Herod's Palace: Site of Jesus' Sentencing?

By Julie Stahl and John Waage

CBN News Jerusalem Bureau

Thursday, April 02, 2015

JERUSALEM, Israel -- These are busy days in Jerusalem, as the city marks both Pesach (Passover) and Holy Week, leading up to Easter.

Inside the Old City walls, discoveries at Herod's Palace have caught the attention of Jewish and Christian scholars. More than 2,000 years of history are recorded in one building, where Pontius Pilate may have sentenced Jesus.

At the western edge of the Old City, near the Jaffa Gate, the Tower of David stands above the walls.

In 1999, archaeologists found a building while working on the Tower of David Museum. It turned out to be the site of King Herod's Palace. Records on its walls go back to the First Temple period, even before the time of Jesus and the Roman governor who sentenced him to the cross: Pontius Pilate.

For years, experts suggested that Pilate had handed down his death sentence from the Antonia Fortress in the northeastern part of the Old City, where the Roman Praetorian Guard was housed.

But recent evidence uncovered at the site of King Herod's Palace at the Tower of David, indicates that the luxury-loving Pilate was more likely to have pronounced judgment from there.

Israeli archaeologist Amit Re'em directed excavations at Herod's Palace.

"It's only logical to assume that the local Roman government here in Jerusalem -- Pontius Pilate -- sat also in the palace of Herod because he needed all those facilities, all this luxury," Re'em told CBN News.

Re'em is familiar with the long history on the walls of the palace. It includes graffiti scrawled by prisoners held by British authorities, who used it to incarcerate people in the 1940s before their mandate over the region ended.

Pointing to the sides of the cavernous edifice, Re'em said, "Until now, those impressive walls are the only remains from Herod's Palace."

"We do not know what happened to the superstructures, to the palace itself. Maybe it was destroyed in a big revolt, maybe it was destroyed by the Romans, maybe it was destroyed by the Crusaders or the Ottomans," he speculated.

Especially for Christians, the meaning is intensified as the faithful around the world remember the Lord's crucifixion and resurrection.

David Pileggi pastors Christ Church, just a few steps away from the Tower of David Museum. He believes it's almost a foregone conclusion that Jesus would have been brought to Pilate at the palace.

"We don't know exactly where Jesus was tried, where he had his interview before Pilate, but we do know it's somewhere in Herod's palace," Pileggi said.

"We know the palace of Herod the Great eventually became Roman property after Herod's death, and that every year Pontius Pilate would come from Caesaria to Jerusalem here, during the time of the Passover, to oversee the security of the city during the festival that the Jews called the Feast of Jerusalem," he continued.

"And it was at this time, if there was going to be trouble in Jerusalem, it would be during the Passover holiday," he explained.

In a way, according to Pileggi, the Tower of David Museum encompasses the entire life story of Jesus.

"Scholars have been saying for a half a century that the life of Jesus begins at the Tower of David, or what was then Herod's Palace. That's when the Magi [the Wise Men] came to visit King Herod. And his life ends, basically, when Pontius Pilate sentences him to death, pretty much in the same location. So there are some very interesting ironies in this story," Pileggi said.

Pileggi also cautions that Christians shouldn't give in to the notion of feeling sorry for Pilate because of the biblical account that he found Jesus had done nothing wrong.

He described Pilate as a wicked and cruel ruler. Legend from the early Church has it that Pilate was later exiled by the Romans to the south of France, where he committed suicide. Pileggi asserts it would be "poetic justice" if he did.

Israeli archaeologist Renee Sivan was also working at the site when Herod's Palace was discovered. Sixteen years later, she told CBN News she still is struck by the power and opulence of the place and the often tragic history of cruelty and brutality inside the city walls.

"Jerusalem is like an onion," she said. "You peel it, peel it, peel it and it never ends. And then you cry a bit, but not too much. That is what happens here."

Pileggi calls the Tower of David Museum the best in the city, and says tourists would do well to start their journey there.

"It really helps to unpack the complex history and geography and culture in this city," he said. "Now we have the extra bonus of having the very place where Jesus was sent to execution by Pontius Pilate, and this will help Christians better visualize those monumentous events that happened to Jesus the Messiah -- Jesus of Nazareth -- in the last week of his life."

Meanwhile, just a couple of miles away from the Tower of David Museum stands the Mount of Olives, where scripture says Jesus will come again.

As Anti-Semitism Rages, Christians Stand with Israel

By John Waage

CBN News Sr. Editor

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

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At a Washington conference on extremism last week, President Barack Obama claimed the world's terror threats were not rooted in Islam. He sees the issue as a law enforcement problem -- a battle with difficult rogues of all faiths, not a civilizational war.

The president told the conference hosted by the State Department, "The notion that the West is at war with Islam is an ugly lie, and all of us, regardless of our faith, have a responsibility to reject it."

But his remarks come as much of the globe is engulfed in a growing flood of hatred of Jews and persecution of Christians, a large portion of it coming from the Muslim world.

That includes terror groups such as ISIS, the founders of an Islamic empire, and Iran, whose leaders have preached the extermination of Israel for decades.

In addition, French President Francois Hollande visited a cemetery where Jewish graves, some hundreds of years old, had been defaced. He warned that acts of anti-Semitism there doubled in the past two years, with the number skyrocketing in 2015.

The most tragic were the murders in a kosher deli near Paris following the mass slayings at the Charlie Hebdo newspaper.

The murder of a Jewish man in Copenhagen; the January assassination in Argentina of prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was investigating Iranian connections to a bombing at a Jewish community center in 1994 that killed 85 people; and the killings of 21 Egyptian Christian Copts in Libya -- these are just a partial list of atrocities committed in 2015 against Jews and Christians by Muslim radicals.

Now, a new survey shows anti-Semitism is rampant on U.S. college campuses. Fifty-four percent of Jewish students say they saw acts of anti-Semitism at their colleges across the nation during the first six months of the 2013-2014 academic year. That's according to a study released by Trinity College and Brandeis University.

At another conference in Colorado, Christians and Jews heard a very different message from the one outlined by the president: to stand firm in the face of the growing persecution.

Wayne Hilsden, senior pastor at King of Kings Community in Jerusalem, spoke at a "Stand Firm for Israel Summit" hosted by Resurrection Fellowship in Loveland earlier this month.

He exhorted believers in Jesus to speak up on behalf of Israel and the Jewish people and to brace for fierce opposition.

Hilsden asked participants from more than a dozen nations and nearly two dozen states, "How many of you know that the more hatred comes against the Jewish people, those who stand with them in their time of trouble will also be hated?"

"We will also be slandered. We will also be lied against and falsely accused. It goes with the package," he said.

At the summit, Hilsden announced the launching of a new group called FIRM: the Fellowship of Israel-Related Ministries. The goal is for believers to learn from the book of Daniel -- to learn from the times we're in and to take a stand, regardless of what it costs -- and to do it in love.

"This is one of the most intimidating times in history, when the attacks of the enemy can spread like wildfire around the world, never eradicated," he cautioned. "And when we are attacked, we will be tempted to attack our accusers in return. But when we stand firm, let us be like Daniel and not return evil for evil; let us love our enemies."

Messianic Jewish leader Jonathan Bernis is president of Jewish Voice and a FIRM board member. He said fundamental Islam is the "carrier of the new anti-Semitism" and that Christians won't be spared in the spirtual battle that is upon us.

"I think the answer for the Muslim world is the same as the answer for the Jewish world, and His name is Yeshua -- Jesus," he told CBN News.

The leaders at the Colorado summit believe there is a special calling for young people, who respond better to calls of support for Israel and the Jewish people when they understand that the character of God's name is at stake.

"Because God's covenant is, endures forever. Because God's covenant is everlasting; because He's a faithful God. Because the calling and the gifts of God are irrevocable, that's why we stand with Israel," explained 22-year-old Michael Mistretta, one of the summit's Jerusalem-based organizers.

Christians, Jews Urged to Unite as Ominous Era Dawns

By John Waage

CBN News Sr. Editor

Friday, February 06, 2015

LOVELAND, Colo. -- A group of Christians and Messianic Jews is concerned about the growing hatred of Jews around the world. At a Colorado summit, the leaders plan to fight anti-Semitism by standing on the scriptures and with the nation of Israel.

As conditions get worse globally for Jews and Christians, the message from the Israel Summit is clear: it's time for those who believe the Bible to stand with Israel.

At Resurrection Fellowship, hundreds of Christian and Jewish believers are on hand to witness the launch of a global effort called FIRM -- the Fellowship of Israel-Related Ministries.

Jerusalem Pastor Wayne Hilsden founded FIRM to be a bulwark against hatred and to bless the world by supporting Israel and the Jewish people. He says it will come with a cost.

"Certainly among many in the Islamic world, we, the Sunday people, are viewed as just as bad as the Saturday people, and there may come a day when our lives will be at risk because of our commitment to love and bless the Jewish people," Hilsden, founder of the Fellowship of Israel-Related Ministries, told the gathering.

Rabbi Jonathan Bernis, president of Jewish Voice Ministries International, says the hatred of Jews is an outgrowth of a fierce spiritual clash between God and Satan.

"Folks, we are in a battle. We are facing a very real enemy who is wounded and who truly believes he can stop God's plan from being fulfilled," Bernis said in an address to the summit. "What's our job? Fulfill the plan."

Anti-Semitism is at its strongest on many college campuses. So the summit is paying special attention to young people. Michael Mistretta, 22, has a key role in reaching them with a message that's more spiritual than political.

"As a young person, when I think about God -- how He forgives me, how He shows me mercy -- how much more will he do the same for Israel? How much more will His love endure forever?" Mistretta said.

The Stand with Israel Movement is worldwide, and the people who came to Colorado are from at least a dozen countries and many U.S. states.

"Gathering together with others that have the same heart and same mind to see God's purposes fulfilled, to see Israel supported, to see the Jewish people come back to their own Messiah," explained Chris Schear of Kansas City, Missouri.

Beth Scheer says the summit changed her perspective.

"Knowing that times are going to be coming when they're not really even going to like us for what we stand for, but that we still need to stand for them and know that our God is for them," she said.

Rabbi Bernis told CBN News he believes uniting Jewish and gentile leadership can solve many serious problems.

"Like the rise of anti-Semitism, the growth of Replacement Theology [and] anti-Israel attitudes, we need to deal with this together, and we need to deal with this now," Bernis said.