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this is egypt
land of the great pyramids
the land of the golden pharaohs
the land of anthony and cleopatra
here abraham came in search of food and
fortune
joseph ruled as prime minister
here moses received the ten commandments
and here jesus and his family found
refuge
welcome to 5 000 years of astonishing
history
i invite you to join me on a journey
back through time to this strange and
mysterious land where in the past
gods were kings and kings were gods
we will visit majestic temples and
admire gigantic sculptures
we'll explore long sealed tombs deserted
cities and fabulous palaces
and tombs weighing millions of tons
and as we journey back through time we
may be influenced by the compelling
evidence to acknowledge the power of the
supernatural a higher power
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uh egypt is one of the lands of the
bible
in fact egypt is mentioned over 600
times in the bible more than any other
nation outside of israel
of the 66 books of the bible
egypt is mentioned in 29 of them
egypt obviously plays an important role
in the bible
most of the bible references to egypt
revolve around the lives of four
prominent men
abraham came to egypt during a time of
famine in canaan and left with great
riches
joseph was sold as a slave into egypt
and rose to the position of prime
minister
later jacob his father along with his
brothers moved to egypt and settled in
the nile delta
moses was born in egypt and raised as a
royal prince in the palace of pharaoh
he had to flee the country but later
returned to lead his people out of egypt
to the promised land
jesus christ was taken to egypt by mary
and joseph to escape herod who was
trying to kill him
now when abraham came to egypt the
pyramids were already over 600 years old
then they would have been covered in
gleaming white terror limestone and
possibly with a huge gold cap on top
the limestone and gold are gone but the
pyramids mystery and majesty
continue to amaze and astound us
built thousand five hundred years ago
these pyramids are still the largest
man-made structures in the world
today the great pyramids of giza stand
as a memorial to the glorious
civilization of the pharaohs 45
centuries ago
they are the most famous most visited
and most photographed structures on
earth
the giza pyramids are considered the
greatest of the seven wonders of the
ancient world and though the only one
still standing
rising mysteriously and majestically
above the desert sand the giza pyramids
continued to amaze and confound us
now the largest of the three giza
pyramids is the pyramid of chiox often
called the great pyramid
it weighs more than five million tons
and covers the equivalent of ten
football fields
it's hard to grasp just how enormous it
actually is
in its base area are five hectares or
thirteen acres
there's enough room to contain aya
sofia's mosque in turkey the taj mahal
of india and the roman coliseum of italy
but that's not all
you could also fit in notre dame
cathedral of paris westminster abbey of
london and for good measure you could
also throw in the sydney opera house
the great pyramid contains over two and
a half million limestone blocks each
weighing an average two and a half tons
and measuring about a meter in each
direction
but even more astonishing than the size
of the great pyramid is the accuracy of
its construction
these massive stones are cut and fitted
so accurately that a sheet of paper
can't be inserted in the joints between
them
it embodies amazing architectural skills
and is a marvel of precise engineering
we could barely match these skills today
now while this huge effort to build
these great pyramids
well let's go inside and see if we can
find out the entrance is on the north
side of the pyramid
this passage was cut by two robbers and
leads into the center of the great
pyramid
we climbed down this corridor for about
30 meters and then ascend for a further
40 meters and it leads to the grand
gallery
this is an awesome site
and an architectural masterpiece
this great chamber is about 50 meters
long and 10 meters high
beyond the grand gallery a narrow
passageway leads to the burial chamber
here we find the king's huge empty
granite sarcophagus
you see the ancient egyptians regarded
their pharaoh as a living god
and they went to extreme lengths to
ensure that his body was preserved after
he died and that he was buried in a tomb
that would last for eternity
and that's why they built the pyramids
the enormous size and geometrical
precision of these pyramids has aroused
endless speculation and theories as to
their design and origin
somehow
46 centuries ago
more than six million limestone blocks
were piled up to 40 stories high to
build the three royal tombs of the
pharaohs
incredibly the entire construction was
completed in less than 70 years
without modern technology
workers lifted blocks weighing an
average of two and a half tons with the
largest blocks weighing 15 tons apiece
and put them in place at a rate of one
about every two minutes
how did they accomplish this monumental
task
how did they lift these huge stones
weighing as much as 15 tons 40 stories
high
and how did they perfect the pyramid
design
well these are the secrets of the
pharaohs
secrets that have remained hidden for
thousands of years
but now
archaeologists are uncovering evidence
that shedding light on these ancient
secrets
many archaeologists now believe that new
evidence shows that the ancient
egyptians used ramps that spiraled up
the sides of the unfinished pyramid to
move the stone blocks up to the top
recent discoveries seem to support this
idea
for centuries a popular myth held that
the stone for the pyramids came from a
far away quarry
but now the source of the stone has been
found to be a quarry just 300 meters
from the base of the great pyramid
generations missed this quarry because
it was filled with strange debris now it
seems that this strange rubble is all
that is left of the pyramid's
construction ramps
when the workers completed the pyramid
they tore down the ramps and dumped the
remains in the quarry
so slowly but surely the secrets of the
pharaohs are being unlocked
as archaeologists piece together the
clues that explain the construction of
the pyramids
for example now the design development
of these awesome pyramid tombs can be
traced and it's fascinating to follow
the stages of progression
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the first pharaohs were buried in flat
tombs called mastabas
now early mustabas were built of mud
brick but later they were built of stone
below ground these mass starboard tombs
were built like houses with separate
chambers for possessions
the mastaba is the basic form from which
all the pyramids in egypt grew
a genius named imhotep took the first
decisive step in pyramid construction
he was the prime minister to pharaoh
zosa and was a brilliant architect
when building his master's mustava tomb
he used stone instead of mud brick
he then placed five step tears on top of
this mastaba to create the world's first
skyscraper the magnificent step pyramid
at zakara
and so the first pyramid was born
the egyptian's firm belief in an
afterlife was the fundamental driving
force that led to the piling up of stone
on such a monumental scale
it embodies six giant stone steps by
which the king could ascend to the
heavens after death
the step pyramid is the oldest stone
monument in the world and ushered in the
age of pyramid building
it's the prototype of all later pyramids
the next step in the development in
pyramid construction took place at
maidum some 60 kilometers south of the
step pyramid here at maidum the builders
attempted to make the first true pyramid
a tomb of eight steps was erected and
then they filled in the steps to convert
it to a pyramid with smooth sides
however the attempt ended in disaster
it came down with a bang in a huge
avalanche of stone
due to structural weaknesses caused by
the serious design faults of the
over-ambitious architect
it collapsed when the building was
nearly finished in one great
instantaneous catastrophe
today
maidum pyramid stands surrounded by a
mound of 250 000 tons of limestone
formed by the debris of its own
destruction
now the collapse of the pyramid at
maidum
served as a warning for the construction
of another pyramid that ferrous sneferu
had underway
the bent pyramid at dashua
in order to prevent a repetition of the
disaster at maidum
this pyramid was given an odd shape
it slopes upward from its base at an
angle of 54 degrees
similar to the one it may do
then it suddenly changes to a 43 degree
incline
giving it a bent appearance
apparently the first angle of
inclination was too steep
sneferu's architect feared that the
pyramid would collapse like the one at
maidum unless the angle was changed
so he immediately changed the angle of
the construction
and designed the top half of the pyramid
at a shallow angle to prevent the weight
of the pyramid from causing it to buckle
and collapse
pharaoh sneferu was too great a king to
accept burial in a bent pyramid
he considered it defective and unsafe
and so ordered another pyramid built
nearby
called the red pyramid
as can be seen
the architect was still playing safe and
constructed the pyramid at a very
shallow angle of 43 degrees
the red pyramid of sneferu at dashua was
the first true pyramid and the way was
now clear for his son and successor
pharaoh cheops to build the great
pyramid at giza the largest structure
ever built
so we now know that the ancient
egyptians developed the design and
construction techniques through painful
trial and error
the clues are being pieced together by
archaeologists who are slowly unraveling
the secrets of the pharaohs
so far these clues indicate that the
pyramids were built by thousands of
workers and skilled craftsmen
during the slack season the three or
four months of late summer when the
yearly nile flood made farming
impossible
the limestone was brought from tura
about 10 kilometers away and the granite
from nearby quarries
quarry men used mallets of ultra hard
dolorite to chip slots in the rock into
which they inserted wedges of wood
soaked with water the wood expanded
until the block of rock split off
stone masons then used copper saws and
chisels to shape each chunk of quarried
rock into a pyramid building block
they were levered onto wooden sleds and
hauled by gangs of workers over log
rollers to the construction site
there the finishing touches were added
and the blocks were then ready to be
hauled up the ramps and maneuvered into
their final position
the ramps eventually reached to the very
top of the pyramid
once the structure's sandstone or gold
cap was in place the masons worked their
way down again
finishing the pyramid in its limestone
veneer and dismantling the ramps as they
went
the ancient egyptians were skill
craftsmen and brilliant engineers
these pyramids are astounding feats of
engineering
but even more astounding
are a series of chilling predictions
made about ancient egypt its pharaohs
its economy and its capital city
predictions that have been fulfilled
with an uncanny accuracy
let's investigate a few of them together
hidden in the cliffs behind hatshepsut's
mortuary temple lies the fabled valley
of the kings
49 pharaohs were buried in secret
chambers hidden in this arid and
desolate valley a reminder that egypt
had the longest line of kings of any
nation on earth
for over 2 000 years egyptian princes
had reigned supreme and had been buried
here in the valley of the kings
and while egypt was a mighty power and
these kings sat on the throne
along came a little bible prophet by the
name of ezekiel and he made an amazing
prediction
here it is in ezekiel chapter 30 and
verse 13
there shall no longer be princes from
the land of egypt
and you know although it may seem too
incredible to believe it's simply a cold
fact of history that from 350 bc
right down until today the land of the
pharaohs has never had an egyptian
prince
an egyptian king has not sat on the
throne of egypt
they've had persians greeks romans turks
french and british overlords but never
an egyptian prince
in my travels i visited many interesting
places and investigated many strange and
wonderful things
and i've investigated some of the
bible's predictions about ancient egypt
and i found that not only is the bible
historically accurate but amazingly its
predictions about the future
come true
they've been fulfilled in every detail
here's another one of these amazing
bible prophecies
when these mighty pharaohs rule the
world
much of egypt's wealth came from
exporting paper to the world the
egyptians were the very first people in
the world to make paper and they made it
from the papyrus plant
these papyrus reeds grew in abundance
along the banks of the nile river
there were millions of them
the ancient egyptians harvested the
papyrus reeds and developed a simple
process of turning them into paper
after harvesting the plant they peeled
away the outer fibres and sliced the
stalk into thin strips
they then placed the strips side by side
and a second layer on top in an
overlapping grip pattern
the strips were then placed between
layers of cloth and pounded with a
wooden mallet before being placed under
a heavy slab to dry
this paper brought great wealth to the
egyptians it was cheap and easy to make
and they had an abundant seemingly
never-ending source of papyrus reeds
but today
the papyrus reeds are gone it's amazing
but the banks of the nile are clean
totally free of the papyrus reed
why has the paper reed disappeared
well thousands of years ago when egypt
was at the height of her power and when
the papyrus reads grew prolifically
along the nile
here's what the bible prophet isaiah
predicted in isaiah chapter 19
verse 7.
the papyrus reads by the river will
wither be driven away
and be no more
and that's exactly what happened
from one end of egypt to the other the
nile is completely free of papyrus reeds
there are many predictions like this in
the bible
i'm amazed at how accurately they've all
been fulfilled
it's uncanny
the wonders of ancient egypt are
everywhere in this land
and so is the evidence of bible prophecy
consider for example the great city of
ancient memphis
during the time when the pharaohs ruled
the world and the great pyramids were
built
memphis was the religious and political
capital of egypt
it was one of the most famous and
spectacular cities of the ancient world
studded with gleaming stone temples and
palaces
this fabulous city was the capital of
the empire for thousands of years
however today
all the grandeur of memphis is gone
the statues and idols have either been
smashed and broken or they've
disappeared they're all gone or broken
it's a barren and desolate place
what happened to this once great city
well i'm going to read you another
remarkable bible prophecy
back in the days when memphis was a
great city and seemed almost
indestructible
the bible prophet ezekiel made an
amazing prediction about it you can read
it in ezekiel chapter 30 and verse 13.
this is what the sovereign lord says
i will destroy the idols and put an end
to the images of memphis this bible
prophecy has been fulfilled in every
detail
the desolation of memphis is unique
other large egyptian cities have been
destroyed but their statues and idols
are still there
you find that at carnac
the statues are still upright in all
their glory
the same is true at luxor the idols are
there in broad daylight at abu symbol
it's the same
the city is gone but the great statues
have been discovered and re-erected
but not so at memphis
all that remain
are a few broken idols
just as the bible predicted the images
and idols of memphis have been destroyed
now i'd like to show you one more bible
prophecy about egypt
this is possibly the most amazing of
them all
because it covers the most history in
this land
when egypt was at the height of its
power and ruled over the nations here's
what the bible predicted in ezekiel
chapter 29 and verse 15.
egypt will never again exalt itself
above the other nations
never again rule over the nations
that was some prediction to make
remember that at this time
egypt had been a great world power for
centuries
it was a true superpower
it did indeed exalt itself above other
nations it did indeed rule over many
the great pharaohs immortalized in stone
were part of an empire that no one would
have seen fading or would have seen
diminishing in power
but believe it or not
just like the bible predicted several
decades after this prophecy was made
egypt was under foreign domination
first the persian empire ruled over the
egyptians
then they were swallowed up by the greek
and roman empires
the ottoman turks would occupy the seat
of power these pharaohs had held for so
long
much later european countries would
wield power in this land
yes
egypt would never rule over other
nations again
just as the bible predicted
it's incredible how these amazing bible
prophecies have all been fulfilled
they are so diverse and cover such a
varied list of subjects
and yet they are fulfilled in every
minute detail
they are right
every time
just consider these amazing predictions
the long line of egyptian princes is
going to just stop
the papyrus reed is going to
inexplicably disappear
the idols of memphis will be smashed
into pieces
and egypt will no longer rule over the
nations
each prophecy each prediction
has been accurately fulfilled
the bible was right on each occasion
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as we travel through the wonderful land
of egypt as we explore its magnificent
monuments and investigate its long
history
we discover that not only is the bible
historically accurate and reliable but
its prophecies and predictions are
remarkably fulfilled
yes a journey through egypt demonstrates
that we can trust the bible it's
accurate it's reliable and its
prophecies come true
in fact the bible has an uncanny ability
to predict the future
the bible's prophecies have proved 100
accurate over thousands of years
evidence of a higher power
evidence of the divine
at times the future can seem uncertain
to us
but i guarantee you there is one thing
that makes the future very certain
very clear and very full of hope and
that's god's word the bible
if you'd like to find out more about the
bible and its amazing prophecies
concerning the future
and the hope and happiness it brings
then i'd like to recommend the free gift
we have for all our incredible journey
viewers today
it's a small but fascinating book egypt
and the bible
this easy to read book is our gift to
you and is absolutely free i guarantee
there are no hidden costs or obligations
whatsoever
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today
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don't delay call or text us now
if you've enjoyed today's journey to
egypt and our reflections on the amazing
prophecies of the bible and the hope
that it brings
then be sure to join us again next week
when we will share another of life's
journeys together
until then
let's ask the god of the bible who knows
and controls the future
to guide and direct our lives
let's pray
dear father in heaven
thank you for your word the bible
we've seen evidence that it's reliable
and trustworthy we've seen that its
amazing predictions are accurately
fulfilled
the bible contains a special message for
each one of us
a message that can change our lives and
give us hope for the future
please encourage us to read the bible
and discover your plan for our lives and
for our planet
and please guide our lives we ask this
in jesus name
amen
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you