THE WONDERS OF ANCIENT EGYPT

INTRODUCTION

This is Egypt – land of the great pyramids. The land of the golden pharaohs. The land of Anthony and Cleopatra. Here Abraham came in search of food and fortune. Here Joseph ruled as Prime Minister. Here Moses received the Ten Commandments. And here Jesus and His family found refuge.

Welcome to five thousand years of astonishing history. I invite you to join me on a journey back through time to this strange and mysterious land where in the past, gods were kings and kings were gods.

We will visit majestic temples and admire gigantic sculptures. We’ll explore long sealed tombs, deserted cities and fabulous palaces, and tombs weighing millions of tonnes, and as we journey back through time, we may be influenced by the compelling evidence to acknowledge the power of the Supernatural – a Higher Power.

EGYPT AND THE BIBLE

Egypt is one of the lands of the Bible. In fact, Egypt is mentioned over 600 times in the Bible – more than any nation outside of Israel. Of the 66 books of the Bible, Egypt is mentioned in 29 of them. Egypt obviously plays an important role in the Bible.

Most of the Bible references to Egypt revolve around the lives of four prominent men. Abraham came to Egypt during a famine in Canaan and left with great riches. Joseph was sold as a slave into Egypt and rose to the position of Prime Minister.

Later, Jacob, his father, along with his brothers, moved to Egypt and settled in the Nile delta. Moses was born in Egypt and raised as a royal prince in the palace of pharaoh.

He had to flee the country but later returned to lead his people out of Egypt to the Promised Land. Jesus Christ was taken to Egypt by Mary and Joseph to escape Herod who was trying to kill him.

THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZA

Now, when Abraham came to Egypt, the Pyramids were already over 600 years old. Then they would have been covered in gleaming white tera limestone – and possibly with a huge gold cap on the top. The limestone and the gold are gone, but the Pyramids’ mystery and majesty continue to amaze and astound us.

Built four thousand five hundred years ago, these pyramids are still the largest man-made structures in the world. Today the great pyramids of Giza stand as a memorial to the glorious civilization of the Pharaohs 45 centuries ago. 

They are the most famous, most visited, and most photographed structures on earth. The Giza Pyramids are considered the greatest of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and they’re the only ones still standing. Rising mysteriously and majestically above the desert sand, the Giza pyramids continue to amaze and confound us.

Now, the largest of the three Giza pyramids is the pyramid of Cheops, often called the Great Pyramid. It weighs more than 5 million tonnes and covers the equivalent of 10 football fields. It’s hard to grasp just how enormous it actually is.

In its base area of 5 hectares or 13 acres, there is enough room to contain the Hagia Sophia Mosque in Turkey, the Taj Mahal of India, and the Roman Colosseum of Italy. But that’s not all. You could also fit in Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris, Westminster Abbey of London, and for good measure you could also throw in the Sydney Opera House! 

The Great Pyramid contains over two and a half million limestone blocks, each weighing an average two and half tonnes, and measuring about a metre in each direction. But even more astonishing than the size of the Great Pyramid, is the accuracy of its construction. 

These massive stones are cut and fitted so accurately that a sheet of paper can’t be inserted in the joints between them. It embodies amazing architectural skills and is a marvel of precise engineering. We could barely match these skills today! 

INSIDE THE GREAT PYRAMID

Now, why all this huge effort to build these great pyramids? Well, let’s go inside and see if we can find out. The entrance is on the north side of the pyramid. This passage was cut by tomb-robbers and leads us into the centre of the great pyramid.

We climb down this corridor for about 30 m and then ascend for a further 40 metres, 

and it leads to the grand gallery. This is an awesome sight and an architectural masterpiece. This great chamber is about 50 meters long and 10 metres high.

Beyond the grand gallery a narrow passageway leads to the burial chamber. Here we find the king’s huge empty granite sarcophagus. 

You see, the ancient Egyptians regarded their pharaoh as a living god and they went to extreme lengths to ensure that his body was preserved after he died, and that he was buried in a tomb that would last for eternity – and that’s why they built the pyramids.

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

The enormous size and geometrical precision of these pyramids has aroused endless speculation and theories as to their design and origin. Somehow, 46 centuries ago, more than 6 million limestone blocks were piled up to 40 storeys high to build the three royal tombs of the pharaohs.

Incredibly, the entire construction was completed in less than 70 years. Without modern technology, workers lifted blocks weighing an average of two and half tonnes – with the largest blocks weighing 15 tonnes apiece – and put them in place at a rate of one about every 2 minutes.

How did they accomplish this monumental task? How did they lift these huge stones – weighing as much as 15 tones – 40 storeys high? And how did they perfect the pyramid design? Well these are the secrets of the pharaohs – secrets that have remained hidden for thousands of years.

But now archaeologists are uncovering evidence that’s shedding light on these ancient secrets. Many archaeologists now believe that new evidence shows that the ancient Egyptians used ramps that spiraled up the sides of the unfinished pyramid to move the stone blocks up to the top.

Recent discoveries seem to support this idea. For centuries a popular myth held that the stone for the pyramids came from a far-away quarry. But now the source of the stone has been found to be a quarry just 300 metres from the base of the Great Pyramid.

Generations missed this quarry because it was filled with strange debris. Now it seems that his strange rubble is all that’s left of the pyramid construction ramps. When the workers completed the pyramid, they tore down the ramps and dumped the remains in the quarry.

So, slowly but surely, the secrets of the Pharaohs are being unlocked as archaeologists piece together the clues that explain the construction of the pyramids. For example, now the design development of these awesome pyramid-tombs can traced and it’s fascinating to follow the stages of progression.

TOMB DEVELOPMENT

The first pharaohs were buried in flat tombs called mastabas. Now, early mastabas were built of mud-brick, but later they were built of stone. Below ground these mastaba-tombs were built like houses with separate chambers for possessions. The mastaba is the basic form, from which all the pyramids in Egypt grew.

A genius named Imhotep took the first decisive step in pyramid construction. He was the Prime Minister to Pharaoh Zozer and was a brilliant architect. When building his master’s mastaba-tomb he used stone instead of mud-brick.

He then placed five stepped tiers on top of this mastaba to create the world’s first sky-scraper – the magnificent Step Pyramid at Saqqara. And so, the first pyramid was born. The Egyptians firm belief in an afterlife was the fundamental driving force that led to the piling up of stone on such a monumental scale.

It embodies six giant stone ‘steps’ by which the king could ascend to the heavens after death. The Step Pyramid is the oldest stone monument in the world and ushered in the age of pyramid building. It’s the prototype of all later pyramids.

The next step in the development in pyramid construction took place at Meidum, some 60 kms south of the Step Pyramid.

Here at Meidum the builders attempted to make the first true pyramid. A tomb of 8 steps was erected and then they filled in the steps to convert it to a pyramid with smooth sides. However the attempt ended in disaster. It came down with a bang in a huge avalanche of stone.

Due to structural weaknesses caused by the serious design faults of the overambitious architect, it collapsed when the building was nearly finished, in one great instantaneous catastrophe. Today, Meidum Pyramid stands surrounded by a mound of 250,000 tons of limestone formed by the debris of its own destruction.

Now the collapse of the pyramid at Meidum served as a warning for the construction of another pyramid that Pharaoh Snefru had underway – the Bent Pyramid at Dashur. In order to prevent a repetition of the disaster at Meidum, this pyramid was given an odd shape.

It slopes upward from its base at an angle of 54 degrees, similar to the one at Meidum. Then it suddenly changes to a 43 degree incline, giving it a bent appearance. Apparently the first angle of inclination was too steep. Snefru’s architect feared that the pyramid would collapse like the one at Meidum unless the angle was changed.

So he immediately changed the angle of the construction and designed the top half of the pyramid at a shallow angle to prevent the weight of the pyramid from causing it to buckle and collapse.

Pharaoh Snefru was too great a king to accept burial in a bent pyramid. He considered it defective and unsafe and so [he] ordered another pyramid built nearby – called the Red Pyramid.

THE GREAT PYRAMID

As can be seen, the architect was still playing safe and constructed the pyramid at a very shallow angle of 43 degrees. The Red Pyramid of Snefru at Dashur was the first true pyramid, and the way was now clear for his son and successor, Pharaoh Cheops, to build the Great Pyramid at Giza – the largest structures ever built.

So we now know that the ancient Egyptians developed the design and construction techniques through painful trial and error. The clues are being pieced together by archaeologists who are slowly unravelling the secrets of the Pharaohs.

So far, these clues indicate that the pyramids were built by thousands of workers and skilled craftsmen during the slack season – the three or four months of late summer, when the yearly Nile flood made farming impossible.

The limestone was brought from Tura, about 10 kms away, and the granite from nearby quarries. Quarrymen used mallets of ultra-hard dolerite to chip slots in the rock into which they inserted wedges of wood. Soaked with water, the wood expanded until the block of rock split off.

Stone masons then used copper saws and chisels to shape each chunk of quarried rock into a pyramid building block. They were levered on to wooden sleds and hauled by gangs of workers over log rollers to the construction site.

There the finishing touches were added, and the blocks were then ready to be hauled up the ramps and maneuvered into their final position. The ramps eventually reached to the very top of the pyramid.

Once the structure’s sandstone or gold cap was in place, the masons worked their way down again, finishing the pyramid in its limestone veneer and dismantling the ramps as they went. The ancient Egyptians were skilled craftsmen and brilliant engineers.

CHILLING BIBLE PREDICTIONS

These pyramids are astounding feats of engineering. But even more astounding are a series of chilling predictions made about ancient Egypt, its pharaohs, its economy, and its capital city – predictions that have been fulfilled with an uncanny accuracy. Let’s investigate a few of them together.

Hidden in the cliffs behind Hatshepsut’s Mortuary Temple lies the fabled Valley of the Kings. Forty-nine pharaohs were buried in secret chambers hidden in this arid and desolate valley – a reminder that Egypt had the longest line of kings of any nation on earth.

For over 2000 years Egyptian princes had reigned supreme and had been buried here in the Valley of the Kings. And while Egypt was a mighty power and these kings sat on the throne, along came a little Bible prophet by the name of Ezekiel and he made an amazing prediction. Here it is in Ezekiel 30:13:

“There shall no longer be princes from the land of Egypt.”

And you know, although it may seem too incredible to believe, it’s simply a cold fact of history that from 350 BC right down until today, the land of the Pharaohs has never had an Egyptian prince. An Egyptian king has not sat on the throne of Egypt.

They have had Persians, Greeks, Romans, Turks, French and British overlords, but never an Egyptian prince.

In my travels I have visited many interesting places and investigated many strange and wonderful things, and I’ve investigated some of the Bible’s predictions about ancient Egypt, and I’ve found that not only is the Bible historically accurate but amazingly, its predictions about the future come true. They’ve been fulfilled in every detail.

Here’s another one of these amazing Bible prophecies. When these mighty Pharaoh’s ruled the world, much of Egypt’s wealth came from exporting paper to the world. The Egyptians were the very first people in the world to make paper, and they made it from the papyrus plant.

These Papyrus reeds grew in abundance along the banks of the Nile River. There were millions of them. The ancient Egyptians harvested the Papyrus reeds and developed a simple process of turning them into paper.

After harvesting the plant, they peeled away the outer fibres and sliced the stalk into thin strips. They then placed the strips side by side and a second layer on top in an overlapping grid pattern. The strips were then placed between layers of cloth and pounded with a wooden mallet before being placed under a heavy slab to dry.

This paper brought great wealth to the Egyptians. It was cheap and easy to make. And they had an abundant, seemingly never-ending source of papyrus reeds. But today the Papyrus reeds are gone. It’s amazing, but the banks of the Nile are clean, totally free of the Papyrus reed.

Why has the paper reed disappeared? Well, thousands of years ago, when Egypt was at the height of her power, and when the Papyrus reeds grew prolifically along the Nile, here’s what the Bible prophet Isaiah predicted in Isaiah 19:7:

“The Papyrus reeds by the river will wither, be driven away and be no more.” 

And that’s exactly what happened. From one end of Egypt to the other, the Nile is completely free of papyrus reeds. There are many predictions like this in the Bible. I’m amazed at how accurately they’ve all been fulfilled. It’s uncanny.

The wonders of ancient Egypt are everywhere in this land – and so is the evidence of Bible prophecy. Consider, for example, the great city of ancient Memphis.

During the time when the Pharaohs ruled the world and the great pyramids were built, Memphis was the religious and political capital of Egypt. It was one of the most famous and spectacular cities of the ancient world – studded with gleaming stone temples and palaces. This fabulous city was the capital of the empire for thousands of years.

However today all the grandeur of Memphis is gone. The statues and idols have either been smashed and broken, or they’ve disappeared. They’re all gone, or boken. It’s a barren and desolate place. What happened to this once-great city?

Well, I’m going to read you another remarkable Bible prophecy. Back in the days when Memphis was a great city and seemed almost indestructible, the Bible prophet Ezekiel made an amazing prediction about it. You can read it in Ezekiel 30:13:

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will destroy the idols and put an end to the images of Memphis.”

This Bible prophecy has been fulfilled in every detail. The desolation of Memphis is unique. Other large Egyptian cities have been destroyed but their statues and idols are still there. You’ll find that at Karnak. The statues are still upright in all their glory.

The same is true at Luxor. The idols are there in broad daylight. At Abu Simbel it’s the same – the city has gone, but the great statues have been discovered and re-erected.

But not so at Memphis. All that remain are a few broken idols. Just as the Bible predicted, the images and idols of Memphis have been destroyed.

Now, I’d like to show you one more Bible prophecy about Egypt. This is possibly the most amazing of them all because it covers the most history in this land. When Egypt was at the height of its power and ruled over the nations, here’s what the Bible predicted in Ezekiel 29:15:

“(Egypt) will never again exalt itself above the other nations… never again rule over the nations.” 

That was some prediction to make! Remember that at this time, Egypt had been a great world power for centuries. It was a true superpower. It did indeed exalt itself above other nations; it did indeed rule over many.

THE EMPIRE NO MORE

The great pharaohs, immortalized in stone, were part of an Empire that no one would have seen fading, or would have seen diminishing in power. But believe it or not, just like the Bible predicted, several decades after this prophecy was made, Egypt was under foreign domination.

First the Persian empire ruled over the Egyptians. Then they were swallowed up by the Greek and Roman empires. The Ottoman Turks would occupy the seat of power these pharaohs had held for so long. Much later, European countries would wield power in this land.

Yes, Egypt would never rule over other nations again – just as the Bible predicted. It’s incredible how these amazing Bible prophecies have all been fulfilled. They are so diverse and cover such a varied list of subjects – and yet they are fulfilled in every minute detail – they are right every time.

Just consider these amazing predictions: The long line of Egyptian Princes is going to…  just stop. The papyrus reed is going to inexplicably disappear. The idols of Memphis will be smashed into pieces. Egypt will no longer rule over the nations. Each prophecy, each prediction, has been accurately fulfilled. The Bible was right on each occasion.

As we travel through the wonderful land of Egypt, as we explore its magnificent monuments, and investigate its long history, we discover that not only is the Bible historically accurate and reliable, but its prophecies and predictions are remarkably fulfilled.

Yes, a journey through Egypt demonstrates that we can trust the Bible. It’s accurate, it’s reliable, and its prophecies come true. In fact, the Bible has an uncanny ability to predict the future. The Bible’s prophecies have proved 100 percent accurate over thousands of years – evidence of a Higher Power, evidence of the Divine.

At times, the future can seem uncertain to us, but I guarantee you, there is one thing that makes the future very certain, very clear, and very full of hope – and that’s God’s Word, the Bible.

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CLOSING PRAYER

If you’ve enjoyed today’s journey to Egypt, and our reflections on the amazing prophecies of the Bible, and the hope that it brings, then be sure to join us again next week when we will share another of life’s journeys together. Until then let’s ask the God of the Bible who knows and controls the future, to guide and direct our lives.  Let’s pray.

Father in Heaven, thank you for Your Word – the Bible. We’ve seen evidence that it is reliable, and trustworthy. We’ve seen that it’s amazing predictions are accurately fulfilled. The Bible contains a special message for each one of us – a message that can change our lives and give us hope for the future. Please encourage us to read the Bible and discover your plan for our lives and for our planet. And please guide our lives. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.