by Brian Godawa
But it wasn’t going to come to that. Cassandra elbowed her daughter and whispered in her ear, “This is a house of the Lord.”
She instantly regretted saying that. It sounded like her own mother.
She refocused her attention on the sermon.
In light of the danger of the coming Roman army, the Christians of the city had begun a prayer vigil that went around the sun dial. They’d also prepared a hiding place for the women and children when the time came. But first they prayed, appealing to the Lord to save them from the wolf at the door. Meanwhile, those who were capable prepared to defend them at that door.
The elders had taken time for a sermon of encouragement before giving instructions on their defense strategy. Boaz explained how the Feast of Unleavened Bread currently going on in Jerusalem was a “type” or prophetic picture of the Messiah. The feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread were linked because the latter followed right after the former.
But the Jewish Christians would not join their brethren in celebrating these feasts in Jerusalem this year. Jesus had warned his followers to stay away, and all the feasts were about to come to an end anyway.
So Boaz told the story of the first Passover in Egypt and the deaths of the firstborn to commemorate the event. Cassandra looked down on her own first born, Samuel, still sleeping soundly in her arms. How precious he was to her. And how horrible it would be to lose him. She could not imagine the pain.
Looking across the synagogue, she saw Thelonius listening with a painful expression of his own. He too was making a sacrifice in order to defend Pella.
In the Torah story, once Pharaoh had let the Jews go from the land, the Egyptians out of anger had forced the Israelites to leave in haste—so much so that they did not have time to bake bread for the trip. This was described as not having enough time for the leaven in the dough to rise. Thus the feast of Unleavened Bread in their exodus of haste.44
Yahweh then led the Israelites through the desert in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night all the way to the shore of the Red Sea. It had taken seven days for them to get there. The feast lasted seven days in commemoration of the event.
Boaz retold the narrative of the sons of Israel backed up against the sea with the Egyptian army coming after them and how Yahweh delivered the Israelites by parting the waters with the blast of his nostrils. The Israelites walked through on dry land, but when the Egyptians came after them, Yahweh returned the waters to their place and drowned the Egyptians, delivering the children of Israel.
“The Psalmist wrote of Yahweh’s deliverance at the Red Sea,” said Boaz, “‘You divided the sea by your might. You crushed the heads of Leviathan. You gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness. Yours is the day, yours also the night. You have established the heavenly lights and the sun. You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth.’”
He paused to let the poetic words sink into his audience. Cassandra loved the creation imagery as a symbolic portrayal of the origin of the covenant, the creation of their cosmos. Boaz continued, “Yahweh displays power over the waters and over Leviathan, the sea dragon of chaos. He crushes Leviathan’s many heads and pushes back the waters of chaos in order to establish his covenant order.”45
Cassandra knew that beautiful theme well: order out of chaos.
“That covenant was the old order of the cosmos. David used the language of creation to express the covenant for Sinai that came shortly after the Red Sea deliverance. The establishment of Yahweh’s covenant order was the creation of the heavens and the earth, the lights above and the boundaries of the land, the first words of the scroll of Genesis.”46
Cassandra’s mind wandered. In the same way that the creation of the covenant was described as the creation of the heavens and earth, so the temple had become the incarnation of that cosmos. So much so that when the first temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, the prophet Jeremiah had described it as the destruction of the heavens and the earth as though the earth was going back to its pre-created state of chaos.47
I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light. The mountains were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro. There was no man, and all the birds of the air had fled. The fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before Yahweh, before his fierce anger.
Jeremiah 4:23–28
Yahweh had judged Israel in his anger by destroying the first temple as the incarnation of his cosmos, something he was about to do again. Her thinking was right in line with Boaz’s words that rang through the congregation. “The new heavens and earth has been inaugurated in the new covenant by the death and resurrection of Messiah. Jesus, our Passover lamb, is also our new deliverer. Jesus is our unleavened bread. The leaven represented the sin of Egypt, so the bread contained no leaven. So Messiah had no sin in himself. The stripes on the matzah are symbolic of the stripes on Messiah’s back that heals us from our sin. He is the bread of life, which a person may eat of and never die. As the Israelites were fed the manna in the wilderness, so Jesus is the bread of God that comes down from heaven.48
“And like the Red Sea deliverance, Jesus showed his power over the waters when he calmed the storm and walked on the sea. As Moses was faithful over God’s house, the tabernacle, so Jesus is faithful over his house, the new tabernacle of God, his people.49 Jesus is the new Moses of a new covenant, a new heavens and earth.
“Did not the prophet Isaiah write of this new covenant? ‘For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind, for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy.’”50
Little Samuel squirmed in Cassandra’s arms. She hoped she had enough time to hear the end of Boaz’s exhortation before he awoke. This was her new life of balance between spiritual interests and earthly family. She loved both, but they tended to compete with each other for her attention.
Boaz concluded his sermon, “Brothers and sisters, the Apocalypse has assured us that the new heavens and earth is the new covenant in Messiah that has come down from heaven. We, the bride of Christ, are the new Jerusalem, created to be a joy. And when the old covenant temple is destroyed, the old heavens and earth will finally be obsolete.”51
Cassandra’s earlier remarks to Rachel were confirmed in Boaz’s final words. “The dragon of chaos has pursued the bride into the desert. But trust in the Lord, for as the apostle Paul assured this generation, the God of peace will soon crush the dragon under our feet.52 Ours is not a battle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”53
Awakening in Cassandra’s arms, Samuel began to cry. She made her way out of the building to avoid disrupting the service. But as she left the congregation, she could hear Boaz describe the spiritual armor of God: the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit, and other pieces. She could not help but think of their heavenly guardians, the Kharabu, who at this very moment were outside the perimeter of Pella preparing to defend the city against both the heavenly and earthly powers that were on their way to murder all the Christians.
Once Samuel had calmed down, Cassandra returned to the service. Only then did she notice that Noah was no longer sitting with Jonathan and the other men.
Thelonius saw Cassandra re-entering the service and looking around for someone. But his mind was taken up by the sermon. There was something in the words that touched his soul like never before. He was still pretending to be a Christian while trying to salve his conscience for betraying Cassandra and these good people. Why had it not been enough for him to merely warn them and then leave? What had made him commit to defend them when he only wanted to return to his beloved Livia? Now leaving them before the battle would make him a coward as well. His father had raised him to be strong. Romans were not cowards.
But he was not going to fight and die at the hands of his own people for something he didn’t
believe in.
Nevertheless, the sermon was bothering Thelonius.
He had been familiar with the story of Israel’s exodus and Red Sea deliverance. He had heard about Jesus as a spiritual type of the Passover lamb and unleavened bread. It had all been so much foreign religious mythology to him.
Until now. For some reason as he listened, the story came alive in a way he could not explain. He saw the pillar of fire in his imagination, and his heart shuddered with awe. He felt the fear of the Jews backed up against the sea. The evil of the Egyptians became palpably real.
And he knew earthly Jerusalem was Egypt. He knew these Christians were God’s people in a new exodus.
Something was happening to him. It wasn’t a rational process. He wasn’t reasoning through a logical argument to a reasonable conclusion. He was inhabiting a story. He wasn’t finding truth. Truth was finding him. It was as though a lamp was lit inside of him and he could suddenly see in the dark like he had never seen before. Clarity.
The gods of his fathers were manmade idols. His religion, his empire, was a fraud. Words flooded his thoughts that he had heard Boaz quote from their Scriptures:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”54
All his life Thelonius had felt hungry. Like something was missing. He thirsted for meaning and purpose. Rome was supposed to be the polis, the sacred city that gave significance to the individual citizen. But it only took away his significance as his identity was submerged into the collective. And that collective was a beast, a seven-headed dragon that left him perpetually empty, hungry, and thirsty.
But now for some reason, he felt filled even as at that very moment he was no longer a Roman in his soul.
Rome was his Egypt. He believed in the Bread of Life.
Was this what had happened to his father?
Was this what the Christians had called the baptism of the Holy Spirit? God’s spirit opens your eyes. He grants you repentance. He resurrects your dead soul from the grave of sin.
Thelonius’s mind went instantly to his fiancé Livia. He had to write her. And he had to tell Cassandra. What would she do when she found out that he had never been a Christian? That he had been lying about everything? Would she believe anything he told her ever again?
Cassandra interrupted his thoughts. The service had ended, and people were socializing before leaving for their homes.
“Thelonius. I need your help.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Noah has slipped away, and I think I know where he is. I need your help to find him.”
• • • • •
Michael walked along the valley just outside Pella with his six Kharabu captains, Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael, Remiel, Raguel, and Saraqel. Back inside the city their thirty other warriors were gathering the capable male citizens in preparation for battle. They were fortifying the old Hasmonean fort on the southern hill and practicing strategic maneuvers in anticipation of the coming storm.
The fort was just across the wadi south of the city hill. It was originally a well-fortified limestone castle on a high butte, but after its destruction over a hundred years ago, it had never been rebuilt. These crumbling ruins were all they had left. The castle would be their last resort.55
There were less than a thousand men and boys who could fight. While the Roman cohort on its way to Pella was only eight hundred, they were eight hundred well-trained, battle-hardened legionaries led by who knew how many principalities and powers in the heavenlies. The Christians of Pella were mostly plebeians with bows for hunting and limited swords. They had trained for over a year, but they had no real battle experience. And the forty Kharabu warriors would not be enough to counter that imbalance of experience and weapons.
“We can hide most of the women and children in the caves of the cliffs,” said Uriel. “But not all.” He was referring to a system of caves linked by tunnels that were hidden in the sharply-rising north face of the western wadi. The rest would go into the southern fort, leaving the city itself open to plunder.56
“We must set traps,” said Gabriel, looking at the tree-lined range of foothills that led back to the Jordan River.
“I have a few ideas,” replied Michael.
Gabriel smirked. “If the gods who are coming are the ones I think are coming, we archangels have an ancient land dispute we’re finally going to settle.”
He was referring to the Canaanite gods whose claim on this territory gave them the strongest possible power to attack the angels. There were four of them left, and it would not be an easy battle.
Uriel said to Gabriel, “I bet I take out more Watchers than you.”
Gabriel snorted. “Only because you have Rahab, which is not really fair.” Rahab was the name of an ancient whip sword that Uriel had that was forged of heavenly metal in the coals of the primordial Mount Sahand. Rahab was another name for Leviathan the sea dragon.57
Michael rolled his eyes. These two had been friendly competitors with each other for eons.
“Okay,” said Uriel. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you Rahab as a handicap, and I’ll just use my two swords. Would that even up the stakes for you?”
Gabriel smiled. “Indeed it would. But I do fear for your own handicap of impaired mathematical counting.”
“I cannot believe you are bringing that up again. I think you have unresolved issues.”
“Only with your counting skills.”
“All right, you two,” said Michael. “I will verify the counting of the enemies you vanquish.”
Uriel took off the belt that held the whip sword rolled up in a special leather case. He handed it to Gabriel, who buckled it on and pulled out the weapon. It unfurled as a ten-foot-long flexible metallic blade that could be used like a whip, cutting through just about anything on earth and most things in heaven.
Gabriel snapped it with precision at a thick tree branch. The blade cut through the branch as if it were a twig. Gabriel looked over at Uriel with satisfaction.
“Finally,” he said. “It’s my turn.” Gabriel had forged the weapon himself. It had been passed down through generations of human giant killers from Lamech to Shem to Caleb to Ittai the Gittite until it came into the possession of Jesus, who had given it to Uriel.58
Michael said, “If you two are finally through with your bickering, let us get moving and set our traps.”
Their task was interrupted by the arrival of a young boy carrying a gladius and wearing a leather helmet that was a bit too big for his head.
“Noah!” cried Cassandra as she and Thelonius overtook the boy from behind.
Michael smiled and stepped out from the captains. Noah went straight to him.
“Please let me join the army,” said Noah, exasperated.
He was still breathing heavily from his brisk walk. And Cassandra was breathing even more heavily as she and Thelonius arrived beside her son.
“Noah, I have told you a thousand times, you are too young for battle.”
The little warrior argued back, “And I have told you a thousand times that they need everyone who is able.”
“Do not talk to your mother that way.” Cassandra turned to Michael. “I apologize for my son’s disrespect.”
Noah looked pleadingly into Michael’s eyes. “You have taught me all these months. I’m good. You said so yourself. I could kill Romans.”
Cassandra tried to pull Noah away while still apologizing, “I am so sorry to take your time. My son is zealous and not a little naïve.”
Noah pulled back, unwilling to leave with her. “I am not naïve. I know exactly what soldiers do. I watched Romans kill my mother and father!”
Cassandra stopped tugging at him. Michael could see her eyes filling with tears. He knew Noah was not going to give up because he was driven by
the most primal of desires: revenge.
Michael looked sternly down at Noah. “Young man, your mother is right. You do not talk to her with such disrespect.”
Noah was stunned silent at the rebuke. Michael added, “If that is how you treat her, am I to expect the same disrespect if I was your commander?”
He could see he was getting through to the young lad. Noah turned back to Cassandra and apologized. “I’m sorry, Mother. Please forgive me.”
She looked at Michael, who winked at her before turning back to Noah. “You are a good fighter for your age. But you are not ready yet.”
He saw the boy’s eyes turn as sad as a sacrificial lamb. It tugged at the commander’s heart. He went on, “However, I think I may have a way to satisfy all parties in this dispute. I do have a task that would properly fit your level of skills, our defensive needs, and your mother’s concerns.”
Noah’s eyes brightened with excitement. “Real defense?”
Michael looked over at the fortress across the valley. “Yes, real defense.”
Noah looked at his mother for approval. She appeared unsure.
Thelonius stepped forward and asked, “Commander, I have Roman legion experience. May I lead a squad of defenders?”
Michael considered the request. He recognized the Roman as Cassandra’s old friend who had disappeared a year ago. But Michael knew the young man was now different. He could see that Thelonius was newly regenerate. The Spirit of God had baptized him into the body of Christ.
Michael ordered his captains, “Tell the others it’s time to evacuate the women and children.”
• • • • •
Cassandra, to my beloved husband, Alexander.
The time has come for me to share some grave news with you. We have discovered that Pella is being targeted by the Romans for destruction.