“The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.”
- Isaiah 9:10
Isaiah 9:10 is the key verse around which the bestselling Christian book in America over the last two years was written.
It is also the key verse around which the bestselling faith movie in America over the last two years was crafted.
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And now archaeologists have found some of the 2,700-year-old ruins that the obscure verse of the Bible is about.
"The fortifications appear to protect an artificial harbor," Tel Aviv University's Alexander Fantalkin, leader of the excavations at the Ashdod-Yam archaeological dig, said about the discovery. "If so, this would be a discovery of international significance, the first known harbor of this kind in our corner of the Levant."
The find was announced at the end of the first excavation season at Ashdod-Yam in the contemporary coastal city of Ashdod, just south of Tel Aviv. At the heart of the fortifications is a mud-brick wall measuring more than 12 feet wide in some places, and 15 feet high. The wall is covered in layers of mud and sand that stretch for hundreds of feet on either side.
When they were built in the 8th century B.C., the crescent-shaped fortifications would have defended an inland area covering more than 17 acres.
Such a discovery might not have meant much to American Christians before January 2012, when "The Harbinger" by Jonathan Cahn was released, or before March of that year when a followup documentary "The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment" came out.
But, since then, millions of American Christians have become familiar with the Isaiah 9:10 story, which explains how ancient Israel was initially attacked by the Assyrians as part of a limited judgment of God. But instead of repenting of their wicked ways, the Bible explains, Israel responded by putting its faith in its own ability to rebuild and rejecting repentance and rededication to God.
That spelled the eventual end of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, as Assyria conquered the nation and scattered, killed or took captive the population.
The premise of "The Harbinger" and "The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment" is that history is repeating itself in America today – since the limited attack of 9/11 – in a profound way, even with American leaders repeating the actual words of Isaiah 9:10 in responding to the cataclysm.
"I truly believe God is using Jonathan Cahn as a prophetic voice today – once again giving His people a chance to repent and return to Him," said Joseph Farah, producer of "The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment." "So much has happened since September 11 that defies coincidence. And now we have this 2,700-year-old archaeological discovery in Israel as an additional reminder."
Here's the trailer for "The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment":