The Crucifixion Earthquake left its Mark

A distinctive mixed layer less than one inch thick of laminated Dead Sea sediment proves that there was a Jesus who was crucified - by the mark of the earthquake that God sent. As recorded in Scripture!

The New Testament testifies to an earthquake at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Matthew 27:50-51 recounts that "when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split."

Judean Desert Near Wadi Ze'elim

Dr Steven A. Austin, Senior Research Geologist of Logos Research Associates, travelled to Israel's Wadi Ze'elim to study sediment deposits of the Dead Sea.  As he describes in his article Great Earthquakes of the Bible:

An outcrop of laminated Dead Sea sediment can be seen at Wadi Ze’elim above the southwestern shore of the modern Dead Sea near the fortress of Masada. In this sediment outcrop is a distinctive one-foot thick “mixed layer” of sediment that is tied strongly to the Qumran earthquake’s onshore ground ruptures of 31 B.C. (see Figure 2 below).

Thirteen inches above the 31 B.C. event bed is another distinctive “mixed layer” less than one inch thick. The sedimentation rate puts this second earthquake about 65 years after the 31 B.C. earthquake. It seems that the crucifixion earthquake of 33 A.D. was magnitude 5.5, leaving direct physical evidence in a thin layer of disturbed sediment from the Dead Sea.

The Bible is confirmed yet again, by Science! Jesus was crucified - and God sealed his death with an earthquake that leaves its mark even to the present day.

Christ rose from the dead, and He leaves his mark in our lives and all over eternity. That is good news!