Pyramidbooklet_03
CHAPTER 3
Passages and Chambers Deciphered
If the Great Pyramid is indeed the sign and witness unto the God of the Bible, how does it present a witness of Him? The definition of the word witness is 'anything that serves as evidence, a sign.' Therefore, the Great Pyramid should be able to give evidence of the God of the Bible:
l) that He exists, is real, and
2) that what He says is true. The Great Pyramid must corroborate the teachings of the Bible.
How does the Great Pyramid give evidence of God? Chapter 1 explains how the Great Pyramid gives evidence of supernatural intelligence. Uninspired man could not have known the tremendous amount of scientific data hidden within the measures and proportions of the Great Pyramid. Even if uninspired man did know these things, the chances that he could have consolidated them into the single expression of the Great Pyramid are beyond human imagination. Thus, the Great Pyramid, as a scientific harbinger, declares the Creator of the universe, which the God of the Bible claims to be.
How does the Great Pyramid corroborate the teachings of the Bible? As already noted, there were never any hieroglyphics on the walls of the passages and chambers to explain this relationship. In the past century, however, Pyramid students have discovered a far more sublime expression of Biblical teachings in the passages and chambers of this magnificent structure. The entire passage system has been found to corroborate, symbolically, the teachings of the Bible! The Great Pyramid was discovered truly to be that sign, that symbolic witness, unto God.
The Bible in Stone
The Bible speaks of three ultimate destinies of men. The Great Pyramid has three chambers, three ultimate destinations. Each of the chambers is reached through a passage. Each of the destinations of the Bible is reached through a way. The three ways of the Bible are:
(l) the broad road that leads to destruction, Mt 7:13,
(2) the narrow way that leads to life, Mt 7:14, and
(3) the highway that leads to holiness, Isa 35:8. The Great Pyramid's whole passage and chamber system symbolizes God's plan for mankind as presented in the Bible.
Descending Passage and Pit Room
The Bible speaks of man's general passage and common destiny as an hereditary descent to destruction. It says that all mankind were plunged into a downward course of suffering because of father Adam's disobedience. {Ro 5:12} Jesus calls it a broad road to destruction—broad because everybody must walk it; all of Adam's children must die. {Mt 7:13 Ec 3:19-20 Ge 3:17-20} .
The Bible describes man's life-descent. The Great Pyramid depicts this in the Descending Passage system. The Descending Passage is the long, low and steep passage that leads from the entrance straight to the Pit Room. In the picture, the Descending Passage represents the broad road that men descend on their way to the grave. The Descending Passage is a fitting picture of the struggles and difficulties of man's life because it is low and cramped. Man cannot stand upright before God. He is condemned before God because of Adamic sin. The Descending Passage is steep and long. Man has no sure footing in this passage just as he lacks stability in his life without God. He cannot change his course by himself. If he were to slip in the passage, he would tumble all the way down to its end, entering the Pit Room that much sooner than normal. Man often accelerates his own natural descent into the grave by his lack of wisdom in his life.
The Pit Room represents the death state, oblivion, described in Ec 9:10. The Bible calls death the pit of destruction. {Ps 55:23Isa 38:18} The Pit Room is an appropriate picture of the death state. It is large, there is no way around it, and in its original condition the entire floor gravitated toward the Pit Shaft. The Pit Room symbolizes the natural end of man's downward course—death, destruction. 'The wages of sin is death.' {Ro 6:23}
Ascending Passage and Granite Plug
In the Bible, the first opportunity man had to escape death was through the Law God gave to the nation of Israel. God told Israel that if they kept the Law they could live, but if they disobeyed it they would die. They soon discovered the Law was God's perfect standard, and they as imperfect people were unable to keep it.
The First Ascending Passage branches upward from the Descending Passage. It represents the opportunity God gave to Israel to escape from their downward course into death and have full access to Him and His gift of life. This passage is low and very uncomfortable to ascend. One must stoop over to walk it, picturing Israel's bondage under the perfect Law of God. However, the passage is completely blocked at its entrance by a large piece of red granite. Red granite is only used in two places in the construction of the Great Pyramid. Being a superior type of stone, it symbolizes in each location a superior form of life or principal—that of heavenly or divine com pared to the human life or principal shown by limestone. Here, in the First Ascending Passage, the red granite plug pictures the divine standard of God, the Law. Thus, the plug, denying entrance to the First Ascending Passage, represents the Law's power to deny imperfect men full access and reconciliation to God. The Apostle Paul states that the Law which he thought to be unto life, he found to be unto death. {Ro 7:10} Israel could not keep God's perfect standard.
The Well Shaft
After some sixteen and a half centuries from the giving of the Law, there was a man who was able to obey it. In fact, it was by his obedience to the Law that he proved to be both the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the entire human race. The Bible teaches that the only real hope of salvation from death is through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, by his death and resurrection, is said to have abolished death and opened up a new and living way. That whosoever believeth on him should not die but have everlasting life. (11Ti 1:10; Heb 10:19-20; Joh 3:16-17, 36; 6:47)
Jesus Christ has provided the only real hope of rescue. It is this hope of rescue that is pictured in the Well Shaft. The Well Shaft is the only original means by which one may leave the Descending Passage and gain access to the upper chambers of life. Jesus Christ is the only means by which man may have access to and obtain life. {Ac 4:12}
Jesus has provided this hope to two groups, l) His followers, disciples, and 2) the remainder of mankind. To the first group Jesus invites them to share his life, death and the glory of his resurrection. {Mt 5:10 11Ti 2:12 Ro 6:3-5???} His invitation was to a very privileged life of sacrifice and a special salvation. {Ro 12:1 2Pe 1:4} The second group includes all other members of the human family. God's promise to them is to be a full restoration to life that they would have enjoyed if they were perfect and could obey God's commandments. {Ac 3:20-21 Isa 65:17-25} The Apostle Paul explains: 'For since by man (Adam) came death, by man (Christ Jesus) came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.' {50 15:21-22???} By the single act of Jesus' sacrificial love, his death, he has opened up the way of salvation to all men. The two upper chambers picture the Bible's two salvations provided ultimately for all men.
The King's Chamber, made all of red granite, pictures the divine nature that is promised to those faithful to the teachings of Jesus in this present life. But before one may obtain the divine nature, there are steps that must be taken to prove their faithfulness. These are pictured by the Grand Gallery and Ante-Chamber.
The Grand Gallery
The Ante-Chamber
Total dedication to do the will of God is basically a three step process. Jesus states that if any one will follow Him in doing the will of God, he must first deny himself, put off self will, secondly take up his cross, take on the will of God, and thirdly, follow Him, Jesus, in doing the will of God. {Mt 16:24}
Walking the 3.5 foot high passage leading to the King's Chamber, one has to stoop three times and is able to stand up only twice. The first stooping represents the first of the three steps—self-denial. All earthly hopes and ambitions must be voluntarily put aside before one can take on the will of God. After the first stoop one may stand up in a short space of 21 inches in the Ante-Chamber between the south wall of the Grand Gallery and the Granite Leaf. Stooping under the Granite Leaf represents the second step, the taking up of one's cross, the taking of the will of God, the presenting of one's body as a living sacrifice. {Ro 12:1} The red Granite Leaf pictures the divine will of God to which one must abjectly yield and bend and subsequently take as his own if he is to be a follower of Jesus. After stooping under the Granite Leaf, one can stand straight in the larger portion of the Ante-Chamber. This area represents the life of a Christian-who is totally devoted to the.will of God. Here the Christian is instructed by God, that he may obey the third step, follow Jesus. He is to follow Jesus' example, to follow His teachings, and eventually to follow Him faithfully into His death. This transition of physical death is represented by the third stooping in the path leading to the King's Chamber. Continuing on into the King's Chamber one stands up straight to see the red granite glory of the King's Chamber, picturing heaven itself.
The King's Chamber
The King's Chamber is the highest of the three chambers, or destinations. It represents the highest level of existence offered to man by God. Made entirely of red granite, the King's Chamber fitly represents the heavenly salvation, the divine nature promised to all those who are faithful in following the footsteps of Jesus. {Re 2:10 2Pe 1:4} Immortality, a death proof condition, will be given to those who receive the divine nature. {Ro 2:7 1Co 15:53-54 Joh 5:26}
The King's Chamber contains the only article of furniture in the Great Pyramid, the Coffer. The lidless Coffer gives the King's Chamber the ancient name, The Open Tomb of Resurrection. The Coffer, as the ancient name implies, never had a lid. This unique fact pictures Christ's victory over death itself, opening up the prison house of death, just as the Garden Tomb stone was removed at Jesus' resurrection in Jerusalem.
The Horizontal Passage
Returning to the beginning of the Grand Gallery, the traveler meets the entrance to the Horizontal Passage. The Horizontal Passage leads from the bottom of the Grand Gallery to the Queen's Chamber. The Horizontal Passage is separated into two parts by a 20 inch drop, or step, in the floor near the Queen's Chamber. Sir Flinders Petrie recorded the length of this passage and found the last part of it measured exactly one-seventh the length of the entire passage. This peculiar design proves to be very meaningful in the symbolic picture.
The Horizontal Passage represents the length of the entire plan of God, from the fall of Adam, to the end of the millennial age. The Bible tells us this period is seven thousand years long. The seven thousand years is divided into two parts. The first six thousand years from the fall of Adam to the second advent of Jesus Christ is a period of mankind's educational turmoil under the reign of sin. During this period, all people learn the oppression of sickness, suffering and finally death incurred as a result of Adam's sin. This oppression is represented by the 46.5 inch height of the first six-sevenths of the Horizontal Passage. The feeling of walking here is very similar to that experienced when walking in the Descending Passage.
The last thousand years is called the 'Kingdom of Christ.' {Eph 5:5} During this period, Jesus Christ and his church will restore all things on earth back to the perfection that existed in the Garden of Eden. {Ac 3:19-21} In that last thousand years, all peoples will learn by experience the joy of obeying God's law. All will have the opportunity of knowing, understanding and loving their Creator, God. As a result, they will be able to walk uprightly before God.
This last one-thousand years is represented by the 66.5 inch height of the last one-seventh of the Horizontal Passage. The traveler is able to stand upright and walk into the Queen's Chamber. Thus, the two heights of the Horizontal Passage symbolically contrast mankind's oppression under the reign of sin in the first 6,000 years, to their liberation from this bondage by Christ and His Church in the following 1,000 years. The reign of Christ and His Church will fulfill God's promise to Abraham to bless all the families of the earth. {Ge 22:15-18} At the end of the thousand year reign, the Horizontal Passage ends and mankind enters into the condition of perfect human life for all eternity. This is the time in the scriptures when Christ will have put all things under his feet, when He will have accomplished his redemptive work on the behalf of all mankind and will deliver up His rulership unto God. {1Co 15:24-28}
The Queen's Chamber
At the end of the Horizontal Passage the traveler enters the Queen's Chamber, the third of the passage system's destinations. Whereas the Pit Room represents Adamic death inherited as a result of Adam's disobedience and the King's Chamber represents the Christian's hope for a heavenly resurrection, the Queen's Chamber represents perfect human life on earth. It will be the life which Christ will restore to the human race by His reign.
This earthly salvation is commonly referred to in the Bible as the Kingdom of God and is variously described as a paradise on earth. {Isa 2:4 35:1-10 65:17-25 Mic 4:3-5 2Pe 3:13 Re 21:4}
The fact that the Queen's Chamber is made entirely of white limestone pictures the unique standing mankind will have before God. By virtue of Jesus' sacrificial death and a successful probationary trial in Christ's Kingdom, each faithful of mankind will stand unblemished before God. {Isa 1:8} No longer will man die a hereditary death. Man will be judged by his own actions only. {Jer 31:29 30} He will now possess perfect human life with the opportunity to live forever.
Summary
The parallel between the Bible's description of God's plan for man and the Great Pyramid's passages and chambers is both profound and sublime. The harmony between God's justice and love revealed in the Bible and confirmed in the Pyramid is deep-reaching. God created mankind to live happily on earth according to the laws of His creation. If he had obeyed, mankind would have lived in harmony with his Creator. But sin began man's descent into death, (Descending Passage and Pit Room). However, God provided two opportunities of escape from man's descent. The first opportunity was by perfect obedience to God's perfect Law (The First Ascending Passage and the Granite Plug), but no one could keep that Law. Thus far the upper chambers of life were unattainable.
The second opportunity of escape is found through Jesus' ransom sacrifice and one's faith in Him to provide rescue, (Well Shaft and Grotto). Through His ransom sacrifice we see two possible destinations of salvation: a heavenly and an earthly resurrection.
The heavenly resurrection is open to those who now see and appreciate the grandeur and magnificence of the Divine promises, (Grand Gallery), and who go on to become Jesus' disciples, (The Great Step and the Ante-Chamber). As these are faithful to God's will in their life, they will be rewarded by God with a heavenly resurrection of immortal life, (the King's Chamber and its lidless Coffer).
The second destination of salvation is the earthly resurrection. This salvation, also secured for Adam's family by Jesus' ransom sacrifice, will be attained by two phases of a person's life, (Horizontal Passage). The first phase occurs between his birth and death, during the 6000 years of sin, sickness, suffering and death since Adam's disobedience, (the first six-sevenths of the Horizontal Passage). The second phase occurs between the awakening from the dead of all peoples during Christ's Kingdom of training and blessing, and the end of His Kingdom, (the last one-seventh of the Horizontal Passage). By learning the lessons of the Kingdom, mankind will know how to obey God perfectly and may enter into perfect eternal life on earth, (the Queen's Chamber).
The gracious simplicity of God's plan, explained in the Bible and embodied in the Great Pyramid, is both brilliant and inspiring. Such a message is beautiful in itself. Its confirmation in the Great Pyramid strikes awe into the heart and mind of the thoughtful observer. It stimulates a reverence for such a mighty Creator, Savior and Architect, which strains the powers of the human soul.