my hand in the group. She then pointed to a particular place on the Temple Mount where it was located. It was amazing at how small the Western Wall was as compared to the entire structure.

The Temple was destroyed by the Romans as the prophecies of the scattering of the Jewish Nation was fulfilled, but there was also the prophecy claiming that the Jews would be regathered from all parts of the earth found in Amos 9:15 And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.

Many believe that one of the greatest miracles of Israel since their time of being restored on May 12, 1948 was the period of time where they reclaimed the land of the Temple Mount on June 7, 1967. Jordan who had owned the land up until the Six Day War wanted to open up the Eastern Gate of Jerusalem and build a hotel. King Hussain had already planned on building a lavish hotel just inside the Eastern Gate the earth moving equipment and large cranes were in place on the eve of the Six Day War, in scripture it says that Christ will split the Mount of Olives and open the Easter Gate of Jerusalem. If you go to the Eastern Gate today you will see it closed. One of the officers who was their during the night of June 7, 1967 said that they were given orders to go and take the Temple Mount area. They must have been supernatural orders because no one from the high command of the Jewish Army gave that command. As the Jews mounted the attack not a shot was fired and for the first time since 63 AD the Nation of Israel captured one of the holiest places in Jerusalem. Many believe that the Jewish nation will rebuild the Temple on the Temple Mount area, earthquakes have caused the walls to begin to fall around the Temple Mount area. The second Holiest place in Islam is located right on the spot of where the Holy of Holies of the old Jewish Temple was located. The Dome of the Rock is supposed to be the place where their prophet ascended unto heaven. The under structure of The Dome of the Rock has began to crumble. The greatest earthquake fault in the world is close to this area. Through the Jordan River Valley and through the Dead Sea area all the way through a part of Africa is located two large land plates that are drawing apart almost 100 feet a year. For years the Dead Sea flowed into the sea, it was an earthquake that stopped that flow and every since the Dead Sea has retained its water and a heavy build of salt is there today. The Dead Sea is the lowest place on the entire earth. Eventually these two plates will separate Africa from Asia. This is an area where Israeli seismologist say that a large earthquake will hit Jerusalem very soon causing much loss of life. Since the taking of the Temple Mount region extensive archeology finds have resulted in unearthing several historic sites. In one area when we were there in 2001 we saw the old wall that Nehemiah built around the City of Jerusalem

Anyone who is familiar with the second coming of Christ was excited about these Holy pieces of scripture coming to Mobile. What a celebration and maybe even a prophetic statement about our city. Maybe the Holy Word has come here because of a great awakening that could happen in the port city. The power of God can be found in His Word and when his people are in His Word there is revival, thank you Exploreum for bringing God’sWord to our city.