Digging Up the Word: The Bible and Archaeology

Was the Church Born in the Temple?

by

Rev. Randy Felton

It was the fall of 1981, and I was on my very first trip to Israel. I was anticipating a chance to see where events in the Bible happened. I wanted to see where the prophets walked and encountered God. I wanted to see where Jesus walked and taught. I wanted everything there that was available. I have been back many times since and still seek the same things. I have not been disappointed, but I have been puzzled.

On this first trip, our entire group was led to a place called "The Upper Room." We were told this was the place where Jesus ate the Last Supper and where the Church was born in Acts, Chapter 2. I had little trouble envisioning 120 people being in there, waiting on the Holy Spirit. There must have been about 80 tourists in the room that day. According to the Scripture, this is the number present at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Shavuot after the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus/ Yeshua.

Something, however, kept me from accepting this. I read the Scriptures, and as often happens, something just did not fit into the picture that our tour guide painted for us. I won’t focus on the events leading up to the place where the last Passover was eaten with the disciples, but I will focus on the portion of Scripture that troubled me, Acts 2:14-41, especially verse 41. According to this passage, Peter preached a sermon and was heard by a large group of people. In fact, 3,000 became believers and were baptized that very day! Now, there is no way you could cram 3,120+ people into that "Upper Room," let alone find enough water to baptize them before the sun went down. I had a problem with this whole scenario.

On subsequent journeys to Jerusalem, I learned that Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Israel Exploration Society had carried out excavations to the south and southwest of the Temple Mount from 1968 to 1977. Today, there is still activity and the findings are slowly being opened to the public. Part of what was uncovered in these excavations offered an explanation to my dilemma over the referenced passage above. Several things of significance were uncovered. The Triple, or Huldah, Gates were exposed, showing the triple arches and the intact threshold. A monumental staircase led up to the gates from below. This third item to be discussed is a series of mikvot, or ritual immersion baths. There are about 45 mikvot that have been uncovered and excavated in the immediate area. These ritual immersion pools were for cleansing before entering the Temple complex. This brings some important explanation of the events that have troubled me. These immersion pools were a normal part of the Temple system. The candidates entered and self-immersed with a priest overseeing the validity of the immersion. This did not take very long to accomplish. Now, I can see how Peter’s sermon, moving many to accept Yeshua / Jesus, could bring about the results mentioned in Acts 2:41. If Peter preached just inside the Huldah gates or even on the monumental staircase, and gestured toward the mikvot as he urged the people to repent and be baptized ( Acts 2:38), they would have understood and acted there on the spot.

Prior to Passover, Jesus told His disciples to go into the city where they would meet a man carrying a pitcher of water, who would show them an upper room prepared for them. It occurs to me that this man very well may have been a priest carrying water to the Temple compound. There were chambers in what is called Solomon’s Portico and along the northern wall were "upper rooms." Somehow it just makes sense to me that this was where the "Last Supper" was eaten as well as where the disciples waited for the Holy Spirit as promised. Our pattern over and over is shown through the Temple and it’s system. The last and greatest Passover Lamb was offered up and the attending fire that would pour from Heaven would fall in the same place. For years there was the picture of the fire of God falling to consume the sacrifices on Mt. Moriah. Why would God give us this picture and then pour out His Holy Fire, the Holy Spirit on another mountain? Why all the elaborate signs and rituals that point to the Temple Mount and then the most important events, the events that the signs and rituals pointed to, be on another mountain? I maintain that they were not.

Rev. Randy Felton, editor of this Restore! page, is president of Potters Clay Ministries. He has traveled extensively in various parts of the world, helping to provide churches with material and equipment to publish the gospel more effectively and teaching on the Hebrew foundations of Christian faith. His interest in archaeology has taken him into many archaeological projects in Israel. Randy and his wife Betsy live in Oklahoma City. Website: http://www.haydid.org/potter.htm

Guestbook | Table of Contents | Restore! Magazine | Restoration Foundation Home