[Steve Myers] Plans to restore the Colosseum in Rome has brought some very interesting information to light. One of the things that's very interesting is that as they're planning to do this, they found a hidden inscription on the Colosseum itself. Now you can find a lot of this information on BiblicalArchaeology.com or excuse me .org is where it's at. And it discusses some of this work that's going to be done and the inscriptions that were found.

Now in the Colosseum they found an inscription that suggests that the Colosseum was financed by the spoils of war. Now the interesting part, what spoils of war would've financed the Colosseum? What would've given the financing, the money, the ability to produce such a spectacular structure? You know where it came from? The Temple - God's Temple in Jerusalem is where the financing came from. Now, it's proven in a number of ways. In this inscription in the Colosseum points that direction.

Also, there was the monument that was a marble Arch of Titus is what it's called. And on that arch were different depictions and different panels, they call them relief panels, that show some very interesting things. Here's one of those panels and you'll notice that it's showing the Roman soldiers coming back into Rome with all the accoutrements of the temple. Here's the lampstand, or the menorah, that was in the temple.  Here are the trumpets that were there. The table of showbread also being shown. And what they have discovered then is that the spoils from Jerusalem were the things that they were able to finance the building of one of the most famous structures in the world, even today, the Roman Colosseum.

Now if that isn't amazing enough, the really phenomenal part is what we find in scripture and the connection here. In Matthew chapter 24, Jesus and the disciples were looking at the buildings of the temple and Jesus says to the disciples in Matthew 24:2, "Do you not see all these things," talking about the temple and the buildings, "Assuredly I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another that shall not be thrown down."

And so Jesus Himself is prophesying the destruction of the temple. Now, this was happening about 30 A.D. - 40 years later is when that destruction actually happened, that 40 years, that time of trial, that time of judgment came, that temple was torn down. Soldiers seen carrying all the golden accoutrements back to Rome.

That should help us understand you can believe the Bible. You can believe Jesus Christ. Prophecy proves that Christ was right.

Now that was 30 A.D. The book of Matthew seems to have been written probably about 50 to 60 A.D. So long before the temple was actually destroyed, it was common knowledge that Christ predicted its demise.

And so can we believe prophecy? Do we have a substance to our faith? Is there evidence that these things are true? I think this bas-relief shows that very thing, that the Colosseum itself was financed by the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem.

You can have faith. You can count on what Christ says. If we can believe this prophecy that should help us to understand we can believe everything that God says.

That's BT Daily. We'll see you next time.