STORY OF JESUS BOAT DISCOVERY
“The Jesus Boat discovery is just likeone of those stories from the Bible,”says Yuval Lufan, who discovered the vessel with his brother Moishale. “It seems unrealistic, yet it happened. Our discovery is one of those incredible Bible stories—only it happened here and now, in this day and age.”
The Lufans discovered the boat while fishing in the Holy Land—near the Galilee sea side village of Kibbutz Ginosar. Yuval Lufan and his brother Moishale are people of the sea,having spent their lives fishing and searching for treasure. Atheists for most of their lives,since the boat’s discovery the brothers have become firm believers in the existence God.
“We had so many obstacles and moments when we thought the boat was going to be destroyed, but just as with anything in life, we had to have faith to overcome these struggles,” says Lufan.
Carbon-14 dating pinpointed the age of the boat to the precise time that Christ was living in the Galilee. But further exciting clues about the Jesus Boat’s origins were revealed; the vessel had been constructed from twelve different types of wood.
“Normally, a boat of this style from this time period would have been built from two or three types of wood at the most,” says Alon Kossonogi, CEO of the Jesus Boat Museum.”Twelve types of wood was unheard of until the Lufan brothers’ discovery.”
Is this merely a coincidence? Twelve tribes formed the nation of Israel, and Christ chose twelve disciples to help Him transform the world and introduce the Gospel. Twelve also denotes perfection in rulership. And some theologians believe that when we are under God’s authority, what we build will last indefinitely and unify others.
“I believe this discovery is more powerful than the science behind it,” says Lufan. “It’s something very unique that happens only once in a lifetime. Archeologists have never found anything ancient in the Galilee, so finding this kind of boat with all the uniqueness around it such as the twelve types of wood, the rare double rainbow that appeared on discovery day, and everything else that happened—it’s bigger than science. It’s a message from God.”
Some people say that a coincidence happens when God wants to remain anonymous, but a miracle happens when he wants to make himself known. Had it not been for a prolonged drought that had significantly reduced the sea level of the Galilee in the 1980s,the ancient Jesus Boat would likely still be submerged in mud where it had laid for nearly 2,000 years.
While the four-year-long drought was a blessing in disguise as it enabled the boat to be found, the excavators were presented with an imposing list of seemingly insurmountable problems to overcome in order to recover the Jesus Boat from the mud.
The first hurdle was the predictable red tape, logistics, and political negotiating to work through before excavation approval and government support were granted. And while there was a lot of drama around this initial step because time was of the essence and the excavators needed to act quickly to save the boat, miraculously the permission was granted in time.
But there was no rest for the excavators. Soon they were faced with armed opposition from members of a neighboring kibbutz who claimed ownership of the vessel because of its location. Eventually, however, the villagers backed down, realizing the boat was something “bigger than they were.” They swallowed their pride and even lent a hand in the excavation.
The boat’s complex and dangerous rescue took place over an intense and perilous eleven day, round-the-clock, period. As the vessel was unearthed, its extreme fragility had to be taken into account every step of the way, for the slightest touch might destroy the boat.
There was also imminent danger of the ancient wood drying out, and crumbling to dust as a result of its sudden exposure to the air. Further complicating the recovery were the rains, which had returned on the very day of the boat’s discovery, causing sea level to quickly rise.
Many of those involved in the excavation tell the strange tale of mosquitoes that began to devour the boat as soon as it was brought into the museum to undergo the preservation process. Though the scientists were almost defeated by this perplexing problem as no one could agree on how to resolve it, Moishale Lufan—a simple fisherman—threw buckets of fish into the water surrounding the boat. The fish quickly dealt with the mosquito problem by eating the insects.
Interestingly, had the Lufans’ discovery been made a decade or two earlier, the technology wouldn’t have been available to ensure the boat’s successful excavation.
The Lufan’s discovery is now an historic artifact housed at the Yigal Allon Museum in Kibbutz Ginosar, Israel. A fascinating one-hour DVD documentary movie, The Jesus Boat Revealed, chronicles the numerous miracles surrounding the vessel’s discovery and excavation through interviews with the people who were there.
Experts in the field of archeology say that the Jesus Boat is one of the most exciting biblical finds to be unearthed in decades. With the release of both a book and DVD on the excavation, the Jesus Boat Museum staff and everyone involved hope to inspire individuals around the world to embrace the entire Jesus Boat experience and what God has done through its discovery.
“This discovery made me a very happy person,” says Lufan. “But this is not just a boat for my family; it’s something much more and beyond that, and I will cherish it until I rest, and go to see God.”
About the Author
Secret Fish Symbol of Jesus Christ in the World Today
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