From the four corners of the altar’s capstone, horn-like projections reached skyward. On these and upon the altar itself, the priests poured out the blood of the slaughtered animals as a sacrificial offering, which ran down into a gutter around the base of the altar with a capacity of over three thousand gallons to accommodate the needs on the busier days.
Directly behind the altar, in the westernmost portion of the Court of the Priests, stood the Sanctuary. This was Christopher’s ultimate goal, but there was a mission he and Milner needed to accomplish before continuing. Quickly he found what he was looking for and nodded his intention to Milner. “We must see to it that no more animals are slaughtered here to satisfy Yahweh’s blood thirst.”
Followed closely by Milner, Christopher went to where he had spotted a number of brass shovels used by the priests for removing ashes. They each took one and went to a spot near the slaughter tables where a hill of animal dung had been collected for later removal. As best he could with the use of only one arm, Christopher scooped up a shovelful and slung it against the altar. Again and again Christopher and Milner repeated the act until there was no dung left and the altar had been liberally splattered. Next they beat the brass shovels against each of the altar’s four stones.
“That should do it,” Christopher said finally, knowing that Jewish law would forbid ever again using these stones as an altar.[92]
Christopher and Milner now proceeded to the Sanctuary. From above, the shape of the Temple proper formed a huge T — the result of compromise between those who wanted to rebuild according to the plans of the prophet Ezekiel and those who wanted to recreate the design of Herod’s Temple. It was 175 feet across at the widest point, 105 feet at the narrowest, and rose 175 feet above the Court of the Priests. To the right and left of the entrance stood two tremendous free-standing bronze pillars, called by the priests respectively Jachin and Boaz.
Here Milner stopped. Christopher would go alone the rest of the way.
Looking back only to nod to Milner, Christopher ascended the final set of steps to the vestibule, or porch. Directly in front of him were immense double doors six feet wide and thirty-five feet tall made of olive wood, decorated with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and flowers and covered in pure gold. Suspended above the doors, a spectacular multicolored tapestry displayed a panorama of the universe. Above that, the wall was covered with huge carvings of grape vines and leaves with clusters of grapes as tall as a man and nearly that distance across, entirely covered with gold.
Christopher took a deep breath and continued. Leaning against one and then the other of the huge doors, he let in the bright light of day and stepped through into the next chamber, called the Hekhal, or Holy Place. The fragrant smell of frankincense still smoldered from a golden altar within. Another altar sat undisturbed with twelve sheets of unleavened bread laid out in rows. The candles of a golden menorah provided the only interior light.
Outside the Sanctuary, Robert Milner turned and walked back the way they had come in. There was a matter outside the Temple that awaited his attention.
In front of Christopher, suspended from the ceiling, was the Veil, a divider between the Holy Place and the final chamber, the Debhir, or Holy of Holies. Beyond the Veil, where only the high priest was allowed — and he, only once a year on the Day of Atonement — sat the ancient Ark of the Covenant. The Veil was actually two richly decorated curtains, one in front of the other with about five feet of clearance between the two, and off-set at either end, forming an entry corridor that prevented any light from reaching the windowless Holy of Holies.
Walking to the northern edge of the curtain, Christopher took hold and pulled down sharply until, bit by bit, it broke loose from the ceiling. He continued this until only a few yards remained hanging. He then did the same with the other curtain, pulling it loose from the southern edge, thus leaving a wide entrance through the middle of the Veil and exposing the Holy of Holies to the light of day, which poured in through the Sanctuary’s huge open doors.
Before him, two enormous winged cherubim, each eighteen feet tall, carved from olive wood and covered with pure gold, stood watch over the Ark of the Covenant. Their outstretched wings each spanned half the width of the chamber and met in the center of the room directly over the Ark.
Outside, as Decker took another question, a low rumbling began and grew until it shook the steps where they stood. It seemed to come from inside the Temple. Without explanation, Decker announced that the press conference was concluded. “I suggest that you may want to move away from the Temple at this point,” he noted in obvious understatement. Decker was beginning to enjoy himself.
Inside the Holy of Holies, Christopher stood before the Ark and after a moment’s pause, gripped the cover and slid it back, revealing its contents.
“What’s happening?” several of the reporters shouted at Decker as the Temple shook again.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, if you’ll be patient, I’m sure you’ll have answers to all your questions, but for your own safety, I must insist that you move away from the Temple immediately.” The resolve in Decker’s voice and the urgency of his own steps convinced the others to follow.
Reaching into the Ark, Christopher removed the items he was looking for.
A thunderous rumble many times louder than the first two rolled through the Temple like a freight train, sending reporters and onlookers scurrying. A moment later Robert Milner emerged. He was alone. Resolutely, he descended about a quarter of the way down the steps. Looking out over the thousands of people and the dozens of cameras that broadcast the event around the world, he began to speak. It was his own voice, but it was different; at least Decker could tell there was a difference.
“‘See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse,’” Milner said, quoting the prophet Malachi.[93] The words were familiar to many but especially to the priests and Levites. “Hear, O Israel,” Milner said, no longer quoting, “for this day, this very hour, your lamentation is ended. This is the day of which the prophet spoke. Elijah has come! I am he!”
There was a great stirring among the Jewish priests and Levites at this proclamation and all eyes turned to see how the high priest would respond. It was bad enough that they had been run out of their own Temple, but now for this Gentile to claim that he was the prophet Elijah, while it wasn’t exactly blasphemy, it was a tremendous offense. No one was quite sure how to respond and they looked to Chaim Levin to follow his lead. Had they even an inkling that at that very moment Christopher stood within the Holy of Holies before the Ark of the Covenant, they would not have waited for the high priest, but already would have been tearing their clothes and dumping dust on their heads in Jewish ceremonial outrage.
Surprisingly, Chaim Levin was calm. Dressed in the traditional Temple raiment of his office, the high priest wore a bulbous blue hat with a band of solid gold engraved with the Hebrew words meaning “Holy to Yahweh.” Over the standard white linen tunic of the ordinary priest, which hung down to his ankles, revealing only his bare feet, he wore a richly embroidered robe that reached below his knees and was decorated at the bottom by golden bells that jingled musically as he walked. Over this, he wore a vest-like garment that hung to his hips and was lavishly embroidered with thick threads of gold, purple, blue, and crimson. In the middle of his chest, supported by heavy chains of gold attached to broad epaulets upon his shoulders and around his waist by scarlet strips of cloth, was the ephod, a thick square linen breastplate decorated with gold brocade and inset with twelve large gemstones in four rows of three each, representing the twelve tribes of Israel.
Whether Chaim Levin’s tolerance of Milner was borne of gratitude for Christopher’s dispatch of John and Cohen or because he simply didn’t want to ruin a perfectly good set of robes, he remained unruffled by Milner’s claim
. Instead, he looked him in the eye and politely but with skeptical amusement asked, “By what sign shall we know that you are who you claim?”
“By that same sign by which I, Elijah, proved myself to King Ahab and to the people of Israel on Mount Carmel,”[94] Milner answered, loud enough for everyone to hear.
Chaim Levin raised an eyebrow and frowned a bit. The boldness of Milner’s claim impressed him, though he didn’t for a minute think that Milner could carry it out. “And when shall we see this sign?” he asked after a moment.
“This very hour,” answered Milner. Then, turning away from Levin and toward the crowd, Milner continued. “For 1,260 days Israel has suffered drought. Today it ends!” With that, Milner’s hands shot skyward and from somewhere beyond the Temple a low rumbling was heard, which in just seconds grew in intensity to an earthshaking peal of thunder. Faster than anyone could imagine possible, the sky grew dark, as out of nowhere heavy gray clouds began to fill the heavens. In fear, the crowds and all but a few of those nearest the high priest drew back. No sooner had an area of a few hundred square feet been cleared than a bolt of lightning struck the Earth and a deafening crack of thunder sent people running. In the larger clearing that resulted from the evacuation, the first bolt of lightning was quickly followed by three more, each more powerful than the one previous.[95] And then it began to rain.
It came down in a torrent, pouring down upon Milner, the high priest, and everyone else except a very few who had made it to cover. Though terrified at first, most stood looking up with their hands upraised, thankful for the rain. Some began to dance.
For the crowd, who knew the biblical story of Elijah who called down fire on Mount Carmel, the verdict was clear: This truly must be the prophet. What other explanation could there be? Although the high priest was unconvinced, he could offer no more believable explanation and so he remained silent, staring at Milner as the rain turned his impeccably elegant attire to dripping disarray. Soon many of the priests and Levites joined in with the crowds, proclaiming Milner as the promised Elijah who, according to the prophecy, would return before the Messiah.[96]
It came as no surprise, therefore, when after a few minutes of drenching rain, Milner announced, “Behold your Messiah!”
With rain still pouring down, Milner turned and seemed to be pointing with his outstretched hand toward the top of the Temple wall, but no one could see exactly what he expected them to find. Then above the southeastern corner, a break appeared in the clouds, allowing a single brilliant shaft of sunlight to burst through. “There he is!” someone shouted.
View of Herod’s Temple (model) from the southwest. Pinnacle is corner closest to the camera. Southern entry and steps are at right.
At the top of the wall, on the very edge of the southeastern corner, 180 feet above them, at a point which by tradition is called the pinnacle, stood Christopher, robes blowing in the wind and completely dry as the shaft of light shone down like a spotlight. Quickly the beam broadened, as from that point the clouds retreated in all directions, bringing rain to the parched countryside around Jerusalem. In just moments the area around the Temple was in full daylight again with the sun shining brightly overhead.
By now nearly every person on the planet was watching the events in Jerusalem. Every camera was on him, broadcasting his words and image to the most distant corners of the world.
“People of Earth,” Christopher began slowly with a serene, peaceful tone calculated to restore calm. “For millennia the prophets and soothsayers, the astrologers and oracles, the shaman and the revelators have all foretold the coming of one who would bring with him the olive branch of peace. By a hundred different names the world has known him. And by a hundred different names this promised peace bringer has been petitioned to come quickly to those in distress. For the Jews, he is Messiah; for the Christians, the returning Christ; for the Buddhists he is the Fifth Buddha; for the Muslims, the Twelfth Heir to Mohammed or Immam Mahdi; the Hindus call him Krishna; the Eckankar call him Mahanta; the Baha’i look to the coming Most Great Peace; to the Zorastrians he is Shah-Bahram; to others he is Lord Maitreya, or Bodhisattva, or Krishnamurti, or Mithras, or Deva, or Hermes and Cush, or Janus, or Osiris.
“By whatever name he is known,” Christopher declared, “in whatever tongue he is entreated, this day I say to you: The prophecies have been fulfilled! This day the promise has been kept! This day the vision has been realized for all Humankind!” Christopher paused as the anticipation rose.
“For on this day I have come!” he shouted triumphantly, surprising no one — for the conclusion was obvious — and yet astonishing all, for no one could have been truly prepared for such a declaration.[97]
Christopher’s voice quickly picked up speed and fervor. “I am the promised one!” he chanted. “I am the Messiah, the Christ, the Fifth Buddha, the Twelfth Heir to Mohammed; I am the one who brings the Most Great Peace; I am Krishna, Shah-Bahram, Mahanta, Lord Maitreya, Bodhisattva, Krishnamurti, and Immam Mahdi; I am Mithras, Deva, Hermes and Cush, Janus, and Osiris! There is no difference. They are all one. All religions are one. And I am he of whom all the prophets spoke![98] This is the day of the Earth’s salvation!”
To the displeasure of the high priest, many in the assembly roared their approval and the response was echoed around the world. They had all seen Christopher die at the hands of an assassin, and they had seen his resurrection. They had witnessed him effortlessly dispatch John and Cohen, who had brought terrible plagues on the Earth. They had watched in amazement as Robert Milner called down lightning and brought rain to the drought-stricken holy land.
But more than anything else, they cheered because they were ready for a savior. It was the worst of times. Truly, it was the worst of times. And never before had the world been so eager, so ready for a savior.[99]
“Do not misunderstand,” Christopher cautioned. “I haven’t come to make pious religious pronouncements. Nor have I come to demand your worship or insist that you pay me homage. I don’t seek your praise and adoration, nor do I demand your devotion.
“Instead I tell you to look to yourselves! For within each of you is all the deity, all the divinity, that you will ever need. You may call me a god, and I don’t deny it: I am a god! But I call you gods. All of you! Each of you!”
High Priest Chaim Levin had now heard enough. This was obvious blasphemy and, new robes or not, he was obligated to tear his garments and throw dust upon his head. And so he began with a vengeance, though he had to settle for wet muddy grit from the street. Some of the other priests and Levites nearby immediately followed his lead. But others, many others, were far too interested in what this man who had risen from the dead had to say.
“It is not my own godhood that I have come to proclaim,” Christopher continued. “It’s yours!
“I have not come to threaten or punish,” he said reassuringly, undistracted by the actions of the high priest so far below him. “I have come to offer to Humankind life everlasting and joy unimagined. I bring you the opportunity to build a tomorrow of abundance and life from a yesterday of hunger and death. Come with me. Follow me.”
The high priest’s overdramatic rending of cloth and hurling of dirt distracted Decker from Christopher’s speech just long enough for him to notice that despite the distance between Christopher and the street, he could hear him clearly. Christopher’s voice seemed to be coming from right next to him or, perhaps . . . even from inside of him. This discovery was quickly followed by another, even more startling: Decker suddenly realized that Christopher wasn’t speaking English. He didn’t know what language it was, but he was certain he had never heard it before; and yet he clearly understood every word. Apparently, so did those all around him, and as Decker correctly assumed, so did every other person on Earth, no matter their native tongue.
He wondered if others had noticed. Under his breath, Decker tried to repeat a few of the words, but discovered that though he understood everything Christopher said, he couldn’t duplicate a single wo
rd. Later Christopher would explain that he had been speaking in the root of all human languages, one that was as universal and instinctive to humans as animal sounds are to the given type of animal. It was, as Christopher would explain later, the language spoken by all humans prior to the confusion of language, which Yahweh used to scatter the people when they built the Tower of Babel.[100] This language didn’t need to be translated. It was the translation.
“My resurrection,” Christopher continued, “is not a symbol of my victory over death. It is, rather, a symbol of Humankind’s victory of life. My resurrection, my release from the chains of death, occurred because the time has at last come for each of you to break your own chains. It is time to claim the glorious future that awaits us all. It truly is our resurrection!
“Let there be no confusion: What has befallen the Earth over these past three and a half years has not been accidental or the result of natural disasters. It has been the cold, calculated acts of supernatural oppression, enacted through the men John and Cohen, but caused by an oppressive, evil force — a spiritual entity whose goal is to prevent the human race from fulfilling its destiny and attaining its proper place in the universe.
“The power that directed my assassination and the entity that has brought the world to the brink of annihilation are one and the same. But my resurrection is proof that this entity can be defeated, that the Earth can be restored, and that Humankind is ready to throw off the yoke of bondage!
“I have returned to lead the world out of this age of destruction and death and into a new and transcendent age where suffering and death are no more, an age borne out of the trials and suffering and into a time of harmony with the universe. You — the ones who have outlasted the disasters and plagues — you are the survivors and you shall be the victors!
Birth of an Age Page 23