John the
Baptist's Cave
the Case in Favor
By Shimon Gibson and
James Tabor
We found the cave by
chance in the winter of 1999 when I (Shimon Gibson) was conducting an
archaeological survey of ancient agricultural remains on the slopes of the
hills and in the wadis next to Kibbutz Tzova, a short distance from the traditional hometown of
John the Baptist at Ain Karim,
west of
Among those I spoke with
about what I had found was James Tabor, of the
The long, narrow rock-cut
hall extended 78 feet into the heart of a mountain, with a width of about 13
feet. Large boulders were heaped up on both sides of the cave's interior, and
thick layers of soil reached almost to the ceiling.
It soon became obvious
that the cave was not simply an abandoned reservoir haphazardly filled with
mud, silt, rocks and washed-in debris. We were clearly into carefully
stratified archaeological layers that were unambiguously dated by discrete
layers of pottery.
We began scrutinizing the
layers closely, and we utilized the latest scientific procedures to test the
material as it emerged from the ground: flotation and micro-artifact analysis, geomorphological examination of silts between floors,
quantification and seriation procedures on the masses
of pottery uncovered, and tests on the plaster, both radiometric as well as
thorium-uranium dating. We worked extremely slowly since we did not want to
miss even one shred of evidence. The amount of ceramic material we extracted
from the ground was overwhelming, and its full and final publication should be
very significant for understanding the chronological sequence of pottery types
within the early Roman period.
Approximately 6 feet of
material provided a sequence extending from the late first century B.C. to the
mid-second century A.D. These early Roman layers contained enormous quantities
of shattered ceramic vessels. A very large proportion of these turned out to be
one-handled jugs, not the type of vessel one would expect to find within water
cisterns (storage jars would be much more sensible). We did not find any whole
vessels, only potsherds; the pulverized potsherds lay on the floor surfaces.
This indicates that the jugs had been intentionally smashed. Even more striking
was that the ceramic evidence showed this practice was going on for at least
150 years-beginning in the first century A.D.-the time of John the Baptist.
None of us could explain this, nor had anyone we talked to ever encountered
anything like this elsewhere. The silt accumulating within the cave during the
winter months from the annual rains was never removed, the walls were never replastered and hard-tamped earthen floors were created
descending towards the back of the cave where the rainwater accumulated as in a
pond. Cultic stone basins were incorporated within the floors to the right as
one entered the cave, a series of stone circles (some paved) were built on top
of the floors, and in the lower floors a "pathway" bordered by a row of stones
on either side led down towards the back of the cave.
An important piece of the
puzzle turned up when we uncovered a very large and unusual stone close to one
of the earliest earthen floors in the cave. The upper surface of this stone was
carved with the sunken shape of a right foot and leading to it was a channel
extending from a small round depression that would have held a jug. Clearly the
stone was used for the anointing of right feet with some kind of liquid,
perhaps oil. The anointing of feet with oil is referred to in the Gospels, not
in connection with John but with Jesus, whose feet were anointed with perfumed
oil by Mary Magdalene (John 12:13). The fact that only the right feet were
anointed on our stone must indicate it was part of some cultic ritual;
otherwise there should also have been a stone with an imprint of the left foot,
but none was found. The discovery of this foot-anointing stone, combined with
the evidence that the cave was not used for any kind of domestic or agricultural
activity, suggested that the cave was being used in this period for various
kinds of ritual activities, including water purification rites.
Because of the size of
the cave and the unusual character of its installations, we believe it was used
for group rituals that were performed in the front part of the
cave before and after what was most likely some type of
immersion procedure. As best we can put things together, people would have
gathered in the front of the cave and then some kind of ceremony was performed,
with individuals standing within the stone circles and using ceramic jugs,
perhaps to pour water upon each other before ceremonially smashing the jugs.
Subsequently, those who were gathered there immersed themselves within the
water found near the back of the cave. On emerging, their right feet were
anointed.
The ritual immersion
procedures that took place in our cave in the early Roman period seem to
resemble the baptism ceremonies performed by John the Baptist at the
The two main stages of
this baptism ceremony, with activities relating to the remission of sins on the
bank of the river and activities relating to the purification of the flesh
during the actual immersion in the river, would seem to be mirrored in the
archaeological remains we uncovered from the early Roman period in the cave at Suba. In the front of the cave are earthen embankments,
with installations and ceremonial features, where people would have gathered;
at the back of the cave was water in which people would have immersed themselves.
Our first hint that the
cave may have had an earlier history came from a geologist and expert in
ancient plaster, Aryeh Shimron.
While visiting the cave, he proclaimed that, based on the consistency of the
plaster, it must be from the Iron Age. At the time none of us had even
considered such a possibility. Now it is clear that probably from the ninth to
eighth centuries B.C. the cave was part of a type of sophisticated water system
that will be described for BAR readers in a future article by Tsvika Tsuk, a leading expert on
ancient water systems.
There is a problem here,
however, that is difficult to answer: What would a water system of such
technological sophistication be doing so far away from any Iron Age city or
village? The closest settlement from the Iron Age is in fact at Suba, but the distance involved and the fact that there was
already an abundance of springs and water systems there would seem to make unnecessary
an additional water system such as ours. Since there was no settlement
surrounding our cave, nor was it situated next to any major road, it is
difficult to determine what it was used for. It was not used for irrigation
purposes since there is no evidence of water-lifting devices at the cave. It is
also unlikely to have been used for watering animals since they could not have
managed to descend the steep 18 steps into the cave without breaking their
legs.
If the purpose of the
cave was simply to provide drinking water for the occasional passerby, then a
much smaller cistern would have sufficed. One possibility is that it served as
a major source for drinking water for the Judahite
state administrators-but only at times of crisis. Such a reservoir with a
water-collecting system along a valley may even have been referred to in the
Old Testament as gbym (singular gbi), which have been translated in the past as "ditches"
or "pools." 2 Kings 3:16-17 makes it clear that the gbym were features situated in valley landscapes and
that they were sources of water that were tapped when water was scarce. Such
installations would have made excellent pools for bathing at times when water
was plentiful.
Our cave also had a later
history, after the time of John the Baptist. When the cave was apparently
abandoned after the early Roman period, it continued to build up silt so that
in the Byzantine period someone standing in the cave could almost reach the
ceiling. And this brings us to the startling drawings chiseled into the old
Iron Age plaster on the walls.
The drawings are quite
large (the man is about 2.5 feet high). Due to the hard cement-like consistency
of the plaster, the person who originally made the drawings must have used a
chisel (which is also indicated by the breaks and fractures of the lines).
The main drawing is of a
shepherd-like figure shown with upraised arms, a large head with eyes gouged
out (probably by some iconoclast) and with a crooked staff resting against his
left hand. The figure wears a hairy garment (indicated by a series of 32 dots),
which reminds us that John the Baptist is said to have worn an "outer garment
of camel's hair and a leather girdle" (Mark 1:6). Next to him on his left is a
schematic representation of a vessel on a tripod, or a lamb. If indeed this is
a representation of a lamb it may be linked to John 1:36, in which the
Baptist proclaims Jesus the "lamb of God." Below the drawing of the figure is
an oval hole, which likely contained some relic (perhaps a finger bone or a
piece of cloth), with marks along the edges indicating that wire netting was
hammered over it to keep the relic in place.
Other drawings also
appear to be connected to the Byzantine tradition of John the Baptist. Cut into
the wall opposite the main figure is a drawing of a head; this probably
symbolizes the decapitation of the Baptist at Machaerus,
or his relic head. According to the Gospels, Herodias and Salome demanded from
Herod Antipas the head of John on a platter. There are numerous relic heads
said to be that of John in churches around the Mediterranean and the
Other drawings on the walls of the cave
include a T-shaped staff with streamers on the sides, "Greek"-type crosses and
a group of three crosses that most likely symbolize the crucifixion of Jesus
and the two thieves on Golgotha.
The iconography of the
drawings indicates a Byzantine to early Islamic date. The drawings must have
been incised into the walls sometime between the fourth and eleventh centuries.
The drawings are not
random graffiti but were clearly undertaken at one time by one individual. They
represent a coherent set of features intended as a means of redirecting the
observer towards a clarification of faith. Otherwise they would be meaningless.
In a sense they served as visual aids, as triggers or cues during a
storytelling instruction given to monks, describing John the Baptist
(represented by the drawing of his figure and possibly by a relic), his first
martyrdom (the beheading shown by a drawn head), his second martyrdom
(represented by the drawing of John's arm retrieved following the desecration
of his tomb), his function as the precursor of Christ (shown here by the symbol
of his staff), the coming of Jesus (shown by a large cross) and the Crucifixion
(shown by the three crosses on Golgotha).
Most probably this was a
memorial cave used by monks coming from the nearby Monastery of Zacharias and
Elizabeth (named after John's parents), about an hour's walk away at Ain Karim (ancient Beth Haccerem) which was the traditional hometown of John the
Baptist mentioned as a "city of
Because the Suba cave evidently had no domestic function and was not in
continuous use during this 700-year period (from the fourth to eleventh century
A.D.), we assume monks came to the cave for instruction about John the Baptist
and to recall his solitude in the wildernesses (Luke 1:80), and perhaps also to
mark John's nativity or death according to dates in the Eastern Byzantine
calendar.
Why did the Byzantine
monks choose this specific cave as a memorial cave? We shall probably never
know for sure, but it is likely that this was because of some oral tradition
connected to the cave going back to Roman times, which seems to be confirmed by
our archaeological evidence that unusual baptism practices were performed at
the cave precisely at the time of John the Baptist.
Unaccredited photos
courtesy of the Jerusalem Archaeology Field unit.
Foot Note:
Excavations were
conducted at the cave from 2000 to 2003 by Shimon Gibson and James Tabor on
behalf of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the Jerusalem
Archaeology Field Unit, and with the sponsorship of the Jerusalem Historical
Society (directed by the late Joseph Peeples) and the
Foundation for Biblical Archaeology (directed by Sheila Bishop). The project
was funded through the generosity of the John C. Whitehead and the Altman-Kaziekes Foundations. Principal team members consisted of Egon Lass (field director and flotation expert), Rafi Lewis (site manager and assistant field director), Reuven Kalifon (kibbutz liaison),
Noël Siver (pottery restoration), Fadi
Amirah (surveyor) and Sandu
Mendrea (photography). Specialists working with us
included Neil Munro (geomorphology), Edward Maher (archaeozoology),
Aryeh Shimron (plaster
expert), Mira Matthews (thorium-uranium tests) and Elisabetta
Boaretto (radiocarbon tests). Our thanks are extended
to the members of Kibbutz Tzova for the logistical
support they lent to the expedition throughout the dig. Recent conservation
work was conducted at the cave by the conservation department of the
Tourists entering the Cave of John the Baptist
Kevin
Frayer/AP
Monday, 16 August, 2004, UK
news.bbc.uk
British archaeologist Shimon Gibson, left,
gestures with a wave of his hand, and site manager Rafi
Lewis places his foot in a ceremonial stone as they stand in a large cistern,
in the cave where the excavation team believes John the Baptist anointed many
of his disciples.
Kibbutz
During an exclusive tour of the cave by the Associated Press,
archeologists presented wall carvings they said tell the story of the fiery New
Testament preacher, as well as a stone they believe was used for ceremonial
foot washing.
They also pulled about 250,000 pottery shards from the cave, the
apparent remnants of small water jugs used in baptismal ritual.
"John the Baptist, who was just a figure from the Gospels, now
comes to life," said British archeologist Shimon Gibson, who supervised the dig
outside
Others, however, said there was no proof that John the Baptist
ever set foot in the cave, about four kilometers from Ein
Kerem, the preacher's hometown and now part of
"Unfortunately, we didn't find any inscriptions," said James
Tabor, a religious studies professor at the
Mr. Tabor and his students have participated in the excavations.
Both Mr. Tabor and Mr. Gibson said it was very likely that the
wall carvings, including one showing a man with a staff and wearing animal
skin, told the story of John the Baptist. The carvings stem from the Byzantine
period and apparently were made by monks in the fourth or fifth century.
Mr. Gibson said he believed the monks commemorated John at a site
linked to him by local tradition.
He said the carvings, the foot washing stone and other finds,
taken together with the proximity of John's hometown, constituted strong
circumstantial evidence that the cave was used by John.
John, a contemporary of Jesus who also preached a message of
redemption, is one of the most important figures in Christianity. The
discovery, if confirmed, would be among the most significant breakthroughs for
biblical scholars in memory.
The cave is on the property of Kibbutz Tzuba,
an Israeli communal farm just outside
In 1999, Mr. Kalifon asked Mr. Gibson to
inspect the cave more closely.
The archeologist, who has excavated in the
Mr. Gibson, who heads the Jerusalem Archaeological Field Unit, a
private research group, organized an excavation. During the five-year project,
he wrote a book, The
Mr. Gibson said the cave - 24 meters long, about four meters wide
and four meters deep - was carved in the Iron Age, somewhere between 800 and
500 B.C., by the Israelites who apparently used it as an immersion pool.
"It apparently was adopted by John the Baptist, who wanted a place
where he could bring people to undergo their rituals, pertaining to his ideas
of baptism," Mr. Gibson said.
Believers would have walked down 28 stone steps. To their right,
they would have discarded their clothes in a niche carved into the wall.
At the bottom of the steps, they would have placed the right foot
onto a stone with an imprint of a foot. A small depression to the right of the
imprint would have contained oil, to be poured over the foot for cleansing, Mr.
Gibson said.
Later, Shimon Gibson wrote a book documenting this
'eye opening' discovery entitled, 'The Cave of John the Baptist' that
was first published in September of 2004. To quote in part:
"At the time of this discovery, we had great fun getting the
diggers to model their feet within the depression, while we clicked away with
our cameras. Of all the people there, Rafi Lewis's
right foot (size 42 cm) was the only one with the perfect fit! I also tried and
found that I could just get my (slightly larger) right foot into the
depression. An important point to mention is that it was not at all possible to
insert the left foot because the depression had been shaped specifically only
for the form of the right foot. I tried inserting my right foot backwards, i.e.
in the opposite direction, with my toes toward the heel of the depression, but
again without success. We concluded therefore that the stone must have been
used in the Early Roman period for foot anointing: the initiatory would have
stood facing west with his back against the wall, with his right foot inserted
into the foot-like depression and with his left foot resting on the living
surface. The saucer-like depression probably served as the base for a
one-handled jug, similar to those found in the hundreds in the cave. It could
have contained water or oil, but the fact that there is a small groove
extending from the cup-mark to the foot depression, suggests that it was the
later. After all, water could be splashed around but every attempt would have
been made to conserve precious oil dripping down the jug. The existence of only
one foot depression and specifically only the one to accommodate the right foot
has to indicate that the stone was connected with cultic practices and not with
daily ablutions. In our reconstruction of this event, we believe that it was
another person rather than the initiatory himself who would have administered
the washing and anointing of the foot with the oil from a jug. This discovery
was very special and nothing like it, as far as I knew, had ever been found at
an Early Roman site in Israel/Palestine."
Israeli archaeological site manager Rafi
Lewis places his foot on a stone that the excavation team believes was used for
ceremonial foot washing, during a tour of the Kibbutz Tzuba
site on Monday.
Photo: Kevin Frayer/AP
Israeli archeological site manager Rafi
Lewis stands in the water of a large cistern in the cave where the excavation
team believes John the Baptist anointed many of his disciples on the Kibbutz Tzuba, near Jerusalem. Associated Press
In the Depths of the Cave of John the
Baptist
Steven Shelley standing
with hand on the stone with a carved out place for a foot (size 11), it is believed that this was used in the anointing of the
right foot of the penitent with the holy oil of Moses.
Close up of anointing stone taken by another tourist.
Details of the face of
John, His arms are stretched
upward; the staff in His right hand has a cross on
the top.
Byzantine
Monk depiction of the Crucifixion. Three crosses, with a dove coming down over one of the crosses
to the right a staff connected to Hermes, the
messenger of the gods, this would be used to draw
the connection with John as a messenger
who would go before the Messiah.
The way leading out
from the cave of
John the Baptist.
Tourists
leaving the Cave of John the Baptist
SEARCH
FOR THE SACRED
In
The
550 residents of Kibbutz Tzuba, a few miles down the
road from
Which is, perhaps, a mixed blessing,
and not just for the kibbutzniks who would prefer an
olive grove to a parking lot. The buried history of the
The quest for artifacts related to Jesus Christ spans
virtually the entire history of the church, from the fourth century, when Saint
Helena is said to have retrieved a piece of the True Cross, to two years ago,
when an Israeli antiquities collector produced a stone box with an inscription
suggesting it had held the remains of Jesus' brother James. Each era sees in
these relics a reflection of what it values most. The touch of the Cross was
believed able to bring back the dead; the owner of the so-called James Ossuary
valued it at $2 million. The magic powers of neither were put to the test,
however, because both are now considered forgeries. Just two years ago the
fragment of the Cross supposedly found by
In
any case, serious scholars rarely bother with religious relics that turn up in
churches or dealers' shops, removed from the vital archeological
"context" that situates them in a time and place. "Even if the
[James] Ossuary is genuine, it provides no new information," says Andrew Overman, head of classics at
The
value of archeology is not in validating scripture, but in providing a
historical and intellectual context, and the occasional flash of illumination
on crucial details. An ossuary containing the only known remains of a victim of
crucifixion suggests that artists may have erred in their depictions of Christ
on the cross; this victim's feet were not nailed one on top of the other, but
positioned on either side of the cross and fixed with a horizontal spike.
Scholars like John Dominic Crossan, [Note: On
November 3rd, 2005 this editor attended the Anne Evans Woodall
Lecture at All Saints Episcopal Church in Atlanta, Georgia. John Dominic Crossan was the speaker and when questioned stated, "The
term Messiah (anointed in English) is just a title for King. It does not mean
that Jesus was anointed with the Holy oil of Moses. I don't know of any scholar
that supports the idea that Jesus was ever anointed with the Holy oil of
Moses." From Universal Orthodox
Doctrine of Heaven and the Love of Truth pgs. 110, 111. Universal Orthodox Editor] a professor emeritus of
religious studies at
Even
more evocative to Crossan is a fishing boat
discovered in the Sea of Galilee in 1986: a sturdy workhorse of a vessel with
two oars on each side, a keel and mast, very likely the sort of boat on which
Jesus himself might have set out. Crossan is
intrigued by signs that the boat's owner fell on hard times, patching it over
and over and finally removing the nails before pushing it out to sea. To Crossan--although other scholars dispute the point--this
suggests that hard economic times had befallen the
Perhaps
the most revealing Biblical site excavated in recent years has been Sepphoris, five miles from
For some believers, no doubt, this kind of information helps make the
Bible more real; others, perhaps, don't really want to be told that the
economics of the Galilee fishing industry was a factor in spreading the Gospel.
But Christian believers have no quarrel with archeology, because they assume it
will vindicate scripture eventually. On a hot and wind-swept Saturday
afternoon, 34 tourists from
But the issue is more complicated for Jews. Orthodox Jews
consider it a sin to disturb Jewish graves, but Dever,
the American scholar, suspects the issue of Jewish graves is hiding a more
serious agenda: "They don't want scientific investigation," he
charges, "because they're afraid it will prove their patriarchal stories
aren't historical." And, in fact, current scholarship is not especially
congenial to Old Testament literalists. There is, essentially, no evidence for
the existence of Abraham and the other patriarchs, and--despite more than a
century of intensive study of Pharaonic
[Note: The above is
refuted in documentary available at the History Channel. Order this title for
historical accuracy and revelation: The Exodus Decoded DVD - At the very
heart of Judaism, Christianity and Islam lays the story of the Exodus, an epic
tale of plagues, miracles and revelations. But the truth behind these events
has been obscured by faith and time--until now.
After six years of
unprecedented research, host Simcha Jacobovici and a team of renowned archeologists,
Egyptologists, geologists, and theologians shed revelatory new light on the
Exodus and the era's ruling Egyptian Dynasty. Their new theory pushes events
hundreds of years earlier than previously thought, allowing age-old stories to
sparkle with new perspectives and startling historical import.
Using elaborate,
state-of-the-art CGI, THE EXODUS DECODED offers a stunning
virtual account of stories like the birth of Moses, the ten plagues, and the
parting of the Red Sea, revealing once and for all the difference between acts
of Nature and the hand of God. Executive Produced by James Cameron (who appears
on camera) and Simcha Jacobovici
(who also hosts), the viewer follows Jacobovici to
The
story continues: So the territory on which Gibson has embarked is a treacherous
one, both politically and geologically, but for good or ill he has jumped in
with both feet. Gibson, 45, was born in England to a mother
who moved the family to Israel when he was 9, and he studied archeology at
London's prestigious Institute of Archaeology. His peers consider him an
outstanding archeologist in the field, but his decision to publicize his cave
finding in a popular book before publishing in a scientific journal has raised
some eyebrows. "I don't want to spoil the celebration," says Ronnie
Reich, a respected archeologist with the
He
first crawled inside the cave, Gibson writes, in 1999, brought there by a kibbutznik who had discovered it years earlier. On a wall
he saw an incised drawing of a crude stick figure holding a staff, with one arm
raised upright as if in blessing; he recognized it immediately as an icon of
John the Baptist. That meant two things to him: that the cave was worth
excavating and that with the right connections, money would be available to
help excavate it. He contacted an archeological enthusiast from
Peeples's other contribution was to put Gibson
in touch with James Tabor, professor of early Christianity at the University of
North Carolina at Charlotte, who agreed to help with the dig--a role that
included supplying students to wield the shovels. On a
March day in 2000 two of those students, Lee Hutchison and Jeff Poplin, reached
the floor level of a shelf on the right side of the cave. For days, the team
had been unearthing pieces of thick, gray pottery from the fourth and fifth
centuries. Gibson had already concluded that Byzantine monks, the ones who had
engraved the icons on the wall, had probably established a shrine to John in the
cave. At their feet, the students saw something new, a delicate red shard of
pottery. They took it to Tabor, who showed it to Gibson, who at a glance
pronounced it "First-century Roman."
And
that put an entirely new face on things. As Gibson dug down, he found thousands
of these shards, suggestive, to him, of pottery that was intentionally
shattered, as if in a ritual. He uncovered a stone with an indentation in the
shape of a human foot, linked by a channel to a small basin: it looked to him
like a kind of font for anointing the foot with oil. And armed with those
archeological clues, and the oral and written traditions linking John to the
region, he makes what some of his colleagues call the stupefyingly
audacious leap to the conclusion that John himself may have used the cave to
baptize believers.
"In
archeology," Gibson admits, "nothing is certain, not even written
evidence." But, he says, the evidence that the cave was used by John
"is as strong as you can get in terms of archeological remains. Of course
it would be nice to have an inscription saying, 'I, John the Baptist, was here
and my disciples are using it as a ritual site.' But you usually don't get
that."
Few
of his colleagues, even the few who have seen the cave, go along with him.
"Maybe Gibson and the kibbutz want to attract tourists," says David Amit, a senior archeologist with the antiquities authority
who describes himself as a friend of Gibson's. "It's pure fiction. It's
not archeology." Even Tabor, who agrees with Gibson that the cave was
undoubtedly used for ritual purposes in the first century, concedes that
"you can't prove John was there." Among other objections to Gibson's
theory, there is nothing in scripture to suggest that John baptized believers
anywhere except in the
In
any case, unless someone comes along with conclusive evidence to refute Gibson,
for better or worse the cave will be attracting tourists for a long time to
come. Two thousand years ago, Jesus, John and the disciples changed human
destiny forever, and then disappeared into history. One way or another we have
been trying to bring them back into our lives ever since.
WITH DAN EPHRON AND JOANNA CHEN
IN
TRACKING DOWN SAINT JOHN
[Kibbutz
A
recently discovered cave near
Dr.
Shimon Gibson, a British-born archaeologist, said he believes that the find
will shed new light on the life of John the Baptist and baptism itself.
"By fitting together all of the new archaeological facts with the basic
historical information that has been available (sometimes even buried) in
scholarly literature for a long time -- I believe I am able to throw an amazing
amount of light on the personality and mission of John the Baptist -- the man,
the prophet," said Gibson.
The
cave -- actually a cistern -- is located at the bottom of a rocky cliff in the
orchards of the community of Kibbutz Tzuba, near Ein Kerem where John the Baptist
was born, about seven miles from Jerusalem. Although members of Kibbutz Tzuba -- the Biblical Tzova --
had known about the cave for years, it was member Reuven
Kalifon who suggested that Gibson take a look at it.
"We
have an orchard there," said Kalifon.
"Everybody at one time or another in his life would work in the orchards.
In the wintertime, it would start raining, and people would look for a
shelter."
The
opening to the cave, hidden by bushes and filled with mud, was barely big
enough to scramble into, but once inside, it was very deep, he said. During a
general survey that Gibson was conducting in the area in 1999, Kalifon suggested that he visit the cave.
"We
entered into the cave, we had to crawl on all fours, and then, behind a series
of boulders against the walls -- the cave was full of soil almost up to the
ceiling -- we were able to make out some drawings and move some of the
boulders, and you could see the figure of John the Baptist," said Gibson.
Excavations were then undertaken during the next four years on behalf of the
According
to Gibson, the primitive cave drawings etched in the walls were probably used
by Byzantine monks starting in the 4th century A.D. as a teaching tool to tell
new monks about the story of John the Baptist and his significance to
Christianity. Beneath the Byzantine-era finds in the cistern, Gibson and
colleagues discovered a layer correlating to the time of John the Baptist.
"Those
installations that we uncovered there were totally different from Jewish ritual
purification practices of the time, and they much fit into what we know about
the rites that [John] performed, based on the description of the baptism down
in the
John
the Baptist -- a contemporary of Jesus who heralded his coming -- preached
repentance and baptized people for the "remission of sins," the Bible
records. Although all four Gospels indicate that John baptized in the Jordan
River -- nowhere near Kibbutz Tzuba -- Gibson said
that he believes John had developed his ideas and practice of baptizing
earlier, perhaps even in this cave.
"The
story of John down in the Jordan River has been highlighted in the Gospels for
the obvious reason that that's the place Jesus was baptized by John, but this
actually happened right at the end of his life," Gibson said. "He was
born in Ein Kerem region,
and one assumes that he was baptizing because he comes to the Jordan River with
fully fledged ideas about baptism...In the Gospels, it talks about people from
the city of Jerusalem streaming down to the Jordan River to be part of the
rituals undertaken by John the Baptist, which means that basically, they knew
about the rituals."
This
particular cave contains those "archaeological features" that can be
"linked to the rites as they are depicted in the Gospels," he said.
Gibson, who heads the Jerusalem Archaeological Field Unit, a private research
group, wrote a book on the findings, The Cave of John the Baptist, which is due
to be published later this week.
Egon
Lass, an American archaeologist who has been part of the excavations, described
the site as "terribly unusual." Lass, who described himself as a
"field archaeologist" who does not indulge in theories, nevertheless
said the findings at the site do not conflict with Gibson's claims. But even at
a first glance, the site is extraordinary, he said.
Twenty-eight
"monumental steps" lead from the outside through the opening all the
way down to the floor of the cistern. They are "monumental" because
they span the entire width -- about four meters -- of the cistern, said Lass.
As one descends the stairs, there is a large niche on the right side, which
could have been used for bathers to place their clothing.
"Now,
that would all be perfectly fine if you could go in three meters and hit a
wall. Then you would have a mikveh [Jewish ritual
immersion bath]," said Lass. But there is no wall. The cistern stretches
for some 26 meters (85 feet) with a water reservoir at the far end and is about
four meters (13 feet) high and wide. "This is huge," he said.
"That's one thing that's unusual, very unusual."
According
to three separate experts who dated the plaster on the walls, the cistern was
dug during the Iron Age between 800 and 500 B.C. -- which preceded any of the
other ritual baths in the country by a number of years. As the excavations
continued, the archaeologists discovered a "huge stone" with an
imprint of a large right foot. Next to it was a little basin connected by a
channel that may have been used for some kind of oil or water anointing, Lass
said.
There
was no such ritual in Jewish tradition. It was definitely connected to a ritual
and not just something practical, like washing the dirt off one's feet because
it only fits one foot, Lass said. They also found hundreds of thousands of
pottery shards, mostly from two- to three-liter jugs, indicating that the jars
were used in some kind of rite. At the bottom of the steps is a sandy pathway
that would have made it easier for participants to walk through the cave to the
immersion pool without hurting their feet.
"This
is also something that you don't find in a cave -- the pathway," Lass said.
"People don't walk in water cisterns. "Now you put all this together, and
you have the drawings on the walls. If you want to interpret the drawings
according to a logical scheme the way [Gibson] has done...I think you come up
with a logical picture," he said.
Lass
said the archaeologists have not been in touch with the
Arial view
Cave of John the Baptist Cistern Complex
Cave of John the Baptist Cistern
Complex in part 1.
Cave of John the Baptist Cistern
Complex in part 2.
Cave of John the Baptist Cistern
Complex in part 3.
The Commemoration of the Priest Zachariah
"The Father of
Meskerem 08 - September 18
|
|||||||||
On
the 8th day of Meskerem - September 18th, the
When
the Archangel Gabriel announced to Zachariah the birth of John his Son, he did
not believe his word and the
When
our Lord God and Savior, Jesus the Anointed was born, and the "Wise
Men" [Ethiopian Israelite priests, the Ark of the Covenant at that time
was hidden upon an island in the middle of Lake Tana,
Ethiopia a land of the "east" - Universal Orthodox - Editor] came to
worship Him, Herod was troubled and feared for his kingdom. Therefore, he gave
the order to slay all the children of
It
was said that during the slaughter of the children, Herod thought that John was
the Anointed. He requested John from his father, Zachariah, who said, "I
do not know where the child is." They threatened to kill him, but he did
not heed. Herod ordered his soldiers to slay him. It was also said that when
Herod sought John to slay him, Zachariah escaped with him to the Temple and put
him on the Altar and when they caught up with him, he told the soldiers,
"From here I accepted him from the Lord," and thereupon the Angel of
God snatched away the child, and took him to the desert Zifana.
When they did not find the child, they slew Zachariah between the
In
Matthew, "Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and
scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye
scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you
may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth,
from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar."
xxiii. 34, 35.
Zachariah
the Priest, son of Bar-a-chi-as; he is not Zachariah the Prophet, who was one
of the Twelve Minor Prophets. Zachariah the Prophet was not martyred but died
and his body was found without decay. His prayers be with us. Amen.
[Place
viewer here]
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/16/world/main636394.shtml
Archaeologist finds religion.
[Place viewer here]
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/5673394#5673394
John the Baptist's cave?
Psalm 68
To the
victor. A psalm of David; a
song. Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; and let those who
hate Him flee from before Him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as
wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish from before God; but let
the just be glad; let them triumph before God; and let them have joy in
gladness. Sing to God, sing psalms to His name; extol Him who rides on the
clouds, by His name Jah; and triumph before Him. A
father of orphans, and a judge of widows, is God in the abode of His holiness.
God makes the solitary to dwell in a house; He brings out those who are bound
in fetters: but the defiant inhabit a parched land. O God,
when Thou didst go forth before Thy people, when Thou didst march in the
solitude; Selah. The earth did quake, the heavens also dropped before
God; this Sinai, before God, the God of
John the Baptist upon cavern wall
artist rendition black and white
John
the Baptist upon cavern wall
Kibbitz Tzuba photo
Matthew 3
And in those days
John the Baptist presented himself, preaching in the wilderness of
And seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said
unto them, O generations of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the anger
to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance; and think it not
right to say in yourselves, We have Abraham for our father; for I say
unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. And already also
the axe is laid to the root of the trees; therefore every tree which brings not
forth good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you in
water into repentance; but He who comes after me is stronger than I, whose
shoes I am not fit to carry; He shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire, whose
fan is in His hand; and He will purge His floor, and gather His wheat
into the barn, and will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
Then comes
Jesus from Galilee to
And Jesus being baptized, [Note: in mystery the water ritual is recounted. The
anointing in private ceremony event took place without the witness of John's
disciples present. Universal Orthodox doctrine Editor] went
up straightway out of the water; and lo, the heavens were opened to
Him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon
Him; and lo, a voice from the heavens saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I
am well pleased. [After this apparition of the dove, John the Baptist knew who
is to be the Anointed. Universal Orthodox doctrine Editor]
In John, And John bare
record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it
above upon Him. And I knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with water,
the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the
same is He which baptizes with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that
this is the Son of God. i. 32-34.
Isaiah
40
Comfort ye, comfort ye,
My people, saith your
God. Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and proclaim unto her, that her
warfare is
fulfilled; that her iniquity is pardoned; that he
has received from the hand of Jehovah double for all her sins. A
voice of one proclaiming in the wilderness, Turn ye your face unto the
way of Jehovah! Make straight in the desert a highway for
our God! Every ravine shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be
made low; and that which is slanted shall become a plain, and the elated places a vale:
and the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall
see it together; for the mouth of Jehovah has spoken. A
voice saith, Proclaim! And I said, What shall I proclaim? All flesh is grass, and all
the glory thereof is as the flower of the field: the
grass dries up, the flower fades, because the spirit of Jehovah blows
upon it; verily the people is grass. The grass dries up,
the flower fades; but the Word of our God shall rise
up for eternity. Get thee up into the high mountain,
O daughter of Zion, who bringest good
tidings; lift up thy voice with strength, O daughter
of Jerusalem, who bringest good tidings; lift it
up, be not fearful; say to the cities of Judah, Behold
your God! Behold, the Lord Jehovih shall come with
power, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold, His reward is with
Him, and the recompense of His work before Him. Like a shepherd He shall shepherd His flock; in
His arm He shall gather up the young lambs, and
shall carry them in His bosom; and He
shall guide the sucklings.
Who has measured the waters with His handful;
and has meted out the heavens with a span; and has contained the dust of
the earth in a third measure; and has weighed the mountains in
a scale, and the hills in a balance? Who has
directed the Spirit of Jehovah, and as a man of
His counsel has let Him know? With whom has He counseled,
that he should instruct Him, and teach Him the path of judgment; that
he should teach Him knowledge, and let Him know the way
of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a drop from
the bucket, and are reckoned as the small dust of the balance;
behold, the islands He takes up as something thin;
and Lebanon is not sufficient to burn; nor the beasts thereof
sufficient for a burnt◠offering. All the nations are as nothing before Him;
they are reckoned by Him as less than nothing, and what is void.
And to whom will ye liken God? And to what
likeness will ye value Him?
The craftsmen meltsdown a graven image; and
the refiner spreads it out in gold, and refines chains
of silver. The desititute of an uplifting chooses wood that will
not rot; he seeks for himself a wise craftsman to
prepare a graven image, which shall not be moved.
Have ye not known? Have ye not heard? Has it not been declared unto
you from the beginning? Have ye not understood from the foundations of the
earth? It is He that sits upon the circle of the earth, and the
inhabitants thereof are as locusts; that stretches out the heavens as a
curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to sit in; that reduces rulers to
nothing; that makes the judges of the earth as the void. Yea, they shall not be
planted; yea, they shall not be sown; yea, their trunk shall
not take
root in the earth: and He shall also blow upon them, and
they shall dry up; and the whirlwind shall bear them away like the stubble.
Lift your eyes on high, and see who has created
these. He leads out their army by number,
He calls to them all by name; from the multitude of
strength, and the courage of power, not a man lacks.
Wherefore sayest thou then, O Jacob,
and why speakest thou thus, O
In Luke, And in the fifteenth year of the governing of
Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being
tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip being tetrarch of Iturea, and of the region of Trachonitis,
and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, in the
time of the chief priests Annas and Caiaphas,
the Word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.
And he came into all the region round about Jordan, preaching the
baptism of repentance for the forgiveness1 of sins, as it is written in
the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying, The voice
of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled full, and every
mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be
made straight, and the rough ways smooth; and all flesh shall see the
salvation of God. Then he said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by
him, Generation of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the anger to come?
Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say in
yourselves, We have Abraham for our father (Faith alone Ed.); for I say to
you that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. And also
the axe is already laid to the root of the trees; every tree
therefore that brings not forth good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire.
And the crowds asked him, saying, What then shall we do?
And answering, he says to them, He who has two tunics, let him share with
him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise. And the
publicans also came to be baptized, and said to him, Teacher, what shall we do?
And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is ordered you. And the
soldiers also asked him, saying, And what shall we do?
And he said to them, Do violence to no one, neither
accuse any falsely, and be content with your wages. And as the
people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John,
whether he were the Anointed or not, John answered, saying to all, I indeed
baptize you with water, but there comes One stronger than I, the
strap of whose shoes I am not fit to loosen; He shall baptize you with the Holy
Spirit and with fire; whose fan is in His hand, and He will purge His
floor, and will gather His wheat into His barn, but the chaff He will
burn with unquenchable fire. And exhorting in many other things indeed, he
announced the gospel to the people. iii. 1-18.
In Micah, But it
shall be in the last days, that the mountain of
the house of Jehovah shall be established in
the head of the mountains, and it shall
be liftedup above the hills; and peoples shall flow
as a river to it. And many nations shall come,
and say, Walk, and let us go up to
the mountain of Jehovah, and to the house of
the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we
will walk in His paths; for the law shall go forth of Zion, and
the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. And He
shall judge between many peoples, and reprove numerous nations afar
off; and they shall beat their swords into mattocks, and
their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up
a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But
they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none
shall frighten them; for the mouth of Jehovah of Armies has spoken it.
For all people will walk every
one in the name of his god, and we will walk in
the name of Jehovah our God to eternity and forever.
In that day, saith Jehovah, will I assemble her that halts, and I
will gather her that is driven out, and her to whom I have done evil; and I will make her
that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off
a numerous nation; and Jehovah shall reign over them
in Mount Zion from now and even◠to eternity.
And thou, O tower of the drove, the summit of the
daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come; and the
rule of the first shall come, the kingdom of
the daughter of Jerusalem. Now why dost thou shout out
aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counselor perished? for travailing
strengthened thee as a woman giving birth. Travail, and bring out,
O daughter of Zion, as a woman giving birth; for now shalt thou go out from
the city, and thou shalt inhabit the field, and thou
shalt come even to Babylon; there shalt thou be rescued; there Jehovah shall redeem thee from the
palm of the hand of thine enemies.
Now also many nations are gathered against thee,
that say, Let her be contaminated, and let our eye behold upon
Arise and thresh,
O daughter of Zion; for I will set thine horn as iron, and I will set thy hoofs as bronze:
and thou shalt make thin many peoples: and I will devote their gain to Jehovah, and their belongings to
the Lord of all the earth. iv.
Apocalypse Explained 504:17 (Emanuel Swedenborg
1688-1772)
In the day of Jehovah's vengeance, the brooks of the land shall be turned into
pitch, and its dust into brimstone, and the land shall become burning pitch; it
shall not be quenched night or day, the smoke thereof shall go up forever (Isa.
34:8-10). They have become as stubble; the fire hath burnt them; they shall
deliver not their soul from the hand of the flame (47:14). Behold, all ye that
kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks; go into the place of
your fire, and into the sparks that ye have kindled (50:11). Their worm shall
not die, neither shall their fire be quenched (66:24).In
Ezekiel:
I will give thee into the hand of burning men; thou shalt be for food for fire (21:31, 32). In David: Thou
shalt make them as an oven of fire in the time of Thine anger, and fire shall devour them (Ps. 21:9). Burning
coals shall overwhelm the wicked; fire shall cast them into pits, they shall
not rise again (Ps. 140:10). In Matthew:
Every tree that bringeth not forth good
fruit shall be hewn down and cast into the fire. He will cleanse His floor, and
gather His wheat into the garners, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable
fire (3:10, 12; Luke 3:9, 17). As the tares are burned with fire, so shall it
be in the consummation of the age (13:40). The Son of man shall send forth His
angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that cause
stumbling, and them that do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of
fire (13:41, 42, 50). He said to them on the left
hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and
his angels (25:41). Whosoever shall say to his brother, Thou fool, shall be
subject to the hell of fire (5:22; 18:8, 9; Mark 9:45, 47). In Luke:
The rich man in hell said, Father Abraham, send Lazarus that he
may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented
in this flame (16:24). When Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone
from heaven and destroyed them; after the same manner shall it be in the day
that the Son of man is revealed (17:29, 30). In Revelation:
If anyone worship the beast he shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, and
he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone (14:9, 10). The beast and the
false prophet were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone
(19:20). The devil was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone (20:10). Death
and hell were cast into the lake of fire; and if anyone was not found written
in the book of life he was cast into the lake of fire (20:14, 15). The unfaithful,
and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars,
shall have their part in the lake which burneth with
fire and brimstone (21:8). In these passages, "fire" signifies all
cupidity belonging to the love of evil, and its punishment, which is torment.
To this may be added what is presented in the work on Heaven and Hell (n.
566-575), where it is shown what is meant by "infernal fire" and by
"the gnashing of teeth."
Apocalypse Explained
612:7 (Emanuel Swedenborg 1688-1772)
That the Lord's coming is
meant by "proclaiming good tidings" and by "good tidings"
can be seen also from the following passages. In Luke:
The angel said to Zacharias, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God;
and I was sent to speak unto thee, and to proclaim to thee these good things
(1:19). In the same:
The angel said to the
shepherds, Be not afraid, behold I proclaim to you
good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For
there is born to you this day, in the city of
That John proclaimed to
the people the good tidings respecting Jesus (3:16-18); Jesus said, The law and the prophets are proclaimed until John (16:16).
And elsewhere:
That the Lord Himself and His disciples also proclaimed the good tidings of the
Doctrines of the New
Church
The following doctrines (Emanuel
Swedenborg 1688-1772 excepted)were first written and published in New Church
Life by: "William Frederic Pendleton (born March 25, 1845 in Savannah,
Georgia - November 5, 1927) the first Executive Bishop of the General
Church of the New Jerusalem, in Bryn Athyn,
Pennsylvania. Pendleton was the son of Major Philip Coleman Pendleton and
Catherine Sarah Melissa Tabeau. He became the first
Executive Bishop of the
These doctrines are
referenced in the Founding Documents pt. 2 of the Universal Orthodox and
recorded in Fulton County, Deeds Book 548 Pages 548-555; Atlanta, Georgia
U.S.A. in Ignorance of Invoice and Truth of Doctrine pages 9-16
addressed to Executive Bishop Thomas L. Kline by Right Reverend Gregory Karl
Davis, August 17th, 2006. Founding Documents pt. 2 continues on the Universal
Orthodox: Doctrine of the Rites of Adult Baptism - APPENDUM TO RECORD pages 1
of 3 & Universal Orthodox Church Sacrament of Baptism in rev. Saint
Gabriel Day pages 1 of 10.
Doctrine
of the Baptism of John.
The use of Baptism are
not fully understood until it is known what is involved in the Baptism of John,
and in the Baptism of the Lord by John; and when at the same time the
distinction between the Baptism of John and Christian Baptism has been brought
into view.
Elijah the prophet was to
come and prepare the way for the Lord, and the Lord taught the multitudes that
John was the Elijah who was to com. (Matthew 11: 14.) John and Elijah both
represented the Lord as to the Word, especially the Word of the Old Testament,
and in particular the prophecies of the Old Testament concerning the Lord and
His coming into the world. And since, in its broad aspect, the entire Old
Testament is such a prophecy, all looking to the advent of the Lord, it can be
seen why John and Elijah are coupled together, when the representation of the
Lord in His coming as the Word is under consideration, - the two prophets
representing the same thing.
John, appearing in the
wilderness of Judea, proclaimed the advent of the Messiah, (Anointed ed.) and
preached the baptism of repentance, calling upon the Jews to repent of their
sins. It was necessary that they should repent, because they had made the
commandments of God of none effect through their traditions. (Matthew 15: 6.)
They had perverted and profaned the Law, as given to Moses on Mount Sinai, and
for that reason the communication with heaven by the externals of worship was
about to be severed; the breaking of which meant the ruin and destruction of
that nation and of all mankind. Hence a reformation must take place. A
restoration of their representative worship, even though temporary, must be effected, in order that the Lord God the Savior might
descend and be present among them, to do His work for the salvation of men. For
the Lord, when He comes, enters only into His own, into that which is from Himself, into that which is of Divine order, with men.
Doctrine
of the Wrath to Come.
It is recorded that 'when
John saw the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O
generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?'
(Matthew 3: 7.) It was by the Pharisees and Sadducees that the communication
with heaven was about to be severed. This they did not know, but they knew from
the Prophets that the coming of the Messiah (Anointed ed.) was to be a time of
great wrath. They knew not the nature of this wrath, or its spiritual cause,
but a prophet was proclaiming in the wilderness that the great day of wrath was
at hand, and He was calling upon the Jews to come and be baptized, repenting of
their sins, and in this manner to prepare for the great day of Jehovah. And
they believed that, if they heeded the voice of the prophet, the Messiah
(Anointed ed.) would come and deliver them from a foreign yoke, and make them
the greatest nation in the world, subjecting all people to their dominion. They
were to be led by their fears, and at the same time by
their ruling love, to prepare for the Messiah (Anointed ed.). And so there
'went out to John,
The repentance to which
they were called was not the repentance of the Christian Church, which was to
come, but a representative repentance. "Unless this representative had preceded, the Lord could not have manifested Himself. . .
Unless a representative of purification from falsities and evils had prepared
that nation by baptism, it would have been destroyed. . . The baptism of John
could produce this effect, because the Jewish Church was a representative
church, and with them all conjunction with heaven was effected
by representatives." (A. E. 724.) Thus the baptism of
John was not the baptism of a spiritual church, but a representative of it.
(Note:
The first three paragraphs from Apocalypse Explained 724 [1] [2] [3] (Emanuel
Swedenborg 1688-1772 are referenced here for amplification on Doctrine
of the Wrath to Come. Universal Orthodox Editor)
In Revelation, "And she
brought forth a male child." xii. 5. - That this signifies the doctrine of
truth, which is for the New Church, which is called the New Jerusalem, is plain
from the signification of a son, as denoting truth, and of a male (masculus) child, as denoting the genuine truth of the
church, consequently its doctrine, for the truth of the church from the Word is
its doctrine, since doctrine contains the truths that are for the church. But
the genuine doctrine of the church is the doctrine of good, that is the doctrine
of life, which is that of love to the Lord and of charity towards the neighbor;
still it is doctrine of truth, for doctrine teaches life, love, and charity,
and so far as it teaches these it is truth. For when a man knows and
understands what good is, what life is, what love is, and what charity is, he
then knows and understands those things as truths, since he knows and
understands what good is, how he ought to live, what love and charity are, and
what kind of man he is who is in the life of love and charity. And as long as
these things are matters of knowledge (scientia) and
of the understanding, they are merely truths, and thus doctrines; but as soon
as they, from being knowledge and understanding, pass over into the will, and
thus into act, they are then no longer truths but goods, for interiorly man
wills nothing but what he loves, and that which he loves is to him good. From
these things it is evident, that every doctrine of the
church is a doctrine of truth, and that the truth of doctrine becomes good, and
becomes that of love and charity, when from doctrine it passes into life.
[2] This doctrine,
signified here by a male child, is especially the doctrine of love to the Lord,
and of charity towards the neighbor, thus it is the doctrine of the good of
life, but which is yet the doctrine of truth. That the doctrine of the good of
love, and thence of life, is here signified by a male child, is evident from
this, that the woman, who brought forth the son, was seen encompassed with the
sun, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And the sun signifies love to
the Lord, and the crown of twelve stars signifies the knowledges
of good and truth; and from such a woman and mother, nothing could be born
except what pertains to love and good, thus doctrine concerning them. This
therefore is the male (masculus) child.
[3] That doctrine is for
the New Church, which is called the New Jerusalem, because the woman treated of in this chapter is the one that is called the bride, the
Lamb's wife, which was the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from
God (xxi. 9, 10). This is why she was seen encompassed with the sun, for the
sun means the Lord as to Divine Love, as may be seen above (n. 401, 525, 527, 708). The male child also signifies the doctrine of the
church, because a son, in the Word, signifies truth, and the doctrine of the
church is truth in its whole extent. That a son, in the Word, signifies truth
is evident from what has been said before concerning the woman, the womb, and
bringing forth, namely, that woman signifies the church, womb the inmost of
love and the reception of truth from good, while to bring forth signifies the
production and fructification of these. See above concerning woman (n. 707);
the womb (n. 710); and bringing forth (n. 721). From this it follows that sons
and daughters, since they are births, signify the truths and goods of the
church, sons its truths, and daughters its goods; in a word, that all terms
relating to marriage and thus to procreation on earth, signify such things as
belong to the marriage of good and truth, thus father, mother, sons, daughters,
sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, grandsons, and several other terms, signify
goods and truths procreating, and goods and truths procreated, and in fact
derivative goods and truths in their order. (Paragraphs continue)
Doctrine
of Smiting the Earth with a Curse.
"John prepared the way by
baptism, and by proclaiming the Lord's coming; without that preparation, all in
the world would have been smitten with a curse, and would have perished." (T.
C. R. 688.) This is foretold in the closing words of the Old Testament: "Behold,
I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible
day of the Lord; and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children,
and the heart of the children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth
with a curse." (Malachi 4: 5, 6.) By the 'fathers' in
this passage (and in Luke 1: 16, 17) are meant the angels of the ancient
heavens, who, because of the intervening imaginary heavens, had been separated
from the children, that is, from the simple good in all the religions of the
world. This communication must be restored; the 'fathers' and the 'children'
must be reconciled, or a might curse would follow. This reconciliation was
represented in the baptism performed by John, on the basis of which the Lord
effected a last judgment upon the imaginary heaven, casting the evil of that
false heaven into hell, and receiving the simple good into the heaven which had
been occupied by the evil. This last judgment was the 'great and dreadful day
of the Lord,' the 'day of great wrath,' the 'day of a mighty curse,' unless the
'fathers and the sons' could be reconciled. But the wrath predicted was not the
wrath of an angry God, nor was the curse the curse of God, but a wrath and a
curse that had its origin in hell. For it was to effect the
rescuer of men from the impending wrath and curse of hell that the God of
infinite love and mercy came into the world. Hence the first effect of
the baptism of John was the closing of the hells, that the way might be
prepared for the descent of Jehovah God into the world, in order that the good
might be saved, and the race of men preserved from destruction. A God of
infinite love could do no other.
Doctrine
of the Baptism of the Lord.
The baptism of the Lord
was similar in the outward form, and it its general effect, to the baptism of
others by John. But with the Lord Himself, in Himself, the effect had no finite
limitation, as with men. These effects were infinitely more far-reaching and
universal, extending through all time and into eternity itself. Let us remember
that Baptism is introduction and insertion, as has been explained. With the
Lord it was introduction on earth into the Jewish Church, now reformed and
brought into it former order externally and temporarily by the baptism of John;
and it was thus prepared to received Him; and the Lord Himself was made ready
actively to begin His word of salvation, for which all His previous life with
men had been a commencement and a preparation.
By the baptism of John,
the Lord also inserted Himself among those in the spiritual world who were
looking for the Messiah (Anointed ed.) In all the
ancient religions, there was some kind of expectation of a Messiah, (Anointed
ed.) who was to come into the world to be the Savior of men. (See what is said
of the Wise Men from the East. A. C. 3249, 3762, 9293.)
All these, - the simple good of all nations, - continued this looking after
death, and were gathered together in the spiritual world. The Lord must place
Himself among them, from which a new church could descend, - 'the future church
of the Lord.' He at the same time closed hells, that the good might by led
safely into heaven, which He entered more interiorly, making His presence felt
by the angels more than ever before. And, infinitely more than all, He was
introduced into a more complete union with the Father, which being finished by
the word of glorification and the bringing of the hells into order, He would be
placed in a position to preserve this order, and regenerate men to eternity,
and thus ever to fulfill the justice of God.
Doctrine
of the Baptism of John and Christian Baptism.
In what manner does the
baptism of John differ from the Christian Baptism that followed? The fact that
the Apostles re-baptized those who were converted to Christianity, and who had
been baptized by John, indicates clearly that they saw a distinction.
Concerning this we learn from the Book of Acts (19: 1-6) that the action of the
Apostles was based upon the teaching of the Lord that what is meant by the Holy
Spirit was not in existence when John baptized. (See John 7:
39 and T. C. R. 158.) Hence there was a distinction in the
representation of the two baptisms. 'The baptism of John represented the
cleansing of the external man, but the baptism which is at this day among
Christians represents the cleansing of the internal man, which is
regeneration.' (T. C. R. 690.) For, as has been shown, John's baptism had in
view a reformation of the Jewish Church, and a restoration of its
representative character, having as its basis a representative repentance. But
the purpose in Christian Baptism was a true spiritual reformation, a spiritual
restoration of the internal order of the Ancient Church; for the internal of
the Ancient Church was similar to that of the Christian Church (A. C. 1083,
1141), but not to that of the Jewish Church. And so the Baptism of the
Christian Church was representative of a true spiritual repentance from sin.
This distinction was also indicated in what was said by John to the Pharisees
and Sadducees who came to him. 'I indeed baptize you with water unto
repentance; but He that cometh after me (is mightier than I, whose shoes I am
not worthy to bear He, ed.) shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire'
(Matthew 3: 11); and in what John said to the Lord, 'I have need to be baptized
of Thee, and comest Thou to me?' (Matthew 3: 14.)
Also in what Jesus said to Nicodemus, 'Except a man be born of water, and of
the spirit, he cannot enter into the
Doctrine
of the Teaching Concerning the Baptism of John.
'By the baptism of John a
way was prepared that Jehovah God might descend into the world and perform
redemption.' (T. C. R. 688.) 'That John will be sent before the Lord, lest that
nation should then perish.' (P. P. Malachi 4: 3, 4.)
'Without this sign in heaven before the angels, the Jews could not have
subsisted and lived at the coming of Jehovah, that is, of the Lord, in the
flesh.' (A. R. 776.) 'John was the prophet sent to
prepare a way for Jehovah, that He might come down into the world and
accomplish the work of redemption; and he prepared the way by baptism, and at
the same time by proclaiming the Lord's coming; and without such a preparation,
all therein would have been smitten with a curse, and would have perished.' (T.
C. R. 688.) 'A way was prepared by the baptism of John, because by it they were
introduced into the future church of the Lord, and were inserted in heaven
among those who waited for and desired the Messiah (Anointed ed.); and thus
they were guarded by angels, that the devils might not break forth from hell
and destroy them.' (T. C. R. 689.) The future church of the Lord was a yet in
the new heaven, which was then being formed by the Lord; it afterwards
descended on earth through the work of the Apostles. It is similar now. 'All
would have perished, . . . unless a way had been
prepared for Jehovah by means of baptism, which caused a closing of the hells,
and a guarding of the Jews from total destruction.' (T. C. R. 689.) Hence it
appears 'with a curse and destruction the Jews would have been smitten, unless
they had been prepared by the baptism of John to receive the Messiah (Anointed,
ed.) . . . and they were prepared by this, that they were enrolled and numbered
in heaven among those who in heart expected and desired the Messiah (Anointed,
ed.); hence angels were sent to guard them.' (T. C. R. 691.) 'Unless a
representative of purification from falsities and evils by baptism had prepared
that nation for the reception of the Lord, it would have perished by diseases
of every kind at the presence of the Divine. This is what is meant by the
words, 'Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.' (A. E.
724 (7). The remnant escaped spiritual death, and all were rescued from
natural death 'by diseases of every kind.' In this we have an intimation of
what the world escapes now by the new Christian Baptism. 'The Baptism of the
Lord Himself signifies the glorification of His Human. . . Therefore, when He
permitted John to baptize Him, He said, 'Thus it becometh
us to fulfill all the justice of God' (Matthew 3: 15), . . .
which signified to subjugate the hells, and to bring the hells and the heavens
into order, and to glorify His Human.' (A. C. 10239; T. C. R.
144.) Thus it will be seen that the Lord, when in the world, did all
things according to His own order, which is meant by 'fulfilling the justice of
God.'
True Christian Religion 684.(Emanuel Swedenborg 1688-1772)
The third purpose of
baptism, which is its end in view, is a person's regeneration. This is the real
purpose behind baptism, and so the end with a view to which it was instituted.
The reason is that one who is truly a Christian gets to know and acknowledge
the Lord the Redeemer, Jesus Christ; and since He is the Redeemer, He is also
the Regenerator. Redemption and regeneration are one; see section III [579-582]
in the chapter on reformation and regeneration. Another reason is that a
Christian possesses the Word, in which is available a description of the means
of regeneration, and these are faith in the Lord and charity towards the neighbour. This is the same as when it is said of the Lord
that He will baptise with the Holy Spirit and with
fire (Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:8-11; Luke 3:16; John 1:33). The Holy Spirit means the
Divine truth of faith, fire the Divine good of love or charity, both of these
proceeding from the Lord. For the Holy Spirit meaning the Divine truth of
faith, see in the chapter on the Holy Spirit; for fire meaning the Divine good
of love, see APOCALYPSE REVEALED 395, 468. These two are the means by which all
regeneration is accomplished by the Lord.
The reason why the Lord
Himself was baptised by John (Matt. 3:13-17; Mark
1:9; Luke 3:21, 22) was not only to introduce the practice of baptism for the
future and to lead the way by His example, but also because He glorified His
Human and made this Divine, just as He regenerates a person and makes him
spiritual.
685. These and the
foregoing remarks enable us to see that the three purposes of baptism combine
into one, just as do the first cause, the intermediate or efficient cause, and
the last cause or the effect, which is the real end in view for the sake of
which the others exist. The first purpose is for a person to be named a
Christian; the second is what follows from this, so that he may get to know and
acknowledge the Lord, the Redeemer, Regenerator and Saviour;
the third is so that he may be regenerated by the Lord, and when this happens,
he is redeemed and saved. Since these three purposes follow one succeeding the
other and combine in the last, so that angels think of them together as one,
then when baptism is performed, read about in the Word or mentioned, the angels
present understand not baptism, but regeneration. So these words of the Lord:
He who believes and is baptised will be saved; but he who does not believe will be
condemned. Mark 16:16; are understood by the angels in heaven as meaning that
the person who acknowledges the Lord and is regenerated is saved.
[2] This too is the
reason why baptism is called by the Christian churches on earth the washing of
regeneration. The Christian ought therefore to know that one who does not
believe in the Lord cannot be regenerated, despite being baptised.
Baptism without faith in the Lord is of no avail; see above in this chapter,
673. Every Christian ought to be fully aware that baptism involves purification
from evils and so regeneration, for when he is baptised
as an infant, the priest makes the sign of the cross with his finger on his
forehead and chest as a token of the Lord, and then turning to the godparents
asks whether he renounces the devil and all his works, and whether he accepts
the faith. To which the godparents answer in place of the child: 'Yes, indeed.'
The renouncing of the devil, that is, of the evils which come from hell, and
faith in the Lord, bring about regeneration.
686. It is said in
the Word that the Lord God our Redeemer baptises with
the Holy Spirit and with fire; this means that the Lord regenerates a person by
means of the Divine truth of faith and by means of the Divine good of love or
of charity, on which see above, 684. Those who have been regenerated by the
Holy Spirit, that is, by the Divine truth of faith can in the heavens be told
apart from those who have been regenerated by fire, that is, by the Divine good
of love. Those who have been regenerated by the Divine truth of faith go around
in heaven dressed in clothing of white linen, and are called spiritual angels.
Those who have been regenerated by the Divine good of love go around in purple
clothing, and are called celestial angels. It is those who go dressed in white
clothing who are meant in these passages:
They follow the Lamb
dressed in white and clean fine linen. Rev. 19:14.
They will walk with me in
white. Rev. 3:4; also 7:14.
The angels in the Lord's
tomb were seen in white, shining garments (Matt. 28:3; Luke 24:4). They were of
the spiritual type, for fine linen means the righteous acts of the saints (Rev.
19:8, where this is explicitly stated). For clothes in the Word meaning truths,
and white clothes and fine linen meaning Divine truths, see APOCALYPSE REVEALED
(397), where this was shown.
The reason why those who
have also been regenerated by means of the Divine good of love wear purple
clothing is that purple is the colour of love, a colour derived from the fire and redness of the sun; fire
means love (see AR 468, 725). It is because clothes mean truths that the man
among the invited guests who was not wearing a wedding garment was thrown out
and cast into outer darkness (Matt. 22:11-13).
687. Moreover,
baptism as representing regeneration is evidenced by many things in heaven and
in the world. In heaven, as just said, by white and purple clothing, and
besides by the wedding of the church with the Lord; also by the new heaven and
the new earth, and the New Jerusalem coming down from there, of which He who
sits upon the throne said:
Behold, I shall make all
things new. Rev. 21:1-5. It is also meant by the river
of water of life* which issues from the throne of God and the Lamb (Rev. 22:1,
2); and also by the five wise virgins who had lamps and oil, and went in with the
bridegroom to the wedding (Matt. 25:1, 2, 10). One who is baptised,
that is, regenerated, is meant by every creature (Mark 16:15; Rom. 8:19-21) and
by a new creature (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15); for creature is derived from being
created, which also means being regenerated (see APOCALYPSE REVEALED 254).
[2] In the world there
are various representations of regeneration, such as the way all the earth's
products flower in springtime, and then stage by stage develop until they bear
fruit; and likewise by the way any tree, shrub or flower grows from the first
month of warm weather until the last. Another representation is the stages by
which all fruits gradually ripen from the first rudiments to the full
development. Then again it is represented by early morning and late evening
showers, and by dew, which when it falls makes flowers open, and the shades of
night make them close again; or again by the fragrant smells from gardens and
fields. Another representation is by the rainbow in the cloud (Gen. 9:14-17), as
well as by the glorious colours of sunrise. In
general it is represented by the way everything in the body is continually
renewed by means of the chyle and animal spirit, and
so by the blood, which perpetually undergoes purification from exhausted
matter, and is so renewed and, so to speak, regenerated.
[3] If we turn our
attention to the humblest creatures on earth, there is a wonderful picture of
regeneration presented by the way silk-worms and many caterpillars are
transformed into nymphs and butterflies, and other insects which as time goes
on are adorned with wings. To these examples even more trivial ones can be
added, such as the fondness of certain birds for plunging in water in order to
wash and cleanse themselves, after which they revert to their role as
song-birds. In short, the whole world from first to last is full of
representations and models of regeneration.
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