As mentioned previously, Kim and I had an opportunity to take a Mediterranean cruise to see some of the lands mentioned in the Bible, namely in the countries of Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus. While there, we were able to see the locations of three of the sites of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
At Ephesus, we were able to see the city proper, the amphitheater mentioned in Acts 19, and the library of Celsus. Around the corner was the temple of Diana (Artemis). The temple would have looked much like the Parthenon but on a much grander scale.
In Antipater of Sidon’s list of the world’s seven wonders he wrote, “I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, “Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand”.
Today only one column remains of the temple of Diana. The column itself had to be reconstructed just so people would know its location.
At Bodrum, Türkiye, we saw the location of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. Mausolus was a king whose wife erected a great mausoleum to his memory. The building was said to have been made of marble and stood 140 feet tall. The building was decorated in animal figures and depictions of battle. The crown of the structure consisted of twenty-four steps that went up like a pyramid upon which stood a marble chariot complete with riders and pulled by four horses.
Years later the structure was destroyed by a massive earthquake and the stones were repurposed to build a fortress on the banks of the harbor. Today only a pit remains with a few segments of columns laying around. Even the burial tomb of king Mausolus is virtually unrecognizable.
Then we visited the harbor of Rhodes. There in 280 BC the colossus of Rhodes was built. It is said that this massive statue of Helios, the god of fire, and made of iron and bronze, straddled the opening of the harbor. The monument was so great that ships would sail under its legs as they sailed into the port. The statue was said to be over 100 feet tall and rested on a platform that lifted it up another fifty feet. The Colossus served as a monument of a military victory as well as a lighthouse for approaching ships. Today the Colossus is nowhere to be found as only fifty-four years later; it was destroyed by an earthquake. The bronze was taken away and repurposed.
All three of the wonders of the ancient world we saw were either nonexistent or lay in ruins. Yet God has created a kingdom that lasts to this very day. In Daniel 2, the great king Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of a marvelous statue whose head was made of gold, its arms and legs of silver, the thighs of bronze and the legs and feet of iron and clay. Daniel interpreted that dream for him by saying that he was the ruler of the kingdom which represented the head of gold, but that other kingdoms would arise after him: the Medes and Persians, the Greeks and finally the Romans. Daniel told him that during the time of the Roman empire that God would set up a kingdom that would last forever.
Daniel 2:44 says, “And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”
True to God’s word, He set up His kingdom in Acts 2 in what we know as the Church. Paul referred to the church as the kingdom in Colossians 1:13 when he said, “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love…”. Jesus promised that it would come in their life times and it did. Jesus said in Mark 9:1, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.”
While the ancient wonders of the world lay in ruins, today I am a part of a spiritual kingdom that God instituted and Jesus died for over 2,000 years ago. It is a kingdom that no matter how bleak the world might appear will stand the test of time. And it will remain until the Lord returns. You too can be a part of the Lord’s Church, His Kingdom, when you become a New Testament Christian.
If you would like to know more about the salvation that God extends to humanity through His Son Jesus, please let us know.
Roy Knight
