Petra: The Lost City (Christian Documentary)

well this is the last of our series of programs sort of seems a pity it all has to end doesn't it because this has been more than just the presentation of history and geography it's really the presentation of a message a message which I believe I believe the Bible I believe it's message and now we come to the last of the programs and maybe it's the best it's the story of Petra the rose-red city half as old as time two thousand years ago Petra was a fabulously wealthy city and people everywhere knew about Petra it boasted of its independence and prosperity but all this came to the ears of the Romans who were interested in wealth and in the Year 106 AD Roman legions fought their way into the valley and conquered and occupied Petra they built a beautiful road right through the centre of the city and the Emperor Trajan had a gateway erected to commemorate the victory and under Rome Petra prospered but as the centuries rolled by the camel caravans that used to plod their way from Arabia to Jerusalem and Damascus found an alternate route by the Mediterranean and bypassed Petra and as the result Petra's prosperity waned its population drifted away until finally about 800 years ago the valley lapsed into silence and was deserted nobody knew where it was scholars knew about Petra but they didn't know where it was and it was not until the Year 1812 that the Swiss ex clora John Berkut stumbled across these amazing ruins and came out to tell him astonished world of what he had seen the lost city of Petra had been found [Music] beautiful view from up here the oleanders are blooming all through the valley and I'm up on the obelisk tomb it's called noblest tomb because of the four obelisks that are on top of it but they're not really obelisks at all their fertility pillars they were part of the old Edomite type of worship and Nabataean worship and they're the sort of thing that was forbidden in the Old Testament the they called met Sabbath in Hebrew and they were not supposed to worship these things and so the instruction was to destroy them but actually it's a tomb down below is the place where triclinium where they had a funeral feast and up here are the actual funeral vaults where the bodies were buried so this is called the obelisk tomb [Music] we are entering the ravine or seekers that is called in Arabic which leads into the petrol Valley and it was into this valley that John Burke at the Swiss Explorer came in 1812 Burkhart was actually on his way to Africa he'd been employed by the African Explorer exploration society and they had advised him first of all to go to Syria and learn the Arabic language become familiar with the Islamic religion before he went on to Africa so he did that and when he set out on his way to Africa from Syria he passed along this way now he heard about this valley and so he decided to turn the sides on the pretext that as a Muslim which he pretended to be he was going to offer a goat sacrifice a goat to Aaron's tomb Aaron's tomb is up on top of Mount hor and this was a sacred place for Arabs and so he decided to make this as a pretext but when he got him to the valley and saw inside it was just absolutely overwrought and he realized he must have found Petra and apparently his Arab guide got suspicious and threatened to kill him so he hastily sacrificed his goat then came out to tell an astonished world that he had found the lost city of Petra the walls of this ravine are anything up to 100 meters in height just about meet overhead so it is a very easy place for the defending army to defend against just a few men against now and a whole army [Music] [Music] [Music] this is rather quite concept that the Nabataeans had well it's quite to our Western Way of thinking anyway very natural to them what the they've called God houses solid stones their principal deity was a deity by the name of Duchscherer and they had these God houses they're solid you know you're knock on the door and there's nobody going to open because it's solid inside you see they figured that God was a spirit God could go through stone so why go to the trouble of hollowing out the thing so this is one of their God houses with Malta in front of it well you can imagine how Burkhart felt when he got to the end of the seek and this magnificent view burst on his gaze he must have been overwhelmed and you can understand how he betrayed his feelings and this of course also throws some light on a Bible prophecy there's a special book in the Bible that's entirely devoted to Petra you know the book of Obadiah it starts off by saying the vision of Obadiah thus says the Lord God concerning Edom you who dwell in the clefts of the rock whose habitation is high well you can see why it says the clefts of the rock can't you can you see that Arab man lying down there having sleep in the Sun well that will give you some idea of the perspective the immensity of this huge building well we call it a building actually it's cut out of the stone that's a remarkable thing about Petra you see they didn't build things one on top of the other they just simply started and at the top and began to work down and cut these things out of the solid face of the mountain and what worries me is just suppose somebody makes a mistake I mean if you're using stones or bricks you just throw it away use another one but if you make a mistake here you've had it and so it's remarkable that they could make such fantastic structures just simply cutting them out of the stone now this place is called el khazneh in arabic which means the treasury it is called that because up at the top there is a sort of an urn and the Arabs used to think that it was full of beautiful treasures and they took potshots with their rifles and held out their hands underneath hoping that the that split open and all these fabulous treasures would pour down into their hands or it never did of course the reason that it's called the Treasury is because of that but the question is is it a tomb or is it a temple opinion is divided on this I personally think it is a temple because inside there are niches where I think that the deities could have been installed you know images well whatever it was it is a fantastic piece of architecture and workmanship well really ladies who wouldn't you like this for you front door wait just one of these beautiful colors here and you've got all again there's growing in your front garden you see they even carved their houses out of the solid cliff face must have been beautiful well this house is rather badly weathered as you can see but what a beauty it was look I'm sitting in somebody's window here how about that for a window and over there is one of the other rooms and look at the ceiling value I mean you'd pay a million dollars to get a ceiling painted like that here it is just natural it just comes naturally [Music] the early inhabitants of petrol were the who of course were descended from Edom which is another name for Esau you know the story of Jacob and Esau the twins had a bit of friction between them and Jacob had to go off to Bethel and so on and later on Esau came down here and his descendents occupied this area and they found it naturally a very suitable place very easily defended not only because of the seek which could be easily defended but right up on the hill behind me up there is what is known as Selah now sealer is the Hebrew word for rock very big rock and you can see it is a really big rock it's fat on top and it has some systems up there in fact the Arabs today call it or Melba ara the place of systems and so as a last resort they were able to retire up there and obviously it would be very hard to dislodge them that's why the Bible spoke about the as you who live as an eagle you know up in the nests so it is very high however it was conquered by the Israelites under King David Joab the army captain came down here and conquered it and killed most of the males actually and then later on in the days of King Amaziah of Judah we have the record in 2nd chronicles and in chapter 25 and verse 12 and the children of Judah took captive another 10,000 alive brought them to the top of the rock and cast them down from the top of the rock so that they're all dashed in pieces or I can tell you it's a long way down I've been up there look down you wouldn't want to go down there and this is what happened during the days of Amaziah however as time went by the became very arrogant and in particular they allied with the Babylonians and they were very vindictive against the Israelites and so it was that we have the record in the book of Obadiah the prophet who spoke against petra verse 10 for your violence against your brother jacob shame shall cover you you shall be cut off forever in the day that strangers carried captive his forces when foreigners entered his gates you were as one of them it was very malicious on their part in fact it tells us over here in the Book of Psalms just what they said as they United with the Babylonian Psalm 137 remember O Lord against the sons of Edom the day of Jerusalem who said raise it raise it to it's very foundation they egg the Babylonians on to completely destroy Jerusalem and so Jeremiah came up with the prophecy in chapter 49 against Edom thus says the Lord of Hosts I have made Esau bare I have uncovered his secret places just have a look round will you there's just absolutely nothing left here it's as bare as anything o you who dwell in the clefts of the rock who hold the height of the hill though you make your nest as high as the Eagle I will bring you down from there says the Lord Edom shall be an astonishment everyone who goes by it will be astonished and you just got to come here and listen to the exclamations that people make tourists make they're just absolutely astonished at what they see no one shall abide there well these prophesies often take a long time and fulfillment in fact it almost seemed as if it wasn't going to happen but it did in the 4th century BC a people by the name of the Nabataeans came to Petra and squeezed the out and we're on the way up to the most spectacular edifice that is attributed to them and that's a place called el de Aire on the way of course we pass these beautiful walls you'd think that there are murals wouldn't you only they're too good for that well the Nabataeans are actually descended from a character by the name of the Biot who was descended from Ishmael Abraham's son and they push the out they occupied this place and so the period of the Nabataeans begins you this is the Nabataean sacrificial high place you know the Bible says whenever Israel apostatized they offered sacrifices on every high hill and under every Green Tree it seems to been a sort of a system they had back there there's been a lot of fantasizing about this some people imagine that there were animals human sacrifices offered here well there's no inscriptional evidence to support such an idea and from the size of this slab I would say it's quite obvious it's just meant for animal sacrifices so this apparently is where animals were sacrificed and no doubt their blood was taken up here to the place where ablutions were made and where sacrifices were poured out you know the blood the water holy water poured out on here and it ran down here through this little drain here [Music] you [Music] well as you can see I made it to the top and what a fantastic thing this is just look at it will you cut out of the solid face of the mountain and so beautifully done so symmetrical and it's a masterpiece of stop Turing for many years stories of Petra's fabulous wealth must have reached Roman ears but it was not until the Year 106 AD that Roman armies finally marching to Petra conquered it and established the Roman Way of life here behind me as a victory gateway which they built to commemorate the event they ran a paved road right through Petra and built this beautiful colonnade there were shops here and so from then on you have the Roman way of life here and here is a theatre that was used in Roman times you know this could hold 30,000 spectators so a lot of people living here and you can see when they cut it it carved through some of the tombs and left gaping holes there well somebody could get a good view from up there the tomb that you see up here on the left is thought to represent the facade of a Roman Palace actually this whole group of tombs is a Roman style adopted during the Roman period by the Nabataeans the one away over there on the right do you see the one with the arches well that's rather interesting if you're taking close look at it early in the Christian era Christianity came to Petra and this place was converted into a vast Cathedral and what a place to worship [Music] in the 7th century a/b Islam came here but then the trade routes began to alter it caravans no longer threaded their way through Petra and the city began to die people drifted away and by the Year 1200 AD the last record we have is that the Crusaders building a small fortress on a hill and then the valley lapsed into silence and there were only the occasional nomads weaving their way around the valley [Music] do you realize that what happened to Petra is a symbol of what is going to happen to the whole world let's turn back to the prophet of Petra over died and in his little book talking about Petra he finishes up by saying this verse 15 for the day of the Lord is upon all the nations and it is near and they shall be as though they had never been so you see it's not just a case of what was going to happen to Petra Obadiah was given a message concerning the entire world at the end of time and this of course is consistent with what the other prophecies say for instance in 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 and in verse 16 the great Apostle Paul says for the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air what a great day that'll be all the good people who are ready to meet the Lord they'll be raised from the dead and they'll be swept up from this world with those who are ready who are living to meet Christ in the air they'll be forever with the Lord okay well now what about those who are not ready in Luke chapter 17 and in verse 28 it says likewise as it was also in the days of lot they ate they drank they bought they sold they planted they built but on the day that lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed and so the same things going to happen all those who are not ready will be destroyed now let me ask you a question if all the good people go to heaven and all the rest are destroyed tell me how many people are going to be left alive in this world to answer that question I turn to a very interesting prophecy in Revelation chapter 20 verse 1 where it says then I saw an angel coming down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand he laid hold of the dragon that serpent of old who is the devil and Satan and bound him for a thousand years now apparently what John saw in vision was one of these big water systems that we've seen around the Middle East you know with a big stone on its mouth and this angel grabbed the devil threw him into this pit John couldn't see any bottom to it so he called it a bottomless pit and then he put the stone on top of it sealed it up and he was kept there for a thousand years now it's quite apparent that this symbolizes the condition of the world during the thousand years this world is going to be desolate it's going to be uninhabited it's going to be just bare like this piece of Petra that we have behind us here well just look at that absolutely desolate and that's the way the world's going to be for a thousand years how come well when Christ returns this world is just going to be devastated the Bible tells us that mountains are going to come crashing down into the plains inhabited cities and just going to crumble these proud buildings that are in the world today they're just going to topple down the inhabited islands again we're sick beneath the foaming billows of the sea everything is just going to be turned upside down and in as much as all God's people have been taken up there to heaven God's dwelling place very real place wonderful place and all those who are lost are going to be dead that's just going to be nobody nothing left in this world for a thousand years and the devil is going to have to join the ranks of the unemployed he'll be out of a job nobody's attempt nobody to annoy no trouble to do and so he's just going to be engaged a lot of bickering and arguing with all these fallen angels for a thousand years serve him right well what happens then it says in Revelation 20 and in verse 7 now when the thousand years have expired Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth Gog and Magog to gather them together to battle whose number is as the sand of the sea now here's lots of people where do they come from I think the answer is in verse 5 where it says the rest of the Dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished so at the end of the thousand years apparently the wicked people are going to be raised from the dead and the devil is going to be in a job again here all these people to deceive and it goes out and says look let's get going we've got something to gain here it says verse 9 they went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the Saints and the beloved City Oh where did this beloved City come from it tells us in Revelation 21 verse 2 then I John saw the holy city New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God at the end of this thousand years God's people inside this beautiful wonderful city come floating down and it settles on this earth and so the devil goes out and he says look we ought to be inside there where the rightful owners of this world come on let's go up and attack it we're the more of us than there are of them futile of course because you're up against God but that's what he does it says however and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them and the devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone just as the world was deluged with water in the days of Noah came pouring down out of the sky and turned this whole world into a vast lake of water so at the end of the thousand years fire is going to come down pouring out of the sky and it's going to turn this whole world into a vast lake of fire and it says in verse 13 14 sorry then death and Hades that's the grave were cast into the lake of fire this is the second death now nobody's going to enjoy dying I've told you you don't need to be afraid of death if you're ready for it but nobody's kind of enjoy dying who wants to die a second time and yet here are people who have rejected Christ who have rebelled against his laws and government and they're going to die a second time in this lake of fire now this lake of fire is the only Hellfire the Bible talks about people don't go as soon as they're die and get burned and frazzled for millions of years that's not the way God deals with people and the Bible doesn't teach that this is Hellfire this is the lake of fire and it does its work completely it completely burns them up so that they'll be finally destroyed the devil all these wicked angels and all these followers are going to be completely devoured in this lake of fire well when those fires have finished their deadly work and cleared away when the tragedy of sin is forever ended God is going to make a beautiful new world a lovely new world just like it was in the Garden of Eden and he preps even better it tells us here in the second book of Peter chapter three and in verse 10 but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat looking for and hasting the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be dissolved being on fire and the elements will melt with fervent heat nevertheless we according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth I think we could do with a new heavens and a new earth down to you a beautiful new earth where nothing ever goes wrong but then Peter asks a very significant question he says this therefore since all these things will be dissolved what manner of persons ought you to be how do you like that question what men are of persons want you to be you know I hope you've enjoyed these programs we've presented to you you've seen me a lot on these programs I've never met you but I feel as I've been talking to you and I want to meet you I'd like to meet you in that wonderful Kingdom you know there's something we should consider and that is at the end of that thousand years all humanity is going to be alive together at one place only some will be inside God's city and the others will be outside I sure want you to be inside I want to meet you me won't you promise me please promise me that you will accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and do everything he tells you to do so that we can meet together at Jesus feet [Music] you

Channel: Healthy Lifestyle Choices

Views: 54,273

Keywords: David Down, Petra

Id: eb2qilMRYqQ

Length: 30min 3sec (1803 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 28 2012