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Also notice:

• The size of the slingshot balls excavated from Old Testament Israel, reminiscent of David.
• The reed pitched basket from Egypt, reminiscent of the small ark that held baby Moses.
• The golden wine goblet dating to the general days of Nehemiah, who was the king’s cupbearer.
• Artifacts from the ancient Hittite Empire. For years, critics said that there were no such tribes as the Hittites and that the Bible was mistaken. Now you can go to the British Museum and see evidence that the Bible was right all along.

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It didn’t take long for the newly-crowned King Jehu to start killing people, including wicked Queen Jezebel (2 Kings 9:30-37). But in 841 B.C., Jehu surrendered himself as a vassal to Assyrian King Shalmaneser III. King Shalmaneser commemorated his victory by directing that a small monument be carved out of black limestone. This Black Obelisk was discovered in 1845 and taken to the British Museum where it’s now displayed in Room 6. The Black Obelisk shows rulers in their national dress bringing tribute to the victorious Assyrian ruler. The kneeling figure is Jehu – an actual engraved picture of a biblical character, an old testament king with ties back to the propht Elijah.

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In Daniel 5, King Belshazzar was terrified to see a hand, writing on the wall of his banquet hall in Babylon. In anguish, he called for Daniel and said, “If you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom” (Daniel 5:16). Daniel didn’t care for the honor, but he did interpret the writing. In response, verse 29 says: “At Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.”

But that night, the Persian King Cyrus defeated Babylon and the Babylonian Empire came crashing down.

Many scholars derided Daniel and used this story to attempt to disprove the Bible. Why third highest, they asked? Why not in second place? Furthermore the Persian inscriptions report that Cyrus defeated King Nabonidus. There was no mention in secular history of a king named Belshazzar. To top it off, there is no mention of a king named Nabonidus in the Bible. Critics claimed that Daniel was in error.

Then in 1854, J E. Taylor was excavating in Southern Iraq when he found a set of small clay cylinders – time capsules – that had been prepared at the request of the Babylonian King Nabonidus. On one of these cylinders, Nebonidus asked for a long life and for good health for himself and for “Belshazzar, my firstborn son, the offspring of my heart.”

Nabonidus spent most of the rest of his life on an oasis in northwest Arabia, and Belshazzar remained in charge of things in Babylon as co-regent and acting king. Thus there was a king named Belshazzar after all, the biblical and secular histories merged perfectly, and all Belshazzar could offer Daniel was third place in the kingdom.

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• Jewelry and headgear such as Sarah might have worn (she was very beautiful according to Genesis 12:11), and Abraham was very wealthy in silver and gold (Genesis 13:2).
• Clay seals owned by important people (this illustrates perfectly Genesis 38:18 and 25).
• Jars
• Clay tablets, showing that writing and recordkeeping were commonplace.
• A board game common in Abraham’s day.
• A decorated Ostrich shell.
• An ornate base for a table or some other items of furniture, with a goat in a ticket (similar to the story of Genesis 22:13)
• Golden vessels from Ur.
• A musical instrument.

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Receiving the Scriptures, Handel was so deeply moved he closed the door of his London home and wrote Messiah – the whole thing! — in less than a month.

Today with my son-in-law, Eric Olsen, I had the opportunity of visiting Handel’s London home and lingering in the room in which Messiah was written. The house is located at 25 Brook Street within walking distance of Westminster Abbey. It was in a new upper-middle class townhouse in 1723 when Handel, a bachelor, rented it. He was thirty-eight years old. He lived there the rest of his life, dying in the upstairs bedroom in 1759.

The basement contained the kitchen. The first floor has two rooms. One was an interior room with a little window that let in some light. This was his composition room, and the room in which he wrote Messiah. The second room was his rehearsal and performance room where he entertained small groups.

Up a narrow set of stairs are two more rooms. One was his bedroom (with a chamber pot at the foot of the bed; there was no running water). Next door was his dressing room. His small staff of servants lived in the attic.

Until the 1990s, this house was not available for touring; but now it’s been acquired by the Handel House Museum and guests can sit and ponder Messiah in the very room in which Handel feverously composed it in the early fall of 1741. When we arrived this afternoon, a guest musician was playing the harpsichord and it sounded lovely.

Handel wasn’t a perfect man. He certainly loved his food and drink, and he was known to be short-tempered and would sometimes curse (in several languages) at his soloists. But he was dedicated to his Lutheran faith. He wrote music for the Christian faith. And he worked with all his heart to establish a Foundling Hospital for newborn babies who were abandoned on the streets of London.

Handel’s House is off the beaten tourist path, but worth a visit to all those who love the heritage of Christian music or whose hearts are stirred by the Hallelujah Chorus.

PS – G.F. Handel had some interesting neighbors. The townhouse attached to his was the home of rock star Jimi Hendrix who lived there in the late 1960s. And a couple of blocks away I found FDR and Winston Churchill whispering secrets about World War II.

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Today it was my joy to address the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in Charlotte, North Carolina, and tonight I’m at Columbia International University, where I have the honor of giving the commencement address tomorrow. I cannot describe the impact these two institutions have had on my life.

If you’re in the Charlotte area, please make a visit to the Billy Graham Library. It’s like reading a biography and attending a crusade both at once, and it’s deeply emotional, meaningful, educational, and motivating. If you travel through Columbia, South Carolina, take time to drive onto the campus of CIU, a school with the historic mission “to know Him and to make Him known.”

David Gibson, our TDF intern who is traveling with me this week, and I are deeply grateful for the hospitality given us by our friends at BGEA and CIU. Here are some pictures, including David in Billy Graham’s private office; and Mr. Graham’s favorite desk.

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