|
Habeas Corpus: Produce the Body:
Shua from Sheol to Shivim
(That is, 'Jesus' from Hell to Seventy)
Comments / Contact
INTRO
After Yahshua Messiah ascended into the skies (as
recorded in Acts 1), suppose he came down in another needy place in the
land. Suppose some folks there recognized him. Further, suppose
he was present in the resurrected body at some of the pivotal points in the
history of the nascent Assembly of Yahweh.
Actually, there are quite a number of historical marker
where Yahshua was seen and recognized; for instance, the New Testament
records his post-resurrection presence in Jerusalem, Galilee, Syria, and
Galatia. Secular history of the time also reports a couple more such
advents. Many ancient religious accounts also record Yahshua returning
to varies places to teach or help his people through troublesome times.
In the the following words, certain of these reported
visitations are laid over 1st- through 3rd-century written history to give
us an account of Yahshua's whereabouts and doings from the time of his
crucifixion until his seventieth year. What emerges is the bones of what
could become a much more detailed historical fiction, which could be useful
in learning about messianic times, the ways and means of the apostles, and
the ultimate fulfillment of the Olivette prophecies that are still so
mysterious to some today.
PRIMO
Habeas Corpus
There’s a law term we hear, but few know what it means. It’s habeas corpus: “you should have the
body.” It’s a document issued by a lawyer challenging the
legality of holding a person. Grounds for a Writ of Habeas Corpus
might be established if a person’s imprisoned based on illegally obtained
evidence, denial of counsel or jury tampering.
In order to serve the writ, the body must be traceable. One can’t be released
unless his whereabouts and history is known. Today I’d like to serve a
Writ of Habeas Corpus for the body of Yahshua
Messiah. I want to know the whereabouts of his corpus from when
he left the tomb onward. We’ll look for evidence of his whereabouts
based the Bible and history. We might even find facts that might bear
upon our own corpus in times to come.
From the
Garden
Yahshua’s corpus was habeased
from a garden on Mount
Olivette
by a crowd of thugs. They took the body with spirit intact to the High
Priest Emeritus then on to the palace of the High Priest, Caiaphas. Yahshua was interrogated by some lawyers at midnight and
was assaulted by a temple guard. The remainder of the morning, he was
blindfolded and beaten about the face. At daylight, the Council met
together and tried him. Failing to make the case with false witnesses,
the authorities condemned him for the capital crime of blasphemy without any
witnesses or a confession. They sentenced Yahshua
to death unlawfully.
To Herod
He was taken under guard to the Praetorium of the
Roman governor Pilate (once Herod’s palace). The most powerful regent
in Palestine interrogated Yahshua but had no case,
and turned him over to the ruler of his home province of Galilee, who
happened to be in town: King Herod Antipas. The King was pleased to see
Yahshua because he thought him to be an occultist
with great and useful powers. Herod commanded miracles, but Yahshua wouldn’t. So Herod’s men beat him
again. They put a huge robe on him to cover all the illegal abuse and
sent him back to the Praetorium.
To
Pilate
Pilate interrogated him again, and again found no cause. To please the
local authorities, he had Yahshua stripped and torn
beyond recognition with iron whips. After this, the sadistic Roman
soldiers had him alone. They plated his skull with thorns. The
robe went back on to cover the corporeal abuse. The soldiers
repeatedly slapped his hooded face.
Pilate returned, had Yahshua brought before his
assembled enemies, and again pronounced him innocent, finding no charge corpus
habere – “to have the body.” A good
lawyer might’ve brought a Writ of Habeas Corpus and freed Yahshua.
Roman justice would’ve complied – for the corpus was about to become a
corpse at the hands of the brutal guards.
However, his lawyer didn’t show, and his disciples, who were ignorant of
Latin law terms, cowered behind the bushes, hoping not to be seen as a
corporation.
Pilate, a brutal killer himself, was disturbed by the proceedings because of
his wife’s dream– she sent him a message while he was on the judgment seat: “Have nothing to do with that just man; I’ve been badly messed up all day because of a dream
about him.”
Pilate could produce the Writ of Habeas Corpus himself to let Yahshua off on his wife’s account, but the devil had one
more trick. The Temple
leaders taunted their overlord, “Pilate, if you set him free you’e no friend of Caesar’s; anyone who makes himself
king is defying Caesar.” Pilate’s friends in Rome had themselves recently been
executed (in 31 AD); the chief priests knew it. Pilate was a
friendless man. Now was the perfect time for a threat, and the Jewish
crowd caught on quickly. Pilate’s head was on
the block now. “We have no king but Caesar,” led the crowd of
idolaters.
To Skull Place
Pilate washed his hands and went into hiding. A German Centurion and
his men took Yahshua to the stake and the crowd
followed the hobbled and decimated Messiah out the Damascus Gate, to a point
overlooking the city, known then and recognized today as Skull Place. Soldiers impaled Yahshua, nailing him down, lifting him up, dropping man and pole into a depression scratched into
solid rock. Yahshua quickly succumbed to the
bleeding and died of asphyxiation. A soldier speared him to make sure
he was dead.
To the
Tomb
In the aftermath, the famous explorer Yahosef of Arimathaea served a writ of Habeas Corpus on
Pilate. Pilate was so glad to end the matter that he granted the corpus
/ corpse immediately. The dead Yahshua
became Yahosef’s possession, and with the Pharisee
Nicodemus, the body was retired to new hewn tomb. A shroud draped the
body; a turban covered the head. A hundred pounds of cool aloe leaves
encased the body. The tomb was shut and airless for over seventy-two
hours by a round stone, guarded by templars.
Yahshua was as dead as could be. Great
measures were taken to preserve the body temporarily in case it might come
back to life. But in one very important way, Yahshua
wasn’t like other humans. His essence could never die – it’s impossible
to kill one born of spirit. The Son of G-d didn’t die
with the Son of Man. The living spirit escaped through the tomb
floor. His spirit went down, down, down. Beneath
Jerusalem’s foundations, there was a mammoth recess in the rock and a burning
ring of fire – the largest, deepest underground chamber in earth’s entire 260,732,699,457 cubic miles of water, rocks, magma and
empty spaces.
Imprisoned in the
Earth
Kefa tells us of ancient times when the offspring
of fallen angels and women were monstrous youths, hideous and cruel, big
bodied, mere cocoon-like shells for bloodthirsty demonic spirits.
Noah’s flood was sent by Yahweh to kill these things, but through the death
of their corporis, the foul ghosts inside
was freed. By the time of the flood, humanity was entirely infiltrated
by the spawn of Satan; Yahweh saved only eight souls. The prophet Enoch
relates that two hundred million Nephilim, freed
from the limitations of flesh, were gathered by righteous angels and
imprisoned in caves of nether gloom deep inside the earth. Two hundred
million devilish, death loving, blood sucking devils are chained under
your feet, waiting to be set free to enslave you. They may now be
free. The world seems to be ravaged by evil.
Kefa said (2 Kefa 2:4,5) Yahweh didn’t spare
the angels when they sinned, but cast them into Hades and committed them to
pits of nether gloom to be kept until the judgment; he didn’t spare
the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven
other persons, when he brought a flood upon the world of the unrighteous….
Yochanon sees these wicked hoards escaping in his
visions! (Revelation 9:1-5
exc.) I saw a star fallen from heaven
to earth, and he was given the key to the bottomless pit; he opened it and
from there rose the smoke of a great furnace; the air was darkened with the
smoke. From the smoke came locusts, and they were given the
power of scorpions; allowed to torture for five months. In those days
men will seek death and will not find it. (By the way, five
prophetic months is equal to 150 years.)
Yochanon says these Nephilim
are as locusts. A scholar writes: “Numberless swarms are carried
by the wind from Arabia into Palestine,
then, having devastated that country, migrate to regions farther north
….” On the day Yahshua died, the devils in
hell rejoiced. They had the writ of habeas corpus – Yahshua would soon be in Hades, and they would destroy
him forever. The only one who could keep them imprisoned was now theirs!
They’d soon be free from their chains to complete the final solution –
the total annihilation of all creation.
Into the
Smoking Pit
The Son of G-d – no longer a mere man, but a life-giving spirit, transverses
the quantum roadblocks through the molten nether world. He locates that
enormous crater ten thousand miles beneath Gehenna,
far below where the Jebusites passed their children
through the fire. In majesty, protected from the flames by holiness,
but carrying the burden of sin for the world of men, Messiah transverses the
gate into that dank, airless, burning hell, where he senses the infernal
slime of antediluvian vice, and feels the pitiless horror of evil surround
him as if to consume. He is in Hell.
Instantly, the alarm sounds: the king of that smoking pit, Apollyon, the destroyer, rises as big as the planet
Pluto. “Who are you, that you dare come into
this abode, unless you be the one with the key to this loathsome place; open
the gate that we may be free to consume the earth, else you too shall be
congealed with the rest of the foul ooze in the cavern thither and
below. I command you! for I’m the king of this evil abode. I AM Apollyon! The Devil!”
The Son of Yahweh, experiencing again the Power as before he was born a man,
thunders at this pestiferous midget with the voice of a trumpet, saying,
“Behold, you Apollyon! I
am Yahweh Sabbaoth, whom you crucified! I AM
has sent me! Look upon the one you pierced, and hear the words of the
Master of Spirits, ‘THE EYES OF YAHWEH ARE UPON THE RIGHTEOUS, HIS EARS ARE
OPEN TO THEIR SUPPLICATION, BUT THE FACE OF YAHWEH IS SET AGAINST EVIL-DOERS (1
Kefa 3:12). I
arrived here for the purpose of undoing the Devil’s works (1 Yochanon 3:8), and that I will do. Now, get thee behind me, Abaddon! for it is written, ‘TO YAHWEH YOUR ELOHIM
YOU WILL PAY HOMAGE, AND TO HIM ALONE WILL YOU RENDER WORSHIP.’”
With
these words, the sword of his mouth cuts Abaddon
/ Apollyon a magnificent new orifice, sending foul
steams spewing forth as he bounced down, down toward the boiling slime of
spiritual excrement below
What Now, St. Kefa
Simeon Kefa tells us plainly, “Chrestus died
once for all for sins, the innocent One for the guilty many, in
order to bring us to the Might One. He was put to death in the flesh, but
made alive in the spirit, in which He also went and proclaimed His
Message to the spirits that were in prison, who in ancient times had been
disobedient, while YHWH’s longsuffering was
patiently waiting in the days of Noah …” (1 Kefa
3:18-20).
 To
the horrific disappointment of the Devil and his hoards of scorpions, there,
in the center of the earth, the Angel of Yahweh preached his most damning
message to date – a far more blood-curdling oracle than any human prophet of
former generations. The fires below exploded with tremendous violence,
slime mixed with magma cascades angrily through the torpid air of the pit –
and above, on the surface of the land, there’s an earthquake centered in on
the Hinnom
Valley. In Jerusalem at that
moment,
the veil of the Sanctuary was torn from top to bottom, the
earth quaked, the rocks split, the tombs opened and the bodies of many holy
ones rose from the dead, and left the tombs, entered the city and appeared to many. And the centurion and the others guarding Yahshua were
terrified….” (Matthew 27:51-54
exc.).
SECUNDO
A Wounded
Healer
Yahshua the Nazorean
awakes in dark agony. His hands, feet, face and chest are all afire with
pain. Every joint’s out of place. He remembers his ordeal now as
the dead body slowly returns to life, blood and fluids again start to
flow. O, the pain! He wrenches off the shroud with a
whimper. Unwrapping the turban, he lays it
aside. “I AM the sign of Jonah” – yes, he remembers everything.
It’s a long, stressful ordeal for him to roll off the cold stone slab, to
swim through the spoiled vegetables piled on him, to roll off unto the bare
stone floor. Naked save for a loin cloth, he sees the light of day –
for the tombstone is split: and there in the changing room, a fresh linen
robe is folded – the priestly robe, fashioned after the manner of
Melchizedek. He dresses, painfully ties sandals on his deformed feet,
and limps outside into the cool. He Lives, sings a church in the wildwood,
but barely. Yet he’s not bleeding anymore; his burial wrappings and the
aloes have staved his blood and kept his wounds clean. He’s not been
resuscitated – not at all; he’s arisen from the dead, as he said he would.
MarYah
“MarYah!” he says in a whisper. “Raboni,” she whimpers, reaching for him. “Don’t
touch me, MarYah. I’ve come out of Sheol, but I HAVEN’T YET
ASCENDED. PRAY FOR ME instead; I will recover. Then go tell my
disciples.” MarYah prays, “Our Father, who
art in heaven ….” The Living Soul is yet in critical condition.
If he is touched, into pieces he may fly.
Yahosef
Yahosef of Arimathaea and
Nicodemus were missed at the Feast. Yahosef’s
men watched the tomb. They saw the guards abscond in terror, and a
great lightening bolt crack the stone. Like good Samaritans, they all
convey the gravely ill man out of the city, lodging him in a safe house west
of the city, in Emmaus. Nicodemus tells Yahosef.
“I can’t even recognize him!” Yahosef
replies, “What counts is that he’s alive. Now let’s go.”
Yaaqov and Shimeon Cleopas Luke 24:13-52
– The Journey to Emmaus
Yahshua’s two brothers, Yaaqov
the Just and Shimeon Cleopas
known as the Zealot, are challenged by Yahshua’s
death. If he said he’d rise, then he’ll rise! In the foolishness
of youth, they make a vow to Yahweh. They won’t eat until they see
their brother alive. Fasting was nothing for them. They
were religious men. They fasted all the time. But Yahweh would
perform the miracle, or they’d die too.
Young, treacherous Saul, King Herod’s appointee to temple security, was
looking for these boys – they had to get out of town. Yaaqov and Shimeon topped the
summit of the mountain west of Jerusalem
on foot. They’d walk to Joppa and secure passage for Heliopolis
in Egypt
where they had relatives.
Late
in the day, they approach Emmaus. They try to debrief as they
walk. There’s a wretched leper on crutches ahead. He
hobbles out toward them; they’re horrified by his look – all bruised, swollen,
wrapped, beyond recognition. “Get out of here,” Yaaqov
says. “I want to know what you boys are talking about.” the cripple
chirps weakly. The boys slow up, and Yaaqov
says, “Keep a distance between us.” So the lame leper joins them.
The going’s sluggish, but the conversation’s fascinating. The
leper’s a scholar and a believer. They stop at the
Emmaus Holiday inn. Yaaqov and Shimeon tell their strange companion, “We’re staying
here, old fellow – you stay with us. We’ll talk.” The “old fellow”
says, “This is my place – my Father owns it all. I’ve been walking a
little, recovering from a serious illness. Why don’t we eat
bread?” But Yaaqov said, “No way. My brother
and I are fasting.” But Yahshua says, “Yaakov
bar Yosef haTzadik! It’s me, your other
brother.” While the astonishment is apparent, Yahshua
chooses a flat loaf and breaks it before them. Recognition comes.
“You boys eat your bread now; you need your strength. THIS brother
needs his rest.” And Yahshua disappears into
the back of the inn, leaving Yaaqov the Just and Shimeon Cleopas to wonder and
rejoice. “Did not our hearts within
us burn as in the way he talked; unfolding all the mysteries of scripture as
we walked?”
Thus
each unto the other spoke; and then they home returned to tell their friends
the honest truth which now they had discerned.
Kefa and Yochanon
Later on, the leper’s carried into a hotel meeting room on Jerusalem’s south side by his brothers, Yaaqov and Shimeon, and his
benefactor, Yahosef of Arimathaea.
Nicodemus and others are there, including Levi, Andrew, Nathaniel, Zacheyah, Philip, Salome and Joanna hiding in the
corner. Yaaqov points them out. Yahshua sneaks up behind them, and hoots, “Peace be unto YOU!” These disciples are frightened, but their
fear turns to joy.
Thomas
AgainYahshua is with his brothers Yaaqov and Shimeon, and his
sister Salome. Yahshua is no longer
hooded. He wears the linens of a Melchizedek priest. He’s at the Bethany apartment of MarYah, his mother, who’s seen him in a dream. They
approach Yahshua’s other brother in the
apartment. He’s Yahuda, Yaaqov’
twin, known as Thomas. “Peace, brother! Behold.” Yahshua parts his robe. “Put your hand in my
side. Don’t be doubting, but believe.” Yahudah T’oma, the brother of Yahshua, cries, “My master! It is you!”
Teaching
Ten days later, Yahshua is in the assembly room on Jerusalem’s southwest
side, dividing the prophecies of Zechariah, Daniel and Esdras.
Now he’s on but one crutch, his swelling’s down, his
voice is clear. Zacheyah marvels to Yaaqov what a fine recovery Yahshua
is making from death to life. Yaaqov replies,
“Yes, it’s remarkable. He called on the elders of the assembly, we
anointed him with oil, and he is recovering.” Yahshua
calls forth Yaaqov, and the rest. “You too, Zacheyah! I have a special plan for you.” Yahshua breathes on them the breath of life, and he gives
them authority to breath on others. To Zacheyah
he says, “Receive the Ruach haQodesh.
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of
any, they are retained” (Yochanon 20:22).
Eating
Early in the month of Sivan, Yahshua is at Capernaum on the
seashore. The sea air is doing him great good. The leaders of the
Sadducees are telling everybody that his body was stolen out of the
tomb. The seminary professor told his students that Yahshua’s
body had been eaten by dogs. Sounds
crazy, no? Despite what they say, for
the time being Yahshua’s entirely free of
persecution. He has broiled sardines for the fishers’ breakfast.
They brought in a huge catch, 153 fish (3x3x17), and the crew was tired from
hauling them in. They rest now and eat. Yahshua
takes Kefa aside and points to the carp, flipping
and flopping all over the rocky shore. “Kefa,”
says Yahshua, “do you like me more than
these?” Yahshua points a broken finger to the
carps.
Paul
In a few short years, Yahshua recovers. He’s
survived crucifixion, but others have done that. Yahshua died; his heart stopped, his brain
stopped, his breathing stopped, his blood stopped. For three days.
The Risen Savior finds himself now in Syria with three of his brothers
– Yaaqov the Just, Shimeon
Cleopas, Yahudah the
Twin, and Yahuda’s wife and children, and MarYah, his mother. They’re all seeing Yahudah off at Damascus;
he’s leaving the family and heading for the Indies
with the Good News.
Ahead, there’s a caravan of armed guards and Pharisees. “¿What are they
doing in Syria?”
Yaaqov wonders. Then he recognizes the man in
charge. “Mother,” cries Yaaqov, “We must
leave RIGHT NOW. That’s Saul’s troop, breathing murderous threats
against our family.” Yahudah adds, “Don’t
forget how they beat Yaaqov within an inch of HIS
life last year! We’ve got to go! Now!” But Yahshua says, “Calm down, dear brothers. You
just let me handle this Saul.”
Yochanon and MarYah
It’s ten years later. Yahshua,
Yochanon and MarYah are
in Ephesus.
Yochanon moved there with Yahshua’s
mother after the beheading of Yochanon’s brother, Yaaqov, son of Zebadiah. Yahshua sees his mother safely to that famous city, then he bids her and her Yochanon
farewell. Yahshua heads inland on foot.
Galatia
Months later, The Assembly of Yahweh at Galatia is celebrating
Passover. These people are Gentiles – formerly pagans – who converted
to strict religion. Saul, now Paul, taught them the story of Yahshua rising from the dead. They believed the
story.
Now there’s a stranger in the Sabbath service, a Jew. Paul warned them
about the danger of the Jews. When the priest ends his teaching and the
Passover Haggadah is being said, this Jew
boldly approaches the table, snatches the unleavened bread, tears it in half
and holds it up. There might have been a commotion, except that
the Gentiles see the Jew’s mangled hands in the lamplight. Despite the
fact that they had never seen this Jew before, the people of Galatia
knew him.
Rome
Yahshua is almost fifty, living in Rome
with Aquila. There are two assemblies
in Rome –
First Circumcised Assembly of Yahweh and First Uncircumcised Church of Chrestus – the first of Jewish and the second of
Gentiles. Both assemblies believe the same things almost, but culture
divides them. Yahshua means to
bring the bodies together as one – just as he and the Father are one. He
calls a joint meeting. Clement’s
the pastor of the First Uncircumcised Church of Chrestus
and Aquila pastors the small First
Circumcised Assembly of Yahweh right in his house. Yahshua teaches them all an old lesson, but new
to them:
“No one puts new wine into old skins; for the skins
burst, the wine runs out, and the both skins and wine are lost. No; they put
new wine in new skins. Both are preserved that way.”
The
Jewish Pharisees of Rome, and there are many, get wind of this
meeting, and set fire to the building while Yahshua
teaches. A riot of fear breaks out among the people in the
neighborhood. Soon the hubbub gets to the Senate and Emperor Claudius
expels all Jews, Christians and Druids, including Priscilla, Aquila, Paul and Clement. “You get out of town, or else!”
The Roman historian Suetonius will write history still read today, “(Claudius) expelled the Jews in Rome because they, incited by Chrestus, they were constantly creating an
uproar.” (Suetonius, Life of Claudius, ch.25.4.) Chrestus the inciter is the Latin name
“Christ.” The Risen Yahshua was again blamed
for a riot sixteen years after he cleansed the Jerusalem temple.
Kefa
Yahshua is sixty-five years old. On a
return trip from the Indies, Yahshua’s brother Yahudah was
mistaken for an Egyptian bandit and executed. Two years ago, Caiaphas’
son pushed Yahshua’s brother Yaaqov
off the temple parapet. His other brother, Shimeon
Cleopas, is now the leader (mebakker)
of the Jerusalem Assembly of Yahweh. MarYah
died some years ago at Ephesus in the house of
Yochanon, the overseer of seven assemblies in Asia. Kefa, Aquila and Apollos are back in Rome,
hiding – trying to get out again. Paul’s in Spain
on his way to Britain.
The disciples of Yahshua are either dead or in Africa. Chrestus,
the title by which Yahshua is known in Rome, is incognito.
Nearly all Rome
burned last year; plague filled the city. Thousands died, and now the
crazed emperor Nero blames the Christians, Jews, Nazoreans. His pregnant wife, Poppaea Sabina, is the first Christian to die. Nero
sets the example by kicking her to death. The worst persecutions
against any religious group had begun. Believers tried to flee. Aquila’s assembly disbanded; Clement’s
church went into hiding.
Shimeon Kefa, Demetrius,
Hiram and Sabinus were stealing southwestward
across Italy, hoping to
make the port
of Delos – where
Spartacus had camped a hundred forty years earlier. Luke, Rufus,
Clement, Thecla and thousands of other believers
were arrested and sentenced to die in the most heinous ways. No writs
of Habeas Corpus are forthcoming. Shimeon Kefa’s an old man, but still the icon of the
movement. The believers risk lives to send him out of the city, along
with some youthful guardians. Yet Kefa lags
behind as the troop skirts a forest bend outside the city.
As he considers this terrible turn of fate, Kefa
prays: “Father, help us to find our way to the brethren in Greece.”
Then he trudged on to the sea and Delos, and
says to himself, “I go afishin’!”
A ghost of a man with a cane pops out of a gumbo tree and limps toward
him. Kefa sees a crippled leper – hardly able
to walk at all. “How’d he get out here?” Kefa
wonders.
The cripple stumbles up and stops Kefa cold.
“Shimeon,” the man says.
“Quo Vadis?
Where are you going?”
There’s
no mistaking the voice. “Master,” Kefa cries,
bending a knee. “Where are you going, Master?” Yahshua says, “Friend, I’m going into Babylon to be crucified
afresh.” Kefa says, “No Master!
I’ll die for you. I will this
time.” Yahshua takes three dried figs out of
his bag. “Do you love me more than these?” he says, and hands over the
figs. Kefa knows what’s coming. “You
know I love you.” Yahshua’s last words to Kefa are, “Feed my lambs.” With a deep, disquieted
sigh, Kefa tries again to see Yahshua’s
face, but can’t. He turns himself back - toward Rome to feed the Master’s sheep – and the
emperor’s dogs.
TRIO
Pray your flight may not be in the winter (Matthew 24:20)
Yahshua is seventy years old. He’s in Jerusalem living with
his brother Shimeon Cleopas,
who met him on the Emmaus road after his resurrection nearly forty years
before. Yahshua feels his body
disintegrating. He was healthy for decades, then feeble, then
leprous. Now he’s getting lighter and lighter: matter is becoming
energy. E=MC2. It’s a wonderful thing; his body
is vanishing as his spirit angelizes. It’s
important he be here now; be strong for his brother’s family and the
Assembly of Yahweh at Jerusalem.
Five legions of Roman soldiers surrounded Jerusalem two years earlier. They’d
see the Holy City leveled and burned. Inside
the city, conditions are horrific. Many had turned to cannibalism, and
the Jews were fighting each other for control of whatever meat was
left.
Might we not here quote gallant men who were living close to the time of this
great tribulation, and who tell us mysterious histories concerning the siege
on Jerusalem?
We’ll start with Kefa’s disciple Clement, who
may have been inside or outside the walls of Jerusalem at the time. (Some
changes have been made for clarity only):
“An
evident proof of a great mystery is supplied in the fact that every one who,
believing in this Prophet who had been foretold by Moses and being baptized
in His name, will be kept unhurt from the destruction of war impending over
an unbelieving nation … But those who do not believe will be made exiles from
their place and kingdom, that even against their will they may understand and
obey the will of Elohim.” (Clement, Recognitions
1:39:3)
General
Yahushefat, earlier of the resistance but now
translator for the Roman general Titus, is definitely at the wall and very
much involved in the assault against Jerusalem.
He writes about an unexpected and fateful retreat of Roman allies:
“It then happened that Cestius
(the roman legate of Syria)
… recalled his soldiers from the place [Jerusalem],
and by despairing of any expectation of taking it, without having received
any disgrace, he retired from the city, without any reason in the
world.” (Josephus, Wars II, XIX, 6, 7, 75 AD.)
No reason in the world? Maybe the reason
came from another world.
And next we hear from
Epiphanius, so-called church father and heresiologist of the 4th century::
“For
when the city was about to be captured and sacked by the Romans, all the
disciples were warned beforehand by an angel to remove from the city,
doomed as it was to utter destruction. On migrating from it they settled at Pella, the town already indicated, across the Jordan.” (Epiphanius, On Weights and Measures, 15).
So
it is to Pella on the Damascus road, the disciples were told by
the Angel of Yahweh to venture.
Now
our last witness is Eusebius himself, church historian and theologian to the
Roman Emperor Constantine:
“Now this sect of Nazarenes exists in Beroea in Coele-Syria, and in Decapolis in the district of Pella, and in Kochaba of Basanitis-- called Kohoraba in Hebrew. For thence it originated after the
migration from Jerusalem of all the disciples
who resided at Pella, the Messiah having
instructed them to leave Jerusalem
and retire from it on account of the impending siege. It was owing to this
counsel that they went away, as I have said,to reside for a while at Pella” (Eusebius, Haer
29:7). Other Pella quotations
Yet
there is no inkling that any in this embattled city would ever get out.
How could they possibly? The gates were shut and barred and guarded
both inside and out. Just then, there was another miracle.
The Amnesty of
Jerusalem
The decree of Nero’s successor, General Galba in Rome, was heralded by his
counterpart, General Titus, who had surrounded Jerusalem and was squeezing it
for all its worth. Galba’s declaration
is astounding – and a complete surprise to both friend and foe! These are the words of Galba’s message:
“By authority of Galba of Rome.
Before we utterly destroy your
capital and everyone therein,
those of the good faith, come out the Damascus
Gate and be free! ”
Galba
was proclaimed acting emperor after the death of the antichrist Nero.
Believers in Yahshua within the walls of Jerusalem numbered to
over five thousand. They were all ready for this because the Angel of
Yahweh, Yahshua the Anointed One, had predicted it
a generation before,
“When you see Jerusalem surrounded by
armies,” he warned,
“flee to the
mountains.” (Matthew
24:7)
This
was their chance, and, with Yahuda, Yahshua’s nephew in charge of the exodus, the multitude
formed outside the Essene quarter and began making
their way northward through the wretched city toward the Damascus Gate.
Even though Yahshua had been crucified, died,
arose, been an athlete, a cripple, a leper, traveled through Asia and Rome
and back, and was over the allotted seventy years, he found his steps lighter
and lighter, his pain gone, his spirits high – as he moved toward
freedom with the Assembly founded in his name. They pass by the Praetorium, no longer the headquarters of Rome in the city, now
full of the half-starved orphans and widows of the war. Yahshua calls to them as they pass, “Children – come unto me – let no one hinder you!
HO, EVERY one of you who’s thirsty, come – we’re going to the waters;
you who have no money, come and eat” (Isaiah 55:1). Though there
is grave danger, over three hundred starving women and children step out of
the huge edifice in faith and follow; no one stops them.
The entourage passes Gabbatha, where Yahshua had been whipped, slapped and bled out.
Looking beyond the Western wall, Yahshua sees his
old enemy, the hollow eyes of Golgotha the
Skull. Up ahead is the final gate, and the
Assembly of Yahweh will find safety outside the walls. Yet before the
escape, one more serious challenge lies ahead. A huge band of armed Essenes, Zealots, and Sons of Perdition, led by Phinehas the Slasher, a
murderous Sicarii cult leader, guard the Damascus gate, awaiting
anyone who dared take Galba up on his decree of escape.
The
Confrontation with Phinehas the Slasher
The Zealots bar the road and gate ahead, and Phinehas
addresses Yahudah ben Yahudah
(the leader of the Nazoreans and the son of the Yahuda who brought the good news to India) and
his aging uncle, Shimeon Cleopas,
with the words – “Nobody gets out! If you try, you die. Now empty your bags for
us and go back where you came from, cowardly Minim
(may your names be blotted from the book of life.” (Minim are heretics; the believers were of the Nazorean sect, declared heretics by both Temple
and Rome.) Shimeon looks back at those he would’ve led to safety,
especially the doomed children. He speaks quietly to Yahuda, “Son, we must go
back. They mean what they say. They’ll kill us all.”
But Yahudah ben Yahudah
was a brave young man. “No, Nuncle. We’ll fight them. We can
overcome. We outnumber them many times. Yahweh is on our
side. Your brother is here.” But Shimeon
replies, “No, Son. We’re not killers like
them. We’ll have to go back.”
The Nazoreans lose their nerve, and the crowd
behind doesn’t know what’s happening. Both Yahudah
ben Yahudah and Shimeon Cleopas are arguing as Phinehas
the Slasher and his bodyguard approach with
crescent swords drawn. At this tense moment, Yahshua
of Nazareth, lighter and stronger than at any other time in his life
(save his meeting with Apollyon), steps to the
fore. Moving in between his brother Shimeon
and his nephew Yahuda, Yahshua
says loud enough to be heard for a mile,
“Hinneh! Hinneh! All
you let this song be sung in the land of Yahuda:
We have a strong city; SALVATION will Yahweh
appoint for walls and bulwarks.’ Shimeon my brother will keep you in perfect peace, those
of you whose minds rest upon Yahweh: because my brother trusts in HIM.
Confide in Yahweh forever; for Yah-Yahweh is the rock of ages. He
brings down all who dwell on high; the lofty city, he lays it low, he lays it
low to the ground, he brings it to dust. Your feet will stomp them
down, even the feet of the stricken, the steps of the poor. The way of the
just is uprightness: and you - you Just One, make the path of the righteous
even. Yea, in the way of your judgments, O Yah, have we waited for you;
your name is the desire of our soul. (Isaiah 26:1,3-8)
Phinehas the Slasher,
startled by the resounding voice of yet another elderly man, coyly moves
forward to face him, and says to him in an ironic snear,
“Who are you, Sir?” Yahshua replies in the voice of a lion, “I am Yahshua, the one you are
persecuting (Acts 9:5). The first
and the last, and the living one. I am the one who died, and hinneh – I am alive for ever, and I have the keys of
Death and Sheol” (Revelation 1:17,18). “Now, open the
gates so the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in” (Isaiah
26:2).
Yahudah ben Yahudah and
the rest of the Nazoreans leap up and down, but Shimeon Cleopas trembles in
fear. In the commotion, Yahshua turns to his
brother and whispers, “Brother, Strengthen the
weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.’” And to Yahudah, he says, “Yahuda benYahuda, say to those who
are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not! Behold,
your Elohim will come with vengeance, with the
recompense of Yahweh. He will come and save you!” (Isaiah
35:3,4)
With a resounding CRACK the Damascus Gates break open – whether by man or
angel, nobody knows. At this speech and great noise, Phinehas the Slasher directs a
loud command to his army, “Kill them all before
the gate opens.” Then, as the rebellious Jews fall upon the Nazoreans, Yahshua cries with a
loud voice, “Prepare ye the Way of Yahweh!
Make his paths straight!” And when he says, “Make his paths straight,” the attackers draw
back, then most of them fall to the ground, stricken, foaming at the mouth,
gnashing teeth. Some fall from the battlements about the gates; Some
from the heights of the temple. Even Ananus,
the high priest, watching the spectacle from the same parapet from which he
cast brother Yaaqov a few years before, foams and
falls himself. And Yahshua, Shimeon his brother, Yahudah ben Yahudah
his nephew, their families and the rest of the Jerusalem Nazoreans
pass out the opened gate called Damascus
– which translated means, “The Bloody Cup.” The Jews who foam, they
will never believe – but before month’s end, they’ll die in their sins, hacked
to death by Roman swords and fire.
Outside the gates, at the Roman command post, General Titus Flavianus awaits the Nazoreans’
exodus from the city. With him are historian Yahosefus,
King Agrippa, the one who’d interviewed Paul seven years earlier, and the
princess, Bernice. In ten years, Agrippa would rule Palestine, Yahosefus would
record this day in a book, and General Titus would rule the world from Rome.
Watching the scene with Titus stood his advisor, an old soldier named
Longinus.
Longinus and
Titus
Longinus had served the Tenth Legion in Jerusalem
ever since he’d been captured in Germany fifty years previously.
He’d made Centurion quickly – and soon after, general. At the
zenith of his career, Longinus was a very influential man, a cult leader of
sorts. See, Longinus had been telling an amazing story for over forty
years now – about how a Jew he crucified arose from the dead and was still
alive. This Jew, Yahshua of Nazareth, was the
son of Iove, the greatest god of the Greeks.
Longinus claimed that anyone believing his story might never die.
For a time, his comrades thought Longinus mad from killing. But then, Yahshua began visiting many who’d heard the story.
Now thousands of foreigners believed Yahshua
was alive; and they followed Longinus, their storyteller.
The aged soldier, who always had the ear of his General Titus, reminded him
now of the living dead man. And though many of Titus’ men believed the
tale, Titus wasn’t superstitious, and wouldn’t believe unless he saw such a
man himself. In the middle of the siege of Jerusalem, Longinus says to Titus, “Many comrades have seen this man and they want to see
him again. If you saw him, my general, you’d believe my story.
Now, would you like to see him?” “Of course,” replied Titus.
“Where is he?” Longinus replied, “He’s in there,” pointing to Jerusalem through the Damascus gate. “Let him out, will you?”
And that’s how the amnesty of Jerusalem
came into being, an invitation that eventually
brought many of the general’s own confidents to belief.
The Nazoreans are piling out through the Damascus gate, into the
Roman custody of Longinus’ cohort. There’s free food and water awaiting
them: the old soldier had seen to it. Finally, the last of the Nazoreans are out. Then Yahudah
ben Yahudah comes out with a child at each
hand. “Is that the man?” asks Titus. “No, sir. He’s too
young.”
Then Shimeon Cleopas, the
leader of the Jerusalem Assembly of the Nazoreans,
comes out with another man. Titus says to Longinus, “That’s Cleopas, isn’t it?” Longinus replies, “Yes, good
for you. I’ve known Cleopas for years.”
Titus asks, “Who’s the other man?” Longinus replies, “I’m not sure,
except he may be their Syrian secretary.”
General
Yahoshafat (Josephus) takes a long look at the
‘Syrian Secretary.’ He would soon discover the secretary to be his
long-lost father, a writer by the name of Matthew. But that’s another
story.
Finally
one more man comes out with a couple children. He is a light man – looking
more like the flame of a lamp than a man.
At the sight of him, Titus exclaims, “By Iove,
the Greek god of the sky, I can see right through him.” Then the gates
rattle closed by the rebels inside, having recovered from their fits.
As this light man approaches, General Titus asks his advisor, “Is that the man in whom I must believe to gain eternal
life, Longinus?”
Longinus replies, “Ecce
homo. Habeas corpus.”
Which
is translated, “Look at the man! For
the eternal life you crave, you should have his body.”
QUARTO
Yahusefus,
formerly the commander of Israeli troops in Galilee, lately translator and
confident of his former enemy Titus, historian to the Jews, thinks he knows
this man who’s come out of Jerusalem
with Shimeon.
. . . . . to be continued
Matthew
Matthew collected the oracles (logion) in the
Hebrew language, and each interpreted them as best he could.
– Eusebius quoting Papias of Hieropolis
(d. ca. 138 CE) in Ecclesiastical History 3.39.14-16
Habeas corpus: “you should have the body.”
A Writ of Habeas Corpus challenges the legality
of holding a person in custody.
Corpus, corporis: Latin
for “body, bodies.” Corporeal: having to do with the body; i.e.
corporeal punishment.
Corpus habere: Latin,
“to have (the) body”
Nephilim: Fallen angels or the offspring of angels
Chrestus: Latin for the Greek word Christ, meaning
“Anointed One,” and used in Latin as a personal name.
Yahshua was known as “Chrestus”
in the Latin language, as preserved by the historian Suetonius.
Yahshua’s brothers: Yaaqov the
Just, Shimeon surnamed Cleopas
(the Zealot), Judah
the Twin (Thomas or Theuda or Thaddeus).
Saul is St.
Paul.
Heliopolis: a city in central Egypt. “The City of the
Sun”.
Quo Vadis: Latin, “Where are you going?”
Ecce Homo, Habeas Corpus: Latin, “Look at the
man. You have the body.”
now called the Shemoneh Esreh or Amidah.
This (12th) benediction was called the Birkat
ha-minim, the Benediction against Heresy, which said "For the
apostates, let there be no hope and let the arrogant government be speedily uprooted in our days. Let the Nazarenes and
the minim be destroyed in a moment and let them be blotted out of the Book of
Life and not be inscribed together with the Righteous..."
|