Jesus Triumphant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 8) (35 page)

Jesus and the Cosmic War

Jesus Triumphant
is a dangerous novel. I knew it long before I wrote it. In fact, I had originally not intended to write it because, of all the
Chronicles of the Nephilim
, I thought it would probably be the most scrutinized and criticized with accusations of taking liberties with God’s Word. Jesus and his story is the most prized of all Christian narratives—for me as well.

But the more I studied and the more I wrote of the
Chronicles
, I came to realize that I had to write this one because it is the true theological climax of the Biblical cosmic war of Christus Victor against the principalities and powers of this present darkness. Jesus Christ is the Seed which was prophesied in Genesis 3:6 to be at war with the Seed of the Serpent. Jesus Christ is the Seed to whom God made his Promises (Gal. 3:16). So how could I not finish my story with the conclusion I believed was in the Bible?

The premise of the series is to retell only those Scriptural narratives that touch upon the story thread of the Nephilim and the allotment of the Watchers (Sons of God) as described in the Divine Council worldview of the Bible. At first blush readers may legitimately ask the question “Where are there giants or Watchers in the New Testament?” But the reader of the entire series will not be so surprised as he sees key theological elements already established in previous
Chronicles
now show up in the New Testament in a way they had never seen before.

Chronicles of the Nephilim
is primarily a theological saga that attempts to communicate a spiritual storyline that is behind the physical events and symbolic motifs and imagination of the Bible. So strap yourself in and get ready for a wild Biblical ride of theological imagination from the depths of Hades to the heights of heaven.

A Giant and Some Zealots

There may not be mention of giants in the Gospels, but I did find a giant placed in the same approximate time and location of Christ’s ministry. One of my historical resources has been the ancient Jewish historian Josephus. His rich text,
Wars of the Jews
, is the only detailed source we have of the events that led up to the destruction of Jerusalem and the holy temple in A.D. 70. (this will be the subject of
Jerusalem Judgment
). Josephus is a non-Christian source that confirms Gospel details of Pontius Pilate, the Herods, John the Baptist, the apostle James, and even Jesus Christ.
[1]
Though his pro-Roman agenda is well-known, he nevertheless provides helpful reliable information for the historical inquirer.

One of those interesting factoids is the reference to a 10 1/2 foot giant Jew named Eleazar who was presented as a gift to Tiberius Caesar in the presence of Herod Antipas, by the king of Parthia, Artabanus III in A.D. 33 or 34
.
[2]

When Tiberius had heard of these things, he desired to have a league of friendship made between him and Artabanus… Artabanus and Vitellius went to Euphrates…And when they had agreed upon the terms of peace, Herod the tetrarch erected a rich tent on the midst of the passage, and made them a feast there. Artabanus also, not long afterwards, sent his son Darius as an hostage, with many presents,
among which there was a man seven cubits tall, a Jew he was by birth, and his name was Eleazar, who, for his tallness, was called a giant
.
[3]

Josephus doesn’t tell us if the Jewish giant was a servant or a captive, but he was certainly chattel of some kind to be traded as a means of diplomacy between the two empires. It occurred on the shores of the Euphrates in a tent constructed by Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee at the time. Antipas inserted himself into the negotiations in order to ingratiate himself to Caesar. All this, the reader will recognize occurring in
Jesus Triumphant
.

Vitellius, the king of Syria and representative of Caesar, brought the “gifts” of his son and the giant to Antioch, where they were presumably shipped to Rome.
[4]
But were they? Josephus doesn’t say. So, what if the giant Eleazar escaped? What if he found his short way down to Caesarea Philippi, where Jesus was during that last year of ministry? Thus the creative license of the novel applying to historical characters in a feasible scenario.

But that is not all the novel drew from historical characters. Many Bible readers know the name of Barabbas as the one who the Jews chose to release at Pilate’s offer instead of Jesus (Matt. 27:15-26). But what many casual readers of the Bible do not know is that Barabbas was a leader of a failed insurrection around that time in Jerusalem (Luke 2:19). He was no ordinary criminal. He was a zealot warrior, as he is in
Jesus Triumphant
.

The two “thieves on crosses” next to Jesus are another case of commonly misunderstood identity. “Thief” or “robber” makes one think of common criminals or kleptomaniacs caught stealing camels or jewelry. But the Greek word for “thief” used of the two on the cross is
lestai
, the same word used by Josephus to describe the zealous Jewish brigands in revolution against Rome. Crucifixion was the punishment for such organized sedition and insurrection. The “thieves” on the cross were actually revolutionaries in the tradition of the Zealots.
[5]

Though the existence of bands of Jewish insurrectionists against Rome at the time of Christ is not in dispute, the exact nature and chronology of the infamous Zealots is. Some have argued they did not come into existence until around the fall of Jerusalem,
[6]
but others have shown that they originated in Judas of Galilee’s failed insurrection of A.D. 6.
[7]
He made famous the slogan “No king but God,” that came to mark the Zealot cause.
[8]

Judas of Galilee’s sons, James and Simon, went on to be executed as zealous rebels around A.D. 46.
[9]
Josephus also describes two Zealot-like leaders Eleazar ben Dinai and Amram, who were captured and banished around A.D. 45 by Roman procurator Fadus. Another brigand leader, Tholomy was executed.
[10]
Eleazar was captured again later and executed in Rome in A.D. 60.
[11]
This means that James, John, Amram, Tholomy and Eleazar had been rising within the ranks of the newly growing Zealot movement during the time of Christ. Thus, their presence in
Jesus Triumphant
.

Qumran, Essenes and the Dead Sea Scrolls

In 1946, the famous Dead Sea Scrolls were uncovered in caves near the ancient Essene settlement of Qumran on the northwest shores of the Dead Sea thirteen miles east of Jerusalem. They shed light on the early monastic community that had been previously found nearby, and written about by Josephus. Much discussion and debate surrounds these texts and the people who stored them in libraries.

One of the more interesting elements of their beliefs was the similarity of Messianic hope with what would end up being the New Testament claims for Jesus. Scholar Marvin Pate explains that, like many Jews of Second Temple Judaism, they too sought a Davidic Messiah to deliver Israel from her continuing exile under Roman rule.
[12]

A more recent discovery of an ancient text on stone called “Vision of Gabriel,” dated to the first century B.C., has revealed a unique correspondence with the New Testament notion of Messiah rising after three days. This is much more explicit than any Old Testament reference to such a thing. I incorporated this prophecy into
Jesus Triumphant
as part of the literature that persuades an Essene character of Christ’s fulfillment. Several of the lines from the stone indicate this amazing correspondence.

By three days you shall know that, thus said Yahweh of Hosts, the god of Israel,
the evil has been broken by righteousness…

Behold, all the nations gather against Jerusalem…

In just a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth…

My servant David [Messiah], ask of Ephraim for a sign…

By three days, live/be resurrected, I Gabriel, command you, prince of princes.
[13]

This is not to say that the Vision of Gabriel should be considered Scripture. But it certainly adds outside corroboration to the understanding of the Jewish messianic hope fulfilled in Christ.

The Jewish expectation based on Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2 was that Messiah would come and crush the nation of Rome in history. The Qumran community had a document called “The War Scroll” that describes in detail this War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness, calling Romans by the symbolic name of
Kittim
.
[14]

But as Josephus explains, the time period after Herod the Great’s death in 4 B.C. was plagued with various messianic movements and revolutionaries, many that were deeply at odds with each other. They argued over whose interpretation was correct and what marked the true people of God. Pate argues that another element of distinction emerges in the Dead Sea Scrolls: they considered themselves the only true remnant of Israel. And when Messiah came, he would deliver the Essene Community alone, while destroying the rest of Israel with his holy army!
[15]
This is remarkably reminiscent of Jesus’ Olivet Discourse that describes God’s destructive judgment of Jerusalem and the Temple (Matt. 24), and concurrent rescue of the remnant elect believers (Matt. 24:15-22; Rom. 11:1-10). Those Essenes were so close, and yet, so far.

N.T. Wright sums up this earthly expectation of why the Jews were looking for a physical conquering king rather than a suffering servant.

Many if not most second-Temple Jews, then, hoped for the new exodus, seen as the final return from exile. The story would reach its climax; the great battle would be fought; Israel would truly ‘return’ to her land, saved and free; YHWH would return to Zion. This would be, in the metaphorical sense, the end of the world, the ushering in at last of YHWH’s promised new age. From the perspective of covenant history, this complex event would be climactic, and not merely a paradigmatic example of a general principle (such as the importance of social justice). Moreover, this whole set of ideas and themes belongs together as a whole, not as a collection of abstract ideas, but precisely as a story.
[16]

All this is not to say, as liberal scholars and Bible haters say, that Jesus was wrong in his apocalyptic declarations, but rather that, as the spiritual warfare motif of
Jesus Triumphant
points to, he was both suffering servant
and
mighty conqueror of a spiritual Armageddon, a covenantal “end of the age,” for a kingdom not of this world, whose effect would ultimately be seen in history.

Caesar and Christ

But even pagans have their Christ prophecies too. It seems everyone wanted to be God. And the Romans were no exception. The language of Augustus Caesar reflected similar concepts of the divinity of their emperor, as the New Testament did of Jesus Christ. Inscriptions on coins and buildings throughout the empire called Augustus, “God, Son of God, Savior.”
[17]
A famous proclamation of Augustus used phrases such as “savior,” “god manifest,” and “good news [
gospel
].”

The most
divine Caesar
…we should consider equal to the Beginning of all things…; for when everything was falling [into disorder] and tending toward dissolution, he restored it once more and gave to the whole world a new aura…and who being sent to us and our descendants as
Savior
…and [whereas,] having
become [god] manifest
, Caesar has fulfilled all the hopes of earlier times… and whereas, finally, the birthday of
the god [Augustus
] has been for the whole world the beginning of
good news
concerning him [therefore let a new era begin from his birth].
[18]

Early and Medieval Church Fathers were so impressed by classical wisdom, they sought to incorporate great Greek and Roman writers into their revealed wisdom of God. Some claimed that Aristotle or Plato were even saved through natural revelation. Augustine told a story in his
City of God
about a prophecy that was allegedly given by the Erythraean Sibyl to Augustus Caesar, but pointed toward Christ, not Caesar, as the world ruler. As scholar Burke elucidates some of the lines of this prophecy as they appear in
Jesus Triumphant
,

“In token of judgment, the earth shall drip with sweat.

A king destined to rule forever will arrive from heaven,

present in mortal flesh, in order to judge the world.”
[19]

Though these are fabricated legends by well meaning Christians, reading into Greek sibylline literature to bolster their faith, they point up the fact that sometimes, God does use pagans as instruments of prophecy or judgment (Num. 22:21-39; 1Sam. 19:21-24; Isa. 10).