Machu Picchu

​Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca citadel located in an isolated place of spectacular beauty in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru.  It sits on a mountain ridge 2,430 meters above sea level (7,970 ft) and is located 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Cuzco.  Below it the windy Urubamba River flows.  It is estimated that about 750 people once lived there.  ​

Many archeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472). Our guide told us that it was a city of priests.  It is the most well known icon of Inca civilization. Our guide said that even though the conquistadors threatened to kill any Incas who withheld knowledge of where gold and silver was, the locals refused to divulge the existence of their holy site.  Today it is believed that a vast treasure of gold and silver lies preserved underground.  UNESCO will not allow even the Peruvian government to dig up this treasure. Its three primary buildings are the Intihuatana, the Room of the Three Windows and the Temple of the Sun.

We don’t know exactly when the site was abandoned and overgrown by jungle growth but, hundreds of years later, in 1911, U.S. historian Hiram Bingham brought Machu Picchu to international attention.  It was declared a Peruvian Historic Sanctuary in 1981 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. In 2007, Machu Picchu was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.[1]  
 
Meditation
Luke 21:12,13--But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you. They will hand you over to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of My name.  It will lead to an opportunity for you to witness.
 
I find it profound that the Incan’s most holy site was guarded and hidden from the Spanish so as to protect its existence only for them to disappear completely.  Jesus said in Matthew 5:14, “You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden.  Jesus told His followers to willingly be captured and persecuted as an opportunity to witness.  The same holds true for Jesus-followers today.  Our task is not to hide but to reveal, not to protect but to proclaim.   
​
Currently over one and a half million people visit Machu Picchu each year to see the incredible ruins of a brilliant people who respected nature, understood seasons, engineering, horticulture, beauty and education.  They worshiped their creator god Wiracocha but fell hapless before the conquering Spaniards.  This would be a great place for believers to come and proclaim our Creator God—who calls us through His Son to be light, to give hope to a world hidden in fog.  
 
Inspiration
Believers who do not share their faith aid and abet Satan’s ultimate goal of denying others access to Jesus.  Our silence makes us accomplices.—Nik Ripken in The Insanity of God

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machu_Picchu

©2019 Daniel York  ARR.  Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)