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	EXCAVATIONS THAT SHOW GOD'S LOVE FOR YOU by Rita Bennett Last fall I spent thirty-two days in Israel, my second trip to this awesome land. Prior to that I was in Ethiopia on an eight-day mission trip which I told about in my last newsletter. I want to share with you about one of my most exciting discoveries made when I was in Jerusalem. It was a hot, dry, beautiful day and the van I was riding in was dropping people off at different places for an afternoon of sightseeing. Rita looking down into the hole where Jesus entered prison One of my new friends, Betty, a lady pastor had told me, "Don't miss seeing the church, Saint Peter In Gallicantu." I had never heard about this church before nor why it was important to visit. Taking her advice, they dropped me off at the church and I was by myself. I felt rather brave doing this alone but at the same time felt it was the right thing to do. Ahead of me was a little building with a man waiting to sell me a ticket. We talked about the fact that hardly anyone was visiting due to the suicide bombings and other kinds of warfare taking place in Israel at that time. His comments about so few tourists made me doubly glad that I had taken the time to come. First I went into the gift shop to ask questions and try to get my bearings. The sister was very gracious and gave me directions to the church. The sun beat upon my back as I walked down the attractive walkway to the several- story- high building created from golden Jerusalem stone. I walked inside and saw pews to sit on, and kneelers placed in front of pictures of saints of ancient times. Here people could take time to meditate and sense the presence of God. There were holy pictures all around the circular room. I sat and took in the scene, knelt and prayed at several locations, and took some pictures. Eager to see what else lay ahead of me, I felt compelled to move on. The sign at the top of the stairs intrigued me: One Way Crypt, Blessed Sacrament Chapel. Courtyard and Holy Stairs. Sacred Pit (Dungeon). What interested me most was the Sacred Pit. Who had been in this Dungeon? I hurried down the staircase, my feet echoing in the seemingly empty building. I was happy to see one more soul was here. The room was larger than the one on the floor above. There were more pictures of Saints and of Jesus, a glass covered display that looked important, and there were also stairs leading up to a chapel. My first decision was to go to the chapel area to pray, taking the opportunity while I was alone to seek the Lord. Light streamed through the windows and time seemed unimportant as I knelt to pray for needs that came to mind. I especially remembered my family, staff, the needs of the people in Israel, and the Jewish leaders who had allowed these holy places to be preserved. Looking up into the hole where Jesus was lowered into the Sacred Pit (Dungeon) by a rope before his death One thing I noticed while I sat in the silence was that a rooster crowed every once in a while. I thought of the day Peter had denied knowing Jesus. I wondered if this church, named after Peter and his encounter with the Lord, had for effect played a recording of a rooster as a reminder to the visitors to Saint Peter In Gallicantu! This combination would easily lead a pilgrim to search his soul. I found out later that the church was located on a hill in an Arab district of Jerusalem where the people raised their own chickens! It was coincidental that the two experiences came together in the chapel. St. Peter and our Lord would have smiled at this too, or maybe they were smiling in Heaven right then! I remembered times in my youth where I had denied the Lord in various ways: by not living the life, by not standing up for Him, or by not voting with my feet when my faith was compromised. I had previously repented for those sins. Fortunately I could remember many times since being empowered with the Holy Spirit at age twenty-six where I had taken a stand for and with my Lord. I stopped my reminiscing, looked at my watch and I realized I'd better move along. Sign showing Peter and Paul's incarceration in Rome I walked down the stairs to the glass display and looked into the clear glass which covered a large piece of rock in which a man-sized hole had been carved. It shocked me because it took me back to the Mamertine Prison in Rome, Italy where Saint Paul and Saint Peter had been incarcerated in prison. There I learned that prisons 2000 years ago were dungeons where a prisoner was lowered into his prison by a rope being tied around his waist! There were no windows for light, and no fresh air. There was no television, exercise rooms, bathroom facilities, or hot and cold running water as in our prisons today! As I concluded my visit to the Mamertine Prison in 1998, I prayerfully sat in wonder at how the saints that went before us had suffered so much to bring us their faithful witness unto death. I had been moved to tears and sat there for awhile giving thanks for them.   JESUS IN A PIT IN JERUSALEM Now here in Jerusalem for the first time I was seeing the place where Jesus Christ our Messiah had also been put into a dungeon or pit on the evening before His crucifixion. He had already done so much for me before knowing this that it added to my deep love for Him. The authenticity of the place hit me strongly. I took some pictures and hurried down another flight of stairs into the dungeon area. I had no brochure but on the walls were messages to teach a pilgrim where he was located and other details. On-site diagram near the Water Cistern Dungeon where Christ spent His last night on earth before His crucifixion. Here in solitary confinement He prayed for us all This dungeon was very deep and even more so years before. I walked down the stairs that had been built after the church ruins discovery in 1889 into this small location. I guessed it was about 10 by 14 feet and 9 feet high. During many of the wars over Jerusalem, many holy places had been razed and then rediscovered years later. This has gone on consistently in Jerusalem. Again the size of the room reminded me of the prison in Rome that I measured by walking around the room estimating 14 by 18 feet on the lower level and 14 by 16 on the upper level. This dungeon pit in Jerusalem was, I believe, originally a water cistern made into a dungeon holding place. A place of solitary confinement. How moving it was to actually be where our Lord Jesus had spent His last night on earth! He had been in great physical pain from His beatings as well as emotional pain. There He prayed for us all. The Psalmist David's words seem prophetic for Jesus. "The proud have digged pits for me, which are not after Thy law (Torah). All thy commandments are faithful; they persecute me wrongfully; help thou me" (Ps. 119:85,86 KJV mod). I can imagine Jesus praying this prayer "The proud have digged pits for me." This pit was the local prison of its time. This one stood alone. In another section only 15 or 20 yards away were a number of underground caves used for prison cells located one after another. When I walked into this underground area later, I could not see any manholes for the original entrance but this whole area had been lower years before and it had to be shored up by a cement covering to support the large church building above it. Jesus was held overnight until His crucifixion in Jerusalem The scripture that was show under the diagrams on the wall was from Psalm 88. "Let my prayer come before You, incline Your ear to my cry; For my soul is full of troubles; and my life draws near to the grave. I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that has no strength: Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom You remember no more: and they are cut off from Your hand. You have laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Your wrath lies hard upon me, and You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah." (Psalms 88:2-7 KJV mod). As with all Jewish children, young Yeshua, as He was called then, would have memorized the Psalms. Even today the Jewish people gather around the Wall (HaKotel) with their book of Psalms (Tehillim) reading and praying. The words that hit me from Psalm 88 are verses 6 and 7, "You have laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Your wrath lies hard upon Me, and You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah" (KJV). The Jewish Tehillim says, "You placed me in the lowest of pits, upon me weighed down Your wrath, and [with] all Your crashing waves You have afflicted [me]. Selah." Rome, Italy where Paul entered his final prison (dungeon) Yes Jesus was laid in a deep pit dug by man. It must have been very dark and lonely as He laid there on the cold stone floor after being beaten at Caiaphas's house, in close proximity to this prison. His prayers must have echoed through the cavernous rocks. He was bleeding, bruised and alone. But He came to earth for this purpose to "give His life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28). "He poured out His soul unto death:" prophesied Isaiah, "and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bore the sin of many . . ." (Isaiah 53:12 KJV mod). CHRIST RESCUED ME The older I get, the more I realize what a horrible pit I had been in when I was under the world's influence in my young adult years. People are living in the pits satan and the world have dug for them, and they don't know how to get out. Jesus does not see us in the pit and then simply yell instructions down to us about how to get out by ourselves. Instead He climbs down into the pit to get us. He gives us mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, great drafts of living Water and life sustaining bread of life, then personally carries us out. After the rescue, He doesn't leave us on our own but cares for us, and places us with His children so that we learn the right way to live. Then we are ready to help others who are also literally in their own pits. KING DAVID IN A PIT The Psalmist David says, "I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings" (Ps. 40:1,2 KJV mod). Paul was lowered through the roof into this prison in Rome David did not realize that he was in a pit. To get him out God sent the prophet Nathan to reveal David's sins so he would repent and could become a great leader to the Jewish people and to us all throughout history. (2 Sam.12:1-23) RIGHTEOUS JOSEPH IN A PIT Righteous Joseph was thrown into a dry well made into a pit for him, where he was left to die. It's even more painful when our own flesh and blood, or our own spiritual brothers and sisters, throw us into a pit. The next dungeon was a prison where he remained for years until God made an escape for him. But if we too live a righteous life, God may also raise us up to be leaders that our Lord can count on. Joseph was raised up next to the highest position of the Pharaoh of Egypt. In time he was able to save his own brothers who had tried to kill him. Joseph was then able to keep his family from starving to death. It especially hurts to be thrown into a pit by your own physical family, or spiritual family. But don't faint. Forgive, and move ahead so God can bring you out with greater victory than before. In this springtime holy season, let's remember the pits we have escaped from. Some from our own sins, and others we've been thrown into by our own brethren. It's so important that Jesus went before you into these kinds of dungeons. Especially the one from where He died for you and broke the power of death at His Resurrection.