MACHU PICCHU: INCA MOUNTAIN FORTRESS

It stands as a silent witness to one of the greatest civilizations to have ever existed on planet earth. Perched on a mountain ridge, some 2,500 meters above sea level, the mysterious city of Machu Picchu is no longer occupied. It’s been empty for nearly half a millennium. 

Built by the Incas sometime in the middle of the 15th century, it was only occupied for about 100 years, and then the people vanished. The city lay undiscovered – hidden from the world for almost 400 years until an American historian stumbled across it in 1911. 

Who built this amazing monument to Inca greatness? And what connection is there between their accomplishments, and another ancient story found in the pages of the Bible? 

MOUNTAIN FORTRESS

The Fortress of Machu Picchu, located high up here in the Peruvian Andes, is one of the most spectacular sites in the world. The ancient granite stone city is enclosed and protected on three sides by a steep gorge, one kilometre deep, and a mountain ridge acts as guardian on the fourth side. 

The city is surrounded by a circle of mountain peaks. Its position is quite breathtaking, and four centuries after it disappeared, Machu Picchu still has the power to enchant and mystify.

This Mountain Fortress was once part of the great Inca Empire that stretched along the spine of the Andes, from modern day Columbia to Southern Chile; and from the Pacific right across to the Eastern foothills of the Andes. The Inca Empire at its peak was the largest kingdom on earth! 

SPANISH CONQUEST

When the Spanish conquistadors invaded the Inca Empire in 1532, they only had a tiny army of 130 infantry and 40 cavalry. And yet within a few years, they devastated the Inca lands and plundered one of the greatest treasure houses in history. 

Although the Inca were a highly disciplined people with a strong army, their empire completely underestimated the ruthlessness and thorough brutality of the invaders. When the King of Inca personally went to negotiate with the conquistadors, they kidnapped him and slaughtered many of his followers. 

The Inca King was promised his freedom if his people provided the Spanish with rooms full of gold and silver. In response, the Incas delivered a ransom of 11 tonnes of gold and 12,000 kilos of silver, an enormous treasure trove. The Inca fulfilled their promise, but the Spanish conquistadors broke theirs. After the gold and silver were delivered, they killed the Inca King anyway. 

THE LAST STRONGHOLD

His death heralded the end of the great Inca Empire. The rest of the Inca Royal family fled to a refuge high in the mountains. It was their last stronghold. It was so sacred and secret that no conquistador was ever allowed to see it or hear of it. The Spanish never found it. Eventually the people vanished and the jungle soon covered the city. It was lost to the world.

The legend of this lost city of the Incas fired the imagination of adventurous historians and archeologists. in 1911, Hiram Bingham, a young history professor at Yale University, set out in search of the fabled lost city of the Incas. 

Bingham, who became the inspiration for Indiana Jones, was determined to find it. He made his way to the Peruvian Andes, and with the help of a local peasant farmer, found Machu Picchu, and concluded he discovered the fabled lost city of the Incas.

“In the variety of its charms and the power of its spell, I know of no place in the world which can compare with it. Not only has it great snow peaks looming above the clouds more than two miles overhead, gigantic precipices of many-colored granite rising sheer for thousands of feet above the foaming, glistening, roaring rapids; it has also, in striking contrast, orchids and tree ferns, the delectable beauty of luxurious vegetation and the mysterious witchery of the jungle.” (Hiram Bingham) 

AN IRRESISTIBLE ATTRACTION

Today, there’s nothing secret about the city’s location. It has become one of the most visited tourist attractions in the world, bringing thousands of people who are irresistibly attracted to what has been termed one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. 

A few hardy pilgrims still follow in the footsteps of the ancient Incas, taking the Inca trail from Cusco to the Gate of the Sun, a path that used to take the ancients more than a week to complete. 

There’s almost no describing the first impression this place makes on you, when you finally see it in person. I’ve always found that many of the world’s tourist attractions just can’t live up to the pictures you get in the brochures, because the sense of expectation you get from the advertising sets the bar so high. But here at Machu Picchu, there’s no disappointment, absolutely none at all!

The pictures just don’t do it justice. I’ve been here several times and still find this view of Machu Picchu awe-inspiring. A truly awe-inspiring experience. It literally takes my breath away. Maybe that’s because of the elevation, but I doubt it. The setting up here in the mountain peaks is just so spectacular. It’s almost surreal! 

And the architecture, well, the Incas had nothing to apologize for in the face of other great builder civilizations, like the Egyptians or the Romans. What they achieved up here at roughly 2,500 meters above sea level is absolutely phenomenal. 

POWER IN ISOLATION

The Incas are one of the most advanced civilizations in human history, and what makes them unique – what sets them from the other great civilizations like the Egyptians or the Romans or the Greeks – is that they came to power in relative isolation from the rest of the world. 

They spread along the Andes mountains in South America, absorbing the other cultures they came in contact with. To the east they were protected by the massive rainforest of the Amazon watershed, to the west they had the Pacific, the largest ocean in the world. To the south, the rugged wilderness of Patagonia. 

And so, essentially they prospered without contact from the rest of the world. They took a forbidding landscape where travel was difficult at best, and they built an empire that at its peak, stretched over an area, some 5,000 kilometres in length. 

The other South American tribes they conquered were quickly assimilated into Inca civilization. The Incas used a plan, not unlike the one used by the ancient king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. Conquered chiefs and leaders were often sent to the city of Cusco, where they were trained to become members of a special class of Inca Elite. Then they were sent back to their homes, having become members of a special elite ruling class. They had privileges and a pampered lifestyle, not unlike the great Inca Emperor himself. So there was little reason to rebel. 

And so in spite of the occasional skirmishes and civil war between brothers with competing aspirations for the throne, the empire ran pretty smoothly. That is until the fateful day a band of European adventurers landed on their shores. 

COLLAPSE OF AN EMPIRE

It wasn’t long before the empire collapsed. What was one of the largest civilizations in history was also one of the shortest. Whether it was really Pizarro who conquered the empire, or the smallpox that came with these men, or the uprising of the conquered South American tribes;  well, historians are still busy sorting out the details. 

What we know for sure is that the Great Empire tragically vanished. Remnants of the empire were plundered by the Spanish. Cultural and religious artefacts were defaced, and the once proud Inca people became a mere shadow of what they had once been. 

Today, even though some of their language survives in the people of Peru and Bolivia, most people consider the Inca civilization to have been utterly eradicated. It was a tragic loss, because the Inca civilization was one of the most astounding to have graced our planet.

Unlike the cultures of the old world that had contact with the Phoenicians, they never developed a system of writing. So most of what we know about them comes from studying elaborate ruins, like Machu Picchu. And when you study the ruins, you make amazing discoveries. 

The Incas were masters of agriculture. The terraces here in the ancient city were the means by which the Inca people supported themselves. They would build a retaining wall, and then they would backfill with a layer of rock and clay. On top of that, they put a layer of dark rich topsoil which enabled them to grow staples like corn, quinoa and white potatoes. 

They also domesticated animals, but not the ones that we’re used to. They domesticated the guinea pig and apparently kept them in their houses, so it was never hard to find meat for dinner! 

MASTERS OF ARCHITECTURE

The Incas were also master architects. The houses in Machu Picchu have been standing here for a very long time, hundreds of years, in fact. They look a little like the houses we would build, with gabled ends and a pointy roof. 

Up at this altitude, wood isn’t terribly abundant, so the houses are made of stone. The roofs would have been made of thatched grasses and tied down to special anchor points in stone. The first explorers who came here, and to other prominent Inca sites like Sacsayhuaman, were astounded by the building skills of these ancient people. 

The stones range in weight from a couple of tonnes to hundreds of tonnes, and as Hiram Bingham pointed out, in some cases they’re so finely fitted together that you can’t even get the blade of a knife between them; no mortar, no fasteners, just finely-fitted stones that have defied the elements for hundreds of years. 

Just who were these remarkable people? 

Today’s historians are pretty certain that the man who built this amazing city in the mountains was Pachacuti, an Inca emperor whose name means, ‘He who shakes the world.’ He was easily the most notable of the Inca Kings. His masons were fitting these stones together just a little before Gutenberg fired the first printing press back in Europe, and Columbus was about to sail across the Atlantic into American history. 

SOLAR WORSHIP

Like all of the Inca who came before him, Pachacuti was a religious man who worshiped the sun god, Inti. You know, it’s astounding how many ancient cultures have been built around the worship of the sun, from the ancient Egyptians and Mithras, to the largest empire in the history of the Americas. 

This building known simply as the tower, appears to be some sort of solar calendar. On the shortest day of the year, which comes in June when you’re south of the equator, sunlight coming through this window reaches a line chiseled into the gray rock by the Incas. This was an important day, because for cultures who worship the sun, shortening days represented the slow death or retreat of the sun god. 

Of course, we have no written accounts of Inca civilization or their worship, because they had an oral tradition. The information we have comes from the journals of the first Spanish explorers, and from careful examination of ancient sites. 

This mark in the stone was apparently an important signal to the Incas, that the sun god was about to return. They had turned the corner of the winter solstice, and the days were about to get longer. Some records indicate that the priests of the sun god, Inti, would hold a special ceremony each June to convince the people that they had the power to make the sun god return. After the ceremony, the shadows started getting shorter and the days started getting longer. 

A stairway from the temple leads up the hill to the most sacred place of all. This is Machu Picchu’s Intihuatana, the Hitching Post of the Sun. Each year in June, on the shortest day of the year in the Southern hemisphere, when the sun reached its lowest point, an important rite in the calendar was performed here. 

With a gold chain fastened around this pillar of solid rock, a priest would ceremonially leash the sun to the Inca land to ensure that it did not fail to return after its journey through the sky. This was an important day, because for cultures who worshiped the sun, shortening days represented the slow death or retreat of the sun god. 

And so they would symbolically tie the sun to their land, to show they had turned the corner of the winter solstice, and the days were about to get longer. 

Since ancient times, people have been enchanted and mystified by the night sky and the movement of the heavenly bodies. The beauty of the night sky has been a source of fascination and pleasure for all mankind. Through the centuries, people have marveled at the mysteries of the heavens, wondering what secrets lie hidden in outer space. In fact, astronomy was the first science of ancient civilization. 

ANCIENT CONNECTIONS

Virtually all of the early great civilisations kept organized records of astronomical events. The Egyptians, Babylonians, Mesopotamians, Chinese and, here in South America, the Maya and Aztecs, all made accurate measurements of the stars and planets. 

The celestial bodies became so important in the lives of these people that they began to worship them. And because the sun rules over the planets, it became the chief of the celestial gods. And that’s what happened at Machu Picchu, and right across the Incan Empire. 

Here in the 15th century, astronomer priests carefully charted the movements of the celestial bodies. And they were able to measure the seasons and the movements of the stars. And they plotted the course of the sun god that they worshiped through the yearly seasons. Worship of the celestial bodies became immensely widespread. 

They believe that they were the descendants of two people, a man and a woman, placed on earth by the sun god. And of course, at least at one level, that rings a bell for people who are familiar with the creation story found in Genesis, which states that the Creator God made a man and a woman and placed them in a garden. Is it possible that remnants of that biblical story survived down through time, and could still be found among the Inca peoples?

According to some researchers, there were some pretty amazing developments taking shape down here before the first Europeans arrived, bringing not-so-welcomed gifts like smallpox and an insatiable appetite for gold. 

Pachacuti was a devoted sun worshiper, as were all of his subjects. A remarkable number of ancient cultures were sun worshipers – like the Romans, for example. Perhaps because of the obvious connection between the sun’s warmth, and the life on the planet. 

VOICES FROM THE PAST

Hiram Bingham, the man credited with discovering Machu Picchu, noticed a fascinating similarity between Inca sun worship rituals and those practiced by pagans back in Job’s day.

“The author of the book of Job quotes him as referring to an act of adoration of the Gentiles who when the sun rises resplendent or the moon shines clear, exalt in their hearts and extend their hands toward the sun and throw kisses to it. It was one of the most natural and widespread forms of religious worship in the ancient world.” (Hiram Bingham)

The voice he was referring to is found here in Job, the 31st chapter, verses 26 to 28,

“If I have observed the sun when it shines, or the moon moving in brightness, so that my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand. This also would be an inequity deserving of judgment, for I would have denied God who is above.” 

At some point in human history, human beings left the worship of the Creator God, described in the Bible, and began worshiping the creation instead. Paul describes people who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. 

Widespread global sun worship, which had its roots in the ancient kingdom of Babel, in Mesopotamia, is part of that shift Paul describes, from worshiping the Creator to worshiping the creation. So it really should have been no surprise for early explorers to discover a culture so heartily dedicated to solar worship. 

The Incas considered themselves children of the sun. They thought of gold, the stuff that the conquistadors wanted so badly, as the sweat of the sun. But according to author Don Richardson, something happened to Pachacuti that made him give up the worship of his solar deity. 

The more he thought about Inti, the sun god, the more he realized that Inti wasn’t really much of a god. The smallest cloud could block his light and he seemed to be condemned to live in a permanent schedule, never really intervening in the affairs of the Inca people.

So we began to dig back into the history of the people who lived here in South America, even before the foundation of the Inca Empire, and discovered something amazing. Once upon a time they had all worshiped one god, a creator they called Viracocha. 

THE UNKNOWN GOD

It occurs to him that he was worshiping a mere creation and had missed the whole point. There was a Creator who made the sun, and that’s who we ought to be worshiping. That led to a meeting of minds across the Inca Empire.

Priests of the pagan sun temples protested, insisting that they couldn’t go and tell the common people that they’d been wrong. They’d look like fools!

From what we can gather from the handful of records compiled by a Spanish priest named Cristobal De Molina, the great Inca religious council settled upon a compromise. The upper classes would begin to worship the Creator God, and the common people would go on worshiping the pagan sun god. 

And of course when Pizarro and his men arrived along with their thirst for conquest and gold, the upper classes were pretty much decimated. But imagine, there was a whole civilization up here that had already rediscovered, to some extent, the great Creator God –  the God of the Bible – before European Christians made it over here. 

NOT WITHOUT WITNESS

It’s a pretty stunning story, but not entirely surprising. When Paul and Barnabas went to the city of Lystra, Paul made a statement that I know to be true from experience. He said in Acts [14:16] that, 

“God, in bygone generations, allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless, he did not leave himself without witness.” 

And the more you travel the world, and the more you gather the stories of people, groups and cultures from around the world, the more you can see it. God really hasn’t left himself without witness. He may allow us to try our own path and He’ll never insist on forcing us into His kingdom, but He always leaves enough evidence that we’ll find Him if we really want to. 

And apparently up here at 2,500 meters in the Andes, maybe the most amazing thing isn’t this spectacular city left behind by an amazing people; maybe the most amazing thing is how the heart of God was calling these incredible people who are essentially cut off from the rest of the world. 

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If you’ve enjoyed our journey to Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas hidden high up in the rugged peaks of the Andes, and our reflections on the greatness of God, then be sure to join us again next week, when we will share another of life’s journeys together. Until then, let’s pray and ask God’s leading and guidance in our lives. 

Dear heavenly father. Today, we’ve seen evidence of your love for us here in the history of the people who built this ancient city, Machu Picchu. Thank you for the interest you take in our lives. We want to commit our lives fully to you, and we ask that you will continue to lead and guide our lives. We ask this in Jesus’ name, amen.