Note: In this segment we will be reflecting back upon some of our previous thoughts in regards to the symbolic significance of the Great Pyramid so you might note some things which you have already read before, this however will prove necessary as we attempt to fit everything together. In this respects we are attempting to follow the Lord’s example of teaching viz.

“For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little” Isa 28:10

“Knowledge is the accumulation of facts and understanding comes from the connecting of these facts one with the other. These processes begin in earliest childhood, when one is “weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breast.”

The very method employed by the Lord is the same, which educators today generally agree upon. First, inform the student of a number of proven facts (“precepts“) and then teach them the logical process of connecting these facts (“line [of reasoning] upon line [of reasoning]”). In order to hold the pupil’s attention, a good teacher frequently changes the subject material, returning time and time again to each theme.”

“Because God deals with us as a wise parent with his children, knowing that we need our food little by little, and the lighter diet before the strong meat, therefore his truth is so arranged as to meet our necessities: a little of the truth upon one subject is placed here and a little more there; and as we take these little bits and put them together we gain strength and are able to appreciate the whole of it. As we deal with children, so God deals with us, giving us line upon line, and precept upon precept—the same truths repeated over and over from different standpoints, thus enforcing his teachings” (R563).

A Comparison between the Great Pyramid and the Tabernacle, continued

“From the viewpoint now to be considered we see that the Grand Gallery, the Ante-Chamber, and the King’s Chamber correspond respectively with the Court, the Holy, and the Most Holy of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. And when these three compartments in the Great Pyramid are compared with the Chart of the Ages they are found to correspond respectively with the plane of justification, the plane of spirit-begetting, and the plane of spirit-birth, or Divine Glory.

Now in our illustration below we have overlaid that part of the Great Pyramid which corresponds particularly with the Tabernacle. You will note that as there are three distinctive areas or conditions shown in the Tabernacle viz. the “Courtyard”, the “Holy” and the “Most Holy”, so too with regards to the Great Pyramid viz. the “Grand Gallery”, the “Ante-chamber”, and the “Kings Chamber”. Each of these areas, in both the Tabernacle and the pyramid denote the particular condition of the individual believer who occupies them.

The first two areas in both the Tabernacle and in the pyramid, viz. the Courtyard and the Holy, and the Grand Gallery and the Ante-chamber are progressive conditions; meaning that there are individuals who occupy these particular areas who are in various stages of development. The Most Holy and the Kings Chamber to the contrary denote completed conditions.

We will begin our comparisons with the Courtyard of the Tabernacle and the Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid both of which symbolize faith- justification. Since both of these areas depict a progressive condition we should very much like to determine just what that process is, that is (1) how one specifically entered this condition in the first place, i.e. what are the requirements and (2) upon entry what specifically takes place while the individual is in this condition, what is the purpose or goal?. Note in the illustration below of the Grand Gallery that following entry into this chamber it is required of the individual should they desire to progress that they climb its passage to the top if they would reach its completion and the next chamber (or condition).

Let us take a closer look now at the requirements for entry into this passage. Now visually there appears to be two entries, but in truth there is but one, as will become all the more clear as we precede.

Just as the First Ascending Passage leads up to the Grand Gallery, so this symbolizes the fact that the privilege of faith-justification was first offered to those who were under the Law Covenant, the Jewish nation (represented by individual number 1 in our illustration above); for, as the Apostle Paul says, the Law was their “schoolmaster to bring them unto Christ, that they might be justified by faith“—Gal. 3: 24. For this purpose, that the Jews might be justified by faith, Christ came “to his own“; and to as many as received him as the Father’s appointed way to life, “to them gave he the privilege to become the sons of God” John 1: 11, 12. “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one [under the law] that believeth “—Rom. 10: 4. Because of their faith they were no longer compelled to remain under the bondage of the Law-schoolmaster (Gal. 3: 25, 26), even as those who pass from the low confined First Ascending Passage into the greater liberty of the Grand Gallery, are no longer obliged to walk bowed down, but can straighten their backs and raise their heads in full assurance of faith in the great height of the roof.

But those who received Christ by faith were few in number; the vast majority because of unbelief never realized that Christ had taken the Law out of the way, nailing it to his cross (Col. 2: 14); and of them it was written: “Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back always “—Rom. 11: 10. As they rejected the glorious liberty of Grace so well symbolized by the Grand Gallery, they were allowed to remain in their bowed condition under the Law symbolized by the First Ascending Passage. But, praise the Lord, “God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all“; for the death and resurrection of the Christ, head and body, symbolized by the breaking-away of the Well-mouth and lower part of the Grand Gallery floor, opened the way by which, when God shall ” take away their sins,” they may ultimately progress to the Queen’s- Chamber condition of human perfection—Rom. 11:27-32.

As merely a “remnant” of the Jewish nation received Jesus as the Messiah, and the rest “judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life,” God turned to the other nations, the Gentiles, to “take out of them a people for his name “—Acts 13: 46 ; 15 : 14. But the Gentiles were not born under the Law symbolized by the First Ascending Passage, but were born down on the plane of Adamic condemnation to death symbolized by the Descending Passage, and, therefore, far away from the Grand-Gallery privileges of the high calling to son-ship. Nevertheless, although Jesus came to his own people, the Jewish nation, being born under the Law, that he might redeem them that were under the Law that they might receive the adoption of sons (Gal 4 : 4, 5), his ransom- sacrifice was all-sufficient to reach right down to those who were “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,” even as the Well, the Great Pyramid’s symbol of the ransom-sacrifice, descends all the way down to the lower parts of the Descending Passage Plate XL Thus, those (Individual number 2 in Fig 1 above) ” who sometimes were far off ” from Israel’s covenants of promise, and enemies of God through wicked works, were “made nigh by the blood of Christ ” (Eph. 2 : 12, 13) ; and during his Gospel Age they have passed, symbolically, from the Descending Passage up to the Grand Gallery by means of the Well, that is they have passed through faith in the ransom-sacrifice of Christ from the plane of condemnation to the plane of justification, that they may have the glorious privilege, also by faith, of partaking in the high or heavenly calling of God in Christ Jesus.

But as with the Jewish nation, so also with the other nations, only the few, a “little flock” in all, have exercised saving faith. On their downward course the other nations have passed the Well, the ransom-sacrifice of Christ, without seeing it; or if they did, they have had no faith in it as a way to life. To the majority of the Jews it was a cause of stumbling, just as the upper mouth of the Well may be a cause of stumbling to one who emerges from the First Ascending Passage; and to the majority of the Gentiles it appears to be foolishness, just as the lower end of the Well appears to be merely a side-track from the lower part of the Descending Passage—1 Cor. 1: 23. They little know the drawing power of God, which he exerts on behalf of those, who have faith in this way to life and immortality—John 6 : 44 Thus individual number 3 in Fig 1 above denotes all who have come into the condition of justification through faith in the redeemer, whether they be Jew or Gentile.

Having we believe answered our first question, as to how one specifically entered this condition in the first place, viz. the requirement, faith in Christ as our redeemer (the “First Step”), we should like now to address our second question, upon entry what specifically takes place while the individual is in this condition, that is what is the purpose or goal of faith-justification?

As illustrated in the picture above Fig. 2 we have a picture of the condition of those (individual number 4) that have advanced through faith to the end of this portion of their journey. Perseverance in following the path of faith-justification by the help of the grace of God has led them to the point where they can see (or perceive) the further step of sanctification, (the “Second Step”) just as perseverance in climbing the Grand Gallery by the help of the Ramp leads the traveler to the point where he can see the low entrance into the Ante-Chamber. The Step symbolizes the natural dislike of the human mind to entertain earnestly and sincerely the thought of self-denial and self-sacrifice, for “no man ever yet hated his own flesh” Eph. 5:29. With the help of the grace of God, however, some (individual number 5) are enabled by an effort to surmount this difficulty. When they do so, they find that more than half the battle of decision has been won. They are now, for a shorter or longer period, on the halting-place symbolized by the level upper surface of the Step, and can examine more closely the narrow way which lies open before them into the condition of sanctification, and thence to joint-heirship with Christ.

Here as our Lord admonishes they must “count the cost” before preceding any further, however if they will look back and consider the wonderful love of God in sending his Son into the world to die for them while they were yet sinners, they will reason that if, when they were enemies, they were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, they will be saved by his life; and not only so, but they will also rejoice in God through the Lord Jesus Christ— Rom. 5: 8-11. Further, if they consider how much they have already been enabled to accomplish along the pathway of faith- justification, not in their own strength, but in the strength of the Lord, they will not hesitate long in coming to a decision. Doubts evidence lack of faith, and tend to obscure the judgment. The sooner we get rid of them, the more pleasing we shall be to the Lord, for “without faith it is impossible to please him,” and “he that wavers is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed; for let not that man think that he will receive anything of the Lord “—Heb. 11: 6; Jas. 1: 6, 7. Sooner or later, if they do not decide for the Lord, they will lose this grace of God which they have received (2 Cor. 6: 1), and find themselves again in the Descending-Passage condition of the world sharing in its condemnation; for just as the sole purpose of the Grand Gallery is to lead to the Ante-Chamber and King’s Chamber, so the sole purpose of faith-justification (tentative justification) in the Gospel Age is to lead us to the sanctified condition and joint-heirship with Christ symbolized by these two compartments of the Great Pyramid. As Jesus said: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life for my sake the same shall save it “–Luke 9: 23, 24.

How important it is to realize that it is only the meek whom the Lord will guide in judgment and will teach his way (Psa. 25: 9), and who will, therefore, see that it is their reasonable service to bow down (to fully consecrate themselves), and enter the Ante-Chamber condition of sanctification. These will realize, furthermore, that it is not only their reasonable service to present their bodies a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1), but that a wonderful privilege is being offered to them to share first in the sufferings, and afterwards in the glory, of the Lord; for without sacrifice unto death, none need hope to attain the heavenly inheritance with Christ—Rev. 2: 10; 2 Tim. 2: 11, 12. When they see this their faith in God and their appreciation of his love for them will lead them to reciprocate, and they will deny themselves, and bowing down to his will, will “make a covenant with him by sacrifice “—Psa. 50 : 5.

In our next post we shall see how these same lessons amongst others are likewise shown in the Tabernacle picture of the courtyard.