The New Covenant age; The First Resurrection

The Scriptures declare that of the people of Israel only a remnant received the Lord Jesus and became his footstep followers (John 1:11-13). Had the Lord not found this faithful remnant, the Apostle says that the nation would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah (Rom. 9:29; Isa. 1:9). When Abraham interceded for Sodom, he was promised that if even ten righteous men were found in the city, it would not on their account be blotted out. Because of the remnant of Israel, therefore, which demonstrated that the law – schoolmaster had been effective in preparing at least a few to receive the meek and lowly Jesus (Col.3:24), the unbelieving majority were not cast off forever, but merely had “blindness in part” passed upon them, until God makes with them the New Covenant which he foretold by the prophet Jeremiah—”Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah” (Jer. 31:31; Rom. 11:25-27).

As the number of the remnant of Israel was far short of the foreordained 144,000 (Rev. 7:1-8), God turned to the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name (Acts 13:44-48; 15:14); and throughout the Gospel Age the Gentiles have been filling up the membership in the Body of Christ.

When the “fullness of the Gentiles” has come in, not one more member will be required (1 Cor. 12:12). The Jews will then have their blindness removed, and they will see that the walk of the high-calling to joint-heirship with Christ in the Spiritual Kingdom is forever closed. But the Lord will graciously reveal to them the other way of life, namely, the New Covenant opportunity for life on the Plane of Human Perfection.

The New Covenant that God will make with the Jewish nation after the Christ, head and body, is complete, is represented in the Pyramid by the Horizontal Passage which leads to the Queen’s Chamber, the Pyramid’s express symbol of perfect human life. Like the First Ascending Passage which represents the Old Covenant, the Horizontal Passage is low, so that one has to bend considerably when walking in it. This corroborates the Scriptural teaching that the exacting requirements of the law, symbolized by the low roof, will be operative in the Millennial reign of Christ (Rom. 2:12, 16). The law was holy, just and good (Rom. 7:12): but the sacrifices, mediator and priesthood of the Old Covenant were incapable of bringing fallen men into harmony with God’s righteous law. The New Covenant will be based upon better sacrifices, and will have a better mediator and a better priesthood, and under it all mankind will gradually attain to perfect life on the human plane (Heb. 8:6-13).

The Jews will pass directly from under the Old Law Covenant (for they are still undergoing the punishments of the curses contained in that Covenant, as Christ became an end of the law for righteousness only to those who believed—Rom.10:4), into the New (Law) Covenant, i.e., in symbol, from the First Ascending Passage, into the Horizontal Passage. After the Jewish nation all the Gentiles will come under the New Covenant arrangement, that they also may attain human perfection. Jesus said: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me“; and again: “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth” (John 12:32; 5:28, 29). By the power that Christ will exert the Gentiles will be raised from the Descending-Passage condition of death, to the Horizontal-Passage condition of the New Covenant; for through the ransom-sacrifice of Christ (the Well-shaft) all mankind will be redeemed and placed upon that “highway of holiness.”

The prophet Isaiah said: “No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon … but the redeemed shall walk there” (Isa. 35:8-10). Satan, the “roaring lion” (1 Pet. 5:8), will not be allowed to deceive men during the time of the New Covenant, for he is to be bound and cast into the “bottomless pit,” symbolized in the Pyramid by the Subterranean Chamber (Rev. 20:1-3); and all “ravenous beasts” represented by the grasping selfish institutions of the “Present Evil World” (both religious and civil) will be destroyed in the Pit.

The more favorable condition of the New Covenant in contrast with the Old is well illustrated in the Pyramid by the difference between the two passages which symbolize these Covenants. Should one slip in the Ascending Passage he cannot prevent himself from falling; and as the angle of the floor is very steep he immediately begins to slide backward. He will then realize, as did the Israelite’s under the Old Covenant, that this upward way although “ordained to life,” is after all a way to death (Rom. 7:10). Gathering impetus on that slippery floor he will fall with terrible impact against the upper end of the Granite Plug, and be killed.

By this effective method the Pyramid corroborates the declaration of the Scriptures: “For whosoever shall keep the whole law [in an endeavor to merit life thereby], and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). When the people of Israel slipped, they fell and were condemned to death by the Divine Law, which is particularly symbolized by the Granite Plug.

How different it is in the case of the Horizontal Passage: although one requires bending very low when walking here, as in the First Ascending Passage, showing therefore that he is under law, yet should he slip and fall he does not necessarily die. The passage being horizontal he does not slide backward. He may be bruised, but raising himself to his feet, he can continue on his way to the Queen’s Chamber. There is hope under the New Covenant, and none need go backward if he allows himself to be rightly exercised by the rule and discipline of the righteous Judge. Profiting by the lesson of his fall and henceforth taking more heed to his steps, he may still progress toward the Queen’s-Chamber condition of human perfection.

But should any when in the Horizontal-Passage condition of the New Covenant rebel against the just law, and deliberately retrace his steps, he must fall into the Well-shaft, which although particularly symbolizing the death and resurrection of Christ, also represents Sheol or hades, the death-state in general. This corroborates the Scriptural statement, that “all the wicked will be returned into sheol” (Psa. 9:17, R.V.). To be returned into sheol would be to come under a second condemnation to death; and from this second death there is no resurrection, for “Christ dies no more.”

The drop in the floor at the Queen’s Chamber end of the Horizontal Passage represents the final “little season” of trouble, owing to the testing and sifting consequent upon Satan being “let loose“ from the bottomless pit (Rev. 20:7-10). By this time men will be fully restored to the original perfect condition lost by Adam. They will now be on the level of the Queen’s Chamber floor, the Plane of Human Perfection, and will no longer be bent under the law, for the law is the measure of a perfect man’s ability. Able to walk upright, like Adam when created by God (Eccl. 7:29), and having then acquired knowledge of good and evil, they will be fully prepared to resist the wiles of Satan when he seeks to deceive them.

The condition of mankind at the end of Christ’s reign is illustrated by the greater headroom at the Queen’s Chamber end of the passage. The height at this part, however, is sufficient only for the man of average stature to walk upright, and should any become “heady,” and in pride seek to raise himself above his fellows, he will “bruise” his head by knocking it against the roof, that is, the perfect law of God symbolized by the roof will condemn and destroy him along with Satan (Acts 3:22, 23). When Satan and all who follow him are destroyed in the second death, they who pass the final test shall enjoy forever that human perfection and liberty so well symbolized by the high seven-sided and ventilated Queen’s Chamber.

According to the Apostle’s statement in Rom. 11:25-27, the New Covenant cannot be put into operation until the “fullness of the Gentiles” has come in to complete the body of Christ; for every member of the “body” shares with the “head” in the sacrifice, the blood of which, in the end of this Gospel Age, will be used in sealing with Israel the New Covenant. In other words, when the heavenly calling to become members in the body of Christ closes, the earthly calling of the New Covenant opens.

The Great Pyramid corroborates this important phrase of the Lord’s Plan; but to appreciate the symbolism fully, one must have clearly before his mental vision the actual appearance of the lower end of the Grand Gallery. On each side of this passage there is a stone bench which runs the entire length of the floor. These benches are called “Ramps,” and measure about 21″ high by about 20″ wide. The distance between the Ramps is approximately 3½ feet, so that the widths of the floors of the Grand Gallery and First Ascending Passage are the same.

The mouth of the Well is formed by a portion of the Ramp on the west side having been broken away; and the appearance of the masonry surrounding this Well-mouth suggests the thought of the once covering Ramp-stone having been violently burst out from underneath. If the missing portion of the Ramp were restored (as illustrated in the second diagram below) the Well-shaft would be entirely concealed. The apparent bursting away of the Ramp-stone graphically suggests the resurrection of Jesus Christ, when God “burst the bonds of death” and raised his beloved Son from the death-state (Acts 2:22-24).

In addition to the breaking of the Ramp-stone at the head of the Well-shaft (depicted here in red), a portion of the lower end of the floor of the Grand Gallery appears to have been forcibly removed likewise (the blue area). It looks as if the floor of the passage had originally extended upward in an unbroken line from the north wall, but that an explosion had taken place which tore away about 17 feet at the lower end. Thus, two violent explosions have taken place in the Great Pyramid; or, rather, the appearance of the lower end of the Grand Gallery gives that impression; for we believe the great Master-Builder purposely arranged the masonry of this part of the passage to suggest the thought of explosions for figurative purposes. If the missing portion of the floor of the Grand Gallery were restored (as well as the missing portion of the ramp-stone), the Horizontal Passage leading to the Queen’s Chamber would be entirely concealed, so that anyone emerging from the First Ascending Passage and continuing on his way up the Grand Gallery would be unaware of the existence of the Horizontal Passage (as well as the well-shaft).

This feature of the Pyramid’s system symbolically confirms the Scriptural teaching that the faithful among the people of Israel (Israelite’s Indeed) passed directly from Moses into Christ. They partook of the high or heavenly calling to joint-heirship with Christ, and are represented as emerging from under the low roof of the First Ascending Passage, and walking with him upward along the floor of the Grand Gallery (which at this stage is understood to be unbroken and entire) to the King’s Chamber condition of the Divine nature (2 Pet.1:4). The majority, blinded because of their unbelief, are pictured as standing with bowed backs in the low First Ascending Passage, while the Gentiles, “who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood [ransom sacrifice] of Christ ” (Eph. 2:12, 13), and are coming up, as it were, through the Well-shaft and broken Ramp on to the floor, or “walk,” of the Grand Gallery, partaking with Christ Jesus in the heavenly calling. The present condition of the people of Israel is in accordance with the curse pronounced against them by God “Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back always” (Rom. 11:10).

Soon the last member of the Body, having completed his course of trial and testing by laying down his life in sacrifice, will be raised to join his fellow-members who have preceded him since the beginning of the resurrection of the Body in 1878 A.D. The resurrection of the “Body” of Christ constitutes the second bursting of the bonds of death (Matt. 16:18), immediately after which the New Covenant opportunity for human life will be made with the temporarily blinded nation of Israel, as well as with the “residue” of the Gentiles (Acts 15:14-17). This second bursting of the bonds of death is symbolized by the apparent violent breaking away of the lower part of the Grand Gallery floor, which, as will be readily seen, while necessarily closing the “walk” of this upward passage, reveals and opens, as a consequence, the Horizontal Passage leading to the Queen’s Chamber.

Although the raising of the “Head” and “Body” of the Christ from the dead are far separate in point of time, they are regarded by God as one resurrection. We read in Rev. 20:6 “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” The Apostle Paul, also, intimates that all those who are made conformable to Christ’s death, shall know the power of His Resurrection (Phil. 3:8-14; Rom. 6:3-5).

Due to the length of this particular segment of our study we will break here and continue with our next post.