The Second Death

“While the Subterranean Chamber symbolizes the “Bottomless Pit,” where Satan is to lie bound for a thousand years, it also symbolizes the “lake of fire and brimstone,” which is the Second Death (Rev. 21:8) After the 1000-year reign of Christ, when the Adamic death will have been destroyed through the process of resurrection (1 Cor. 15:25, 26; Hosea 13:14), Satan is to be loosed from the Bottomless Pit for a “little season.” He will go out and again seek to deceive the nations, the number of whom will then be as the sand of the sea-shore for multitude (Rev. 20:7-10). This “little season” will be the “harvest” period of the Millennial Age, when all the righteous will demonstrate their loyalty to God by resisting the wiles of the adversary, and when all not in heart-harmony with the righteous Judge will be destroyed in the second death.

During the judgments of that day which God has appointed, some will prove incorrigible even after a hundred years trial, and will suffer the curse of the second death (Isa. 65:20); while others will yield only “feigned obedience” till the end of the thousand years, when the final test will reveal their true character (Psa.18:44, margin). None shall be permitted to live who do not love the Lord with all their heart, soul and mind, and their neighbor as themselves.

The origin of the symbolical “lake of fire and brimstone” is shown in Jer. 19:5, 6, where we read: “They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spoke it, neither came it into my mind. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called `Tophet,’ nor `The valley of the son of Hinnom,’ but `The valley of slaughter.” The name “Tophet” given to the valley of the son of Hinnom, or Gehenna as it is called in the Greek New Testament, is evidently derived from the same root as toph, which in Isa. 30:32 is translated “tabrets,” i.e., drums (See Strong’s Concordance.—”Gehenna” is the Greek form of the Hebrew “Gay Hinnom.” A gay is a deep gorge or ravine, and should not be translated by the English word “valley“).

By the noise of tabrets or drums the priests of Baal sought to drown the cries of the little ones who were being offered in sacrifice to the terrible Moloch. Because of this abomination the Lord cursed the valley of Hinnom, and in harmony with this curse Jesus used this valley as a figure to SYMBOLIZE the “lake of fire and brimstone,” the second death, into which Satan and all who follow him shall be cast at the end of the Millennial reign of Christ.

This just retribution upon Satan, the instigator of the cruel worship of Moloch, seems to be foretold in Isa. 30:27-33 under cover of the Assyrian king. The passage reads: “Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from afar, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire … For through the voice [truth] of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod . . . for Tophet [the valley of Hinnom, or Gehenna] is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.”

In this connection we may mention that, just as Gehenna, which runs along the south side of Jerusalem, is used in the Scriptures as a symbol of the second death from which there will be no resurrection, so the valley of Jehoshaphat or Kedron, which runs along the east side of the city, is used as a symbol of the first or Adamic death, from which a resurrection is assured because of the ransom-sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

It is for this reason that the Jews, even at this day, desire above all things to be buried in the valley of Jehoshaphat, for they believe that the resurrection and final judgment will take place here (See Joel 3:1, 2, 12-14). This explains why the valley is now filled with tombstones. The cemeteries cover the slope of the Mount of Olives over all that part which lies opposite the temple-area. The valley of Jehoshaphat is evidently the “valley of dry bones” referred to by Ezekiel (Chapter 37), and it is no doubt because of this prophecy that the Jews firmly believe that the resurrection will take place here.

If the second death is symbolized in the Great Pyramid by the Pit, it might properly be asked if it in any way indicates the great judgment day during which the second death will be operative. We believe that the purpose of the mysterious little blind passage, which runs for a considerable distance horizontally southward from the Pit, was intended by the ancient Architect to be used in connection with this time-feature.

The doorway of the little southward passage is exactly opposite the doorway of the passage by which access is gained to the Pit, the east walls of the two passages running in the same line as the east wall of the chamber.

The floor of the southward passage, however, is lower than that of the other. According to Professor Flinders Petrie, the vertical distance between the levels of these two floors is 39 inches, while our own measuring made it 37¾. Measuring in this Subterranean Chamber is difficult, owing to the darkness of the place, the uneasy floor, and the somewhat rough nature of the wall surfaces. Therefore, a mean between these two measures may be considered as close to the actual vertical distance, namely, in Pyramid inches, 38.3591 +. The bore of the southward passage is very small, measuring only 29 inches in height and width.

The whole appearance of the Subterranean Chamber gives the impression of its being a rock-cut tomb, except for its uneven floor. We know that the subterranean chambers of the other pyramids were intended to serve as sepulchers, for in each of them a large stone sarcophagus has usually been found. We had the opportunity in 1912 of examining a number of rock-cut tombs in the “valley of the dead bodies” near- Jerusalem. In many of these the sepulchral apartment lies behind the first rock-cut chamber, which was apparently used as a vestibule. Leading inward from the back wall of this first chamber is a low narrow passage, through which we had to creep on hands and knees in order to reach the sepulcher. The doorways of these low passages very much resemble the doorway of the little south blind passage in the rock-cut chamber of the Great Pyramid.

Our thought is that this blind passage is intended to carry on the symbolism of the Pit, so as to fill out the number of Pyramid inches necessary to agree with the complete period of years during which the second death will be operative, i.e., from 1914 to 2914 A.D.

We found that the further south end of this passage is very rough, so that while our measure for the length of the passage to the deepest part of the rough terminal was about 644 Pyramid inches, it was only about 640 to the most prominent projection (See the account of our measuring operations in this passage in Vol. 1, Par. 305). An average length of 641½ (or 641.5206+) Pyramid inches is, therefore, a fair statement of the length of this passage. (Professor Flinders Petrie’s measure, an approximate one and taken to the deepest part of the unfinished end, is about 645 Pyramid inches.)

The width of the Pit, from the north wall to the south wall, and measured along the east wall is, according to Professor Flinders Petrie (converting his British inches to Pyramid inches) 325.5741. Our own measurement, by steel tape stretched directly and horizontally across the chamber from the west side of the doorway of the Small Horizontal Passage on the north, to the wall above the roof of the doorway of the little south blind passage, is, in Pyramid inches, 324.93, which is the measure we adopt as being probably as nearly correct as can be determined; for it must be remembered that the walls of the Pit, though fairly even, are roughly dressed, as is shown in our numerous photographs presented in Vol. I of Great Pyramid Passages.

The theoretical width of the Pit, from north to south walls, is 324.9321 + Pyramid inches, and is thus practically confirmed by our actual measuring. The length of the Pit, from east to west walls, is stated by Professor Flinders Petrie to be (when converted to Pyramid inches); along the north wall, 553.5459, and along the south wall, 552.9465. The theoretical length is practically the same as Professor Petrie’s measure along the north wall, namely, 553.4650 + Pyramid inches.

The thousand years from 1914 to 2914 A.D. is represented in the Subterranean Chamber and its southward horizontal passage, by a measurement which begins at the floor-end of the Small Horizontal Passage (5 inches from the north wall of the Pit), and terminates at the further south end of the southward blind passage, taking this passage in its average length (319.932). The vertical distance of the floor of the southward passage below the floor of the Small Horizontal Passage, must also be taken into account in this time-measurement (38.359).

Thus, the total distance of the south end of the little blind passage from the floor-terminal of the Small Horizontal Passage, with the addition of the vertical measure between the two floor-levels (641.520 + 319.932 + 38.359 = 999.811+), is, practically, a round 1000 Pyramid inches. (We note, also, that the diagonal of the Subterranean Chamber, from, say, the north-east corner horizontally to the south-west corner, is practically the same as the average length of the little south-ward passage, being, according to the theoretical width and length of the chamber, 641.8055+ Pyramid inches.)

The rough uneven blind terminus of the southward passage conveys the same thought as the broken unfinished floor of the Pit, namely, endlessness. For just as the irregular floor of the one suggests a bottomless chamber, so the rough end of the other suggests an endless passage. Thus, although the second death will cease to be operative by the close of the “little season” (Rev. 21:4) at the end of the thousand years, yet those who enter this way will never return; they shall have “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power” (2 Thess.1:8, 9). “The Lord preserves all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy,” NOT preserve in torment or in any condition whatsoever (Psa 145:20)

A CONFIRMATION

The Scriptures declare that Christ must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet, the last enemy to be destroyed being the Adamic, or first, death. The Second death, however, is not counted an enemy, but a necessary judgment against all whom, are willfully evil; for the Lord cannot permit evil beyond the limit of time set by Himself in the beginning.

That Jehovah does not desire the death of the wicked he himself expressly states when he says: “I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn your-selves, and live ye.” “If the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die” (Ezek.18:21, 32). The Apostle says that God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9).

As Christ reigns for a thousand years, then, by 2914 A.D., work for which he was born into this world to perform, namely, the saving to the uttermost all that come to him and call upon his aid, will have been accomplished. From the time he was born, he was recognized, and proclaimed, to be a Savior and King; and thus, by the close of his millennial reign, the world will have had him as an actual, personal, Savior and King for the long period of 2915 years, first to those who received him of his own nation, then to the Gospel Age Church of the firstborn, and finally to all mankind in the 1000-year reign of righteousness. But those who are not saved eternally are such as go into the Second Death; and by the date 2914 A.D. the final sentence (Krima) will have been passed. All who prove loyal, and love with a pure and fervent heart, will rise superior to any test that may be put upon them, and will live into the Ages of Glory to follow.

As the King’s Chamber symbolizes Christ and his Kingdom, and the Subterranean Chamber the final judgment, it is confirmatory of the Scriptural teaching, to which we have here referred, to find that the direct vertical distance from the floor-level of the King’s Chamber, to the floor of the Subterranean Chamber at the south-east corner, at the place where the little blind passage door-way is situated, agrees in Pyramid inches with the period of 2915 years from Jesus’ birth in Autumn 2 B.C., to the end of his Millennial reign in Autumn 2914 A.D.

The height of the Pit’s ceiling above the level of the lower terminal of the Descending Passage’s inclined floor is, in Pyramid inches, 122.9255+. This is the mean height, according to the practical measures of Professor Flinders Petrie, and our own. From the Pit’s ceiling vertically down to the floor-level of the little southward passage, the distance is 160.0675+ Pyramid inches. But the floor of the Pit at the south-east corner, at the doorway of the southward passage, is about 9 inches deeper (or about 14 feet 1 inch from the ceiling. The approximate height of the chamber at this south-east corner is stated in Par. 299 of Vol. 1 as 14 feet).

According to all the standard measures of the various passages, and of the passage-angle of 26° 18′ 9″.7, the vertical distance between the top surface of the Step at the head of the Grand Gallery, and the floor-level of the little southward passage leading from the Pit, is 2905.3129 + Pyramid inches, which is practically an even 10 inches short of the 2915. From the slightly higher floor-level of the King’s Chamber, to the deeper point of the Pit’s floor at the south-east corner is, however, as we have said, the exact number of inches required, and is in itself a direct corroboration, both in symbolism and measure, of the Scriptural period of 2915 years.

Great Pyramid Passages Page 169-174, par. 416-438