by Brian Godawa
The company of saints took defensive stances in their gauntlet of underworld giants.
Methuselah and Edna stepped into the front by Jesus and the archangels. The lead Rapha had killed Edna’s family, and Methuselah had given him a permanent limp with his sword. Later in the days of Noah, Uriel had visited the guardian and taken out its eyes as a favor for Methuselah and Edna.
Methuselah said, “Let us help you with these, my Lord. We have a grudge to finish paying back.”
Before any battle could begin, the Rephaim all knelt down to one knee and bowed their heads toward Jesus.
The humans were stunned. But they quickly realized what was taking place. The Guardians of Tartarus gave obeisance to their Lord, the king of heaven and earth and under the earth.
Methuselah and Edna felt their revenge transform into redemption.
The Rephaim chanted a haunting verse with their strange ghostlike voices as the captives passed through their gauntlet on their way up the mountain.
Sheol beneath is stirred up
to meet you when you come;
it rouses the Rephaim to greet you,
all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
all who were kings of the nations.
All of them will answer
and say to you:
‘You too have become as weak as we!
You have become like us!’
Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
the sound of your harps;
maggots are laid as a bed beneath you,
and worms are your covers.
They reached the cave opening a thousand feet above and led the Seventy inside to the pit of Tartarus.
It was said that Tartarus was as deep below the earth as the earth was below the heavens. It was the remotest point in the cosmos from Yahweh’s heavenly throne above the waters.
It had changed somewhat since Noah had been temporarily held there in antediluvian days. The rock was still glass smooth, but the pit had been widened to accommodate the two hundred rebellious Watchers from the days of Noah. Its walls were covered with perpetual flames that did not produce light, like a chasm of fire that dissolved into the deepest darkness. No sounds could be heard from below, not merely because it was of incalculable depth, but because the acoustics of the pit were such that instead of creating an echo chamber for sound, it swallowed everything up in silence.
Now the last of those rebellious angels, the Seventy, were lined up along the rim of the chasm, still bound and in fear of their destiny.
Jesus nodded to Gabriel, who took out his trumpet and gave a long blast.
Then, the Archangels spoke, no, they sang a proclamation of Messiah’s triumph.
Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh of hosts.
Who was, and is, and is to come.
The whole earth is full of his glory.
I have set my King
on Zion, my holy mountain.”
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
For Messiah suffered once for sins,
the righteous for the unrighteous,
that he might bring humanity to God,
being put to death in the flesh
but made alive in the spirit,
In which he now proclaims victory to the spirits in prison.
He has disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Angels, authorities and powers have been subjected to him.
The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.
It was the Messianic secret, the mystery hidden for ages but now revealed. That the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Man, the Son of God, would conquer the principalities and powers in the heavenly places as the Suffering Servant. That he would dispossess them of their allotted territories and inherit all the earth as the seed of Abraham, the Seed of Eve.
I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.
Being made perfect through his suffering, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. As a high priest, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
This was the Messianic secret which God decreed before the ages for the glory of his holy ones. None of the principalities and powers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Instead, those heavenly powers were now lined up along the precipice of their demise.
They were shoved into the pit.
They descended into the darkness and the silence to await the Great Judgment.
• • • • •
High above Hades, in the assembly hall of Mount Hermon, Jesus and seven archangels pulled themselves out of the black flaming waters of the Abyss. Uriel found the satchel of weapons he had left here during the battle of Mount Hermon. He pulled out the last weapon of the sack: the battle hammer of Ba’al.
He handed it to Jesus who took it in both hands. It was large and heavy, crafted for a god. It had been used for so much evil through history.
Now it would be used one last time for good.
He looked around the cavern at the sparkling gem laden stalagmites and stalactites. He saw the throne of the underworld across the lake, upon whose evil courtly majesty had sat Ereshkigal, Ba’al, and Belial. He peered at the flames flitting across the surface of the Abyss and the dark corners of this assembly hall of wickedness.
He said, “Good riddance,” and swung high the hammer.
It contacted with the floor of the assembly hall. A massive tremor spread from the epicenter and rattled the entire mountain around them. A crevice opened where the hammer had hit. Stalactites and rocky debris fell from overhead like dangerous missiles piercing the ground around their feet.
Yet once more, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts.
Jesus dropped the hammer and they ran for the exit, the secret tunnel that led out to the foothills.
The rumbling and shaking of the rock around them made it difficult to make it through the tunnel. A small cave-in almost caught Uriel at the back.
“I am all right. Keep going!”
They stumbled their way out as the inside of the mountain imploded in a cascading landslide of stone and dust.
“Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
Mount Hermon rumbled as its rock and stone settled into place. The quake was felt for miles around.
The belly of wickedness had been disemboweled.
The assembly of the gods of the nations was no more.
Chapter 39
Simon the Zealot and Mary Magdalene made their way up the Mount of Olives. The eleven disciples, along with the seventy closest followers of Jesus had been called to meet there by the master.
These were the seventy that Jesus had appointed earlier in his ministry to go before him and proclaim the arrival of the Kingdom of God to unrepentant cities. They had been given the authority to tread on the Serpent and to have power over demons in his name.
Simon knew that this particular gathering would be very important. Because these seventy stood for the seventy nations whose principal
ities had just been dethroned. Would these seventy now become the new rulers over those nations as the twelve apostles would lead the twelve tribes of Israel?
Perhaps this was the final gathering, since Jesus had yet to bring those nations under his newly established kingdom. Simon knew that the prophet Zechariah had foretold this very location for his final battle.
Then Yahweh will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west. Then Yahweh my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.
Simon looked all around the valleys surrounding the mountain. There were no armies amassing to fight. None were in the distance marching their way toward the holy city. It was just another quiet, sunny day in all the land.
The seventy had gathered around Jesus, and made small talk.
Jesus quieted them down and announced to them, “What I told you earlier in Galilee, I tell you again. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Simon frowned with confusion. Jesus had said in this very spot that the end of the age would be signaled by the destruction of the holy city and Temple, within their generation. But the city and Temple were still standing. He had used astronomical poetics to explain that when the ruling authorities, both in heaven and on earth, would fall, that Jesus would come like the storm god, “on the clouds of heaven,” a sign of him seated at the right hand of God. This was a prophetic way of saying he would come in omnipotent power to judge.
Simon could not help himself. He blurted out, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
Jesus responded, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. For it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”
This made some sense to Simon. The prophet Daniel had said that Messiah the prince would put an end to the sin that caused Israel’s exile, to atone for iniquity and bring in everlasting righteousness. He had said that Messiah would put an end to sacrifice and offering. This atonement Jesus had accomplished to be sure with his death and resurrection.
But that was only the first half of the prophecy. The other half said that on the wing of abominations would come another prince, one who makes desolate. The abomination of desolation. Jesus himself had said to look for this abomination in the armies of the prince of Rome surrounding the holy city. The people of this prince would destroy the city and sanctuary of God.
But the armies of Rome were nowhere to be found.
But then Simon remembered that Jesus said these things would happen within a generation of his prediction. A generation was about thirty to forty years. It was still early in the gathering storm.
Jesus continued to explain, “You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
Clothed with power from on high? thought Simon. To do what? Proclaim the Kingdom of God? Who then would fight the armies of Rome?
Simon swallowed with a dry throat and felt a pit in his stomach, because it was starting to become clear to him. Jesus had also taught the disciples regarding the abomination of desolation that when it came, they should not stay in the city but flee to the mountains. He was already familiar with such thinking. As an Essene at the isolated Qumran, he thought that they were the true remnant of Yahweh’s holy people and all of Israel would be judged when Messiah came. But Messiah came and the Essenes rejected him. They were not the remnant. The Pharisees and Sadducees rejected him and along with the Herodians, led the people in crucifying him. None of them were the remnant.
That could only mean one thing. Israel was going to be judged. She had rejected her Messiah and Jesus was going to come on the clouds and destroy her through the armies of Rome, as he did through the armies of Assyria in Isaiah’s day. Yahweh was going to protect his remnant of true believers, the followers of Jesus.
But how could this pathetic group of fishermen, ex-Zealots and plebeians draw all the nations into Zion if Zion was destroyed? Was Jesus himself the spiritual Zion, a heavenly mountain? His New Covenant kingdom, a heavenly Jerusalem?
Mary grabbed Simon’s arm. He had become so lost in his thoughts, he wasn’t listening closely to Jesus. But she had been listening. She had been watching Jesus closely to see what he was going to do. She had scanned the faces of the disciples all around, watching their reactions. Joanna, Salomé, and the other Mary stood beside her as they had done on Golgotha and at the empty tomb. They were inseparable.
But now, Mary felt herself separate from the others there. As if her body stayed in their midst, but her spirit seemed to stand apart. It reminded her of when she would go into trances at Panias. But this time it was not evil. This was from God, because in her hazy vision, she now saw what appeared to be a myriad of holy ones on chariots surrounding the Mount of Olives. Just like she had seen at the cross.
The chariots of God are twice ten thousand,
thousands upon thousands;
the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.
She scanned the crowd of faces, and realized that none of the others had seen this heavenly vision. Only she.
But she had been so intent upon the heavenly vision in the distance that she almost missed the earthly miracle that happened right in front of her.
Jesus began to rise up off the ground before their very eyes.
Some went silent with awe, others screamed in fear, still others fainted. Someone cried out, “Jesus, don’t go! Come back!”
As he ascended, he became temporarily obscured by the blinding sun behind him in the sky. Was this an apotheosis, a deification? No, thought Simon. He had always been the unique Son of God, Immanuel, God among us. He was born the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Holy Spirit. He had always been the true god-man, that which the fallen Watchers had sought to mimic, and by so doing, destroy his incarnation. But they had failed. And they had failed to stop his seedline through all of history. Now, he had conquered the powers. Now they were subject to him, as he ascended to the right hand of God, the very position of sovereign power and majesty. Simon knelt in awe as the resurrected messiah, Jesus, faded into the clouds above.
That was not all Mary saw as she watched the Lord ascend. She also saw into the spirit realm. She saw a train of what could only be ancient saints taken from the Bosom of Abraham, freed from their wait for Messiah in Hades, follow him up into heaven.
You ascended on high,
leading a host of captives in your train
and giving gifts to men.
Silence permeated the crowd. No one knew what to say. They all knew this would be the last they would see of their Lord on this earth. He had told them before that unless he left them, the Holy Spirit would not come. But Simon wasn’t sure exactly how the Holy Spirit would guide them.
Since everyone was looking up, no one saw the two men in white robes arrive in their midst. But Mary recognized them from the empty tomb. Angels.
One of them said, “Why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Mouths agape, minds bedazzled, the disciples looked amongst one another trying to understand just what was going on.
But Mary saw. And Simon knew. Jesus would return on the clouds of heaven within their generation as he promised. They had to be prepared. The Day of the L
ord was coming.
Chapter 40
“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”
Daniel 7:13–14
The disciples returned to Jerusalem and replaced the twelfth apostle by drawing lots. Matthias would become Judas Iscariot’s replacement.
It had been seven weeks since the Passover and the terrible events of that week. But Yahweh had established a new Passover with a new lamb, his Messiah, and now he was preparing to consummate his new covenant.
The feast of Pentecost had arrived and with it, another pilgrimage of Jews from all the nations into Jerusalem. This was the celebration of the harvest, but also the renewal of the covenant. Many offerings were made at the Temple to celebrate the original entrance into the Promised Land and the rich bounty that Yahweh had laid upon his people.
The seventy were gathered together at a home near the Temple gates, along with an additional fifty or so followers. Simon had been asked by Peter to share with them the story of the Tower of Babel. It struck him as strange, but he did so, having studied it quite deeply during his days in Qumran. All those hours of scrupulous reading of petty details came in handy sometimes. He missed those days of academic lectures at the community. But these days were so much better.
Simon looked at the faces of those around him as he told his story. “And so, Yahweh saw that the whole of mankind had once again rose from the muck and clay to make an idolatrous name for themselves. Nimrod, the mighty rebel before Yahweh, had built a tower, a cosmic mountain, that united heaven and earth. And all the earth spoke the same language back then. So in order to stop a united humanity from rising to incalculable heights of evil, Yahweh went down and confused their language so that they could not understand one another’s speech. And from that land of Babel, Yahweh dispersed them as the seventy nations over the face of the earth. He placed those nations under the authority of the fallen Sons of God, allotted them as their inheritance, the gods of the nations. But he kept Jacob for himself. He was Jacob’s inheritance, and Jacob was his.”