The New Covenant age; The First Resurrection Continued from previous post.

In the time-measurement of Section XVII, (The Jewish “Double” The Resurrection of the “Body” of Christ, Part 20 in our study) it was seen how the year 1878 A.D. is the date for the beginning of the raising of the Body, since which all who “die in the Lord” are changed immediately to the spirit condition. It is certainly appropriate to find, as will be shown in this time-measurement, that just as the beginning of the Grand Gallery at the lower north end marks the date 33 A.D. when Jesus Christ the “Head” was “born from the dead,” so the south end of the broken portion of the Grand Gallery floor indicates the date when the birth of the “Body” was due to begin, namely, 1878 A.D.

As the date of the resurrection of the Body is ascertained by means of the calculation of the Jewish “Double,” the time-measurement now under consideration is based upon Section XVII, which demonstrates how the “Double” is indicated in the Pyramid. In the present time-feature, however, instead of carrying the measurement of Pyramid inches from the lower end of the Granite Plug up through the Grand Gallery to the Ante-Chamber, we first measure off from the Granite Plug the required number of inches to represent the period of the Jewish Age from the death of Jacob to the death of Christ, and then double this measurement upon itself.

Measuring upward from the lower end of the Granite Plug to the level of the produced floor-line of the Queen’s Chamber, which represents in the Great Pyramid the Plane of Human Perfection, then horizontally southward to the vertical line of the cut-off in the Grand Gallery floor, and to this measurement adding the length of the Granite Plug itself (as in Section XVII); we shall find that the total number of Pyramid inches corresponds with the period of the Jewish Age. As this Age began at the death of Jacob in 1813 B.C. (See Bible dates, Section III), the cut-off in the Grand Gallery floor by this method indicates the date of Christ’s resurrection, 33 A.D. (The precise number of Pyramid inches in this measurement is, when we adhere to the standard lengths of each section, 1844.268+. As the exact number of years in the Jewish Age is 1845, the Pyramid-inch measurement indicates the years of the beginning and end of this period, but not the actual months in these years- See Par. 4.)

Had there been sufficient faithful from among the Jewish nation to complete the full membership in Christ, then doubtless God would have so ordered his Plan that the First Resurrection would have been complete by the end of the “harvest” period of that Age, and the New Covenant would have been immediately put into operation with the remainder of the nation. But the Lord foreknew that only a remnant would exercise the necessary faith to enable them to become members in the Body of Christ, and he had long foretold of this by his prophets (Acts 15:13-18). Instead, therefore, of immediately revealing the New Covenant opportunity for life on the Plane of Human Perfection, the Lord had previously decreed that the people of Israel must first undergo a double of their Age, during which period he would show them no favor (Jer. 16:13-18).

Accordingly, the measurement from the Granite Plug up to the cut-off in the Grand Gallery floor requires to be repeated or doubled (viz. 2 x 1844.268 = 3688.536), while the Jewish nation are, figuratively, confined in the low First Ascending Passage, waiting till this double of disfavor is accomplished; after which the Lord will graciously turn away the blindness of that people and so all Israel shall be saved (Isa. 40:1, 2; Rom. 11:25-27). The cut-off in the floor of the Grand Gallery now indicates, by this method of doubling, the date 1878 A.D.; and the interval of waiting till the last member in the Body will have entered into his inheritance and the New Covenant made operative (Rom. 8:16-19), is indicated by a further southward cut-off in the Grand Gallery floor.

The added horizontal length to the vertical line of this further cut-off in the Grand Gallery floor is, in a round figure, 36½ inches, (See number (1) at bottom of page) representing 36½ years beyond 1878, that is, to the date 1914 A.D., when the great Seven Times of the Gentiles ended, and since which the people of the Jewish nation have experienced greater freedom in their ancient national home—See comments regarding this national awakening in Vol. I, Pars. 155 and 365 to 377 But while, according to our understanding of this detail of the Lord’s Plan, the membership in the Body of Christ was completed in 1914 A.D., all are not yet in the heavenly spirit-condition. The “feet” members still await their change, doing with their might what their hands find to do in furtherance of the work of the Kingdom, that their works may follow with them when at last they rest from their labors (Rev. 14:12, 13).

In the foregoing remarks the “feet” are in reference to those members of the body still remaining on this side of the vail. I believe what the writer was implying is that although membership in the body of Christ was completed in 1914 A.D., even so some members of the body still reside on this side of the vail those who have yet to have made their calling and election sure, yet to have secured their crowns. Should they fell then the crown would be allotted to another individual in the race. You will note that in the second reprint quoted below that the Pastor suggested that no one knows exactly when the Body of Christ will be consummated.

Note however this in no way detracts from the importance of the Date 1914 A.D. as shown in the time features of the great pyramid, this is still a very important date marking the end of the “Times of the Gentiles” and the beginning of the great time of trouble. 

Now it’s true that early on the Pastor’s view based upon the parallelism between the closing of the Jewish, Age and the closing of this Gospel Age led him to the conclusion that the church would be completed by 1914 A.D., but later just prior to his date he realized that this was a mistake, “Our mistake was along the very line that we pointed out. Time and again, we reminded our readers that the parallelisms between the Jewish Age and the Gospel Age could not include anything belonging to the New Dispensation. The parallels affected merely the nominal Jewish house and the nominal Christian house here.” (R 5950 column 2, par. 9)

“We should not have looked for parallelisms between the starting of the Gospel Church [at Pentecost] and its experiences [there], and the starting in this harvest time of the Heavenly Church [since 1878] and its experiences. These are NO part of the parallel. The parallel belongs to the nominal Jewish system, which went to destruction [in 70 or 73 A. D.] and the nominal Gospel Church, which is now [in 1916, when he wrote this] going [NOT GONE] to destruction.” (R5950 column 2 par.13)

Referring to the important date 1878 A.D., the late C. T. Russell wrote:

“Then began the glorification of the Church. The work of setting up the Kingdom has, we understand, been progressing from that date, and is now merely lacking the last members of the Church class. When these shall have taken their places as members of the Church in glory, the Kingdom will be fully set up.”

This does not signify that there may not be a part of the Kingdom work begun while some of the members of Christ are still in the flesh. Indeed some Scriptures seem to imply that there will be a Kingdom work done this side the Veil, while work of still greater magnitude and authority is progressing on the other side of the Veil. We read [in Psa. 149]: `Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud upon their beds.’ This seems to imply, as we have mentioned before, that there is a special work to be done while these saints still have beds, while they are in a condition of repose—not ` tossed to and fro, and carried about by every wind of doctrine,’ but fully at rest in God’s great Plan.

The Scripture goes on to say that they have a two-edged sword in their hands—this is the Word of God. They use it as the Sword of the Spirit. This would not be true of them on the other side of the Veil. They would have no use for a sword there The Scriptures also declare that the high-sounding praises of God are upon their lips. This, too, seems to be applicable to those this side of the Veil. The final phrase, `to execute the judgments written,’ would seem to imply that there would be something for the saints on this side of the Veil to do in connection with the execution of the judgments upon the nations. As to just what this means, we have not yet fully learned. But we see nothing here to conflict with the thought that the Lord’s Kingdom may be properly understood to have begun operations and that the present smiting of the nations is under Kingdom control. The fact that some of the members of the Kingdom class are still in the flesh does not militate at all against this thought.

We see the kingdom’s of this world now being dashed to pieces, and we are expecting to see the process continued until they are completely ground to powder. They shall become as the chaff of the summer threshing-floor, and the wind shall carry them away. Then shall they be found no more at all Daniel 2:35” (R5632 page 53).

See also R5965, page 294, second column, where C. T. Russell makes reference to the date 1914 A.D. in connection with the completion of the membership of the Body of Christ; saying that: “Just when the membership of the Body of Christ will be consummated is not a matter that we are capable of determining with positiveness. Up to that time we may be sure that any one presenting himself in the proper way was eligible.” “Some of those who now present themselves for immersion [water baptism] have made a complete consecration previously; they may be symbolizing a consecration made five, ten, or twenty years ago.”

Also: “Even if we were sure that the Body of Christ is now completed, we see no reason why consecration to God should not be symbolized by water baptism; for this rite represents the surrender and burial of the individual will into the will of the Lord, and this is the proper course for everyone to take. We could not imagine a different course for all to take during the Millennial Age. The difference will be that the Lord will not accept them then to a change of nature, but to His favor under the Restitution privileges of that Dispensation—an uplift to perfect human nature on the earth.”

In this last statement made by the Pastor taken from R5965 to which we likewise added his words spoken just previous to ones quoted in the Pyramid book, those written in italics, the Pastor  once again reiterates that it is impossible to determine the time of the completion of the body of Christ. For those interested we will shortly post an addendum explaining the Forty Year Harvest and the Pastor’s thoughts so as to clear up any misunderstanding any should have on this issue.

Taking the dates 33, and 1878, A.D., the first marked by the north wall of the Grand Gallery, and witnessing the resurrection of the Head of the Christ, and the second marked by the sheer cut-off in the Gallery floor, and indicating the commencement of the resurrection of the Body of the Christ, the whole of this broken portion of the lower end of the Grand Gallery beautifully illustrates the First Resurrection in its entirety; or, to use another Scriptural figure, the complete birth of the great Anti-typical Isaac (Gal. 4:28), who, as the Spiritual “Seed of Abraham,” shall then begin to bless all the families of the earth with Restitution under the arrangement of the New Covenant of love (Gal. 3:16, 29).

In the 1913 edition of this 2nd volume we adopted Professor C. Piazzi Smyth’s figure for the horizontal distance between the Grand Gallery’s north wall, and the sheer cut-off, i.e., 199 inches. In a footnote, however, we mentioned that our own practical measure came out at an inch more. This was an approximate statement; the actual British-inch measure is 200.5. In Par. 584 of the 1st volume we show that the standard horizontal length of this part is 200.4067+ Pyramid inches. Using this as a base-line, and the angle of the passage, 26° 18′ 9″. 7 +, as the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle, the length of the perpendicular of this triangle is 99.0589+ Pyramid inches.

Now, it is added corroboration of the thought that this broken-away part of the lower end of the Grand Gallery represents the birth of the entire spiritual Seed of Abraham, when we find that the complete length of the Grand Gallery is scientifically indicated by the standard measures of this broken part. For the Grand Gallery in its total length represents the call of the Seed, or Christ of God, from the resurrection of the Head in 33 A.D. to 1914 A. D.

As explained in Vol. I, the sum of the horizontal and vertical measures of the broken part of the Grand Gallery, i.e., 200.4067+, plus 99.0589+, or 299.4657+, Pyramid inches, is the radius of a circle, the circumference of which agrees with the total floor-length of the Grand Gallery, 1881.5985+ Pyramid inches.

This time-measurement, furthermore, shows a direct symbolical connection between the “plug” of Zech. 10:4 (German translation) as Jesus Christ, and the material Granite Plug of the

Great Pyramid; for as the first part of the floor cut-off in the Grand Gallery marks the date 1878 A.D. as demonstrated above, so the lower end of the Granite Plug must indicate the date 33 A.D. according to measurement. The 4th verse of Zech. 10 refers to Jesus Christ as the “corner-stone,” and it has been abundantly proved that Jesus Christ is symbolized by the head corner-stone of the Great Pyramid (Eph. 2:20. See Vol. I).

Now we see that other important part of the Great Pyramid’s internal system, the Granite Plug, also referred to in Zech. 10:4, is identified with Jesus Christ; for it was at his resurrection in A.D. 33 that Jesus became the head corner-stone of God’s great Anti-typical Pyramid of Salvation; and it was at the same date, also, that, having fulfilled the law in himself, he became the very embodiment of that law. Because of this all who are New Creatures in Christ Jesus fulfill the righteousness of the law, for he is “made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30). In volume three of this work it will be shown that even the very length of the Granite Plug is proportionately related to the vertical height of the whole Pyramid; and that this length agrees with a possible definite size for the ancient, now-missing, top-stone of the monument.

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(1) The inclined length of this further break-out in the Grand Gallery, according to our measurement taken in 1912, is about 40 5/8 British inches. In Pyramid inches the horizontal length is 36.4054+. See the diagram above.

Great Pyramid Passages Page 88-99, par. 198-230