While Christians in recent years have been hungering for Bible-related food such as the popular series, “The Chosen,” there is now real-life evidence of what life was truly like for early Christians, and it’s on display in America, drawing thousands of visitors from all over the world to the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C.
It’s called the Megiddo Mosaic, a third-century artwork unearthed beneath a prison floor in Israel between 2003 and 2005. It once beautified a private chapel in what is considered the earliest known Christian house of prayer, and is the earliest physical proclamation of Jesus Christ’s divinity.
“It is truly the greatest discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls,” said Carlos Campo, CEO of the Museum of the Bible.
The 581-square-foot mosaic is being called a masterpiece of early Christian art.
It features an 1,800-year-old Greek inscription reading: “The god-loving Akeptous has offered the table to God Jesus Christ as a memorial.”
JESUS IS GOD ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERY – The Megiddo Mosaic discovered in 2005 in northern Israel during construction at the Megiddo Prison, is an archaeological artifact dating to approximately 230 CE.
>>>> pic.twitter.com/cxIH4aanVd
— Historic Archive (@Historic_Arch) November 25, 2024
“This phrase is remarkable for its clear declaration of Jesus as God, predating the official recognition of Christianity as the Roman Empire’s state religion by nearly a century,” Aleteia reports.
“This discovery rewrites our understanding of early Christian worship and the theological convictions of its followers,” Alegre Savariego, director of the mosaic’s exhibition, told Aleteia.
The Jerusalem Post noted: “The reference to Akeptous suggests she was a woman of high standing who played an important role in the community by donating a table used for communion – a key ritual in Christian worship.
A recent archaeological discovery of the Megiddo Mosaic that provides the earliest evidence that refutes claims that Jesus’s divinity was a late invention that was invented at the Council of Nicaea. pic.twitter.com/oBWzIi4ZeS
— Whaddo You Meme?? (@WhaddoYouMeme) November 30, 2024
There are also early Christian symbols, most prominently, fish, recalling how Jesus called His apostles Peter and Andrew to be “fishers of men,” and the miraculous multiplication of bread loaves and fishes.
The Greek word for fish is “Ichthys,” and its Greek spelling of ΙΧΘΥΣ is an acronym, being initials of the words in the phrase “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.”
BREAKING NEWS
Archaeologists have uncovered the earliest known inscription declaring “Jesus is God,” dating back to 230 AD. This 1,800-year-old mosaic, found beneath Israel’s Megiddo Prison, is considered the most significant discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls. It offers… pic.twitter.com/VSlSMj9htI
— Kaya Jones (@KayaJones) November 22, 2024
“This mosaic reminds us that early Christianity was a community effort, where both men and women played integral roles in the faith’s survival and growth,” Campo noted.
Dr. Bobby Duke, interim chief curatorial officer and director of the Scholars Initiative at the Museum of the Bible, told CBN News: “When I heard about this mosaic and read the story behind it, I got the same kind of chills and the same kind of goosebumps.”
“I would say the question we get asked the most often is, is it real? It does date back to the third century A.D. 230.”
“This phrase, God Jesus Christ is, in the fifth line of the inscription, and it is actually in a shortened form,” said Duke. “So, the letters that have the lines over them, [are] actually a respectful way to write those words.”
“I think the thing that excites me the most is, we never know what the next excavation is going to show and demonstrate,” Duke continued.
“No one before 2005 would have ever dreamed we would have found something as beautiful and significant as this. What’s around the corner?”
The Megiddo Mosaic is on display at the Museum of the Bible through July 2025, and it may travel to other U.S. museums before returning near its original site in northern Israel.
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