Rising Darkness (30 page)

“And…?” prompted Crispin.

“And the Lord has heard his prayer,” answered Gabriel. “Even I do not know what His words shall be…exactly.”

The others understood that Gabriel was not at liberty to divulge any further news, so they politely moved the conversation forward.

“Interesting times for a prophet,” mused Sangius. “The others failed, of course.” He sighed and looked at his brother angels, reading consternation on their faces over what he had just said. “I mean Israel was destroyed and all…”

“The prophets did not fail, Sangius,” corrected Crispin. “The prophets did their duty in speaking the words of the Lord. It was the failure of the kings and priests and their own prophets to heed the warnings that brought about the destruction of Israel.”

“Yes, well I’m afraid the same shall happen to Judah,” Sangius remarked.

“If they do not repent,” said Crispin. “I quite agree.”

The angels remained silent for a moment as they contemplated the horrific possibility that the nation they had watched over for so long might become as their northern brothers had a few years previously.

“Isaiah’s prophecy against the king of Tyre has certainly enraged Lucifer,” said Gabriel, breaking the quiet moment. “How does it go…?”

“ ‘How you have fallen from heaven, O Morning Star, son of the dawn’—you mean this one?” asked Sangius.

“Well done, Sangius,” commended Crispin. “But do you know the rest?”

“Of course I know it,” he said. “The moment that Isaiah said these words I held them in my heart. You must recall that I was close to Lucifer once.” He looked at Michael. “These words have special meaning to me.”

He then closed his eyes and spoke:

“ ‘You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain…I will make myself like the Most High…” ’ ”

The chilling words brought back the memory of Lucifer’s attempt to do just that, an action that resulted in a break with Heaven and the loss of so many former brothers—now bitter enemies. Such audacity! How true rang the words of the man of God.

“Lucifer certainly tried,” said Michael, sadly shaking his head. “He actually said he would be like the Most High God. What a tragedy!”

“And what nonsense,” said Crispin. “That a creature should try to subvert his Creator. But this is the subtlety of pride. Every sin, every act of defiance, every attitude that is out of place—every thought that is contrary to the Lord is rooted in pride. It is the great separator between creature and Creator.”

“Such an awful chasm,” said Gabriel.

“Yes,” remarked Crispin. “Broken permanently at Eden, I’m afraid. Humans have been operating in its deadly effect ever since.”

“Do you think it possible, dear teacher, that the chasm might one day be bridged?” asked Gabriel. “Will there ever again be a pure relationship between humans and God?”

“Considering that it is men and angels who are guilty of the pride that wrought the chasm,” answered Crispin, “I would say that neither man nor angels shall ever be capable of bridging that gap.”

Hezekiah awaited the prophet’s words. He still wore the sackcloth that he had put on when he entered the temple to pray on behalf of the nation. Eliakim entered ahead of Isaiah and announced the prophet’s arrival. Hezekiah warmly greeted Isaiah and bid him respond to him.

Isaiah greeted the king, whose reforms in the land had been encouraging to the man of God. He saw in Hezekiah a man who was truly humble and who sought after the Lord with all his heart. In spite of the king’s dalliances with other nations rather than completely trusting the Lord, Isaiah knew that the king of Judah was a good man.

In the room, Michael and the others awaited the Lord’s pronouncement for Judah. The Spirit of God had indeed given the prophet a message from the Lord God. They stood in complete silence, sensing the Lord’s Spirit within Isaiah’s anointed words.

“I have an answer for you from the Lord,” said Isaiah.

“Pray tell me and I will do whatever the Lord requires,” said Hezekiah.

“ ‘Know this, Hezekiah,’ ” Isaiah began. “ ‘Your prayer concerning Sennacherib has been heard by the Lord and He has spoken against him. He shall not enter this city or even shoot an arrow against it. He will not besiege it not bear a shield against it! He shall leave the way he came for I the Lord am defending this city!’ ”

Hezekiah began to weep, praising the Lord God and hugging the prophet. Isaiah smiled at the king and watched as his ministers entered the room and shared in the celebration. The angels also were overjoyed in the Lord’s decision, worshiping the Lord for His mercy—all, that is, except Gabriel.

“What is wrong, Gabriel?” asked Michael. “This is wonderful news!”

Gabriel looked grimly at the others.

“There is more,” he said, looking out a window beyond the walls of Jerusalem in the direction of the Assyrian army. “Much more.”

The sentry yawned. The night was passing slowly and his duty was not up for several more hours. The army had been campaigning for several years now, expanding the Assyrian empire in new directions and bringing glory to its commanders. But tonight was cold and depressing. He longed for his family in Nineveh and didn’t look forward to what would probably be years of siege warfare against Jerusalem. He played with the red amulet his mother had given him for protection before he left on the campaign.
It will be a long war,
he thought to himself.

Rugio, who stood outside the field commander’s tent, awaited Nathan’s return. High above the Assyrian camp, the thousands of devils that accompanied the army were watching for any sign of the archangels, who they knew were in the city. Nathan had given specific instructions that they should keep vigilant.

When he had completed his rounds, Nathan joined Rugio. He was quite exuberant.

“Our legions are intact and ready,” he said. “We have been sending forays into the city to start the panic, so when the siege begins…” He stopped. Rugio was not listening.

“My lord?” Nathan asked. “Rugio?”

Rugio looked at him as if waking from a dream. He was looking into the sky as if he were seeing something…listening to something. Nathan looked about, noticing nothing in particular. He looked quizzically at Rugio.

“Something is stirring,” Rugio said. “Something I cannot quite discern.”

“Perhaps it is something good, my lord,” offered Nathan.

A loud shriek broke the silence. Several demons were moving about in different directions. Others looked about, trying to determine what was happening. Rugio demanded to know what the disturbance was all about. Even the humans were beginning to stir themselves! What was this?

“My lord!” came a call from the blackness. It was one of Nathan’s commanders.

“What is it?” Nathan called back.

“The Angel of the Lord! He is here!”

Gabriel stood off a distance from the Angel of the Lord, who was slowly pouring into the camp. Michael was at the other end of the great army, positioning himself with thousands of the Host to throw a panic into the army from his end. It was to be a night of great destruction; and though Michael did not enjoy seeing humans die, he understood that the Lord was righteous in all of His actions—even in the taking of life at times.

The sentry peered into the darkness. Was that something moving? He looked again, rubbing his eyes. It looked like…an army! Thousands of the enemy were in the field. They were being attacked.

“Alarm! Alarm!” he called out.

Somebody blew a trumpet, signaling that the camp was under attack. Men began pouring out of their tents, weapons in hand. Commanders tried to regain a sense of order, but they themselves were thrown into a panic as they saw enemy soldiers everywhere! Loud crashes, trumpets, men shouting—all of this created a confusion that caused a once proud and disciplined warring machine to disintegrate into a panic.

The Host also moved through the camp, causing the men to strike out at anything that moved. Michael sent some angels to the edge of the camp and threw the elephants into a panic. The great beasts cut a bloody swath through the center of the camp in a wild stampede that trampled tents and started fires.

The angels under Rugio’s command fought to regain order as well. With the knowledge that the Angel of the Lord was leading the attack, they managed only some brief skirmishes with some of Michael’s angels. Nathan himself went after Michael, but the archangel swung a hard blow with his sword that sent Nathan falling backwards into the camp. The impact of the warrior’s fall caused a huge fire to break out in one of the storage tents. The Host, in the guise of Israelite soldiers, were everywhere to be seen. Assyrians struck blindly at the phantom enemies, with the result that they began killing each other!

Understanding what was happening, Rugio took his sword out and cut deeply into one of the angels. The angel yelped and moved back. Rugio grinned a malevolent smile at the angel, whose Israelite disguise had vanished. The angel positioned himself to dodge Rugio’s next blow when suddenly a light shot out from the center of the camp, blinding every human and wicked angel throughout the camp.

The light went straight up into the air like a gigantic fountain, and cascaded to earth in streams of brilliant, white, downy light. As the light fell upon the camp, humans began dropping dead where they stood. Devils scattered in every direction, screaming that “the Angel” was going to destroy them. Even Rugio bolted from the camp, cursing the Lord as he went. Then the light disappeared.

Nothing remained but bodies. No explanation to Hezekiah’s men, who investigated the next day. No clues as to what terrible thing had happened to the Assyrian army. Just bodies—some 185,000 dead Assyrians. As they rooted about, an Israelite foot soldier came upon one of the Assyrians who was undoubtedly a sentry. He had stood near a hut used by the guards posted on the extreme edges of the camp.

The Israelite saw something in the man’s hand that gleamed in the morning sun. It was a large reddish amulet that had broken off the man’s neck. He looked at the man—a young man about his own age. For some reason the Israelite felt compassion for the Assyrian. Turning him over, he saw that the soldier had fallen on his own sword. Something had apparently frightened him so much that he had killed himself!