Ark of the Covenant

The Ark of the Covenant was found in 1982. It's location makes perfect

Spiritual and archeological sense, as this article will reveal to those who's

hearts and souls are open.

Please read this account below.

Source: http://www.returnofthenephilim.com/ArkOfTheCovenant.html

This article describes in detail the most amazing and important discovery ever made in Archeology.

The finding of the Ark of the Covenant by a Christian amateur archeologist, Ron Wyatt — a real Indian Jones — in 1982. Here you will find out why you might have never heard of it before despite of its proven reality.

Introduction To The Discovery

Ron's Studies

When Ron Wyatt returned to America after his unusual experience in Jerusalem, he studied the Bible closely, noting the last time the Ark's location was mentioned. He discovered it was when King Josiah of Judah wanted to reform the country, "Moreover Josiah kept a Passover unto the Lord in Jerusalem; and they killed the Passover on the 14th day of the first month. And said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, which were holy unto the Lord: 'Put the Holy Ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build, it shall not be a burden upon your shoulders. Serve now the Lord your God, and his people Israel ... in the 18th year of the reign of Josiah was this Passover kept." (2 Chronicles 35:1,3,19).

This happened in the year 621 BC, 35 years before Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians invaded Jerusalem in 586 BC. As the Temple was completely destroyed, there was no reason to believe that the Ark had been removed before that time.

Ron noticed several places in the Bible that gave detailed descriptions of the items that the Babylonians took from the king's house and the Temple, (see 2Kings 24:13 & 25:13-18. Jeremiah 52:17-23). To his surprise, the lists included spoons and other smaller objects that were used in the Temple service, but the most valuable and most significant of all the Temple furniture, the Ark of the Covenant, was not mentioned. He also found that the sacred object wasn't mentioned as any of the items returned from Babylon. This suggested that the Ark was not taken to Babylon, so it had to have been removed from the Temple between year 621 BC and 586 BC.

The Siege Wall

As mentioned, the Babylonians besieged Jerusalem before invading it, and constructed a siege wall around the city, "And it came to pass in the 9th year of his reign, in the 10th month, in the 10th day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came he, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it: and they built forts against it round about. And the city was besieged unto the 11th year of king Zedekiah." (2 Kings 25:1-2). This siege lasted over a year before the city was finally invaded.

Ron started to study more about the siege wall. In order to have the desired effect the siege wall had to completely surround the city, so that delivery of all necessary supplies to its inhabitants was prevented. It was this starvation that weakened Jerusalem enough to allow Nebuchadnezzar to eventually invade, " And on the 9th day of the 4th month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land. And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which are by the kings garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about) and the king went the way toward the plain. And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army were scattered from him. " (2 Kings 25:3-5).

Another important reason for a siege wall was to protect the attacking army. Thus the walls had to be situated enough distance away from the city so that the inhabitants were prevented from firing at the enemy. Over one hundred years before the destruction of Jerusalem, Uzziah was king in Judah. He had greatly strengthened Jerusalem's defence, "And Uzziah prepared for them throughout all the host shields, and spears, and helmets, and habergeons, and bows, and slings to cast stones. And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal." (2 Chronicles 26:14-15). Such catapults were able to reach over 300 meters. "Behold ... the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith you fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls" (Jeremiah 21:4). So the Babylonian siege wall had to be placed beyond their 300 meter range.

The result of Ron Wyatt's study of this led him to several conclusions. The Ark of the Covenant could not have been taken to Babylon, according to biblical references. It must have been hidden sometime between year 621 (King Josiah's 18th year of reign) and year 586 BC, when the Babylonians invaded the city and the Temple was looted. Finally, the Ark must have been hidden within the Babylonian siege wall as no one from Jerusalem could travel past it. Since Jerusalem had been totally destroyed it was highly unlikely that the Ark was hidden within the city ,walls. All these points matched perfectly with the area Ron Wyatt had pointed to and identified as being Jeremiah's grotto. The place was outside the city-wall, but still within the siege wall. This was enough for him to decide to return to Jerusalem and begin excavation.

The Excavation Begins

New Permit To Excavate

When Ron decided to dig for the Ark of the Covenant at the site he had pointed to, he soon discovered that it was not as easy to obtain a permit as he first thought. The man from Antiquities, who had promised Ron written permission, was unable to do so. Ron had worked for many years at various archaeological sites, and studied a great deal privately, but he was not a professional archaeologist. This made the whole situation even more difficult. Ron submitted a new application for a permit to excavate and waited three long weeks. In the meantime Ron and his small team traveled to the west coast of Israel to Ashkelon to relax. While they swam in the sea, Ron kicked something in the water. When he looked to see what it was, he found a large, ancient stone pot, and on further exploration of the area they discovered several more of these jars. Each was carefully sealed which had kept their contents intact. Breaking open one of the jars to find out what was so carefully preserved, they found the remains of human bones. They were clearly ancient, burial pots. Ron immediately delivered them to the department of antiquities and they were greatly enthused when they identified them as Canaanite burial pots. Another archaeologist had previously searched the entire beach trying to locate the burial ground of these ancient people, but without success. No one ever thought of looking only a few meters out to sea. To Ron these findings were not as significant as the other discoveries he had worked with, but as a result of this find he was immediately granted a permit to excavate in Jerusalem.

The Excavation Site

The three most famous mountains in the Jerusalem area are Sion, Moriah and that which is now known as the Mount of Olives. Although the city itself is built on both Mount Sion and Mount Moriah, the city is usually referred to in the Bible as just, "Sion". Mount Moriah was the place where David erected an altar after seeing the angel standing ready to destroy the city, and the same site which Solomon built the Temple on.

According to Genesis there was another significant, historical event that took place here upon Mount Moriah.

It is possible that Abraham believed his son Isaac was the son of the promise who was going to be sacrificed for all mankind, and in obedience, and in certainty that God could raise him up again from death, Abraham journeyed to this special place on Mount Moriah to sacrifice his son. But just as Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac, God sent an angel to stop him. Just then Abraham was shown a ram, which was trapped in a thicket (a crown of thorns), and he was told to sacrifice this instead of his son. Today the great Dome of the Rock stands at this site where the first and second Temples once stood, and where Abraham had erected an altar in order to sacrifice his son. With great relief Abraham discovered that it was not his son that was chosen to die for mankind, and furthermore he was told that it will be upon this same mountain, Mount Moriah, that God will provide the true sacrifice, "And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah Jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen/provided." (Genesis 22:14).

On the east, the south and the western side of Jerusalem there are deep valleys, which provided excellent protection to the city against attack. The north part of the city on the other hand, was very vulnerable. A dry moat was cut through Mount Moriah on this northern side to prevent enemies from gaining an advantage by attacking the wall at ground level. This moat was also used as a stone quarry and the first book of Kings tells us that Solomon used stones from a stone quarry to build the First Temple. Very probably the same stone quarry in Mount Moriah. The northern part of Mount Moriah, which is now separated from the city and the rest of the mountain, is now known to many as the Calvary Escarpment. It was this site that Ron had unexpectedly pointed to and identified as Jeremiah's grotto, and here he would begin to dig.

Over the years Jerusalem had been destroyed and restored many times. It was usual to build the new city upon the remains of the old one. The result being that today we find remains of several cities, one on top of the other, in the same area. So to locate the original ground level at this site at Mount Moriah, Ron had to dig straight down into the ground by the side of the cliff face.

First Problem

It was January 1979, and there had been some snowfall in the area that year which had turned to slush. In addition to this, the site was filled with trash, and gave off a terrible stench, which made starting the work there very uncomfortable. It did not take long before Ron also discovered that the site had an enormous, underground rock protruding out from the mountain making it difficult to dig straight down. There were only three on the team at that time, Ron and his two sons Danny and Ronny who had accompanied Ron on several archaeological trips before. As a result of the large rock obstructing them from digging straight down, they decided to start digging several meters to the right.

The Golgotha Escarpment

The skull shape on the escarpment and the location of the site, has led many to wonder if this detached section of Mount Moriah could have been the place where Jesus of Nazareth, probably the most widely known figure in all history, was crucified. The crucifixion site was outside the city walls and was called, "The Place of the Skull" or, "Golgotha" (Matthew 27:33). Even today the huge form of a skull can be seen on the southern face of the escarpment, although the cliff face gained little interest before the 18th century. Otto Thenius, a German, came to the conclusion in 1842, that this was the crucifixion site. "There were also several American visitors around that time who came to a similar conclusion: Rufus Anderson (1845), Fisher Howe (1853), Charles Robinson (1867) and Selah Merill (1845) together with the Englishman Henry Tristam (1858) and the famous Frenchman Ernest Renan, author of 'Vie de Jesus' (1863)." ('The Weekend That Changed the World.' Peter Walker, 1999, page 113).

This escarpment is situated adjacent to a main road that was present in Jesus' day. An ancient Byzantine map clearly shows that Damascus Gate was the main gate, by which the main road let out of Jerusalem's old city. The road between Damascus Gate and the quarried off section of Mount Moriah was a highway to the large cities in the time of Jesus. Quintillion., a Roman writer recorded, "Whenever we crucify criminals, very crowded highways are chosen, so that many may see it and may be moved by fear of it, because all punishment does not pertain so much to revenge as to example". [*Quintilion: (bc.AD 35) Marcus Fabius Quintilianus. Latin teacher and writer whose work on rhetoric, Institutio Oratoria, is a major contribution to educational theory and literary criticism. Quintillion was born in Spain, but was educated in Rome, where he afterward received some practical training from the leading orator of the day, Domitius Afer. (The Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 10, 15th edition, 1997, USA)]

Another form of execution besides crucifixion was stoning, and both methods would be carried out in the same area. Claude Conder, a young British man was sent in 1872 to design a topographical survey map of Palestine. His interest in this site was aroused when he studied the research of Thomes Chaplin. The Sephardic Jews identified this cliff-face as a stoning ground, also known from The Mishnah, a collection of old rabbinic writings (Sanhedrin 6: 1-4). Something that positively revealed this as a site of crucifixion in the time of Jesus.

There are many evidences that suggest this site is the site of Jesus' execution. The story of Abraham earlier mentioned, is also interesting in this matter. Abraham was standing upon this very same Mount Moriah, willing to sacrifice his son in obedience to God's command, ["And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen/provided." (Genesis 22: 14)]. A prophecy that indicates that it would be here on Mount Moriah that God would " provide" the sacrifice of the true "sacrificial Lamb", the promised Messiah. As this cliff is part of Mount Moriah, it is yet another indication that this might well be the site of the crucifixion.

The Tomb Of Jesus

Site of tomb reveals spot where iron spike was driven to seal the tomb.

Below photo shows close-up of spike sheared off when stone was rolled away, after resurrection of Jesus/Yeshua.

Spike iron was tested, and was found NOT to be modern metal, as some sceptics suggested.

Concerning the site of the crucifixion it is written, "Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden,. and in the garden a new sepulcher, wherein was never man yet laid." (John 19:41) This tomb belonged to a rich man named Joseph who donated it to Jesus at His death. Since the place of the crucifixion now seemed so obvious, according to the Bible, the tomb should also be located in a garden in the vicinity.

Indeed there is a tomb, discovered in 1857, sculptured out of the west side of the escarpment and approximately two hundred metres from the skull face. Lucius (a.k.a. Lukius, Luke), one of the disciples of Jesus, recorded how it was "a sepulcher that was hewn in stone..." [ Lucius (Lukius, Luke) 23:53 ]. This description matched with the tomb discovered in the garden. It took some years after 1857 before interest in this tomb grew. The Englishman, General Gordon was also sure this was the tomb of Christ. Not only was it close to the Skull Hill, but also in an old garden. An application from England was submitted to purchase the area, and is still to this day owned and run by an English Association. Many refer to the escarpment as "Gordon's Calvary" , because of General Gordon's public endorsement of the site. The tomb had a trough by the entrance, which was designed to hold a huge rolling stone. This also agrees with the Bible's description of the tomb. Mark, another of Jesus' disciples, wrote following, "...and laid Him in a sepulcher which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulcher." (Mark 15 :46). However, until recently the rolling stone had never been found.

Evidently the tomb was in a garden during the time of Jesus, as several water cisterns were discovered there. The largest of which holds about nine hundred thousand litres. In 1942 an ancient winepress was discovered, cut into the ground of the Garden Tomb area, showing that there was once a vineyard here.

Ron was now digging in an area between the skull shaped escarpment and the tomb.

The Niches

Ron and his two sons began by digging straight down the cliff face. It was an enormous task, which required them to move several tones of rock, earth and stone. At the same time they had to follow the requirements of the Department of Antiquities, which involved sifting through all the debris in order not to miss possible artefacts. As they dug down, Ron found three niches like shelves that were cut into the cliff-face. Archaeologists had previously discovered similar Roman niches, so Ron immediately knew their purpose. In Roman times it was not unusual for niches like this to hold large signs. Such signs were made from wooden boards and covered with gypsum, and upon them were written notices in large letters. When the notice was no longer current, the boards were whitewashed so a new notice could be posted.

All together Ron found a grouping of three niches. As these niches were cut into the cliff-face of what was believed to be the Calvary escarpment, Ron knew it was extremely likely that they held signs, which stated the crime of the criminal being executed.

Jesus had been executed in a typically Roman fashion and Ron remembered that the Bible tells us the accusations against Jesus were written in three different languages. So Ron wondered if perhaps the signs falsely condemning Christ were also displayed in niches like these.

When a person was sentenced to crucifixion he was first whipped. After being forced to carry the cross to the crucifixion site he was nailed or tied to it, where it was then held upright in the ground in a cross-hole. This was the typical Roman method of crucifixion, and was the treatment that Jesus would have had to endure.

"And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin." (John 19:19-20). It has become common to show Jesus on the cross with a small, sign nailed to the cross above His head. This understanding was built more upon artists' perceptions of the scene, rather than on what was practical. In the first place the crucifixion was supposed to be a fearsome deterrent. The description of the crime was therefore displayed clearly, so that all who passed by could see it. A small sign would be too small, and when we remember that the "accusation" was written in the three common languages of the time, Hebrew, Greek and Latin, it all points to Pilate having written the notice on three different signs, placed in niches in the cliff-face. We can be sure that the signs could well have been as large as the niches, as many of the Jews were able to read them even from afar. Jesus was crucified close to the city, and as it was the Passover, many of the Jews were hurrying to Jerusalem. The Jewish high priests reacted strongly when reading them and approached Pilate protesting, "Write not, The King of the Jews,. but that He said, I am the King of the Jews. Pilate answered, What I have written I have written." (John 19:21-22). So there is little doubt that the signs Pilate posted attracted great attention.

However, it may seem that John, an eyewitness to the entire event, said the sign was attached to the cross. In the Bible we read, " And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross." (John 19:19) The word here translated "on" is the Greek word "epi" , which can also mean "above" or "over". We find exactly the same word used in the Gospel of Matthew, but here it has been translated "over". "And set up over (epi) his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS." (Matthew 27:37). Obviously "epi" could not have been translated as " on" here! Also in other places in the Bible "epi" is translated as "over", and it is therefore not necessary for the inscription to be "on" the cross in order to agree with Scripture. The only thing we know with certainty is that the inscriptions were placed over, or above the cross, as it specifies in The Gospel of Matthew.

Ron Wyatt strongly suspected that the three niches he had uncovered were used to hold the Roman signs indicating the crime of the crucified. So he placed written poster-boards in them to demonstrate the function of the niches, but little did he know how his conclusions would soon be confirmed.

The Crucifixion Site

The Cistern

The walls of the shaft they were digging began to look unstable so Ron decided to terminate his work by the niches and begin excavating at the site he had originally pointed to. He found there was enough room to dig behind the large stone that was previously a hindrance, thus he began to excavate between the stone and the cliff wall. Where they first started to dig, the cliff face sunk vertically down into the ground like a wall. Here on the other hand, it dropped at an angle, so Ron had a "ceiling" protecting him made by the overhanging cliff face.

About eleven and a half meters below present day ground level they hit bedrock. After carefully removing the debris, they found a round, hewn chamber with a diameter of approximately four and a half meters. Spiral steps ascended one wall, and higher up a hole had been cut out. A hole that could hold a rope, and evidence that the chamber must at one time have been converted to a cistern. The hole would have held the rope, which carried a bucket to collect water, or perhaps grain from the shaft.

When Ron chiselled through the plastering used as filling to form the cistern, he found several potsherds, which he delivered to two antique shops for assessment. There they informed him that some dated to the time of the Jebusites, before David took Sion and declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel, but the latest samples were from the Roman period. Thus the chamber had been plastered and converted during the Roman era.

The Stoning Site

From the presence of potsherds and coins, they could also identify Roman ground level. At this point they began to dig a tunnel horizontally along the cliff wall, towards the site where they had first dug. The purpose being to find an entrance into a cave or tunnel that extended into the underground cliff face. But what they in fact found was sinister evidence of the cruelty that had once taken place there.

About a meter from the edge of the cistern the bedrock ended. By digging straight down about a meter, Ron found several stones the size of a fist, and among them he found human bones, particularly finger bones. The many unusual stones and scattered bones showed clearly that this was not a grave, and Ron's conclusion was that this could have been the stoning site referred to in Acts chapter seven, where we read about the stoning of Stephen, " Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him. " (Verse 57-58).

The Cross Holes

Ron continued to tunnel towards the first excavation site when he came across the foundation of an ancient building, parallel to the cliff face. A stone protruding from one of the walls was worn and smooth and looked like an altar stone. Someone could have used this as a memorial, but a memorial to what?

Just in front of the horizontal altar stone Ron noticed a large stone lying on the rock floor. As he looked closer he noticed it was covered with travertine*. [*Travertine: Dene, banded rock composed of calcite (calcium carbonate CaCO₃). It also occurs in limestone caves in the form of stalactites and stalagmites. (The New Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 11, 15th edition, 1997, USA)] It was so unusual and so symmetrical that it had to have been cut by man, and Ron lifted the stone for a closer inspection. As he lifted it, to his surprise he discovered it was covering a square hole chiseled into the bedrock.

The place seemed to have been untouched for several years, and as a result there was a great deal of dirt and debris lying around the hole. When Ron removed it, he saw a crack in the ground extending from the square hole. A platform, like a ledge, extended two and a half meters out from the cliff face and it was on this ledge that the square hole was chiseled. As Ron uncovered more of the area in front of this ledge he found another three square holes chiseled into the rock floor in the same manner as the first. The sides of the holes being approximately thirty to 33 centimeters.

Ron's measurements showed that the first hole with the crack was 4.2 meters directly below the three niches. His earlier theory that these niches could have been used to hold signs describing the nature of the crime was now confirmed by these square holes.

They were clearly cross-holes. The circumstances that led Ron to start digging here and his trust in God's leading, made him certain that the first hole with the crack, could well have held the cross of Christ. But it was not this alone that led Ron to his conclusion.

The foundation of the structure indicated that it had covered the whole area at one point in time. Could the early Christians have erected a building here in memory of what had happened? The way the structure was built around the cross hole, and the man made stone placed over the cross hole, strengthened Ron's belief that this was the hole that actually held Jesus' cross.

The crack from the cross-hole was a typical earthquake crack. It had no marks identifying the use of hammer or chisel, and had to have been natural. Matthew, a disciple of Jesus, tells us that there was an earthquake as Jesus hung on the cross, "...and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;" (Matthew 27:51). The cross hole cut into the rock floor and the earthquake crack extending from it is evidence that the rocks really must have been "rent" just as Matthew describes.

The cross hole itself was 59 centimeters deep. The crack from the cross hole ran even deeper, but Ron did not clean out the crack in order to measure it's depth at this point. Over a year later he discovered that it traveled approximately six meters straight down into the ground.

Dating The Building

Ron and his team found coins, which made it possible to date the building. One of the coins had Tiberius' inscription on it, Emperor from 14CE to 37 CEo They did not find coins from any earlier than this, but they found coins dating to the year 135CE. From this evidence, Ron knew the building was erected between the time of the crucifixion and the year 135CE. The place was probably built after general Titus destroyed Jerusalem in 70CE. From the time Jesus was crucified to when the city was conquered seventy years later, this crucifixion site was probably still being used. In the book, " Wars of the Jews" , Book V, Chapter XI, paragraph 1 by Josephus, we read that as many as five hundred men were crucified every day during Titus' siege of Jerusalem. This would have made it almost impossible for the Christians to construct any such memorial by the site of the crucifixion.

When Jerusalem was totally destroyed by the Romans in 70CE, mass crucifixion came to an end, and most of the Jews were either killed or sold as slaves. The city which was so magnificent, and which had experienced its second complete destruction, was now reduced to being a Roman encampment. The second Temple, which had been built on the same site as Solomon's Temple, was now in total ruin and the golden furniture had all been stolen. An eight hundred strong Roman garrison was stationed in the camp to ensure no one attempted to rebuild the city again.

The Christians had survived the destruction of Jerusalem, as they had been warned by Jesus, exactly when to leave the city. While Jesus was alive, He told them the city was to be destroyed, and gave them a sign indicating when to flee and avoid being killed by the invading army. When the Roman Emperor Hadrian arrived in the year 130CE to rebuild the city, he showed favour towards the Christians. The Jews however, were not allowed to set foot in the city. The Emperor named the new city he had built "Aelia Capitolina". The Jews who returned to Judea revolted against him, resulting in the loss of the lives of half a million Jewish men.

As the latest coin found by the building was dated 135 it was possible that the Christians recognized their chance to erect this building after the destruction of Jerusalem when Christianity was tolerated, and they were allowed access to these areas by the Romans. The absence of any coins dating later then 135 indicates that the site must have been abandoned after 135. The condition of the remains of the building indicated that it was not destroyed, but just abandoned and had therefore deteriorated naturally. As the years passed, the area became covered by earth and debris.

The Tombstone

The construction of the building was very simple. Protruding from the rear wall were two perpendicular outer walls. As they continued to dig, searching for the other wall, they found a hewn rock almost sixty centimeters thick. Most of it was covered by earth and debris, but one exposed section showed it to be rounded, like a round tabletop. It turned out to be huge, and they gave up any further attempts to uncover it.

Ron wondered if perhaps this was the seal-stone from the tomb of Jesus. The largest tombstone ever found that Ron was aware of was 1.7 meters in diameter, but this stone was much larger. It was not until several years later that he discovered, by the help of ground penetrating radar, that the stone had a diameter just exceeding four meters.

As the round seal-stone was laid inside the ancient structure, it was likely that the Christians, who made this memorial, had incorporated other objects relating to Jesus, as a part of the construction. This would explain why the seal-stone had been taken away from the tomb and placed by the cross holes.

The Ark Of the Covenant Found

A Large Cave System

Almost two years had passed since Ron and his two sons began excavating, and still they had not found any cave system or hidden tunnels. Although Ron had found several artefacts of great significance, they were not what he was searching for. He was searching for the Ark of the Covenant. The work was now drawing to a standstill, and Ron was at a loss as to how he should continue with the excavation.

Ron relates, " I was impressed to break right through the cliff, not this cliff (Ron points to the cliff he is standing next to) but one that looked every bit as solid. So anyway, I kept looking around for a place to get in that cliff. I knew there were caves in there because honey bees were coming out of cracks, and flying in. So they had their nests in there.

So anyway, my youngest son, he says, "Dad, have you prayed about this?", and I said, "Yes" . You know I should have prayed with my sons. We look back and we see mistakes we've made, but he asked. And we did pray together at night and morning, but I should have prayed right there. Anyway, he said, "Did you pray about this?" I said, "Yes". He said, "Well, did you get any indication of what to do?". I said, "Yes. I'm supposed to break right through that cliff". And he says, "Well lets do it". And I said, "No way! That's stupid! I'm not doing it."

So we worked for three or four more days and it was time to leave the next day, and my older son was down with me and we were handing the tools up to my youngest son to store them, and my older son is rather a quiet person. He said, "Dad, did you pray about this?" I said, "Sure, yes I did." He said, "Well?" I said, "I was impressed to break through that cliff right there." And he said, " Well, lets do it". And I said, "No! That's stupid! I am not beating my brains out against a cliff!" He said, "Well, Dad, pardon my saying so, but I've seen you do stupider things than that!" I said "OK. Tell Ronny to pass the tools back down."

Now if you 'II look carefully you'll see a crack right here. It's not much of one but it is a fault line through that stone. So we went 18 inches over to this side, took our hammers and chisels and started marking the stone up and down, and up and down. Finally a big chunk popped out of there. We pushed it off to the side, looked back in the bottom. There was a small dark hole about that big (Ron indicates a small hole with his fingers). It didn't look very promising at all.

I had my son hand me the flashlight, we had them sitting where they could see. This was all down in a tunnel. And so I put it up to that hole and there was a big cave chamber back behind there. Have you ever had goose bumps and all of that sort of thing just, overwhelm you? Well, that's what happened to me. It didn't take us very long to make the hole big enough to get in.

I thought the Ark of the Covenant would be sitting right there. It wasn't... So, since we had to leave the next morning, we plugged that hole. We came back to the surface, plugged the hole. Fixed everything up so nobody could tell where we had been, and left. I had to go home and work and save up some more money and come back."

The Shocking Discovery

On their next trip, they discovered that this cave led to a much larger system of caves and tunnels. Not all the tunnels were connected to each other, and they spent several hours chiseling through rock walls to find still more tunnels and caves. This cave system seemed completely untouched by human hands. It was now December 1981, the winter was cold in Jerusalem, and both Ron and his two sons became ill. Ron was deeply impressed that God would allow him find the Ark on this particular trip. He had experienced several answers to prayer that led him to this conclusion, but now because of their illness, prospects began to look bleak.

Ron relates, II My two sons had gotten very ill in 1982. I sent one of them home Christmas Eve, and the other one home New Year's Eve. lowed the hotel $300, I had no money at all. There, a friendly Arab let us eat at his restaurant. And that folks to me is humiliating. Now there's some things that I'm not comfortable with, and I was experiencing several of them on that trip. I decided that I was going to find the Ark of the Covenant or die in the hole. That may sound a little melodramatic, but I was humiliated. I couldn't pay my bill at the hotel, I'd rather be dead than in a situation like that...

So anyway, the little Arab guy who was letting us eat at his restaurant, he was a full grown man, but he was about that tall (Ron points to his chest height when he says this). And small, petite. So as we went through this cave system, he would crawl into the chambers and I'd give him a light, and he'd shine it around and I'd peek through to see if it looked like anything in there. So we did this over and over; and we came to this one hole. I mean you wouldn't believe where all we'd gone in that cave. How many of you have ever been inside a big cave with tunnels and chambers and all? OK, you know what I'm saying. We had just been all over the place, up, down, different levels, and at this point in time we had gone about 45 feet down, and then back up, and here this hole was in the wall, about that big around (Ron makes a circle with his hands about 20cm apart) , and there was a stalactite hanging right down the middle of it. It was the only stalactite I had seen in the cave that wasn't this little (Ron indicates a size of about 10 centimeters with his fingers). This was a big one and I have it in my collection of things.

So I broke it off, made the hole big enough for him to get in, and he was crawling in there, and I started to hand him the light so he could do what we had been doing for several days. He came tearing out of there, his eyes were as big as human eyes can get and he said, "What's in there? What's in there? I'm not going back in there!" And I said, "Well what did you see?" He said, "I didn't see anything" And I thought, "Well, OK. Now he'd been in tighter places than that and had not responded that way." So, I got this little beam of light, you know, in a very dark place here, and I thought, "That is Divine terror, you know that supernatural terror". So I figured that is either where the Ark of the Covenant is, or it's the way to get to it, one or the other; and God doesn't want this fellow to know where it is. So anyway, he just said, "I must get out of here." So off he went.

So I made the hole big enough for me to get in, and I got in there, and folks, it was full of rocks. Bigger than these here. Up to within 18 inches or so of the ceiling. If this young man hadn't have been terrorized and come scooting out of there like he did, I would not have gone in that place...

So anyway, I crawled in there with the flashlight, and I crawled around on top of the rocky, and I shined the light down between the cracks in the rock, and there a flat, gold thing reflected back at me. So I moved over and shined down through another: There was two reflections, one here, one there and one over here. So I knew it was a flat, gold top, and I thought: "The Ark of the Covenant!" I forgot about the cherubims sitting on top. They'd have been poking up through the rocks and stuff, on top of the Mercy Seat.

But anyway, I started moving these rocky, and I stuck them anywhere I could. By the time I got down to that gold surface I had them behind my shoulders, leaning back against them. And it was the Table of Shewbread... But, anyway, I was looking for the Ark of the Covenant. And it was only then that I took time to carefully examine the rest of the chamber. See I had just crawled in, took a quick look and started checking down under the rocks.

So as I moved the flashlight along the wall, I saw a stone box sitting against the wall, with about this much space between it and the ceiling. The lid was broken, slid around and right above it was a crack with dark, brown-looking material on the bottom of this crack. And I was able to see the top of the lid of the box. On both sides of the broken pieces was more of this brown stuff (silence, Ron cries). All of a sudden I Illustration: Peter O'Connor realized I was sitting in front of the Ark of the Covenant, and that Christ's blood had come down onto it (silence). I had never heard anybody preach anything about that sort of possibility, never. And it was too much for me. When I regained consciousness and looked at my watch again, 45 minutes had passed from the time I crawled in the chamber."

The Authorities

The promise that Ron would find the Ark on this trip had been fulfilled, but he had not yet been allowed to actually see it, neither was it possible for him to re move the Ark from the cave. In his frustration, Ron received another strong impression, "I only said you would find it. It will come out when the time is right."

Ron reported the discovery to the Israeli authorities, and later handed over a tiny artefact from the cave. An ivory pomegranate with an inscription identifying it to Solomon's temple. This pomegranate is the only object anyone had ever seen from the first temple, and today it lies in The Israeli Museum in Jerusalem. This discovery convinced them that Ron could well be telling the truth about the discovery of the Ark of the Covenant. Ron was the only person to have ever produced an object from the first temple, where the Ark was also situated. Ron knew that various critics around the world would not believe that it was him that produced this pomegranate, and so he broke off a tiny piece that he left in the chamber with the Ark of the Covenant.

The authorities told Ron to keep the discovery of the Ark secret. The reason being the enormous religious and political problems this discovery could create for Israel, which is already a fragile and explosive community to say the least. They feared the possible violent reaction of some of the more extreme Jews if they learned that the Ark of the Covenant (the former residing place of the great " I AM" on earth) had been found. In previous times the struggle for the Temple Mount has created some bloody conflicts.

The Contents Of The Chamber

It was not possible to bring any of the objects out of the chamber. Firstly it was full of rocks piled high around the temple furnishings, and secondly, Ron could not extract the artefacts through the tiny hole that he himself had to squeeze through. He would first have to locate the original entrance the men used in order to hide the objects. Ron returned to the chamber several times. One time he brought a 'Trinkle Drill', which is used by Orthopedic surgeons, and a colonoscope, an optical instrument with a strong light-source, which doctors use to look into the human body. The stone casing was so high, that the lid was too close to the ceiling to look through the crack in the lid and see the Ark. With the drill Ron tried to make a small hole in the stone case, to be able to actually identify the Ark. The desired effect failed so he chiseled a hole into the stone casing just enough to feed the colonoscope through. This instrument only shows one small area at a time, but by moving it around he could soon see the golden object. The first thing he saw was the bottom of the crown-molding around the top of the Mercy Seat. Then he saw the flat, golden sides. This was enough for him to know that the Ark really was in there.

Subsequently Ron was able to identify the following objects in the chamber; The Ark of the Covenant, which was in the stone casing, the Table of Shewbread, the golden Altar of Incense, the seven branched Lampstand, a large sword, an ephod, a brass money weight, several oil lamps, and a brass ring. There were also other objects but Ron was uncertain as to what they had been used for. When Ron found these artefacts they were covered with animal skins. Upon the skins were laid wooden logs, and on top of them lay rocks.

The tables of stones with the Ten Commandments were still in the Ark of the Covenant, and on the side of the Ark was a small, open cubicle, which contained the Book of the Covenant, which Moses wrote by God's command. " And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying, Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee." (Deuteronomy 31 :24-26. See also, Exodus 24:7, Deuteronomy 17: 18 & 29:21). From what Ron could see, most of the books of Moses were there. All these scrolls, made of animal skin and now thousands of years old, were in surprisingly excellent condition.

Ron also found seven oil lamps, which he supposed had been used by those that brought the objects into the chamber. One of the lamps was decorated with a typical Assyrian design, a goat or a ram, standing upon his hind legs and eating from a vine. This showed the cultural influence the Assyrian's had in Judea during the time just before the Babylonian captivity.

The Original Entrance

The cave system, through which Ron had entered the chamber, appeared to be untouched by human hands. The hole through which he had entered was too small and badly located to have been the entrance Jeremiah and/or his men used to carry the large objects into the cave. The question now was which tunnel did these people use?

Ron began to inspect the chamber for another entrance. In one place he saw something had been covered with rocks, and it looked like it was leading to another open chamber. When he removed some of the rocks, he uncovered a long, natural tunnel with chisel marks telling him that at one time man had enlarged it. The problem Ron now encountered was that the rest of the tunnel was completely blocked off with large rocks. To clear the tunnel would be far too difficult for Ron, and after exiting and sealing up his own tiny entrance, he decided to search from the other side, for the place where this tunnel started.

The Contents Of The Chamber

Since the furnishings had been brought from the temple, obviously this was their starting point, and the chamber was their resting place. Ron was not aware of any tunnel that traveled in the direction of the temple, but he still had some idea as to where he could start his search. Zedekiah's Caves, which extends 230 meters into Mount Moriah, was at one point in time used as a stone quarry. This cave is located between the Temple Mount and Golgotha's escarpment, so could well be a possible link.

Zedekiah's Cave

Dr. James Turner Barclay was an American who worked as a doctor and missionary in Jerusalem from 1851 to 1857. He is still known for (among other things) rediscovering a gate to the temple site, thus the gate adopted the name " Barclay's Gate".

Dr. Barclay would often walk his dog in the areas around the old city. One Sunday, in the winter season of 1854, he went for a walk along the northern side of Jerusalem's old city wall. Suddenly his dog disappeared, and Dr.Barclay whistled to it. The dog did not come, and Dr.Barclay's son, who accompanied them, started to search for the dog. As he looked along the part of the quarry where the old city wall was built, he found a deep hole from where they heard the dog barking deep inside the cave.

Thus this enormous cave was rediscovered, but it was found that over the preceding centuries the entrance to Zedekiah's Caves had become blocked up by stone constructions. A way of escape Many believe that Solomon used the stone from Zedekiah's cave to build the magnificent temple. The Bible relates how the stones were cut out from a quarry, and how they were shaped and finished in the quarry to avoid noise in the city, during the construction of the temple.

The cave adopted the name "Zedekiah's Cave", because many thought that this was the cave King Zedekiah escaped through to flee Jerusalem during the Babylonian siege. However, the Bible only says, " And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby." (Ezekiel 12: 12). "And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king's garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about:) and the king went the way toward the plain. And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho." (2 Kings 25:4-5).

The Opening Of The Stonecutters

While he walked around and examined this cave, Ron tried to empathize with the stonecutters. When he saw how deep into the mountain the cave extended, he understood how meaningless and tiresome it would have been to bring the stones out of the quarry, and then carry them into the city through one of the northern gates. As the quarry was underneath the city, it would be far easier to bring the stones directly from the quarry into the city. A simple hole in the roof of the cave could lighten the workers' load considerably. Ron began to examine the pillars of rock, which the workers had left to support the roof of the cave. One of the pillars looked like a large mound of earth and debris, piled so high it passed through a hole in the roof. This made Ron think that maybe there was an opening in the roof of the quarry. Thus, the Ark could have been transported down through this hole in the ceiling, and then into a connecting tunnel, finally to be brought to the chamber where it now resides.

A Guardian Cherub

Ron began to look for tunnels, and he soon found one. It lay hidden behind boulders and overhanging rock, and was sealed by stones that had purposely been cut and shaped. The tunnel headed in the right direction, but it was still a long way to the chamber, If this were the right tunnel, he would have a job clearing it.

When the Frenchman, Charles Clermont-Ganneau in the late 19th Century mapped out Zedekiah's cave, he drew sketches, maps and diagrams of al most every detail in the enormous quarry, One of the discoveries he made, was a cherub engraved on a pillar, It had a lion's body, a pair of wings and the head of a man with ancient head-dress, Clermont-Ganneau removed the cherub, which he sent to the Palestine Exploration Fund in London, It looked like a cherub from the Israelite Palace in Samaria, The style is dated to approximately 7th century BCE, when Israel was under the cultural influence of Assyria, This was before the Babylonians took Jerusalem, and coincided with the time the temple furniture was hidden.

With this connection in mind it is interesting to look again at the quotation from 2 Maccabees mentioned earlier, Here we are told Jeremiah and his men who hid the temple furniture in the cave, "...then blocked up the entrance, Some of his companions came to mark out the way, but were unable to find it, When Jeremiah learned of this he reprimanded them, 'The place shall remain unknown, he said, 'until God finally gathers His people together and shows mercy to them." It is possible that the engraved cherub, which was found so close to the blocked entrance, is the mark that was made by Jeremiah's men.

Later, Ron used radar scanning to ensure that there really was a tunnel from the quarry to the chamber where he found the Ark of the Covenant and the other objects, About six and a half meters below ground level he found a tunnel-like void which traveled in the direction of the cross holes and the chamber, but because of buildings obstructing the way, he was unable to follow the tunnel the whole way. Instead he took the radar with him into Zedekiah's cave and scanned the entrance he had found. When there turned out to be a void behind the stone blocks, he broke through. But debris blocked the tunnel further down, and it seemed like someone had tried to make it appear natural, as if trying to hide the fact that they had purposely sealed the tunnel. The passage was well blocked, and again, the job of clearing it would be extremely laborious.

The Discovery

Ron now decided his only option to make a larger entrance to the chamber, was to dig a shaft from directly above, straight down through the rock. There was a risk involved as the shaft could collapse and destroy the objects in the cave below. It would also be an enormous project requiring much work. After several digs Ron managed to dig through about three meters of lime stone, but the end was nowhere in sight. Almost ten years had passed since he first found the Ark, and his frustration grew because of the enormous efforts he had undergone, all of which now seemed fruitless. One or two months before he was to return to Jerusalem to work on the shaft, Ron held a meeting in a church in North Carolina. He showed video and the audience asked questions. During the question time, one individual asked when Ron was next planning to be in Israel.

When Ron and his assistant later arrived at the hotel in Jerusalem, that very same man was sitting there waiting for him. Apparently he believed he was some kind of a prophet, and he offered his help on the project. But so long as he was there, it was impossible for Ron to continue with his work. He lost all hope and felt like abandoning the whole project. He believed that his unsuccessful trip meant that he was now "taken off the job". He knew that God did not need him particularly to complete the work.

It was then that Ron had an experience that made a life long impression on him. Ron was sitting close to the place they had found the niches and the cross holes. The man that had made Ron's task so difficult was only sitting a few metres away, eating lunch under the shade of a large bush. The ground level where they were now sitting was many metres lower than the surrounding area. Suddenly Ron heard a voice behind him saying, "God bless you in what you are doing here". Ron swung around. At the top of a stair case, stood a tall, slim man with dark hair. He was wearing a long white robe and head covering similar to those worn in biblical times. Ron had not told anyone what he was "doing", and he wondered who this person was. He had a strange feeling that this person knew everything about him, and what he was doing. Ron tried to find out who this stranger was, and tried to make polite conversation. "Are you from this area?" he asked. "No," was the simple reply, and then silence. "Are you a tourist?" Ron asked. "No." Silence again. Ron did not know what more he could say, so he just sat there and looked into the friendly face. Then the man said, "I am on my way from South Africa to the New Jerusalem." And he repeated his first words, "God bless you in what you are doing here." Then he turned and walked away.

Because he was sitting under the bush, Ron's uninvited guest had not seen this man dressed in white, but he had heard the whole conversation. He exclaimed, "Ron, do you think we have been talking with an angel?" "At least," replied Ron; for he was left with the impression that it could have been Jesus Christ Himself.

There is only one entrance into the Garden Tomb, and everyone must pass through it in order to enter the complex. Ron asked the staff if they had seen the person dressed in white and they replied that no such person had entered or left the Garden Tomb. Nobody had seen him. This experience strengthened Ron and encouraged him to continue, no matter what was around the next comer.

The Fourth Visit To The Chamber

Ron had tried several times both with cameras and a video camera to take clear pictures of the Ark, but every time the pictures turned out foggy, and this caused him a great deal of frustration. On his fourth visit into the chamber Ron took an 8mrn video camera and tripod with him, hoping to finally shoot clear footage of the Ark.

After entering through the same entrance that he always had used to the chamber, he immediately noticed that something was different. The rocks that had previously filled the cave were no longer there. A light shone in the chamber, but from where he could not quite make out. Ron then saw that the chamber had been completely cleaned up, and all the rocks cleared away. A task that Ron knew would have to be done, but would take a long time, and now the job was finished. The chamber was totally cleared, and the Ark of the Covenant had been taken out of the stone case. Ron was overwhelmed by what he saw. The Ark was against a wall in the chamber, directly under the earthquake crack in the roof where the blood of Jesus had flowed down onto the Mercy Seat. The other temple furnishings were in their correct positions in relation to the Ark. The rest of the objects were laid along one of the walls.

Even though Ron could not describe it exactly, the wall behind the Ark looked like crystal and radiated the colours of the rainbow. While he was looking at this, he suddenly realized he was not alone. Ron could feel the presence of angels. There were four young men with him in the cave, but they did not resemble how angels are popularly portrayed. All were dressed completely ordinarily. Ron stood frozen for several minutes, not moving or talking. He wondered what they were doing there and why they were there, but he found himself unable to speak.

One of the angels stepped forward and began to speak to Ron. They told Ron that they were the four angels, assigned to guard the Ark since it's fabrication. He approached the Ark, and the Tables of Stone were removed from the Ark, and the angel placed them in a niche in the wall, and proceeded to inform Ron of various important matters. The Tables of Stone were not going to be put on public display until after a law would be passed throughout the entire world. A law that would force everyone to receive, " the mark of the beast".

Ron set up his video camera and began filming before he withdrew the Tables of Stone from the Ark of the Covenant. He took his camera and the video tape and left the cave through the original entrance. By following this tunnel he found his way out of the cave system and onto the street. He hurried to his hotel room and checked the footage. The Ark, the angels and the Tables of Stone were all clearly visible and Ron was delighted it had turned out so clearly. But Ron's happiness suddenly turned as he remembered what the angel had said. This was not going to be shown before "the mark of the beast" law was passed. Ron knew the nature of the law he was referring to, and knew the meaning behind the angel's words. What was he going to do with the videotape until this time? Where would it be safe?

Ron, not knowing what to do, decided to return to the chamber and ask the angel what he should do with the video tape. When he entered the chamber the angel he had talked with earlier asked him what he wanted. Ron told him that he did not have a place adequately safe to keep the video tape. The angel took the video from Ron's hand and placed it by the Tables of Stone, which were still standing on the niche.

By the late 1990's, Ron was nearing his seventies. He was tiring with all the pressures of his work as well as battling a certain type of cancer. Still he persisted, working hard, and doing whatever he could to help people spread the message that these discoveries had for the world, and the message of the living Christ. On August 4th, 1999, Ron Wyatt died of cancer in Tennessee, USA.

The Blood Test

Ron again tells the story to an audience in Zedekiah's Cave, "After I had been in there [the cave with the Ark of the Covenant] three times, the fourth time I came in, there were four young men standing in there, that if I had met them on the street I would have seen no difference between them and anybody else. One of them said, We're the angels that have been assigned to the Ark of the Covenant, and we'll tell you what God wants done with this, and we'll help you do what He wants done with this. They wanted me to take a sample of the blood and have it analysed. All I had with me was a film cartridge (camera film container) and a pull tab from a Coke-a-Cola can. So I took this pull tab and straightened it out to make a little bit of a scoop with it, and I collected about 3J4 of that little canister full of this dried blood. We had this analysed. We put an amount of this blood in some normal saline at body temperature, and we swirled this gently for 72 hours. And this was part of the instructions I got from the angel. When we put this in a growth medium for another 72 hours and put it under a microscope the white blood cells were dividing. We were able to get a chromosome count. There were 24 chromosomes. 23 Christ got from Mary. He got one which was the sex-determinant, or the "Y" chromosome from His heavenly Father for a total of 24. All of us have 46. We get 23 from our mother and 23 from our father: Now this blood folks was still alive after almost 2000 years. The people that did the test thought I had pulled a fast one of some kind on them. Never in their lives had they ever seen any dried blood that was still alive. There's a Scripture text talking about Christ. Its in Psalms, it says, You will not leave my soul in hell, and neither will you let my body see corruption. So after almost 2000 years, Christ's blood was very much alive, and still is. So the Spirit, the blood and the water are bearing witness on earth."

The Message No One Had Heard

Ron Wyatt's story has attracted much attention as well as furious debate. A simple man was telling the world of an incredible story that nobody had heard before. To some it was a fantastic story where the spiritual world is described as credible and real. Ron Wyatt was claiming that the Bible, the most widely read book in the world, was historical fact, but not only that, he also claims that the Man that was born into this world approximately 2000 years ago, really was the Messiah that the Jews had waited for, but rejected. Not only that, but it is claimed He was the One through whom God created this world. Ron's discovery still to this day stirs up unbelief, even in the Christian world, and creates unrest within the Jewish community. Yet this message is not reserved for the religious communities. Indeed it has an enormous effect on the whole world, for it poses the question, " Is the Bible really true?"

Ron Wyatt's story does not lack credibility as several individuals were with him when he was digging, and are able to testify to the truth of Ron's story. At one point in time there were about fifteen different people who assisted in clearing tunnels. There was the small Arab man that first entered the cave and was struck by an indescribable fear, only to come running out of the chamber. The pomegranate, the first artefact ever discovered from the first temple, to this day stands locked in a small glass cabinet in the Israeli Museum, as a visible witness. The blood test from the chamber has shocked professional researchers around the world, and nobody can deny many of the things that witness to the fact that Ron Wyatt's story is true. However, to some the story remains too unbelievable because they have not seen the Ark or the blood themselves. Thus they choose to disbelieve. Ron said, one day the world will see the evidence with their own eyes, but if they do not want to believe it even then, there is little more that can be done to convince them. Is the world ready to believe that the world was in fact created, and that we did not evolve from apes, or reptiles?

The blood of Jesus sprinkled upon the Mercy Seat contains the message that no one had ever heard, or even thought of before. Not even Ron Wyatt himself, before he had discovered the Ark and told the story. Still one question remains in many people's minds, "Why did it happen?" and "What does it all mean?"

This article was written with H.M. Trangerud, according to the testimonies of Ron Wyatt as recorded on videotape 1997/98, from W.A.R's presentation video and from W.A.R's newsletter.

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